24 Week Appt & Glucose Test

24 weeks :)

Two days before Christmas, we had our 24 week appointment and glucose testing. I had to fast for about 2 hours ahead of time (which includes water!!!). We arrived early to our appointment, as I was a bit nervous about the blood work. We were seen right away (thank God!) and I was given a choice between a yummy orange flavor or delicious Hawaiian Punch flavored drink. I chose the orange and was told by a nurse to chug it within 5 minutes. I thought to myself, "No problem, that's easy." I took one sip and realized how serious this was - it was disgusting. I can imagine that for someone who usually drinks soda and other sweet drinks it wouldn't be too terrible, but all I drink is water, milk and juice so this was horrible to me. Brian stood in the corner and cheered me on as I chugged the chalky, orange drink. The nurse told us to go out to the waiting room (and gave us packets of info to read and fill out) and she'd call me back in one hour for the blood work. I wasn't allowed to drink water, chew gum, or anything. So I had that yummy orange taste in my mouth for an hour. Sick. Brian and I thumbed through the paperwork and filled out our "Birth Plan" - we had to say who was going to cut the umbilical cord, if I wanted an epidural or not (YES PLEASE), and other birthing options. I finally got called back to the lab and they drew blood. Brian did a great job of trying to distract me while they nurse did her job. Needless to say, as soon as she finished drawing blood, I chugged a bottle of water.

After all of this, we were seen by a doctor. Most of my appointments from this point on will be pretty routine - weigh on the scale (lots of fun), measure my belly, listen to the heart beat, and Q/A. The measurement of belly (24.5 inches) lined up perfectly with being 24 weeks pregnant. My weight gain was right on target for where I was at, even though I feel like a beached whale. The doctor said I was right on "schedule" with everything.

I got a phone call a few days after this appointment with my results. The glucose test came back normal and it looks like I do not have gestational diabetes - YAY! One thing I can cross off my list :)

Lots of Little Things

1. Prenatal Yoga - I have been taking prenatal yoga classes with 2 of my pregnant friends here in Roswell. It is VERY "yoga" and the instructor loves to pass around lavender oil for us to rub in our palms and then hold over our hearts. She tries to encourage us to do an "all-natural" birth (obviously she doesn't know me well enough). She ends every session with 3 "ohms" and plays very interesting music. But, once I get past the weirdness of it, it's very relaxing and great for stretching. It is SO much better than taking a regular yoga class because the instructor knows which stretches and poses are safe for us and which ones are not. I highly recommend taking a prenatal yoga class to any preg friends :)
2. Maternity Manners - You would not believe the comments people make to me (and my pregnant friends for that matter). It's almost like people don't know what to say, so instead of keeping silent, they blurt out some randomly rude comment. Here are some comments either I myself have heard or pregnant friends of mine have heard:
- WHOA you're huge!
- How far along are you? (6 months.) Is your husband a tall guy or something? (Yeah, sort of.) Geez, you look way further along than 6 months!
- Are you having twins or something?
- Are you due before Christmas? (No, due in April, thank you.)
- Geez, you keep growing. Everyday you look bigger and bigger.
Word to the wise... there are MANY other sweet comments that you could make to us. Why do you feel the need to comment in such a rude way? Obviously, as women, we spend our whole lives sucking our tummies in and trying to maintain our weight. This is a glorious time in our lives where we cannot control our weight or how/where we grow and you should be saying positive, encouraging comments about our beautiful bodies. Some examples could be:
- You look so great!
- You are absolutely glowing!
- You make maternity clothes look fabulous!
- You are all belly!
- I hope I look as good as you when I'm pregnant!
- Your baby bump is so cute!
Sorry for the rant here, but it's been driving my preg friends and I nuts! Think before you speak people! We're having a hard enough time as it is with our growing bodies, a little encouragement could go a long way!
3. Brian is the best - Not sure if I've mentioned it yet or not, but I have the best husband in the world. I truly cannot imagine being a single pregnant woman, much less a single mom. I would be lost without Brian. He has been SUCH a big help during my pregnancy. Here are some of the selfless, sweet things he has done these past 6 months to help me out:

- rub my achy back and neck
- help me put on and take off my shoes
- go to the grocery store for me
- lift any and every thing I need help with
- brought me flowers for no reason
- given me pedicure gift certificates
- run out to get my any food I may be craving
- let me sleep in the bed with 42912 extra pillows
- cooked many a meal for me
- told me I'm beautiful
- loved me despite my crazy hormones and mood swings
I am beyond excited to be having a baby with him! He will be the most wonderful, loving daddy and I cannot wait to see it all in action!

4. Registry - Registering for baby items is SO much more fun than wedding registry. There is a lot more you need of course, but to be shopping for someone other than yourself is great! When you get married, you typically have a lot of items you can already bring to the marriage (sofa, dishes, towels, etc). But, when you have a baby you start from scratch. You need EVERYTHING - from cribs to baby shampoo. We registered at Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby - 2 great stores!

We registered in person at both stores but only scanned a few items in the store. I have been slowly adding to each registry here online after doing extensive research on every single item (thanks to Baby Bargains book).

5. Good books to read while pregnant:

Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields (as featured on Oprah)

What to Expect When Expecting - such a classic

The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine - hilarious!

Expectant Moments by Gene and Lisa Fant (not the best devotional, but literally the only one we found for expectant couples)

6. Nursery - We have slowly but surely been working on Baby Hake's nursery in our house. We had to clean out the junk room (yes, it used to be used as a junk room b/c we were too lazy to find a spot for some of our items). Brian and his friend Adam painted the room "Sweet Blue" last weekend. My parents gave us our crib. Our baby bedding has arrived and been set up. We bought a dresser a few days ago and our glider/ottoman will arrive in about 6-8 weeks. It's all coming together! The hard part is trying to make it all fit into such a tiny room! Pics to come soon...

20 week appt

We went in for our 20 week appointment on December 8. I was actually already at 22 weeks but with my crazy school schedule, I couldn't make my appointment until now. First, we met with Mary, the ultrasound technician. She was VERY quick and not as friendly as our tech at 16 weeks. Mary was knowledgeable and pointed out EVERY body part - kindeys, bladder, heart with 4 chambers, brain, spine, femur, arms, etc. You name it, she found it and documented it. The heartbeat was up to 154 and our little guy now officially weighs 1lb 1 oz! Isn't it fun to think that he only weighs 1 pound and yet I've gained 8? Oh joy :) Mary confirmed (again) for us that it was a boy. I had this fear going into it that the tech would say "It's a Girl," but thank goodness it was still a boy :) Mary told us that my placenta was in the front (inb/t baby and my belly) and that would explain why it took me so long (compared to my other pregnant friends) to feel him kick. She also said that it would take to about 28 weeks for Brian to finally feel him kick too. That put both our minds at ease!

yawning/talking... looks like he's blowing a bubble :)

still a boy, phew!

side profile (my favorite shots!) and his little hand is up by his face :)

Even though I have read 3 pregnancy books cover-to-cover, I sometimes forget to apply what I have learned. I know that I should not lay flat on my back while pregnant - either for crunches or relaxing. But I forgot why. So in the middle of my ultrasound, I started to feel faint. I was embarrassed by it so I didn't want to announce it. I tried to play it off, but I was soon drenched in a cold sweat. Brian immediately noticed (he has seen the signs MANY times before!) and asked if I was okay. Mary and Brian helped me turn over to my left side so I could get circulation back. Mary kept on with the ultrasound. I was now laying on my left side, facing the screen, and Brian was behind me also facing the screen. Brian, being the sweet wonderful husband that he is, started to scratch my back because he knows that calms me down. We were both watching the ultrasound scree and as soon as he started scratching, our little baby started nodding his head up and down as if saying, "Yeah that feels good." It was SO sweet!

After we finished with our ultrasound, we met with Dr. Sharon. He was very nice, but also very sarcastic. And not in the way that I like, more dry humor. Oh well, it was fine. He answered all my crazy questions - like about leg cramps at night. Dr. Sharon went over our ultrasound results and blood test results from the last visit. He said everything looks healthy and normal. My MSAFP test came back normal - which was testing for spina bifida and other neural tube defects. He said our baby boy looks completely healthy - SUCH a relief to hear that!

Our next appointment will be December 23 when I will undergo glucose testing to check for gestational diabetes. No more ultrasounds from this moment on - which really makes me sad inside. Although, my sister and mom and I are going for a girls night of ultrasounds in January just the 3 of us. We found a place here in Atlanta that will let you come in for an ultrasound session - we will get some 3d/4d pictures and videos again! So that'll be nice. I can't believe that the next time we see this baby's face will be around April 12!!!

St. Thomas

My family (mom, dad, sister) and Brian & I decided to spend Thanksgiving in St. Thomas this year! It was beautiful and wonderful. I LOVE to vacation with my family because they have the same "vacation style" that I do--> we like to lay out on the beach ALL day, eat out for almost every meal, watch movies while eating dessert on the sofa, and play board games. We throw in an occasional site-seeing something or other, but for the most part we are all low-key.

arriving in St. Thomas

St. Thomas was GORGEOUS! Brian and I have been to our share of tropical locations (St. Lucia for our honeymoon, Punta Cana for our 1.5 year anniversary trip, and we have also gone on separate cruises to Jamaica, Bahamas, Cocoa Beach, St. Maarten, and St. Croix) in the past. Each island has something different to offer but really in the end they all have white sand and clear waters. Don't worry about ever taking me on a skiing trip or to a cabin in the mountains... just take me to an island, really anything that starts with "St." and I'm set.

view from our condo
our condo

We truly ate our way through the island... we ate at Havana Blue one night which was featured in Gourmet magazine. It was such a cool atmosphere, very posh with blue lighting, on the ocean, all open air, candlelight, awesome bar (although I didn't partake), and amazing food. On Thanksgiving night we ate at Banana Tree Grille. Brian and my mom opted for the traditional Thanksgiving food (turkey, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, sauteed squash, etc) but I got filet and fried onion strings (I blame all my random food choices on the baby). We ate dinner at Room with a View and had the BEST waiter who kept us laughing all night long. I could truly talk about food for 5 more paragraphs, but I'll end it there.

Banana Tree Grille
Havana Blue

We spent our days on the most beautiful beaches you can imagine. Magens Bay is rated top 10 beaches in the world so of course we had to check that out. We spent a day each at Coki Point Beach, Morning Star, and Magens Bay. While at Coki Point Beach, we went snorkeling out in the ocean where we saw rocky reef and beautiful fish we could feed. We took a ferry over to St. John for a day and hung out at Trunk Bay. The waves were HUGE - Brian and I took full advantage of the body surfing of course. Baby Hake loved it!

This was an AWESOME trip! Brian and I are SO grateful to my parents for taking us. This was our last little getaway before Baby Hake arrives. I have a feeling our family trips will be a bit more like Disney World than St. Thomas in the near future :)