Glucose Tolerance test = FAIL!

I thought it would be perfectly fine.  I figured I would pass this test with no problem at all.  Alas, it wasn't to be.  The upper blood sugar limit for this test is 140, and my blood sugar was 158.  So, now I have to go back and do the 3 hour test.  I am really not looking forward to this test because of the blood draws.  For a person with difficult veins, having my blood drawn 4 times in 3 hours is not something I look forward to at all.  Hopefully the excellent phlebotomist from last week is working Tuesday morning.  That would make this just a little bit better anyway.  From what I've read, only about 1/3 of women who take this longer test end up actually having gestational diabetes, so chances are good that I don't have it.  We'll find out soon though.  I really don't like the thought of having to do insulin injections, especially since I'm already doing my daily blood thinner injection.  I guess I'm already used to it though, so maybe it wouldn't be a big deal.  I'd still like to avoid it though.  Cross your fingers for me!

In other news, we apparently have a very large baby.  When I saw the doctor at 23 weeks I was measuring at 25cm, which is a bit large, but still within the "normal" range for that far along.  Well, at this appointment I was measuring at 30cm, which is definitely out of the "normal" range for a woman at 27 weeks pregnant.  The doctor did a double take when she did the measurement.  It was pretty funny actually.  Then she asked Darren how big he was a birth.  Big babies run in our families.  Darren was almost 11 pounds at birth and I was 7 pounds 14 ounces, which isn't large, but I was the smallest of my mom's 4 children.  My brothers were both around 10 pounds.  The doctor set up an appointment for us to have a sonogram in 2 weeks to check the baby's size.  She mentioned we will probably have to be induced early due to her large size, which is fine since we were planning an early delivery anyway due to the blood thinners I'm on.  The question now is just how early we will go.  I'm sure it will still be August, but at this point it may be as early as the first week.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  Everything is up in the air at this point.  I wonder how big she really is.  Our sonogram appointment is for June 11th.  I will be just about 30 weeks then.  The average baby is around 3 pounds at 30 weeks, but I wouldn't be surprised if ours is closer to 4 pounds by then.  The next few weeks are definitely going to be interesting. :)

Three years old

Tomorrow this website...well the domain (byrdintheoven) turns 3 years old. Three years ago Kelli and I decided to go for it. I thought I would have this domain for 1 year and then change it to something else after the baby was born.

I won't go into why this domain is three years old. Click back on the archives for that. I will say that it's been one heck of a journey and on Monday we enter the final stretch....the third trimester.

I renewed the site today for one more year.....because that's the minimum renewal term. Hopefully this time next year the content of the site will be the same, but the name will be new.

27 weeks

We are getting closer, and I am getting more uncomfortable by the day.  Things are still going well, but I am just getting achy and I just can't seem to get comfortable.  Only 11 or 12 weeks left!  I am still struggling with what to do about the delivery, but at the moment I'm leaning toward just scheduling a c-section.  I do not take this decision lightly.  There are many pros and cons either way.  I will still consider it all though.  No final decisions will be made for a while.

I had my glucose tolerance test this morning.  It wasn't too bad.  The drink was not good, but it was tolerable.  The worst part was being hungry.  I typically eat breakfast right away after a shower in the morning and its hard for me to not eat.  I just hope I pass this so I don't have to do the 3 hour test.  That would be difficult for me.  The phlebotomist this morning was the best one I've had in a long time though.  I told her about my blood draw problems, but amazingly she didn't have any problem at all!  She hit the vein right away.  I was extremely happy about that.  Darren suggested I get her business card and call her every time I need blood drawn.  I have to say its tempting. :)

My birthday was last week.  I didn't know what I wanted for presents, so Darren didn't really get me much.  Of course, his "not much" turned out to be the best present a pregnant woman could ever have!  He bought me a grabber.  It sounds silly, but I love it!  I've been having a hard time bending over and its really difficult to pick up the dog bowls off the ground.  The grabber is a tremendous help because I can pick up the dog bowls now without any problem.  I also discovered today that the grabber makes it possible to play ball with my ball obsessed dog again!  Poor Doogie has been neglected for several weeks because I just couldn't pick up the ball off the ground anymore.  Now I can pick up the ball without bending over, and my little dog is a very happy boy!

My next doctor's appointment is this Wednesday.  It should be just another routine appointment.  I will probably get the results of my glucose test then.  Hopefully its good news!

Baby Room

I did the grunt work....building the baby crib and dresser....and moved the Lazy Boy into place. My mother in law painted the room and bought all the cutesy stuff. I'm sure more will be done before August.

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26 weeks

I have made it to 26 weeks pregnant and everything is still fine and uneventful.  The last 2 weeks have been busy.  First my mom came for 5 days with the intent of painting and setting up the baby room.  She did A LOT of work while she was here.  She painted the baby room "lovely lavender", which turned out very nice.  She also painted our guest room, which really needed it because it used to be Darren's office and the walls were very dirty.  She also rearranged and organized a couple of closets, and we were able to throw away, recycle, or otherwise get rid of a lot of junk.  It's really nice to have both rooms all clean and set up properly.  Darren put together the crib and a chest of drawers and we moved our La-Z-Boy recliner into the baby room too.  That room is mostly set up now, we just need baby supplies and a baby to complete it.

After mom left we had a couple of days and then my dad arrived.  We were supposed to go to a Tom Petty concert, but it got postponed until September because the band did SNL on Saturday night.  I was pretty annoyed about that because its a really dumb reason to cancel a concert, and they weren't even very good on SNL anyway.  I just got a refund for the concert, because I don't think I will be able to attend the concert in September.  Dad already had the plane ticket though, so he came anyway.  We ended up just hanging out mostly.

Anyway, nothing much else is going on so there really isn't much to update on.  My next doctor's appointment is next Wednesday and I have to go do my diabetes test next week, probably on Monday.  I'm hoping things continue to be uneventful.  The baby is still moving just fine and her heartbeat is still nice and strong.  I only have about 12 or 13 weeks left of this pregnancy.  I'm expecting the rest of the time to go very quickly and hopefully smoothly.  Here is where we are at 26 weeks:

• Your baby may weigh about two pounds now (average is 1.7 pound, 760gm) and is 14 inches (35.6cm) in length


• To support the fetus's growing body, the spine is getting stronger and more supple. Though no longer than the span of the average adult hand, it is now made up of 150 joints, 33 rings, and some 1,000 ligaments.


• Air sacs in the lungs form now.


• Lungs begin to secrete a greasy substance called surfactant. Without surfactant the fetal lungs would stick together and couldn't expand after the baby is born.


• Although they've been sealed shut for the last few months, your baby's eyes are opening and beginning to blink this week. Depending on ethnicity, some babies will be born with blue or gray-blue eyes (which may change color in the first 6 months of life) and some will be born with brown or dark eyes.


• Retinas begin to form.


• Brain wave activity for hearing and sight begins to be detectable.


• Fetal brain scans show response to touch. If you shine a light on your abdomen, your baby will turn his head, which according to researchers, means his optic nerve is working.

24 weeks

Darren put a little pregnancy ticker at the bottom of the main page.  I think he might try and move it up so you don't have to scroll down to see it.  I just thought it was neat to have.  There are several different ones you can get, but I liked this one.

Things are still going very well with the pregnancy.  I'm feeling fine, but definitely noticing this week that I'm getting bigger.  I got my first pregnancy stretch marks within the last week, and this morning I noticed my scrubs barely fit anymore.  I have to tie them below my stomach, which is difficult for me because I don't have much else to hold them up.  I may have to break down and just buy a couple larger scrubs.  At least they are cheap.  Darren mentioned that I haven't been using the Doppler as much recently.  Mostly I just don't use it around him because he always has comments about how much I use it.  I really haven't been doing it as much though.  At this point I'm feeling pretty regular movements throughout the day so I don't need the reassurance as much.  I still love having it though!

I bought a crib and mattress yesterday on Amazon.  Well, it was purchased on my Amazon account with my mom's credit card. :)  It was my first big baby purchase.  Mom is coming on Wednesday evening and she has plans to paint the baby room.  Darren and I made a lot of progress on Sunday getting the room cleared out and ready for decorating.  I'm pretty sure we are going to paint the room a light lavender.  I put some cute purple butterfly wall decals and room decorations on my baby registry.  I think we may end up just buying them this week though so the room looks all put together.  Unfortunately we have another 3 months until the room is needed and I'm a little worried that Darren will have a relapse before the baby is born and junk it up again.  I may have to permanently ban him from that room until August.  We'll see how it goes.  I will post some pictures after we get it all put together.

I like to look at where the baby is in her development each week.  Its really interesting to read about all the changes she goes through each week.  This is what is says about the 24th week:

• Bring on the bulk!  Baby gains about 6 ounces this week. The weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs.


• Her body begins to fill out with her appearance increasingly becoming more like a newborn.


• Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing her distaste.


• Little creases have appeared on her palms. The muscular coordination of her hands has improved as she sucks her thumb.


• Over the next seven days the sweat glands will be forming in the skin.


• Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.


• This week your baby is officially considered viable.


• Baby weighs 1.3 pound (600gm) and is 11.8 inches (30cm) long -- almost the length of a ruler!