ok, its been awhile since I updated this, but theres not been much to report.  Until this week.  So a few weeks ago I took a glucose test and yesterday we got the results back (only because I did not call and they swear they left a message on the first).  Lesson to be learned, always call to find out results, never wait to hear from them or assume all is good when you dont hear from them.  Anyway, as it turns out I have gestational diabetes.  At first I was pretty close to devastated, but it occurs to me that this might be one of the best things that could happen.  I am forced to change my eating habits or risk complications with our baby AND if I could change for good then maybe later in life I can reduce my risk of developing diabetes (my dad has it and so does my older sister).  So tomorrow I am meeting with a dietician and a nurse to discuss diet and how to check my glucose levels several times a day.  Woo hoo.

Secondly we have been taking birthing classes and boy are my eyes wide open now.  I had never actually seen a child being born til last week.  So of course all kinds of things start going thru my head, I know full well all will be good and I can do this, but oh my.  Its a rather scary event.  So here’s to hoping that I dont think too much about it the next two months.

Also, I worry about my mom.  She has retired, but I fear with no reason to get out every day she will just become a recluse.  I think she needs a hobby or part time job just to keep her engaged in life.  I do not know what to do.  Some days its hard to find time to stop by and see her.  Part of me just wants to come home after work and relax, not stop and visit and get home late.  I know that is lazy of me.  Anyway, I am going to make a concerted effort to spend more time with her and stuff.  Hopefully we can get her happy and full of life for her new little grandbaby.

Ok so I have rambled, but my doggie is begging for some attention, so off I go.  Promise to write later.

so I am noticing lately that I am tired in the evenings and prone to emotional tears at the drop of a hat.  I try to stay as busy as i can so that I am not just sitting on the couch all the time.  I hope things will continue to go well with the pregnancy.  I think a part of me is getting nervous with it being 3rd trimester and the glucose test coming up.  So many things we need to get done still and I can not do alot of them.  I only hope Andy does not take on more than he can do.  I am sure he will be fine and all will get done.  Just need to stay calm and positive.  ok.  this has helped a little and now am feeling scattered so will go before i start to ramble on and on and on and on….hehe

So it hit me today that my due date is August 21 (three months from today),  I can not believe how fast the time as flown by since December.  It seems that I am more active than ever right now, mostly due to the weather.  I hope I can keep this energy for a bit longer.  I am loving my walks and working in the yard.  Spring time is always the time of year when I get energized.  I would have to say that so far my pregnancy has been a very easy one.  No major complications, I have not missed any work due to morning sickness either, so I figure that is a good thing.   (side note…I was sitting outside enjoying the evening and had to come in cuz the mosquitos were eating me alive….only downside to nice weather)  I have been feeling a lot more movement from our little one these days, but have not noticed a specific pattern yet.  For awhile there I thought I was never going to feel it, so when I did I was happy and able to put that worry behind me.  I have not been acting quite the way I expected during this pregnancy, I expected  little bit more emotional and paranoid, but I think I have been doing pretty good in those areas.  I do notice that at work I am more easily agitated by my boss, I just try to take some deep breaths and get past it, sometimes even go for a walk.  I would not want to give him any reason to replace me, at least not at this time.  Anyway, I digress a bit.

I am getting a bit nervous about what kind of parents we will be and how our lives will change and how we adapt to those changes.  I wonder if all parents to be go thru this same fear.  I can only imagine so.  Andy and i will be taking some classes in June, one dealing with childbirth, another dealing with childcare and then I will be taking a breastfeeding class.  I am very much hoping that we will be able to breastfeed for a bit, even with me going back to work.  but we shall see.  Ok, well Minos is asking for attention, so will go for now.

I know they say that pregnant women have these kinds of days, I guess I have been fairly lucky as they are been few and far between.  Today I got up with Andy when he was getting ready for work.  Made his lunch (which I enjoy doing) and made him some breakfast.  At that point I started a list of things to get done today, knowing full well that some would lap over to tomorrow or not get done at all, but I they have a better chance of getting done if I put them on the list.  I ate some breakfast, did the dishes and suddenly felt very tired.  So went to lay down.  I had a hard time falling asleep, but once there I slept for about 45 minutes and made myself get out of bed.  I was still tired, even though we were in bed and mostly asleep before 11 last night and did not get up til 7, surely that was enough sleeps to get me thru a few hours before a nap would be nice, but not today.  So I took a shower, hoping it will help.  Now I still feel like crying and sleeping.  My feet are swollen today.  With the beautiful weather I want to be energetic and full of life, not sitting on the couch ready to cry with swollen feet.

Im not whining, at least I hope not.  I am hoping that if I just sit and write the weepiness will subside and I can get moving again.  Heres to hoping, however as of right now its not.  So I could be back in a bit, but for now I need something to drink and a little snack.

Well its been a few weeks since I was last here and not too terribly much has happened.  I am officially done with taxes this seasons.  And thankfully so.  I was getting tired of it.  I had a much better year this year than last year as for has how many returns I did and I am getting a bonus this year.  Still not sure how much but should know by this weekend I would think, or at least have a good idea of what it will be.  We have no news on the baby other than all appears to be going well.  I have a dr appt on April 30 and then we go in for ultrasound on May 1.  We found out my cousin is having a little girl (they are due Sept 8), I hope that with our children being close in age that maybe they can end up close like me and some of our cousins are.  It would be cool.  Anyway, other than that things are ok.  Andy is working, Tuesday thru Saturdays now, and also in class on MWF in the evenings.  My day off has been fluctuating so we dont get too much time together where one of us is nto busy doing something else, him homework and me housework, but its not been too bad so far.

Well looks like I am putting together some paperwork, so will cut this short.

Its been an interesting couple of weeks for us.  Last week we got the results back from our quad test, they were positive for the possibility of down syndrome.  It was a little daunting, but the doctor reassured me that the chances were minimal, but that we should be aware that the chance was there.  They were already sending me to St Mary’s for an ultrasound due to the fact that I was born with a hole in my heart (which healed itself and has caused me no problems) so we already doing the next thing needed to check for downs.  So yesterday we went to St Mary’s for the ultrasound and we also met with a genecist to go over everything relating to chromosome abnormalities and what our options were and what they would be looking for in the ultrasound.  They would be looking for the physical characteristics associated with Downs and other abnormalities.  It was all a bit overwhelming, but in the end, everything looks good.  We were unable to see any physical evidence that there could be something wrong.  However, the baby was most uncooperative when it came to us looking at the nose and the heart (stubbornness already…go figure), so we are going back in about 4 weeks for another ultrasound to check on those things.

We are hoping to know what we are having at that time as well.

So yesterday was an awesome day.  I am so glad that Andy was able to go with me.  Also, funny story about yesterday.  When we arrived at the hospital I had to go to the bathroom, but when we checked in the lady told me I needed a full bladder for the ultrasound.  So I did not go, we registered then went up to the fetal area, I filled out more paperwork, and we waited about 10 mins before we sat down with the genecist.  We met with her for about 45 mins (keep in mind that I have yet to go to the restroom and its been an hour and half).  After the genecist, we went back to waiting room to wait for ultrasound.  I asked the nurse in the fetal registration area if I could go and she also told me that I should hold it unless I was in significant discomfort.  So I continued to hold it (we are close to two hours now).  After a few minutes we went into the room for the ultrasound, I got up on the bed, we did some more paperwork  and THEN she put the goopy stuff on and we were going to start the ultrasound, first thing she noticed was the full bladder (we even have a pic of it) and she told me I could go to the bathroom and why did all those mean people make me hold it.  So we wiped off the goopy stuff and I was able to relieve my bladder and then she reapplied the goopy stuff and we continued.  Morale of the story, most of the time people dont know what they are talking about!!! hehe

Yesterday was my 3rd appt and we got to hear the heartbeat again.  This time Andy was there too and got to hear it.   It just makes me smile to think about it, this little person growing, the heartbeat was proof and just what I needed to reassure me that everything is going fine.   I had been thinking something might be wrong because I was feeling almost normal.  But now I know everything is going as it should.  I will have my first ultrasound within the next few weeks.  They are having me go to Barnes or St Mary’s for it, because the equipment at those places is much better and becuase I had a small hole in my heart when I was born and there is slight chance the baby could too.

I actually caught Andy smiling last night, lately that has been few and far between.   I can only hope that having this baby can be a bright spot for him even in these times of hardship.  I know he is stressed and each day that passes without an offer makes it worse, but I know we will get thru it.  OK so its back to work for me.

I had hopes, but then about a month ago Andy got laid off, as of today he is still interviewing and no offers, but I am sure something will come up soon.  Then yesterday, I got bad news at work.  My hours (and pay) and everyone elses have been cut to 75%.  This has happened before and lasted for about 3 months, but at that time I was single and did not have the debt/bills that we have now.  I was devasted when they told us, caught me completely off guard.  I so did not see it coming.  After about 30 minutes of crying, it occurs to me that getting depressed and angry is not healthy, so I became determined to put a positive spin on this.  I have been wanting some time off for a while and so now I have it.  We are ok thru this month and part of April, so with any luck Andy will find a job that pays more than unemployment and we will muddle thru somehow.  Andy is a little worried about me and swears that something must be wrong, but as I said i am trying to stay positive, its better for me and for the baby.  Besides, he has enough depression going on for the both of us at times.

Andy suggested looking for a new job, but it does not make much sense to me unless i get indication that the doors are closing where I am at.  When the baby is born I will have 5 to 6 weeks off paid, any new place we will not have that.  Also, if the economy keeps going to shit wont I be the first person let go at a new place???  So I am looking but not aggressively, never hurts to see what is out there.  So that is where we stand these days.

Ok, so first trimester is officially over!!!  yeah!  The nausea is only around part of the day now, mostly in the evenings around bed time.   So I am thankful for that.  I feel a bit more energetic, but still get tired easily.  Next week I have my next dr appt and I think they are going to do the first ultrasound as well as do some blood tests for abnormalities.  I am starting to get more excited, even went so far as to start thinking about the registry and items that we will need.  Andy and I talked a little bit about the baby’s room this weekend.  We have some work to do, but he will not be in class in March so maybe we can do some of that in the evenings.  I am kind of anxious to get started.

Just wanted to do a little update.  Be back soon!

Ok, so officially I am 11 weeks and 4 days and very much ready to be at least 13 weeks.  I hear that the hormones level off at during your 12th week and then the nausea could lessen at that time.  I am SOOO hoping that is true.  What I think is most deflating is that most people I speak with either never had morning sickness or it was limited to once or twice a day, mine is a constant feeling that goes away temporarily when I eat but comes back shortly there after.   Thankfully I am not running to the bathroom, just have that sick to my stomach feeling all day long.  I am not complaining!!  Just ready for it to be over.

Other than that, things are going well.  Last week I had an appointment and the doctor did a pelvic exam, said everything was looking pretty good and moving along nicely.  We also got to listen to the heartbeat, it was strong and easy to find.  At that point it become more real to me.  Up to then all I had was the upset tummy and a little weight gain, but now, there is actually a little person growing inside me and I have proof!  I am still not getting too excited, I am definitely happy, but containing myself and not running out to do any shopping just yet!  This is due in part to the fact that right now things are a little tight on the homefront.  Andy was laid off last friday and is looking for a new job.  So until that time, we are conserving money as best we can.   So any shopping will have to wait just a bit.

We are still throwing around whether or not we want to know what the sex is.  I would never have guessed it would be that hard of a decision to make.  Andy thinks if we do find out we keep it secret from everyone else, let them be surprised.  I think I am leaning towards that plan.  As opposed to not finding out at all, I think the suspense would drive me nuts.    Anyway, we have a few weeks at least before we have to decide on that.  Getting back to work.  Write more soon!