Dear Belly

I'm so very grateful that you are hosting my little Rob-O.  I apologize for the kicking/punching/general rowdiness that's going on inside you, and I totally agree that it looks super bizarre when he's wiggling around in there to the point that I can see it through your protective walls.  I do have a couple of questions/requests for you, though, that I'd like to address. 

First, why oh why is the line that's going down my belly OFF CENTER?!  As someone who's slightly anal retentive about symmetry, this is driving me nuts.

Second, this whole belly button poking out thing is starting to really freak me out.  It just looks weird and creepy and I don't know how to deal with this.  And it moves when I laugh/sneeze/tighten what's left of my abs...is it supposed to do that??? 

And finally, as you continue to stretch, please do me a favor and try as hard as you can to avoid those dark stretch marks that I realize are a distinct possibility.  I know that this might be a futile request, but I just had to throw that in there. 

Again, thanks for being such a great place for the little dude to chill out (hopefully his stay lasts for only 3 more months).  After the birth I promise to take good care of you and do some maintenance work on the existing structure.  Hopefully next summer we can go on a little beach vacay and soak up some sun! 

Sincerely yours,

Jenni

27 Week Update

How Far Along? 27 Weeks (um, I’ve been very delinquent in updating, my bad)

Size of Baby?  This week we’re the size of a rutabaga or an eggplant…around 2 lbs and 14 inches long. 

Maternity Clothes?  Whatever I can find.  Mostly maternity because I feel huge.

Weight Gain?  Around 18 or 19 lbs

Gender?  Boy!  Robert Oscar

Sleep? Sleeping well!  I got a “Snoogle” pillow this past week and I definitely dig it.      

Food Cravings?  Nothing in particular recently…just food in general.  J

What I Miss? Not bumping into things with my belly (and it’s only going to get worse!), being able to do some of the fun Crossfit workouts/moves that I’d like to be doing, and being able to eat ice cream without heartburn.    

Symptoms? Just the aforementioned heartburn!    

Belly Button?  It’s still technically an innie but it’s definitely bumped out a bit. 

Best Moment of the Week?  Oh man, this week has been full of cool moments (not necessarily baby related), but for the purposes of this blog post I’ll say that the best moments have been just feeling Robert kicking around and sharing that with BJ.  It’s been fun!

I promise to post some pictures soon, I’m just so lazy!  J

24 Week Update

How Far Along? 24 Weeks

Size of Baby?  The fruit for this week is a cantaloupe (wow, that’s kind of big!).  He’s anywhere from 10.5 to 11.8 inches long and weighs between 12.7 oz and 20.8 oz…which is kind of a huge range, don’t you think??  I like to think he’s probably right around a pound. 

Maternity Clothes?  Tops are mostly regular, bottoms are maternity.

Weight Gain?  Per my last Dr. appointment, I think I’d gained about 15 lbs…I believe based on my scale I’m probably right around 16 lbs. 

Gender?  Boy!  Robert Oscar

Sleep? Sleeping well!       

Food Cravings?  I have random moments of cravings…like for some reason at 9:00 in the morning a corn dog sounds DELICIOUS…or last night I was dreaming about Campbell’s chicken noodle soup and Ritz crackers…yummmmm.  The only thing is that usually when I’m having these “cravings” I never go out and get them…

What I Miss? Regular clothes shopping L.  So many cute things out there right now that my pregnant belly can’t fit into. 

Symptoms? I’ve been really lucky to only have heartburn as a major “symptom.”    

Belly Button?  It’s still technically an innie but it’s definitely bumped out a bit. 

Best Moment of the Week?  Well, this was technically last week, but I bought little Robert some clothes for the first time last Saturday!  I was at the Gap w/ my sis in law and ended up buying some wittle bitty khaki corduroy pants, a little navy zip up hoodie, a blue and white stripped long sleeve shirt, and a green and white stripped set of pjs with footies.  SO CUTE!  I stopped myself from buying this…but I was REAL close.  J 

Something that’s been on my mind a lot lately is this upcoming glucose test to check for gestational diabetes.  Here’s a link to an explanation of Gestational Diabetes, per the America Diabetes Association…and here’s a blurb about it from Robb Wolf.  GD is a legit concern for any expectant mom, but I’m not 100% thrilled with the way that the medical community tests for it.  The normal testing protocol is to make the preggo drink 50 grams of glucose (called “glucola”…yum), wait 1 hour, and then do a blood draw and check blood sugar levels (they should be below 140 or 130, depending on your doctor’s idea of “passing”).  The idea is that once the glucose is in your system, your body will react and produce insulin to move the glucose from your blood stream to organs/systems that need it for fuel (or store it in the form of fat).  Now I’m not actually concerned about the whole storing fat side effect right now, what concerns me is loading the body up with glucose just to see if you can process a whole bunch of it.  It’s like telling someone with potential liver problems, “We’re not really sure if your liver can process alcohol, so in order to test it, go drink 10 shots of vodka and let’s see what it does to you!”  Not ideal. 

You may say, “50 grams of glucose?  Shoot, there’s 39 grams of sugar in a can of Coke, that’s nothing!”  This is true, however “sugar” does not equal “glucose.”  Sugar (sucrose) is a 50/50 combo of glucose and fructose.  Glucose goes straight into your blood stream, while fructose has to take a little detour down to your liver to be turned into glucose, so those 39 grams of sugar would not spike your blood sugar in the same way 39 grams of glucose would do the trick.  Plus, most people consume sugars with other things, like protein, fat or fiber, which also slows down the absorption of the glucose into the blood stream.  So 50 grams of glucose in a short time span can be pretty taxing on one’s system!  Since BJ is a Type 1 diabetic, I have been very exposed to glucose and blood sugar readings and all that fun stuff.

So, I called the doctor’s office (and did some online research) to see if there were any alternatives to this test.  My doctor’s office basically told me that this test is the standard medical protocol and I could NOT take it, but I’d have to sign some sort of waiver and essentially not ever be “tested” for GD.  I asked if it would be possible for the doctor to prescribe blood glucose test strips (BJ has an old glucometer that he’s not using, and a bunch of lancets (needles), so really all I need are test strips), so I could test my blood sugar after every meal for the next month…I figured this would give them lots of information (more readings are better than one, right?) and it would be just my normal, everyday diet, so we could see how what I’m already eating affects me.  Unfortunately, they can’t prescribe me the strips unless they diagnose me with diabetes. L Booo.  And test strips cost anywhere from $105 to $140 for a pack of 100 strips (if you test 5 times a day, that’s only 20 days worth!)…which is EXPENSIVE! 

I do believe that I will end up taking the normal gestational diabetes screening test, despite my reservations about it, however I want to go to my next doctor’s appointment with some extra data, so I plan on testing my blood sugar after meals for the next month anyway.  If she looks at that information and says, “Wow your blood sugars look great, I don’t think we need to take this extra test!” then yippie!  If not, oh well, at least I tried.  I went looking online and was able to find a pack of 100 strips for $58 on Amazon!  Woohoo!!  I ordered them and will be anxiously awaiting their arrival!  I am completely fascinated by the human body and what crazy weird things it can do…I am SO looking forward to testing (and charting b/c I’m a HUGE nerd) my blood sugar during the next month!