Keep the cupcakes coming...

I don't have gestational diabetes this time!!! It seems the Metformin is working -- I'm SO relieved! This means that I get to eat as much pasta from the North End, fried noodles from the Eatery, cannoli (the real ones, not the tourist ones) from Mike's Pastries, and ice cream from Tosci's as I want when we head to Boston next week! I can't wait!

Looking a bit longer term, it also means that I won't have to start that dreaded GD diet, check my blood sugar levels 4x a day, or give myself insulin shots 3x a day. I don't have to worry about babyhill being ginormous due to an overload of glucose or having health problems because of it. I'm so happy!

Oh yeah, I'm still anemic, so now I have to double the amount of iron I take every day. No biggie.

Belly Pic: 29 weeks

I've almost made it to my 30s (weeks, that is...I'm quite well-versed in my 30s as far as my age goes)! It's kind of overwhelming when I think that I only made it through 6 weeks of my 30s last time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll make it to at least 38 weeks this time (c'mon babyhill, work with me here). My goal is to make it to Kristy and Tiffany's birthday (August 1st) -- that will put us at 38 weeks and it will be right after my mom and Manfred arrive in Seattle for three weeks. The timing would be perfect. However, if babyhill is anything like hilltot, he/she has a mind and schedule of his/her own.

As I mentioned last week, I took the dreaded 1hr GTT to test for gestational diabetes. I haven't heard back from Dr. H yet, so I'm taking the stance that no news is good news! Last time, I'd already gotten the results from my 3hr GTT and was scheduled for treatment at the Joslin Diabetes Center within a week of taking the 1hr. I could call Dr. H to find out for sure, but I'm happy with my ignorance for now.

I have my next ultrasound on Monday morning, which is when they will check my cervical length to make sure I'm safe to fly to Boston on Thursday night. They will also be checking the baby's growth and trying to figure out why I'm measuring so big. Chris has a theory (based on nothing scientific or medical) with which I agree: We know the baby was breech at 22 weeks. It just happened to be in the middle of turning around at my last appointment, thus stretching things out and making my belly bigger. Now it's settled nicely into an ANTERIOR position (not posterior, like hilltot) and getting comfy for another 2+ months of hanging out before a smooth and simple VBAC delivery in early August.

Wouldn't that be nice?


Note: That freakishly large hand in the 2007 picture is Chris', not mine. Don't worry Kristy, abnormal and uneven hand growth isn't a side-effect of pregnancy (at least, not that I know of).

Apparently we're big

Today's encounter at Trader Joe's

Woman: So they'll be about 2-1/2 years apart, right?
Me (assuming she's talking about my children): Actually, they'll be about 21 months apart.
Woman: Really? How old is he?
Me: 18 months old.
Woman: Really? 18 months old? He's very big.
Me: He's tall for his age.
Woman: And that one (pointing to my belly) will be here in about a month?
Me (not commenting on the lack of math skills): Well, no, in about 3 months...
Woman: Really?
Me (starting to get annoyed with the constant incredulousness): ...
Woman: Are you sure? 3 more months?
Me: I'm quite certain.
Woman: Well don't worry. I got huge with my second baby too. And look how svelte I am now.

F=mg

Note to self: When 7 months pregnant, don't choose to sit in the first row of the balcony at church. The balcony railing is very low, and when you stand up, your massive belly hovers a good 2 feet over the top of the railing. There is a significant risk that you will topple over into the pews below.

Cowboy, let's chat

Cowboy, remember how we had that talk about two years ago, when I explained why my belly was so big and tried to prepare you for what (or rather, who) was soon to arrive? Well, you might want to sit down for this...

Belly pic: 28 weeks

Happy third trimester to me! I've officially made it to the land of increasing discomfort. Yippee! I had an OB appointment today (I'll be having them every 2 weeks now) and things look great, although apparently I'm measuring large for where I'm supposed to be. That could mean lots of things: there's too much amniotic fluid (which would bring another host of issues...but we'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it), I have gestational diabetes which is causing the baby to grow too quickly, the baby is still breech and floating higher in my belly than it normally would, the baby is stretched out, or the baby is simply a very large baby. Personally, I'm hoping for option 4: the baby is stretched out and taking up lots of room. I'll be doing an ultrasound sometime in the next 10 days, so we'll find out for sure what's going on then. In the meantime, I feel better knowing that I actually AM larger and more unwieldy this time around -- it's not just in my head.

I also had the dreaded 1-hr GTT (glucose tolerance test) this morning to find out if I need to go back next week for the even more dreaded 3-hr GTT, which would in turn determine if I do in fact have gestational diabetes. I'm not feeling very optimistic about it, but there's always a chance that the Metformin I've been taking has been working its magic and I don't have GD! However, I plan to enjoy a weekend full of noodles, banana bread, fruit, and other diabetic no-nos before I get my results back from Dr. H.

Here's my belly pic at 28 weeks. Even though I actually look bigger in the picture from 2007, the measurement of belly "largeness" is the height from the top of my pubic bone to the top of my uterus, not the sticky-outedness of my belly (and yes, "sticky-outedness" is the correct medical terminology). You can see in today's picture that the top of my belly is much higher than it was with hilltot.

Where's the zipper on this thing?

You know how you feel after you've eaten way too much food and the waistband of your pants is really tight and uncomfortable? If you're in a casual setting (or hidden behind a table) you can unbutton and unzip your pants for some immediate relief. Ahhhhhh!

Well, that's how I feel now. Except it's my belly that's too tight, not my pants. And I have no way to unzip it. Ugh.

I'm also running into the next stage of maternity pants trouble. Early in pregnancy, most maternity pants don't fit me because they are too baggy in the hips, thighs and butt. They slide right off. Now that I've finally filled out enough to hold the pants up relatively well, my belly pushes them down. I think I need to start wearing suspenders.

OK, enough whining from me! I'm actually feeling pretty good overall, though I do feel like I'm HUGE now. I'm back to gaining weight, just in time to impress and/or shock my OB. As of this morning, I've already gained nearly as much as I did during my entire pregnancy with hilltot. And I still have a whole trimester to go. Way to go, me!

Belly pic: 27 weeks

Here I am at 27 weeks! Only one more week until I reach the third trimester, which is also the official point of viability. I think I've also started having Braxton Hicks contractions in the past couple days, usually brought on when I've exerted myself too much (walking too far or too quickly, carrying hilltot around, etc.). So far they've been pretty minimal so I'm not too concerned, but I will mention them to Dr. H at my next appointment. At least this time I know what they are! (When I was pregnant with hilltot, I had 10 contractions in less than 30 minutes while I was being monitored during a non-stress test/NST and I had no idea until Dr. H pointed them out to me.)

My impressive weight gain has slowed considerably, even before being diagnosed with GD. I've actually lost all the weight I was so proud of gaining last week! But I know it will go up again -- I seem to have pretty drastic swings from week to week, but as long as my overall gain is healthy, Dr. H is happy. She only sees me every couple weeks, so it looks much steadier to her than it does to me with my daily weigh-ins and Excel tables and graphs.

At our last ultrasound, babyhill was breech. I think that he/she has turned around, although I'm not sure. For a while, it felt like the baby was lying tranverse (i.e. I got a lot wider), and now my belly feels rounder again. I'll be getting another ultrasound in a few weeks, so we'll know for sure then.

I told you spiders are out to get me

One of the side effects of pregnancy for me is spider veins. I get little spider veins all over my legs, and I'm sure they will soon erupt into lovely varicose veins. Actually, I get really "veiny" in general -- you can easily trace the flow of blood throughout my body.

Anyway, I was looking at my knee (the one that's not scarred and patchy from the eczema I also enjoy as a pregnancy side effect) and I noticed that it looks like I have a word written on it in a faint and wispy scrawl. And the word is not a nice one. Since this is a baby blog, I'll just say it starts with an "f" and has four letters. A capital "F", in the case of my knee.

Yes, I'm being graffiti-tagged by spider veins. I guess I should just be grateful I don't really get stretch marks. Who knows what THOSE would spell out.

Really? Me?

Click here to see what I won!

Thanks to Vale for being so sweet!

Belly Pic: 26 weeks

I have less than 100 days until my due date! I'm still feeling pretty good, although I'm pretty exhausted if I don't manage to sneak in at least a quick nap while hilltot takes his nap. Swelling has commenced (I can poke my lower legs at the end of the day and leave little dents) but it's not painful yet so I haven't broken out my fancy medical-grade compression hose. Whoo-whee, I can't wait until those come out! Although I don't know how consistent I'll be about wearing them once the weather gets warmer.

I've also hit the stage of pregnancy when my pants won't stay up unless I'm wearing those sexy over-the-belly full panel maternity pants. Even though the under-belly styles look better and are more comfortable when I first put them on, they start to feel too tight and my belly pushes them down so that I end up with my pants hanging halfway to my knees. I know this look is cool with teenage boys, but much like the midriff-baring issues I had earlier (before I finally gave in and got out my maternity clothes), I don't think a pregnant mom in my 30s can pull it off.

After a very slow start with the whole weight gain thing, I'm going like gang-busters now. However, I'll be doing my second glucose tolerance test (the 1-hr GTT) at my next OB appointment in 2 weeks. Even though I passed it the first time (at 11 weeks), I doubt I'll pass it this time because the placenta has had a lot more time to mess with my insulin receptors. So that means I will likely go back to my strict gestational diabetes diet, blood monitoring, and insulin shots in a few weeks. That also means I'll stop gaining weight as quickly because I won't be able to eat anything I like for at least 2-3 months. In preparation, I am making sure to thoroughly enjoy my last bites of noodles, bagels and cupcakes.

In more exciting news, I scheduled maternity pictures for June! I didn't have professional pictures done when I was pregnant with hilltot and I regretted not having them. Plus, I know the best photographer around, so I'm taking full advantage of her Mother's Day special. She did such a terrific job with hilltot's one-year photos (click here and here for a few samples), so I'm really looking forward to see how she manages to make this belly look good.

Speaking of which...here's the 26-week belly!

This had better not be a trend

When I was pregnant with hilltot, two rather unusual things happened when I was 36 weeks along. They are in no way related to the pregnancy, but I always associate them because of the timing. 1. We signed the papers to refinance our mortgage, and 2. the airbag fault warning went off in my car. I remember signing the papers because I was big and uncomfortable and they made us wait in the lobby for a long time. I remember the airbag fault because we had to bring my car in and we were able to get a last-minute loaner car because I was so pregnant -- I needed to have a car at my disposal. I requested a VW Golf as my loaner because I've always wanted a Golf, and I was so excited to be able to drive one around for the weekend.

Five days after signing the new mortgage and the day after getting the loaner Golf, I went into labor. Needless to say, I never got to enjoy driving the Golf around.

Anyway, here we are at 25 weeks pregnant. And guess what we did today? Signed the papers to refinance our mortgage. Guess what else happened? The airbag fault warning went off in my car. I haven't taken my car in yet, and I'm kind of nervous to do it because I'm afraid I'll get a Golf loaner that I never get to enjoy. Maybe I should request a Jetta or something just to break the pattern? Because this is WAY too early to be going in to labor.

Although it would be kind of funny if my sure-fire signs of labor include signing mortgage papers and having an airbag fault in my car. I'm pretty sure those aren't two of the standard signs listed in the pregnancy books.

Belly Pic: 25 weeks

Only 3 weeks until my third trimester!

Pregnant Women are Smug by Garfunkel and Oates

This made me laugh. And personally, I don't think I became smug until after I had hilltot and I'd been a mother long enough to realize I wasn't going to break him. The first time around, I was too freaked out by what was happening to my body to be smug, and this time, well, I'm just too tired.

Why, yes...

...as a matter of fact, I did swallow a watermelon! And this one is next.

Belly pic: 24 weeks

Today I'm 24 weeks! So I'm theoretically 6 months along, and I have 4 months (16 weeks) left. This week I haven't been quite as exhausted as I was last week, so it's been nice. I've gained 17 lbs so far, which is pretty close to what I gained by this point with hilltot. However, with hilltot I stopped gaining weight in the third trimester due to my gestational diabetes. I'm sure the same thing will happen this time if I am diagnosed with GD again, and I will do whatever it takes to avoid anything close to Madame Zaritska's first prophecy (see my earlier post today)!

I'm a little late posting my belly pic today and I'm tired, so I'm going to keep this short. Happy Friday!

Madame Zaritska better be wrong

There's a "just for fun" website where Madame Zaritska (a virtual clairvoyant) predicts your birth experience based on how you answer a number of questions. All I can say is, holy cow she'd better be wrong:

"The day you deliver, outside will be bright. Your baby will arrive in the middle of the night. After a labor lasting approximately 24 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 15 pounds, 14 ounces, and will be 18-1/2 inches long. This child will have light violet eyes and barely there blonde hair."

Of course, last time (with hilltot) she predicted a girl too. And I'm not so sure how it will be "bright" outside, as well as the middle of the night. Full moon? Hence the huge baby? And seriously, can anyone see me giving birth to a blonde baby?

I did it again (is that against the rules?) and this is what I got the second time:

"The day you deliver, outside will be sunny. Your baby will arrive in the late evening. After a labor lasting approximately 40 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and will be 20-1/2 inches long. This child will have medium gray eyes and a lot of brown hair."

That sounds a little more reasonable (actually, it sounds a lot like hilltot), although I can do without the 40 hour labor...

Belly pic: 23 weeks

Here I am at 23 weeks! Still chugging along, feeling pretty much as exhausted as I did during the first trimester. I'm not sure if I'm getting more anemic or if gestational diabetes is starting to creep in, but I hit a serious wall every day around 11:30 AM and then again around 6:30 PM. Nowadays I don't even try to catch up with anything during hilltot's naps -- I can barely make it to the couch before I'm asleep myself.

I've also started to think about things we need to do to prepare for this baby. Luckily, we don't need to purchase very much -- we'll be able to reuse hilltot's infant car seat, co-sleeper, and his newborn clothes since we didn't know his gender either and thus have a fair amount of gender-neutral clothing. And if babyhill is a boy, we'll have plenty of clothes for him for a long time!

I'm trying to think of what we'll need doubles of, and so far it seems like a short list: baby monitor, car seat protector, infant diapers, high chair (eventually). I've been looking at the various sit-n-stand stroller options and I like the Joovy Ultralight, but I haven't talked myself into it yet. I plan to use my various carriers a lot with babyhill so that I can push hilltot in his umbrella stroller when we're making quick trips to the store or running errands, but I know that snapping the infant car seat into the stroller is awfully convenient when you don't want to wake a sleeping baby. Then do I put hilltot on my back? Because he'll still be a little too young to walk with me (he'll be ~21 months old). I have no idea. Any suggestions? A lot of people have recommended the Phil & Ted's double stroller, which looks like a really great stroller, but it's a bit more than we're looking for from both a functional and financial perspective. I'm thinking more of the equivalent of a Snap-n-Go -- something to keep in the trunk of my car and use for quick trips. For longer walks, I'll put hilltot in the BOB and carry babyhill in a carrier.

Also, please feel free point out any glaring omissions in my short list of things to get. It seems like an awfully short list. I know I must be missing something really important.

Belly pic: 22 weeks and update

I don't have a lot to report about being 22 weeks along, other than my belly is getting bigger and I'm finally starting to gain weight. Dr. H said that my weight gain is just fine and I'm right on track for 22 weeks along. She also said that I can "probably" go to Boston for my MIT reunion in June, as long as I'm ready to change my plans last minute. Since I had pre-term contractions starting at 31 weeks last time, flying cross-country and staying up all night to party with college friends (um, I did mention this is my 15 year reunion, right??) might not be a great idea. The best we can do is assume I can go and do an ultrasound to check my cervical length the week before.

The big news today is from our ultrasound and fetal echo cardiogram this morning. I was completely stressed out about it, but it seems that things are going really well. The baby's heart is completely normal, the neural cyst is gone, and the baby is growing right on target! All parts and pieces are accounted for, including four chambers of the heart, two functioning kidneys, and a nice strong flow in the umbilical cord. Babyhill was also extremely active, doing some tap dancing and shadow boxing while the ultrasound technician busily kept up. The baby is also currently sitting breech, but that's not a concern at this point. When the tech put the ultrasound wand high on my left side and said, "Here's baby's head..." and then low on my right side and said, "...and here's baby's bottom", I was a little startled about how BIG babyhill already is.

In addition to today's belly comparison picture, I'm including two profile shots from the ultrasound. It's already obvious how beautiful babyhill is, isn't it? Although Chris is a little concerned...this one may have gotten his nose.

Out of sync

According to the various pairs of maternity pants I own, my butt does not keep up with my belly when I am pregnant. You're supposed to buy your pre-pregnancy size, and they make the clothes roomier where necessary. In pants, that means lots of room for your belly (obviously), but it also means a bigger and wider bottom. For some reason, my bottom doesn't quite follow the curve, so I'm cursed with baggy bottom syndrome. It's so bad that the heavier materials (i.e. denim) slide right down. Hence, I wear a lot of skirts during pregnancy. I just hope it stays warm enough for me to start wearing more skirts now! Or I need to find maternity pants made for flat-bottomed girls.