Borderline

So, I had my 3-hour glucose test about two weeks ago. During the test, I discovered that my doctor's office has a very comfy recliner in the waiting room. I also worked on knitting my first sock. I'm now almost finished knitting the second sock. I plan on wearing them in the delivery room. I doubt I'll wear them while I push the kid out since I was completely naked with E (having just come out of the jacuzzi tub), but I think it would be fun to have them to wear in the room before I get all crazy.

In any case, I survived the test, and Tuesday was my 32 week appointment. Molly, my midwife, explained to me that my test results came back and I'm "borderline." Basically, my glucose levels were stable, but my insulin levels were elevated. Therefore, I have to watch what I eat in order to maintain my blood sugar levels so that my insulin doesn't spike. She told me to cut back on the breads, pasta, rice, starchy veggies, chips, etc. I responded "so...everything I've been craving." Sigh. It hasn't been too difficult. I've looked up some information online, and as long as I start my day with protein, it shouldn't be too difficult. I also discovered greek yogurt, which is Ah-Maze-Ing!

It was very difficult today at Sweet Tomatoes. I really wanted to eat the potato leek soup, and the mac & cheese, and the muffins and bread, and the cheesy scalloped potatoes, and the frozen yogurt... When I complained to Paul what a bitch it was since I'm pregnant and I have every excuse to pig out, he said "Now you know how I feel." Yeah, it sucks to have to change your diet. But when you think about it, why wouldn't you? It's either eat what you want and pay the price (in a higher birth-weight child who ends up with low blood sugar because of extra insulin and has a greater risk of diabetes and obesity, or in Paul's case, pooping blood), or change your diet and feel good. To me, it's a pretty simple choice. Besides, for me, it's just temporary. Just 7 more weeks to go. I can do this for 7 weeks. And it's not really for me, it's for my precious baby boy!

Books

In grad school, I was required to read Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent. It pretty much changed my view of parenting, in a good way. I now send it to all my close friends who are pregnant and expecting. After speaking with a friend of mine who just got the book, I thought about all the other books I've read throughout E's life that I really like. Rather than totally overwhelm her with a list of books, I figured I'd just list them here, and then she and others can access it whenever they feel like it.

So here goes, in no particular order:

The Baby Book

The Vaccine Book

The Happiest Baby on the Block

The Happiest Toddler on the Block

I'll probably add more later, but E is begging for my attention right now.

Naked Baby Party

Tonight I held a naked baby party. Basically, it was a baby clothing exchange, kinda like a naked lady party, where you bring all your old clothes and get new ones. Since a many of my friends working on baby #2 are having opposite gender, it seemed like a good idea. What was great is that I got back some stuff I had given to my neighbor that I didn't realize I'd given her. One was the little ducky hat I'd made. I was thinking about making the ducky socks that go with it, but didn't know what I'd done with the hat. I'm glad I got it back!

I also got a ton of 2T clothes for E. That was nice, since she's kind of lacking in the clothing department lately. She has clothes, but I often find myself digging in the dryer desperately searching for a clean pair of pants.

For L, I got a ridiculous amount of clothing. I don't think I will need any clothes for this kid until he's over a year. That's very nice.

It was an extremely successful clothing exchange, and we have a couple bags of clothes to donate to Community Action, which is nice. On Monday, I'll drop the bags off at the Head Start center where I used to work. Janet took a few bags home to drop off at the main office in Hillsboro.

It's nice to be rid of some clutter, though I now have a giant bag of clothing sitting in the middle of my living room floor. I don't think I actually got rid of anything. I think I just traded the same exact amount of crap. Sigh.

Bodily Fluids

And the nosebleeds have begun. I don't remember having crazy nosebleeds with E, but I probably did. It's pretty annoying, especially when I'm driving in the car, between site visits and I don't have any tissues, so when I get to a school I have to immediately go wash the blood from my hands before I go to a classroom to meet with a teacher.

And then this morning, as I was snuggling with Paul, I felt a drip on my arm. And then I felt another. When I wiped it with my other hand, it was sticky. Yep, I'm leaking colostrum. Of course, today marks week 30, so I have 6 more weeks until I'm considered "term," 10 weeks until my due date, and 12 weeks until they want to slice me open and rip the kid out. While I can't remember when my boobs started leaking with E, I do remember having to pull out the boob pads while I was still pregnant.

The kid is getting big. He's big and strong enough to make my entire belly move when he kicks and moves. E finds it hysterical. She loves to sit on my lap, put cream (she calls it "peam") on my belly and watch L kick. She shrieks with laughter, saying "Baby L-L is kicking!" Of course, she goes a little overboard with the cream. She puts so much on me that even when I take a shower afterwards, I can't get it all off. She also likes to cram it into my belly button. In order to get it out, I have to squeeze all around it and push it out like it's a zit. It's pretty disgusting.

I didn't pass my glucose screening, so I have to take the 3 hour test next Saturday. Ugh. That sucks. However, I have good news, too!

I have insurance through work that will cover my delivery at Meridian Park! I don't have to go to a Providence hospital after all! I'm very happy about that! I guess I can deal with the bloody nose and leaking boobs. That's really nothing compared to some of the stories I've heard from St. V's.