Week 20: Welcome to my GD Pregnancy
I started my 20th week pregnant having a 3-hour glucose test. Not my favorite way to celebrate my mid-way point of this pregnancy. I made it through the 1-hour test ok, it wasn’t too bad, but I was seriously dreading the 3-hour re-test. Any process during pregnancy that begins with 12 hours of FASTING is not ok! I was pleasantly surprised when my husband and I got to the lab and they had a private waiting room for us, complete with tv, remote and 2 reclining chairs. I had magazines and my iPad, but the waiting room made time pass so much faster. I was nauseous the first hour, and then just bored. All and all, not nearly as bad as people had said, blogged about and frankly worried the bejesus out of me over.
Fast-forward to today, five days later when the nurse calls from my doctor’s office. I missed the call and my heart sunk listening to the message, assuming if all was ok she would have sounded more chipper, or probably already told me the news. I reluctantly called back and heard what I was fearing most – I failed the test. I hung up in tears and lost it moments later, not the most appropriate action while at your desk at work, but frankly I had no control. A rush of emotion just hit me – was this my fault, have I hurt my baby, how much have I done wrong to make this happen, what is going to happen, how much more challenging could this pregnancy really get. Irrational? Probably. Un-natural? Not at all.
No more junk food for momma!
I didn’t start my pregnancy in the best of shape. I had recently lost my job and gained 15 pounds on top of my already ‘healthy’ frame by the end of 2012. I didn’t have the best eating habits and I didn’t exercise. I was still emotionally drained from a brutal year at my job and dealing with failed fertility treatments and being told un-assisted conception wasn’t in the cards for us. Food was my comfort. And I knew that, and I knew I planned to change my lifestyle when we were ready to try to conceive in a year or so.
And then I got pregnant.
I will never understand God’s timing, but I don’t question his plan and try to take each of these new challenges day by day. I have had ‘morning’ (AKA when ever it feels like it) sickness for the entire 20 weeks. I weight less now at 5 months along than I did at Christmas last year. My hormones are a mess, my skin is a HOT mess and my emotions control my days. I had early round ligament pain, leg numbness, extreme indigestion, food aversions, crazy scent sensitivity and leg cramps that wake me from a dead sleep most nights. My stomach feels like it weighs 50 pounds already and I get short of breathe with little effort. I am, quite frankly, miserable. And now, I have gestational diabetes.
I KNOW it is best to know early for my own health and the health of the baby, but no one is prepared to hear they have any form of diabetes. I KNOW my daily treat of a Coke to calm my queasy tummy has not been healthy, but it has been my saving grace many days and the only nausea cure that worked. I KNOW I will be healthier reducing my carbs, sugars and processed food, but that doesn’t make me feel better when I have gagged on broccoli every try so far. I KNOW I can do this, and I will, but that doesn’t make the thought of eating 5 times a day, writing down every food I eat and pricking my finger 5+ times a day any easier to digest. I KNOW the baby has a fine chance of being healthy in the end, but it certainly doesn’t make this news less stressful to an already stressed out momma-to-be.
So welcome to my GD pregnancy – my gestational diabetes pregnancy that is. I am sure this blog will take an interesting turn in the coming weeks. I should have my first appointment with a nutritionist and counselor this week. I can’t wait to share my first few days of finger pricks and carb counting. Pardon my emotions, but I think I need to cry again……
Mother’s Day Love
As a mother-to-be, I am so excited thinking about Mother’s Day. I am pretty sure it will become my new favorite holiday by nest year. I am thrilled to be a mom, and just can’t wait to enjoy this special day with my son in the future.
To celebrate my excitement, I am offering a fun Mother’s Day giveaway from our companies.
You have several ways to enter and there is a goody basket of 4 great prizes for one lucky Mom (or someone who wants to share with their favorite Mom)! Enjoy and good luck!
Start over on our Facebook page: http://bit.ly/ZHAMZo
Contest ends May 11 and winner will be announced here on the blog on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2013.
Week 17: Sugar, Sugar….Glucose Test
Those two little words every pregnant woman dreads hearing – Glucose Test! I have heard so many horror stories about that terrible little bottle of orange syrup. So when my doctor requested an early glucose test for me at 17 weeks, I tried not to panic. Most expectant Moms get to wait until week 20 or later, but no, not me, I got the orange bottle nice and early. (Since I am high risk, I get lots of extra tests and early tests!)
Now, the glucose test in itself is probably bad enough, but mine just so happened to have even worse timing. The suggested day for testing was the morning after a sleep study that had also been ordered. I have thyroid issues and they wanted to see if any issues may also be coming from or compounded from sleep apnea. Of course the testing was needed in week 17, along with my sugar test!!
I won’t go into lots of detail on the sleep study only to say there was NO sleep involved! I would be highly surprised if they got any conclusive data since I seriously am not sure I slept more than 45 minutes straight. How they think ANYONE can sleep with 15 probes attached to their body – from my legs to my side to my throat to my face to my scalp – and ALL connected, making movement uncomfortable and really impossible at times, is beyond me. I get what they need to study, but there has to be a better way than what they have come up with – I mean two nights with half as many probes at once would be better. Or seriously, in this day and age, how are the probes not wireless!! If my phone can stream TV, I am sure a medical facility can pick up on a transmission of brain waves without wires!
Oh, I digress. So with little sleep and no patience, I leave the (no) sleep study and head to McDonald’s to find a protein-only breakfast. I settle for a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and a water. Note to self, eggs have made me sick this whole pregnancy, why would you choose eggs on a morning like today?!?! I go to the lab and park outside and attempt to remove the biscuit from my sandwich, which is easier said than done given the cheese. I reluctantly throw the biscuit in the parking lot and watch the birds feast on my favorite part and attempt to choke down the remainder. Now for dessert.
I had the (no) sleep clinic folks keep my glucose drink in the fridge, but its been about 30 minutes now and it is starting to warm up, which isn’t ideal. I gingerly take a sip and am quite surprised it tastes ok, like a flat Sunkist soda, which I kinda like. 
I start gulping since I have been told to drink it all within 5 minutes, and have to stop half-way through. It has hit my tummy, mixed with that dang egg and it isn’t happy! I stare at the bottle for at least 60 seconds before deciding to call upon my 25-year-old self. The girl who could party with the best of ’em, shoot tequila, chug red bull and swig down Jager. I got this…….
At the end of exactly six minutes, the orange bottle is empty, I am queasy and gagging and I still have 45 minutes to sit and wait to go in the lab office. Yes, my 25-year-old self did good, and it was just like old times.
After the blood work was complete, I headed home and took a nice, long 4-hour nap. I woke still a bit queasy, but hey, that could still be the morning/all-day sickness I continue to have. Now, I wait and pray I pass the test. Cause not even my 25-year-old self wants to chug on and off for 3 hours for a re-take!
Momma made a cake for Easter
Ok, so baking cakes isn’t anything new, but for this pregnant, swollen, tired to-be-momma, it was a feat! Especially when I attempted a brand new recipe that had been circulating on Facebook, and it ended up being a 3 hour process!!
I was drawn to the recipe because it used fresh strawberries, and it is strawberry season here in North Florida, and I love strawberries, and I hadn’t had any shortcake in awhile. This cake looked like it would satisfy for Easter dessert and have yummy berries. On closer reading, as I was making the cake, I realized the cake also ended up with 7 eggs, 4 sticks of butter, 2 packs of cream cheese, 7 cups of sugar (YES, 7!!!!) and a bunch of other ingredients. I would estimate the cake cost me about $12-$15 to make, partly because I had to re-stock my pantry with baking powder and baking soda, as well as cake flour ($5 right there).
But, was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY! It was a huge hit at my family dinner, and my husband says I now need to promise to make it every year. He even made me pinky promise, although I don’t think any commitments made while pregnant are legally binding. Or at least they shouldn’t be – I live in a state of duress.
I take no credit for the recipe, so you can find it where I found it: http://blog.babygizmo.com/2012/03/vanilla-cake-with-strawberry-cream-frosting-recipe/
And here was the finished product, I swear about 10 pounds of yumminess! Since the baby still doesn’t like for me to eat a lot of sugar, I held back and only had a small slice at lunch, but everyone else had some for lunch and again after dinner! I think we polished almost half of it off today!!
A few side notes:
- I did read on the original post in the comments, that you should eat the cake within about 3 days since the fresh berries just don’t hold up real well.
- I think its obvious too, but keep it in the fridge since the frosting is cream cheese based.
- I ended up making the icing and baking the cake one night, and then assembling the cake the next day. I recommend this if you have time since the cake was completely cooled and sliced in half easily. The icing was also firm from being refrigerated overnight and went on really easy without picking up crumbs.
Our Purdy World 