Survey says....

No gestational diabetes!!

Our doctor's nurse gave me a ring today and let me know that all four blood samples came back normal from my retest on Saturday, yay! Although, it was kind of a scare, it made me reevaluate what I've been eating lately and in the past couple weeks I have been more conscientious about including extra fruits and veggies- and less sweets and junk- in my diet. So all in all, it was a blessing in disguise (but with too many pokes-ouch!). Don't get me wrong, I'm still all about a nightly bowl of either ice cream or Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, but I am getting better at cooking balanced dinners and taking healthy snacks like yogurt or applesauce to school so I don't wind up munching on prize box candy! I think Jerod is happy about healthier options, too, since he eats whatever I cook. He said his goal is to cut enough weight that he weighs less than me for once, since I'm almost at the +30 mark with still 11 weeks to go!

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Retest

So I went in for my glucose tolerance test today at the doctor's office. Let me tell you I was SO hungry this morning and immediately jealous and regretful that Jerod got to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but my fasting from the night before had to continue. When I went in they took a blood sample from fasting- good. I then got to down an entire bottle of the glucose drink, I went with orange this time, much better than the "fruit punch" which tasted like cough syrup. An hour later they drew blood again- good. So then I went out to wait for my third reading.....and I waited.....and waited......and waited. Somehow the timer they had set for me got stopped and they missed my third sample collection by 45 minutes, which meant that whatever result they received wouldn't be true. So, they waited for another 15 and drew for my final sample- which came back abnormal.

Our doctor said that normally if a patient has 1 of the 4 readings come back abnormal she just has them meet with a diabetic educator to have their blood sugar levels tested and go over a diet for the rest of the pregnancy. However, since one result is missing and the last one came back abnormal, she wants to err on the side of caution and redo the whole tolerance test. She said if it had been 2 confirmed abnormal results (gestational diabetes) she would handle the rest of the pregnancy differently and do monitoring and testing of the baby. She also said that if it is GD then that changes the extent of the pregnancy, she wouldn't want me to go much farther than 39 weeks.

So I am back to the diet for today, Thursday, and Friday. I will head back to Ames on Saturday morning for another round of blood samples at the hospital, just what I want to be doing when we're having friends out to the house in the afternoon for VEISHEA. Hopefully, everything turns out okay.

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Just an update on life...

Today is my last day of the glucose tolerance test diet (basically LOTS of carbs and trying to eat a more balanced diet). I can't have anything to eat after 8:00pm tonight and then I go in at 8am to drink some more of that yummy glucose juice and get stuck for blood samples about 4 times over a 3-4 hour period- after that, then I can eat again. Don't ask me how this is going to happen, I'm going to starve to death I think- I usually eat breakfast by six in the morning, how I'm going to make it until almost noon is beyond me...wish me luck :(

On another note, I felt something bony on my baby the other day and now frequently get jabbed with bony parts. It doesn't feel good, but at least the kid is moving around so I know they're doing alright.

I bought a sewing machine on Overstock.com the other day and am SO excited for it to come in so I can make curtains out the fabulous fabric I got online for our yellow room. I have finally, over a year's time, come up with a way to make the room seem less yellow and am antsy to get moving on my project. It includes some new curtains with the accent colors for the room, a lot of old picture frames to repaint in several different colors, and the building of a bench/shelf and storage cupboard. Not sure if I will have enough energy to get it done, but I'm sure going to try! Of course since I paid a decent amount for the sewing machine, Jerod's first comment was, "Are you going to actually use it?" And I really, truly think that I will. I've been needing a hobby of some sort for a while now and would like to start making quilts (we'll start baby size first) and I KNOW I want to make my own tablecloths because I can never find square tablecloths that will fit our table. Hopefully I made a worthwhile investment, I guess only time will tell.

I'll let you know how the glucose test goes and be back with some pictures with old college friends as we get together for Iowa State's big celebration of the colleges, VEISHEA. We're hoping the weather isn't too crappy (who needs snow in April?!) so that we can get outside with everyone on Saturday and play some yard games and just have a good time. Have a wonderful week!

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28 weeks down, 12 to go!

Well, technically I don't actually hit the 28 week mark until this Thursday, but close enough, right? We're finally in the third trimester and I am slowly beginning to realize how NOT ready we are for this little person to pop out! I mean, we're ready to meet our baby and can't wait for that part, but I feel like we have nothing else prepared. Even though we still have 12 weeks, I'm starting to get a little antsy about all systems being go. It totally bugs me that the nursery is still in mid-decor mode, we don't know who we're going to have baby-sitting on days when my sister, Amanda, has class or work, we have a couple onesies and some receiving blankets but otherwise- nada, and other seemingly miniscule items that have just been driving me batty!

Plus, I can definitely believe we're at 28 weeks, but it hadn't hit me that it leaves only 12 weeks, thereabouts, left to go....my, how this has flown by. Well, here's a belly pic for 28 weeks, I'm still feeling great minus I did not pass my glucose screening and have to go in for the 3-hr glucose tolerance test in a couple of weeks- BOO! I think it may have had something to do with the lack of water intake that morning paired with the granola bar I HAD TO HAVE right at the cutoff for when I was supposed to fast before going in for the screening. Wish me luck on that, I'm not looking forward to having blood samples drawn 4 times in 3 hours, yuck :( Baby, on the other hand, seems to be doing well so far as the doctor can tell, and has been more and more active and the kicks are getting stronger! I can see my belly jump sometimes, happy week to all!

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Basement Progress

This weekend my parents traveled out our way again to continue the basement renovation. The last time they were here, metal studs went up along with drywall and the basement was separated into three sections: the will-be "Man Cave", a guest bedroom, and the rest of the basement. This time my dad brought along his HUGE air compressor and his equipment to texture the walls that were put up the last visit. He, Jerod, and my brother, Tom, were also able to finish insulating the bedroom and installing drywall as well as a new window at the South end of the bedroom. There was some electrical work done and we opted to do a stick frame for the other big wall in the man cave, this way when we mount a TV it has something to grab onto and is supported well.

Here's a few pics of the current state of the basment:

This is the man cave from the space where the french doors will be. I should have taken a picture of the wall that has already been textured, but oh well. You're seeing the area where the TV will go up and we'll put in some couches- the place where Baby B and I will have to go to spend time with Daddy during football season!

He kept trying to escape, but I was able to grab this picture of him working. He's shaving some of the drywall off to fit it around the window.

My dad and Jerod putting in the drywall JB was working on (right before my mom and I announced our plans to head out to Des Moines to do some shoe shopping!)

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Nursery/Guest Room Phase 1

What could all of these odds and ends possibly have in common?

So one important thing for us while preparing for the baby is maintaining the space we have to be able to host family and friends for overnights, but also have space for baby stuff. This has meant converting our guest room into a nursery also. The important thing to me in this transformation is not having a typical "baby themed" nursery. I completely respect other people's interest in cute little animals or Pooh Bear bedding, but our nursery needs to function for adults and children. I found some bedding on Target.com and have decided to use it as the inspiration for the room. It's based on mostly primary colors with some browns mixed in, which makes it great for either gender of baby and since the colors are a little muted they lend themself nicely to a modern feel. I scoured every baby bedding website I could find and wasn't able to find anything that I loved more than this set.


I have had the hardest time trying to come up with ways to fill up wall space in the nursery, however. I don't like to have up random artwork and wanted something that would complement the baby bedding. After spending hours looking online, and some inspiration from Pottery Barn kids (which I love but simply cannot afford), I decided to do a homemade art project. Luckily, Hobby Lobby was having a sale on their painting canvas and I picked up a few other things there like paint, wooden die cuts, and some fabric to help complete the project. In the future, when I do these kind of projects, I'll remember to show step by step photos. But anywho, it took a couple days, many coats of paint, hot glue, a staple gun, and lots of patience, but the finished product was worth it.

This is my favorite letter of the set. I love the color combo and the way the polka dots turned out with the circular sponge, they have that worn, antique look to them.



He is the only cute little animal that will be in this room (besides stuffed ones when baby is a little older). He was also the inspiration behind using the word SMILE- plus, it is pretty non-gender specific.

A shot of the bedding with the artwork so you can see how I tried to use the patterns from the blanket in the canvas circles.

Next up, I will try my hand at making a homemade fabric covered headboard, wish me luck!

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Spring Break must come to an end....boo!

As always my spring break has come and gone way too fast, I would really love to sneak in one or two extra days, but I guess I would wish for another couple after those were gone and so on and so forth. Back to the daily grind for me I guess, but not without sharing some little tidbits of how I spent my few student-free days.

Mostly it was just a lot of relaxing, hanging out, watching the NCAA basketball conference tourneys last weekend with the hubby. On Monday I decided to tackle the mess that was my car- I cannot tell you how many tissues I have gone through this winter, they were swallowing my interior whole! Not to mention the day to day toss-something-in-the-back-seat-because-I-don't-want-to-deal-with-it-now stuff: receipts, fast food bags, jackets, mittens, blah, blah, blah. It was nice to go through it all, sort it out, throw it away, vacuum, and wipe everything down with disinfectant cleaner. Winter just traps all those nasty bugs on everything because it's so cold you don't want to worry about cleaning out your car, but this was the perfect time to spring clean the car.

Tuesday I made a trip to Williamsburg and the Tanger Outlet Mall to meet up with my pal Brenda, her kids, and her sister JoLynn and her own kids, too. It was so great to see them all and also get to do some shopping on the cheap(er). I got a couple cute finds for Baby Brown at Carter's, it's nice to be able to shop for baby stuff and not just look for other people, I feel like I have some kind of a magic ticket with this belly and baby! I also stopped to get some extra place settings for when our families visit and some much needed bigger maternity pants which I shall model for you in a couple weeks via Belly pic update. But for now check out my baby steals:

Is this not one of the cutest things ever?! I can just picture our baby all wrapped up in it after bathtime :)

A little way for us to have a keepsake of Baby B's tiny hand and footprints....I already know my baby is going to get big too fast for me.

This one I bought specifically because I knew I was going to spend a good chunk of change at the outlet mall stores and I thought JB would get a kick out of it. (I was right, when I showed him it he just smiled and shook his head, heehee)

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed as well. I visited Jerod at school a couple times to see the kids doing roller skate limbo, gave his car the star treatment, and we spent the last couple days hosting and visiting friends of ours we hadn't seen since New Year's, it was good to spend time with them. I wish I had pictures, it was a great time and reminded me of college when it was just me with the guys and Jerod all the time. Good times, good times.

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