We got really good news at the doctor appointment yesterday. When I inquired about scheduling all the future appointments, Dr. Brown shared that he thinks I just need to come in once a month! This was shocking news as we'd both been led to believe that I'd be there once a week in the mornings. I was also relieved to hear that I can (and did) schedule these appointments late afternoons rather than at 9:30am. Whew! I am feeling much relief about the school year.
This is all the result of my blood sugar control being right where we'd like to see it. I must admit that this has been tough and requires much monitoring. I have stepped it up from 6-8 finger pokes/day to more like 12-15. I also have been continuing to wear the sensor even post study. It seems to be a very helpful tool for maintenance.
It has helped to be on summer schedule because I can really watch what I eat and spend time cooking good meals. I've hit a few Farmer's Markets for fresh stuff and it has been fun spending extra time in the kitchen making sure I know what goes into everything. I even got a food processor which I may some day use to make our own baby food.
Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary and we'll be celebrating at a 'fancy' place in the city. Looking forward to that!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Ending the First Trimester
This week finishes up our first trimester. With that, we've opened the blog to all and started to be more liberal with telling people. Ghee's been feeling good and continues to enjoy the vacation with occasional afternoon naps. This week we spoke to the diabetes nurse at Dr. Brown's office to start setting the schedule for the school year. There will have to be some decisions made. From what she suggested, we'll have appointments every-other week until the 32nd week. Starting the 32nd week we'll have bi-weekly appointments. One will be the blood sugar monitoring and the other will be a stress test. It looks like the 32nd week falls around the first part of December. I'm already working on scheduling the every-other week appointments for first thing (well, 8am) Monday mornings because they don't have afternoon appointments for their diabetes patients. I have to admit I am a tad nervous about how the year will go.
Instead of camping, Philip headed to the farm with me. We visited family and participated in harvest activities. Unfortunately, we missed Friday and the kids by only a few minutes, but had the chance to hang out with Sydney and Blair quite a bit which was so much fun. We had to rush back on Sunday because one of our sprinkler pipes burst in the backyard. Again, we are feeling so lucky to be in a neighborhood where people look out for one another. Fortunately, they had turned off the water and even cleaned up a bit. We are not looking forward to our next water bill!
Lastly, we are excited this week that someone has finally placed an offer on our 'old' house. We have our fingers crossed that all of this will work out and find it rather ironic that it might go to a young couple with the man working in the tech field and the woman just got a new job as a teacher in LWSD. It does have a little bit of 'meant to be' to it.
Instead of camping, Philip headed to the farm with me. We visited family and participated in harvest activities. Unfortunately, we missed Friday and the kids by only a few minutes, but had the chance to hang out with Sydney and Blair quite a bit which was so much fun. We had to rush back on Sunday because one of our sprinkler pipes burst in the backyard. Again, we are feeling so lucky to be in a neighborhood where people look out for one another. Fortunately, they had turned off the water and even cleaned up a bit. We are not looking forward to our next water bill!
Lastly, we are excited this week that someone has finally placed an offer on our 'old' house. We have our fingers crossed that all of this will work out and find it rather ironic that it might go to a young couple with the man working in the tech field and the woman just got a new job as a teacher in LWSD. It does have a little bit of 'meant to be' to it.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Thwarted Weekend Plans
Philip has been preparing for an exciting weekend adventure--to go backpacking/camping in the Enchantments near Leavenworth. We'd prepared his pack with dehydrated food, a one man tent and a lightweight sleeping bag. This afternoon he received news that one of his co-campers has a case of shingles. This caused some debate in our house...to go or not to go. The internet tells us that the only way you can get it is from direct contact with the individual who has it. As Ghee is not going on the trip, we figured there'd be no direct contact. Then we call UW to confirm. The nurse practically laughed us off the phone at the idea that he'd even consider going. She very confidently said "I absolutely would not support this idea and I don't think you should risk exposure". Thus, Philip's weekend plans have changed.
It looks like he'll be joining Ghee on an adventure to the farm. Ghee had planned on leaving tomorrow morning, but will wait until he can leave in the early afternoon. He'll just be trading one adventure for another as a trip to E.O. is always just that!
It looks like he'll be joining Ghee on an adventure to the farm. Ghee had planned on leaving tomorrow morning, but will wait until he can leave in the early afternoon. He'll just be trading one adventure for another as a trip to E.O. is always just that!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Do you see the resemblance?
Today both of us (well, all three of us) headed back to UW for the second Ultrasound. We are now at 11 weeks and 3 days. This one was a bit different as Ghee had to go in with a FULL bladder because the extra pressure would sort of shove everything to a "seeable" place. The baby's heart beat was at 148-considering that the healthy range is about 100-180 we were happy to be average! We could identify a head, arms, and legs quite easily. The next one of these will be week 18 when we can really see things.
After the ultrasound in radiology (and a happy trip to the bathroom) we headed up to see Dr. Brown. He said that everything looks great. We made a quick adjustment with the pump and he said I get to go back in 2 weeks. The clinic wasn't nearly as busy this morning so it was nice to get in and out quite quickly.
The blood draws have been a bit of a hassle. Some reason 2 times in a row I get 'stuck' with a slapper. I actually complained to her today and told her that she did exactly what the last person did that I suspect caused a bruise to cover my arm for over a week. You know, the ones that take 2 fingers and aggressively slap your forearm to somehow make the veins more apparent. I'm sorry, but I know from relatively frequent experience of blood draws that this is totally unnecessary and just causes pain and bruising. In fact, I wouldn't doubt if my veins actually run and hide from the slappers. That's why they both had to poke me twice. Sheesh.
Other than just feeling down right tired in the afternoons, I've been doing good. It is nice to be on summer break so that I can enjoy a few minute nap each afternoon. That's a luxury I know most pregnant women don't get, but I am fully taking advantage of it. In fact, it's about that time now...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Mini Me
We love our new neighborhood and had the best plan for sharing our news with our neighbors. Since we moved in we've been enjoying (perhaps too much) outfitting our lifesize cardboard cutout of Dr. Evil as various characters and placing him in the window of our bonus room which the neighbors can clearly see from their stairwell. Dr. Evil has masqueraded as a Native American in full headdress, a man headed to the beach with shades, hat and towel and other bi-weekly changes in image. We decided this week we'd spread baby notices by placing a Raggedy Ann doll on Dr. Evil's shoulder and have him wear a huge sign that reads "We're Having a Baby". We must admit that a portion of the fun was found in Philip figuring out how to create a bubble lettered "W" that they'd be able to see from that distance. We set it up in the morning and then had to leave for a few hours. We couldn't wait to get back home to see if they'd seen it. Of course, they did see it and we were giddy to share our excitement. Although, we had to pull the blinds in the bonus room (which we are now referring to as the playroom) because of the heat Dr. Evil is still proudly displaying the colorful sign.
No doctor appointments this week which gives me a chance to complete errands and get everything organized around here.
Philip found a Babar poster for the baby's room that is so sweet. Unfortunately, I took it in to get it framed and it is not a standard poster size and they wanted $150 to frame it. We're working on alternatives there for sure.
No doctor appointments this week which gives me a chance to complete errands and get everything organized around here.
Philip found a Babar poster for the baby's room that is so sweet. Unfortunately, I took it in to get it framed and it is not a standard poster size and they wanted $150 to frame it. We're working on alternatives there for sure.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
What's up Doc?
As the diabetic thing has been a concern, we have done much to prepare and give ourselves the best chance for a normal pregancy. We began last year with pre-pregnancy counseling so that we knew that we were good to go. Then when it was confirmed we immediately made an appointment to see Dr. Zane Brown at the UW Pregnancy clinic who we both think is one of the most fabulous men on earth! He answers all of our questions and connects us with diabetes pregnancy experts (besides himself), nutritionists, social workers, 24 hour nursing staff, etc. We have felt like we've had amazing care!
Our first appointment was between 7 and 8 weeks. We had an ultrasound where we saw the heart beating and got word from the resident that everything looks great so far. We even got to bring home our first photo--what a 5 mm cutie! At the appointment, we learned that I will be going in weekly or bi-weekly to check in regarding my blood sugars, make adjustments to my pump and see that everything is going along okay. This, of course, gets me a little concerned about the coming school year and the appointments are mornings only--in Seattle, but my teammates have provided great comfort that we'll make it work. We also learned that our due date will be during the 39th week instead of the typical 40th week. As the doctor says, "they are just keeping warm after that anyhow".
I've had one appointment since where I had some tests to check blood pressure--actually quite low--and look over my blood sugar readings. I got a thumbs up to go 3 weeks until the next appointment as things look so fantastic. I was sent home with several pages to keep a log of food, blood sugars, etc. and books about what to expect along the way. It is great to have so much confidence in those who will be caring for us!
Our first appointment was between 7 and 8 weeks. We had an ultrasound where we saw the heart beating and got word from the resident that everything looks great so far. We even got to bring home our first photo--what a 5 mm cutie! At the appointment, we learned that I will be going in weekly or bi-weekly to check in regarding my blood sugars, make adjustments to my pump and see that everything is going along okay. This, of course, gets me a little concerned about the coming school year and the appointments are mornings only--in Seattle, but my teammates have provided great comfort that we'll make it work. We also learned that our due date will be during the 39th week instead of the typical 40th week. As the doctor says, "they are just keeping warm after that anyhow".
I've had one appointment since where I had some tests to check blood pressure--actually quite low--and look over my blood sugar readings. I got a thumbs up to go 3 weeks until the next appointment as things look so fantastic. I was sent home with several pages to keep a log of food, blood sugars, etc. and books about what to expect along the way. It is great to have so much confidence in those who will be caring for us!
Starting to tell...
Now that things have settled from the school year, we've returned from our Eastern Oregon camping trip and we've started to share our "secret" with others we plan on regularly updating our 'pregnancy blog' (as it has been deemed).
Our camping adventure to Wallowa Lake with Cindy, Jason, Reed, Rian, Bob and Carol was a blast. It was so much fun spending time in the relaxing outdoors and Philip love the opportunity to catch a couple fish from Bird's boat. I enjoyed some bonding experiences with Cindy, Reed and Rian. I was delighted to see that so much was as I remembered from my own childhood--deer in the park, great trails to bike around and the paddleboats! I was surprised by how well I slept in the tent and I actually avoided feeling the nausea which has kept me up most nights at home.
Before taking off, we shared the news with my parents. We can tell they are nervous about the whole diabetic thing, but excited! We also stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's in Helix on our way back. When Philip told Grandpa that "we're having a kid", Grandma quickly chided him and responded with "you're not having a Goat. It's a BABY!". Then Grandpa reminded us that we're the last ones--all six of his grandkids now will have given him great-grandkids. It was so much fun sharing the news with them as they responded with incredible pride and joy. As we recieved a tour of her hallway of photos of grandkids, Philip shared with her that ours will 'look a little different'. As he did this she quickly said, "Don't worry. They'll still be welcome here!"--Good to know!
The sharing of the joyous news continued as we attempted to have Kuper tell Friday. We'd been playing in the kiddie pool with him and sent him in to tell her that "Ghee's having a baby." Shortly after he entered the house he came running out hollering to use, "Mommy says 'her is NOT a baby'." The second attempt was successful with a little help from mom who was in the house with them. Randy and Paul got the news quickly as they were heading to town. Both of them admitted surprise that their children did not act as birth control for us. Randy could hardly speak and expressed just a giddy laugh.
Before returning home, we stopped by to see Char and kids. We had been looking forward to sharing this news with her as we know she's been anticipating this for a while and is constantly inquiring on when it will happen. After missing her earlier in the week, we were glad she was home, but shocked that she already knew. Randy had phoned her on his way to town. She offered us baby gear to take back, but we had a car full of camping gear--and Juan!
Upon our return, we called India to start spreading the news. They had just left church where they'd apparently been praying for such a gift from God. This is their first grandchild (and niece/nephew) so the overjoy was easily apparent through the phone. We started receiving advice from Philip's mom regarding pregnancy, etc. and are looking forward to sharing the updates with them.
Our camping adventure to Wallowa Lake with Cindy, Jason, Reed, Rian, Bob and Carol was a blast. It was so much fun spending time in the relaxing outdoors and Philip love the opportunity to catch a couple fish from Bird's boat. I enjoyed some bonding experiences with Cindy, Reed and Rian. I was delighted to see that so much was as I remembered from my own childhood--deer in the park, great trails to bike around and the paddleboats! I was surprised by how well I slept in the tent and I actually avoided feeling the nausea which has kept me up most nights at home.
Before taking off, we shared the news with my parents. We can tell they are nervous about the whole diabetic thing, but excited! We also stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's in Helix on our way back. When Philip told Grandpa that "we're having a kid", Grandma quickly chided him and responded with "you're not having a Goat. It's a BABY!". Then Grandpa reminded us that we're the last ones--all six of his grandkids now will have given him great-grandkids. It was so much fun sharing the news with them as they responded with incredible pride and joy. As we recieved a tour of her hallway of photos of grandkids, Philip shared with her that ours will 'look a little different'. As he did this she quickly said, "Don't worry. They'll still be welcome here!"--Good to know!
The sharing of the joyous news continued as we attempted to have Kuper tell Friday. We'd been playing in the kiddie pool with him and sent him in to tell her that "Ghee's having a baby." Shortly after he entered the house he came running out hollering to use, "Mommy says 'her is NOT a baby'." The second attempt was successful with a little help from mom who was in the house with them. Randy and Paul got the news quickly as they were heading to town. Both of them admitted surprise that their children did not act as birth control for us. Randy could hardly speak and expressed just a giddy laugh.
Before returning home, we stopped by to see Char and kids. We had been looking forward to sharing this news with her as we know she's been anticipating this for a while and is constantly inquiring on when it will happen. After missing her earlier in the week, we were glad she was home, but shocked that she already knew. Randy had phoned her on his way to town. She offered us baby gear to take back, but we had a car full of camping gear--and Juan!
Upon our return, we called India to start spreading the news. They had just left church where they'd apparently been praying for such a gift from God. This is their first grandchild (and niece/nephew) so the overjoy was easily apparent through the phone. We started receiving advice from Philip's mom regarding pregnancy, etc. and are looking forward to sharing the updates with them.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)