I am still absolutely LOVING pregnancy! Part of me is so thrilled that Tatum will be here in 11 weeks, but the other part is really sad because that means I only have 11 weeks left of being pregnant. My body has defiantly undergone some changes over the last 7 months, some changes more enjoyable than others.
Here is a list of recent-ish developments:
- I am extremely hot about 88% of the time. This is very uncommon for me, as I am usually cold if it isn’t above 75 (inside or out). However, pregnancy mixed with 100 + degree Texas summer is defiantly beginning to have an impact. I know that pregnant ladies are always supposed to be hot, but I didn’t really started experiencing this until a few weeks ago. Maybe its because August tends to be the hottest month, or maybe it’s a third trimester thing. Either way, I am now a stereotypical preggo in this regard. 
- Stretch marks… yeah. Not on my belly (yet…hopefully not ever, but at least not yet). Im not going to specify the location… but I will admit to some stretch marks. This has been my least favorite pregnancy development. I cried when I saw them. And then again when I told Brian about them. But, of course, he was as sweet as ever and promised he still loved me.
- I pee constantly. This is not a recent development, its been here the whole time, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I have read that there should have been some relief from this in the second trimester, but I didn’t get that. Might have been due to the gestational diabetes.
- Tatum has started kicking and/or punching my bladder. This is fun and yet not fun. Fun because I adore feeling her move in any way. Not fun because it hurts and I’m scared that one of these times it is going to make me wet myself.
- Baby Tatum gets the hiccups! Just about everyday, usually twice a day. When she first started I thought she was just really rhythmic with her punches and I got really excited thinking she would be a drummer like her daddy. Then it dawned on me that they were hiccups. Still exciting though. I think its so cute to feel and see her little hiccups.
- My belly button is neither and innie nor an outie. It’s a flattie. It keeps looking like it might pop out, but it hasn’t yet. I keep thinking that I am going to laugh really hard and it will just pop out.
- Speaking of laugh really hard, I do that a lot. Ever since I have been preggo, I find the silliest things to be absolutely hysterical! And I laugh extremely hard. I started laughing at a movie the other day and Brian was worried that I was going to hyperventilate. It was probably a legitimate concern.
- This is one of my favorites: I can usually find some part of Tatum when I poke around at my belly. It is so amazing to feel something hard and realize its her foot or leg! And it is especially breath taking when the hard thing I feel moves across my tummy. I can also feel her head down low in my tummy, but I am scared to push that too much… even though the sonogramist didn’t seem to think it was harmful when she was jabbing at it
- I get killer leg cramps in the morning if I don’t stretch before I go to bed. My calf turns into a rock and it feels like my leg is about to burst open and an evil mutant alien parasite will pop out and attack me.
Now for an update on the gestational diabetes front:
I test my urine (I know, gross… but handling pee has basically become a staple in my life) for keytones twice a day. Basically, if there are keytones it means I have not eaten enough carbs and that my body has begun burning fat for energy. In a non-pregnant person who is not underweight this is not a problem. Actually, for most people it would be a good thing because your body is burning fat. However, while fat is an acceptable energy source for my body, Tatum can not get any nutrition/energy from this process- she needs carbs. So I have to be very careful not so eat to many carbs and get high blood glucose, and not to eat to little carbs that Tatum is not getting enough nutrition. I have only had high keytones once. Occasionally I have small keytones, and more often than I would like I have trace keytones. It is difficult to find the balance between acceptable blood sugar and no keytones.
I test my blood glucose 4-6 times a day ( I got the number reduced due to good levels yay me!). I do this via my handy finger pricking kit. I also keep track of the numbers via my handy glucose chart. Although the pricker usually hurts me (I am not much of a bleeder, so I have to set it pretty high to get enough blood; if it doesn’t hurt it probably wont bleed for me), I am kind of addicted to it. Every time I eat something I cant wait for two hours to go by so I can make sure it was okay. It is a nice reassurance to KNOW what was okay and what wasn’t. Basically, if Dr. Bakdash (amazing endocrinologist) told me I didn’t have to prick anymore, I would anyway. Also, I really want to keep the pricker after I give birth… I hope the let me!
I am extremely happy/relieved/blessed to report that my sugar is good about 95% of the time! Both Dr. Bakdash and Dr. Devine were please with my levels. This is such wonderful news because if my sugar stays under control, chances are slim that Tatum will suffer any consequences. Please keep praying that she does not grow so large that they need to induce early or perform a c-section. I am praying for a natural vaginal delivery with no induction.
The final thing that I have to check daily (twice a day actually) is fetal movement. I watch the clock to see how long it takes her to make 10 distinct movements. 0-15 minutes is an A, 16-30 minutes is a B, and so on. So far she has been all As and Bs.
So, for those of you keeping score at home, that is 8-10 things I have to check and or monitor daily!! Good thing I have OCD tendencies which keep me extremely organized (or anal as Brian so fondly puts it )
We had another sonogram on Tuesday – everything looks great! She is a normal and healthy size for this point. She also has big pouty lips and long toes! She is also still a she!
We also found out that because gestational diabetes puts me and Tatum at higher risk, it is routine to perform twice a week non-stress tests from here on out. So this means that twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) I will go to Dr. Atkinson’s office and get strapped in with some super sweet belts with monitors on them so they can monitor her movements. Though a slight inconvience because this will take about an hour each time, I also kind of like it because that’s reassurance that shes doing okay twice a week! The scariest side-effect of gestational diabetes is increased incidence of stillbirth in the last trimester… something that makes my heart sink to even think about… yet I cant help it sometimes. So having them check her movements twice a week is comforting.
Well, this has become a very long post… so to encourage people to actually read what I write, I will stop here!
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