28 weeks

Figured I'd get this down before I forget half of whats going on because... Pregnancy Brain is real my friends!

Our halls have been decked, presents are waiting under the tree and littles are anxiously awaiting tearing open gifts in a fraction of the time it took to wrap them.

We've been more intentional about participating in the season of advent this year as a family. We've been reading a nightly advent family devotional and progressively decorating the tree and house to participate in the anticipation of the coming of Christ. The girls' are getting it and it's so precious to hear their sweet childlike faith and wisdom remind me what it's all about.

The third trimester is here.

We've taken a break from all things baby prep for the holiday season, which after the move, the new car, the new job and wanting to stay on track homeschooling is, oh so NECESSARY!! But I have spurts of nesting where I clean like a maniac and cook freezer meals to store till after baby comes. I'm anticipating the new year and getting this little girl's nursery ready and washing all the little clothes and hopefully finishing unpacking the boxes that have been neglected in our storage room.
I'm excited to know little one in there is growing and things are looking good. I've still been feeling good, although getting slightly more uncomfortable, which I'm reminded of every night when I try to get comfortable. Luckily Jared doesn't mind the 4 extra pillows that have recently taken up residence in bed.

Friday, I had a doctors appointment and 1 hour glucose test, which I found out today I failed meaning I get to return to take the 3 hour glucose test in a few hours. (BLEH) I had gestational diabetes with Addiston and it seemed terrible because I already had food aversions, but as good as I've been feeling this time I honestly don't think it would be that bad to have it again this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong I don't welcome the hundreds of finger pricks but in the big scheme of things it's manageable. And do to the excitement (anxiety) about the follow up test, I'm up at 4am blogging (not eating-even though a pb&j sounds divine) instead of sleeping-lucky you!

Sunday when we were in our regular hurry to get all four of us dressed, ready, fed and in the car for our (we've been in the new house 3 months and still cant get used to the) 30 minute drive to church. I was loading up the van with breakfast items that hadn't been finished, make-up that still needed applying and little girl hair bows when I slipped. My cute leopard print ballet flats have nearly no traction and as I was reaching to put something on the console my feet just slipped out from under mean and my belly caught my fall on the edge of the seat and van. It hurt, startled me and Jared and led to a few  hours of baby girl being chill (which is very unlike this growing little karate kid) I tried to take it easy the rest of the day sunday, but woke up Monday feeling extra sore, so I called the doctor who told me to head strait to Labor and delivery.

After a few hours of being monitored, they determined Baby and I were ok and that I should try to limit myself till the pain subsided. I had a few days of being sore and nervous but am feeling much better!

We're headed to my parent's house for Christmas and I'm super excited to see family and get to continue with our little family traditions. The girls' are at great ages for traveling and usually we can make it strait through only stopping once. I'm only a little annoyed that It's suppose to be in the 50s on Christmas day, in Cincinnati. I love that today it was 70 in Nashville and we played outside, but I go north for the holidays to get my white Christmas. (get it together mother nature) On the bright side, heavy winter clothes take up more space and require and extra suitcase, so here's to packing light for the trip!

Safe travels and Merry Christmas Friends!

12 weeks

After 4 agonizingly long weeks of bed rest I ventured back to the doctor. I had spent too much time googling. Asked everyone who knew about the pregnancy to be in prayer for the SCH to heal, and lost too much sleep stressing about it. All while attempting to talk Jared through getting the house ready for us to move.

First thing I had my early glucose test.
I had gestational diabetes with Addiston and for each subsequent pregnancy they like to test me at 12 weeks that way if I do test positive for Gestational Diabetes I can start a special diet early and insulin if needed. It was 8 am I had been too nervous to eat breakfast and that sugary orange drink tasted nothing like the coffee I wanted. I completed my task and settled into reading the new Harper Lee novel. Finished my bloodwork and was passed off to Ultrasound.

I was able to spot the heartbeat myself, it was strong at 167. (old wives tales predict thats a girl)
Little one was bouncing around all over the place. Probably from that pure sugar drink I had just chugged.

After a thorough search and a few tears of joy the nurse practitioner (my OB had been called in to deliver a baby) confirmed that the SCH was nowhere to be found. I was released from bed rest and told as all pregnant women are "take it easy"

The next day we traveled to Cincinnati for my sweet grandmothers 93rd Birthday, at which we announced to my side of the family that we were going to round out the grandkids and make it an even dozen.


(Oh, and I passed my glucose test. No finger pricking for me this time!)

Mothers Day

Once again it's been too long since I've posted!
This pregnancy has seemed more exhausting than my pregnancy with Addiston, which really isn't surprising considering I spend most of my time chasing her and not resting! The hardest part of this pregnancy of lately has been craving food that I was raised on. Jared says that Cincinnati is like a food cult, we have Skyline, LaRosa's, Grippo's, Frische's, and other "northern" foods. I wanted a steak hoagie the other night, called a few places and went in one, no body in the south has even heard of a steak hoagie! You can't get goetta her to save your life-nobody knows what that is either (it's a breakfast dish) and legit skyline chili is out of the question! At least I can get that in cans, it's not exact but it beats a blank.

We've been crossing lots of things off of the "get-done-before-we-have-another-baby" list which has taken up most of our free time. We've taken several car loads to good will trying to clear out space for the new little one and we're well underway on her room, my dad should be coming down soon to finish up the painting (he's a pro-so we figured we'd let him do it) and then all that's left is putting it all together.
We have officially decided to name Baby Girl #2 Isabella Grace Miller. Both of Jared's grandmothers names are Ella and we wanted to incorporate their name into our little one's name. No we are not insane closet Twilight fans, we just like the name! And Grace has always been one of my favorite middle names. Addiston is so sweet trying to say Isabella, the Isa never comes out but the Bella part always does, and in the process she looks as if she's going to vomit, sticking her tongue out all the way while saying bell. It's so funny, we laugh every time we ask her what her little sister's name is.

On Fridays I have a Mom's group that I attend at our church, this was our last meeting before summer and instead of having a formal meeting we decided to drop our kids off at church and head out to get pedicures for mothers day. I'm so grateful to have these women in my life. Most of them have more children than I and older children. They have been through the same sicknesses, trials, and are such a comfort in my life. Addiston had become friends with many of their kids and asks to play with them on a regular basis. Most of the time we find this sweet, but when she was asking for a little boy names Gavin "davin" the other night at chick-fil-a Jared decided she's too young to play with boys.
Addiston is doing quite well potty training, we ask her to sit on her big girl potty every time we need to change her diaper and are using cloth diapers more often so she can tell when she's wet. She always tries to go only is successful about 50% of the time but hey she's only 23 months and is doing great, so we're happy.

Our sweet friend Nathan, who I've mentioned before, got engaged two weeks ago, and asked Addiston to be his flower girl, luckily she's got a while before the big day. Addiston LOVES Nathan, and will have her aunt Kara's wedding under her belt so I'm sure she'll do great.

We're in a great routine right now, Addiston's super playful and we have a great balance between her playing with us and playing by herself. Her favorite thing to do is still read but swinging is a close second. We try and go on walks in the evening when the weather is good or we don't have plans and she loves those.

I had my 28 week appointment and learned that I do NOT have gestational diabetes this pregnancy! Hooray! I was told that I had a very high chance of having them this time so I was shocked when the nurse called and told me I didn't, I am however anemic, so I need to take an iron supplement, so no big struggle here.

In other news one of my best friends came to visit a few weeks ago from Virginia and it was so good to spend some time with my dear Kari, she gave me a book "heaven is for real" and somehow I found the time to read it in two days, it was so sweet, and I loved that she told me that I'm going to have an entourage waiting for me in heaven. Today ironically enough would have been the due date of the baby that we miscarried last fall. It was strange to see in on the calendar, but Jared made this mother's day so special for me and Isabella has been doing summersaults all afternoon, reminding me that I indeed have another miracle growing inside me. Addiston actually telling me Happy Mother's Day and saying "love you mama" was the sweetest thing I ever could have asked for, but her daddy got me spa certificate and a new make-up mirror just in case her sweet blessings didn't cut it.
Yesterday I was a wedding coordinator to another friend Lindsay, she was a beautiful bride and the whole day went smoothly even with a few scattered showers. Her photographer offered me a job at the company she and her husband own as a part time wedding planner/coordinator, so who knows maybe I'll go to a few weddings before this baby is born and put my OCD tendencies to good use!
Well it's a little girls bed time and she's trying to lick the ice cream on her pajamas, so I think I'll go cuddle a bit before I crash myself!

A whole new journey

So yesterday was the three hour glucose test for gestational diabetes. Jared went into work for a few hours on Sunday so that he could go with me, which was a Godsend because I felt terrible for most of the time I was there.

I had to strictly monitor my carb and sugar intake over the weekend and fast after dinner in sunday night. When I got to the doctor's office at 8am on Monday they took my blood so that they could see the baseline glucose level, then I had to drink another super sweet syrupish beverage, except this one was twice as sweet as the first. (If you've ever worked in a restaurant-which I think everyone should be required to do at some point, imagine drinking the concentrate that gets mixed with carbonated water to make the soda.) Thats how thick and disgustingly sweet this stuff is.

After about ten minutes I was feeling pretty queasy and like I was going to pass out. The waiting room was loud and bright and I was tired and grumpy=not a good combination. After one hour they took my blood again to see how the glucose drink was effecting my system.

We had to wait another hour, so we went out to the car to sit this time to get away from all the craziness since I wasn't feeling well. Time for another prick, listen to those of you who say that giving blood is no big deal-it is to me, so back off, it really hurts!

The final hour I was actually starting to feel a little bit better so we stayed in the waiting room and read the books that we both brought, Jared a John Grisham, Me a David McCullough. (On a side note I would like to point out that one of my favorite things about my husband is that he and I can sit side by side and read for hours, without a word. It's a pleasant peacefulness that we share and rarely get to enjoy so in a way I was happy to be waiting for them to take my blood!) A chapter later and it was time for my final stick!

Well three hours and four pricks later, it was over, I had put a peanut butter and banana sandwich in my purse to eat as soon as I was done because by that time it had been about 16 hours since I had consumed anything and I knew I would be starving-best thing I've ever thought of!

This morning I got the call, my test results were in, and I do in fact have gestational diabetes.

I was shocked, tears flooded my eyes and I couldn't think strait. How could I have this? I'm small, seriously, small! I eat healthy, I stay active, I've done everything, literally EVERYTHING you're suppose to do when your pregnant.

The nurse began talking to me about what I need to do now and I made her repeat it three times because I knew I wasn't comprehending. She could tell I was upset and tried to calm me down, She told me that more than likely it is not my fault, everybody's body responds differently to the pregnancy hormones. The nurse was as surprised as I was. She said she never would have guessed that I of all people would have GD, but here it is... I have to go to dietitian, and learn how to test my blood sugar everyday (oh joy, more needles!) and more than likely go on a pill. Worst case scenario is that Jared will have to give me a shot everyday, but that's only if the pills don't work.

Jared was as surprised as I was, when I told him, but assured me we'd get through this and be fine. I called my parents and told them, they were both equally shocked, saying they were sorry and tried to stay positive.

Honestly, I'm a little bit devastated. I feel like I'm failing my daughter and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm scared that in some way she will be harmed by all of this, I want her to be safe and healthy, I want to protect her.

So here we go, bring on the meal-plans, the testing strips, and whatever else they make me do. 10 weeks, that's all that's left till Addiston gets here, 10 weeks. I can do anything for ten weeks. (even let my husband give me a shot everyday?)

Failure

I did not pass my one hour glucose test.

I have to go back for a three hour test on monday, where they will draw my blood four times!

I'm scared.