January 2014 – Over The Deep End

19 Weeks

January 28, 2014 No Comments

Usually I have much better pictures for this, but considering my options this is as good as it’s going to get.

How far along? 19 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Still sitting pretty at 120ish. (I was 119.6 when being weighed in on Sunday night, but I have very light clothing on vs. the jeans and sweater I had on when I weighed in at 120.8 – we’re calling it the same weight. )
Maternity clothes? PJ pants and t-shirts
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Sleep has been tough the past week. More specially since Saturday. My chest pain makes it uncomfortable to lie flat on my side, coughing keeps me up as does the regular hustle bustle of being in a hospital overnight. Last night I got a few good hours.
~~Best~~ Worst moment this week: Finding out I have the flu. BOO.
Miss Anything? I miss being able to do handstands and backbends. I feel like I could really use a good back bend. I’m also missing sleep a bit.
Movement: Nugget hunkers down real low when I cough, and I don’t blame her(him) I would want to get away from my constricting stomach muscles too! So the last few days I haven’t felt as much movement as usually. I still feel her(him) flip flop and budge up on my right side when I haven’t been coughing for a while. Usually during the evening.
Food Cravings: Liquids. I just want lots of liquids. Hot broth, cold milk, icy water, etc.
Anything making you queasy or sick? Oh, just the flu.
Gender: ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL WE KNOW FOR SURE!
Labor signs: None- thank goodness that’s the last thing I’d want while I have the flu.
Belly button in or out? It’s working it’s way out. Kyle and I joke, that I’m going to have one big cough and it’s just going to pop itself inside out.
Happy or moody most of the time? Considering the situation (hospital, flu, chest pains, little sleep) I think my mood is pretty good. I’ve only snapped at one person but it’s because they were not following the gown-ing up rule.
Looking forward to: Feeling better and going home! And of course, as usually, the ultrasound next Tuesday.

I don’t have many updates about my stay in the hospital. We’re holding off on getting a picc until we see what my PFT’s look like tomorrow. If they’re not too below baseline then I will most likely keep peripheral lines until I go home. When I go home I’ll most likely go home with oral antibiotics. I’ll go home when my chest pain is alleviated/my flu symptoms are gone and I’m feeling better.

If my PFT’s are WAY below baseline- as in- there’s no way this is just the flu… then I’ll get scheduled for a picc and do a full blown tune-up. Most likely 10 – 12 days inpatient then another week or so of home therapy.

For the moment we’re all still operating under the assumption that all my lung issues are being caused by the flu at the moment. While I’m in the hospital waiting for the flu to leave, I will be getting 2/3 of my normal CF IV cocktail. (Only 2/3 since the last med is a huge No-no in pregnancy.) We’re doing this so that whatever mucus is trapped in my lungs, since I’m having a hard time moving things up and out, won’t fester into a separate infection.

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18 Weeks

January 21, 2014 No Comments

How far along? 18 Weeks – My belly still looks about the same from last week. I can’t see any visible growth in size.
Total weight gain/loss: I haven’t weighed myself, so let’s assume I’m still up the almost 7 lbs from prepregnancy weight.
Maternity clothes? This week consisted mostly of PJ’s for me. When I did head out, I was rocking my H&M Mama jeans all week. So. Darn. Comfy.
Stretch marks? Nope, still slathering that coconut oil on for the itchy belly syndrome that’s going on.

Sleep: Sleep is hit or miss these days. I have trouble staying asleep. When I do wake up I usually start coughing and have a hard time falling back asleep. I’m back to napping almost every day to make up for the lack of sleep.
Best moment this week: The best moment this week was last night. Kyle and I were laying in bed while little Nugget wiggled away, and when I stretch out you can see little teeny tiny flops happening. Kyle finally saw one! They’re still so little that you can’t really feel them yet, but definitely seeing it was the highlight of the week.
Miss Anything? I don’t really miss anything besides, well, sleeping at night.
Movement: Lot’s of movement at night or when I’m resting to nap. I even saw (and felt) a distinct kick when stretched out and rubbing my lower tummy. That night even Kyle was able to see some movement!

Food Cravings:I’m starting to crave coffee, so much to the point where I just bought a simple single serving coffee maker. It’s interesting because while I drink coffee every once in a while, I’m not a huge coffee lover. I can’t even blame the caffeine since I’ve been getting decaf! Something about it, I just find myself craving it. I figure since I’m adding a bunch of cream, it’s not too bad as far as cravings go. 😉
Anything making you queasy or sick? I had a Kale Caesar Salad yesterday from a restaurant that left me feeling a little less than wonderful. Also probably part of the reason I couldn’t fall asleep last night!
Gender: Still anxiously waiting for February 4th! We’ve been calling the Nugget “she” and “her” lately though, so if it does turn out to be a boy, we’ll have to change our ways.
Labor signs: nope. On a side note, our neighbor is due to go into labor any day now! How exciting.

Belly button in or out? It’s still doing it’s wonky, in and out thing. You can see it through my shirts now and when I cough it really sticks out. I think in a few more weeks it will start flipping inside out.
Happy or moody most of the time? I asked Kyle this question and his answer was, “Miserable,” to which I disagree. I had one pretty miserably cranky day out of the week, which is apparently the only day he can remember, but then I had quite a few good days. I think the good days outshine the one miserable day. I deem this week “overall happy.”
Looking forward to: 1. Painting the trim, and selling the desks on Craigslist.

2. I’m also looking forward to the anatomy scan in two weeks since Kyle will be coming with me. He hasn’t been to an ultrasound where the nugget actually looks like a baby, so I’m very excited for him to witness the awesomeness.

3. I’m looking forward to the sun coming back! We had quite the snow storm today which made taking pictures a bit trickier, hence just the one picture today.

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Nursery Progress!

January 20, 2014 1 Comment

Watercolor Fox

Last Friday proved to be a very productive day for me. In the morning I was able to run some errands, make some returns, and even pick up a few paint samples for the nursery accent wall! I was feeling a bit short of breath due to the extreme cold weather so after my hour of errands I hunkered down in the warm house for the rest of the day. I have been waiting on Kyle sanding the nursery trim so I can start priming and giving it a fresh coat of white paint. Painting the trim that afternoon wasn’t an option, so I turned to the next best thing– painting some cute watercolors for Nugget’s nursery walls!

Watercolor Badger -Kyle’s requested animal

I turned to Etsy for some inspiration and then got to work. I ended up painting for almost 3 hours. The badger took 3 tries before I finally gave up and just ‘went for it,’ smearing black paint where I felt like it may look good. And then adding even more black paint just because I had some extra. This sloppy attempt turned out to be the best.

I also managed to slap the three colors I picked up from lowes, on the wall. There’s one color I’m really drawn to. It is in no way your classic ‘baby color.’ I’m sure some people would even think of it as ‘harsh’ for a nursery. I think it’s going to be cozy and calming. I’m looking for a deep bold wall with lots of neutral colors layered in. Earthy, woody-s, and calm are the three things that enter my mind when I think of my ideal nursery.

Watercolor Hedgehog

Over the weekend Kyle bunkered down in the nursery to sand all the trim. Outlets were updated, and the black light switch was replaced with a white one. While he was hard at work I was doing quite the opposite. I puttered around the house feeling less than helpful. I was feeling pretty good on Saturday so I cooked up a big steak lunch – well, steak for me and a non-chicken chicken cutlet for Odie. After lunch and another hour of sanding for the hubster we went on a chilly family walk. Since my winter jacket no longer can button over my expanding midsection, I’ve resorted to wearing lots of layers usually topped off with one or more of Kyle’s jackets. Later that night we had a few friends over for dinner and board games.

Sunday I awoke feeling pretty icky. I had managed to sleep through most of the night uninterrupted so I knew I was well rested. I was short of breath and very junky all day. I seem to have a cycle of alternating good days and bad days. I have clinic in two weeks so I’d be interested to see what my lung function looks like. I think some antibiotics might be in my future. A small 2-3 week course might just be the kick I need to hold me off until a full tune-up right before my due date. It would be good timing as Bactrim (my cultures’ drug of choice) is the most safely used while in the second trimester.

By Sunday night Kyle managed to finish prepping all the trim, and I managed to come to terms that I wasn’t going to get anything remotely important or productive done. We went to bed and chatted about possible girl names and other various baby related topics.

Upon waking up this morning I feel halfway between ‘good’ and ‘meh.’ It’s all comparative these days, so in comparison to yesterday I’m feeling better. I slept through the night with little interruptions and I haven’t coughed so hard/much to throw up. So far I’d say today is a good day!

Hope everyone is having a happy start to their week! 18 week update will be up tomorrow.

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17 Weeks!

January 15, 2014 2 Comments

How Far Along: 17 Weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: I am up to 120.8lbs, up from pre-pregnancy of 114. Total gain of 6.8lbs!

Maternity clothes? This particular outfit is all non-maternity stuff. Jeggings and a super stretchy top from H&M. I’ve been looking forward to wearing some of the things my neighbor brought over for me, lots of sweaters for the cold weather! Still loving my “MamaJeans” from H&M- so much so that I’m tempted to go buy a new pair so I can alternate between two pairs.

Stretch marks? Nope. I’m slathering myself in coconut oil mostly because my belly has started getting itchy. I also found it basically makes my keratosis pilaris (“chicken skin”)on the back of my arms/legs disappear!

Sleep: Sleeping better this week. No lower back pain. I wake up quite a few times during the night to flop over to my other side. Normally, I would be able to sleep right through the process but I fear with my belly getting bigger waking up to roll over is the new norm.

Best moment this week: Lot’s of great moments this week. I finally managed to get my breakfast sugar levels below 140. I also heard nuggets heartbeat on the doppler for the first time yesterday. Nugget also was rubbing his/her face and yawning on ultrasound – which left my heart melting into puddle of mommy hormones.

Miss Anything? Still missing that warm weather… spring, you’re welcome to come early this year! In fact, just last night Kyle told me I’m allowed to actually send him out for things when I’m craving them. Aka: I wanted chicken wings at 11pm last night, and we went out and got some. I could get used to that…

Movement: Feeling some rolls and wiggles late at night when I’ve been lying still for a while! Can’t wait till they’re noticeable through my belly so Kyle can feel them too.

Food Cravings:Chicken wings. More specifically the chicken wings I gorged on during a christmas eve get together. Teriyaki chicken wings made in the crock pot, just to the point where they were starting to get sticky and blackened. They were SO good. I think I ate about a dozen of the things.The chicken wings I had last night? Eh, not so much.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Coughing is the only thing making me sick these days. Usually I can cough for a good 25 minutes or so before triggering my gag reflex. All it takes these days is one good cough. It could be a buildup of coughs, it could be sudden. It certainly makes life much more interesting.

Gender: We tried to peek at the gender yesterday with the OB’s portable ultrasound machine, but man, this little baby is determined to make me wait until Feb. 4th. Little Nugget was curled up so tightly we couldn’t see much. While we saw a few in between the leg shots, it wasn’t the right angle to really see, so I left with another guess. Another guess of GIRL. Two for two right now on the girl guesses.

Labor signs: No.

Belly button in or out? It’s in for the most part. I had the OB check it to see if it’s just already starting to flip inside out, or if I do have an umbilical hernia. I have a VERY tiny defect according to the OB, which shouldn’t be a problem especially as I get bigger, the uterus will protect the small gap I have. On a side note, the way to determine this, medically of course, is to try to stick your pinky finger through said ‘gap’ to determine how big your hernia is. Um… I wish I was kidding. Most uncomfortable thing to date. I’m already pretty weirded out by people touching my normal belly button, never mind trying to push your pinky through a hole in my belly button. Gross. Moving on.

Happy or moody most of the time? I’ve been happier this week. Thank goodness! I still have my snappy moments, but overall doing alright. This question should really be answered by Kyle, I think he’s a better judge of my mood. 😉

Looking forward to: The weekend! I’ve convinced Kyle to prep the trim in the nursery so we can start caulking it and painting it. I’ve been picking out colors for the walls; right now I have a pretty gender neutral scheme. It’s a more non-traditional color scheme since I’m not into the “pastel blue for boys, Pink for girls” type stuff. Hint, the color palette contains the color aubergine. “That’s not a color, you’re just making things up now…” –Kyle

I’m excited to get started and start ordering big things like cribs, and gliders!

I do believe this concludes the 17 week survey Are there any question you think I should add to the survey to answer each week?

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Sugar Sugar, aw, honey honey…

January 14, 2014 1 Comment

It took almost a week of fiddling with carb ratios but I finally managed to get my breakfast levels under 140! The real test will be using the same ratio tomorrow and seeing if I can repeat levels under 140. If not, it’s back to the drawing board. Right now it looks like my ratio will be 4 units to every 15 carbs. I’ll still only be counting for breakfast, since my lunch and dinner levels seem to do just fine on their own.

Now, as I get bigger and further along my carb ratio is bound to increase. By the time I’m full term, I might even be bolusing for lunch and dinner. For now, I’m just happy that I finally managed to get one breakfast in the target range.

I’ve also seem to gain back the pound I lost over vacation. Although my morning weight and my night weight vary vastly. (I always go by the heaviest, even though its the most unscientific.)

In other news, one of my neighbors gave me a box of her old maternity clothes so I’ve been enjoying having, quite literally, an expanding wardrobe. She passed on about 4 or 5 sweaters, a couple of shirts/tanks, a few skirts a couple of dresses and about 6 pairs of pants. The pants are about a size or two too big, but they’ll do if I’m in a pinch. All the tops fit great and they’re all in really nice condition. I also found the most comfortable pair of maternity jeans at the thrift store! They fit fantastically, and they might even look better than most of my regular jeans. Right now, they’re my go-to pair since they’re the most flattering & comfy!

When I wear my regular clothes I look much more pregnant. When I wear my maternity things, I look like I ate too much chipotle. Comfort usually wins out so I’m rockin’ the chipotle belly look. I know in a few weeks I’ll probably surpass the ‘is that a beer belly?’ stage and start entering the ‘lets-pray-for-the-teen-mom’ phase. Let the awkwardness begin! Then again, this is Baltimore, people might not even think twice. =)

Weekly picture and survey will be up tomorrow. I have my 17 week appointment today so I won’t get any time to take pictures and upload them. Unless I decide to look cute today, and then I might have to put forth some extra effort.

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All this BS… Blood Sugar of course!

January 10, 2014 No Comments

I’ve dealt with borderline CFRD {cystic fibrosis related diabetes} for a few years now, so it was no real surprise when I failed my 1 hour glucose test a few weeks ago. After tracking my blood sugar levels for two and a half weeks it was apparent I needed to start some sort of insulin, at least for the first meal of the day, where my levels had been consistently high.

After seeing the nutritionist, who happens to share an office with my CF nutritionist, a plan has been set in motion. We are starting with my old carb to insulin ratio of 1 unit of short acting insulin to every 30 carbs. The goal is to have my 1 hour level under 140. For breakfast I’ve been hitting in the low 200’s.

Since I’ve handled insulin before I’m allowed to tweak my ratio as dictated by my blood sugar level feedback. I did my first dose today, and while my fasting number was great, and I ate an exact 60 carbs, my low 1:30 ratio didn’t cut it and I was still in the 200’s at the one hour mark. Looks like tomorrow I’ll be upping my ratio to their standard gestational diabetes ratio of 1:15. If I’m still a little higher than normal, I’ll up the ratio again to 1:10.

For now, breakfast is the only meal of the day where I’ll be taking insulin. My levels after lunch and dinner are usually under the 140 mark.

I’m hoping by starting insulin gaining weight will be a little easier, and I may even start to feel a little better. Right now my mornings are tough. I wake up feeling particularly chesty but with no real productivity when coughing. This is usually accompanied by just general feeling of ickiness and thanks to a much more sensitive gag reflex these days, some coughing induced puking.

I usually start to feel loads different after lunch (when my sugar levels tend to even out!) and I continue to feel good until I go to bed. Wake up, and repeat. Hopefully by controlling my sugars from the start, my lungs might feel slightly different, and I may feel less “icky” overall.

I’m not sure why blood sugar plays such an influencing role in lung function, but I am grateful that it’s recognized by the team of doctors who treat my CF.

My next general OB appointment is Tuesday.

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Rumor has it…

January 7, 2014 2 Comments

With the holidays past us, it’s no longer a secret that the husband and I are expecting! Little nugget will be making his/her appearance in mid-late June of this year.

How far along? 16 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Total gain of about 4.5 lbs. Hopefully it will continue to creep up once we figure out what’s going on with my blood sugars.
Maternity clothes? Maternity jeans all the way! Some maternity shirts, some of Kyle’s shirts, some of my regular shirts.
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Oh sleep, how I miss thee! I’ve been having some trouble being comfy while sleeping. Lower back pain has me alternating sleeping in bed to sleeping on the couch.
Best moment this week: Finally being home from all our planned traveling! Lower back pain and the Prius don’t mix well.
Miss Anything? I really miss my weekly gymnastic class. I also miss warm weather, but I suppose that’s not really pregnancy related…
Movement: I think I felt a little flip-flopping action late at night!
Food Cravings:I’m still really digging apple cider vinegar, ham, and orgain protein drinks.
Anything making you queasy or sick? I made myself a very time consuming lunch yesterday only to have it make me feel queasy. Boo. (Chicken and orzo with broccoli, cherry tomatoes, onions in a lemon sauce)
Gender: The ultrasound tech.’s guess at 13 weeks was girl. Have to wait until Feb. 4th to find out for sure!
Labor signs: nope, although I did have a dream about going into labor only to wake up with excruciating lower back pain. Fun.
Belly button in or out? It’s in for the most part. Still lookin’ a bit wonky though.
Happy or moody most of the time? I’ve been pretty moody the last week due to 1. the freezing and snowy weather 2. Having some high blood sugars 3. Feeling really junky lung wise
Looking forward to: My appointment with the OB nutritionist so we can make a plan about how to tackle my blood sugars. I think once a plan is set I will feel less overwhelmed. Hopefully getting my BS under control will in turn help me feel better lung wise – since the two are directly related.