Glucose Test Results

First of all, God is SO faithful! His love and goodness really have been evident in every step of this pregnancy journey. How silly of me it was to doubt that me and the baby were not going to be okay in regards to the diabetes. God just keeps working on me to stop worrying and let Him have COMPLETE control. He reminded me again how that I am not in control, and there are so many little and big things that I have no control of.
So, with that said, my glucose test came back A-okay; I passed! I was more relieved to pass this test than my principal certification. It is amazing how pregnancy puts perspective on other things you think are important. I did have my blood drawn 4 times in 4 hours, but the in-vitro prepared me for being stuck a lot. The nurse seems to think that my body has a problem with refined sugars, and I just need to be careful. So, I tried to think what sweet things that I indulge in that I would really cut back on. I really could not think of anything dessert related that I eat daily, or even weekly. I haven't been running out to Sheriden's or for Blue Bell and cookies. However, I do drink a lot of juice and eat lots of carbs. I am going to try to cut back on these things and eat more fruit and vegetables. Before, I got pregnant I was on a diabetes medicine to help my body process sugar and glucose something or another related to my hormones. So, I think I(with no medical basis) that the test results all have something to do with that.
Currently, my husband is exposing me to the Foo Fighters. Apparently, I have missed out on a significant event not knowing much about them. I can't help it I grew up in Cooper, TX. I can sing every country song known to man.

Glucose test...attack of the kool aid drink...and 1st Dr. visit this week

After eating a candy bar, I went off to my monthly doctor's visit.
I have been lucky to not crave sweets, and have been doing really well not partaking in desserts. I do eat lots of fruit, but have even cut down my juice intake because of the sugar in it. I had no idea they were going to do my glucose test! Well, my levels came back a little bit high (and no, it was not a result of the candy bar). I got the results this morning, and they want me to do the 3 hour glucose test on Thursday morning. The nurse said it was not that high, but they wanted to make sure it was okay. I of course, am worried. Before I got pregnant, I was on diabetic medicine because my hormones impacted the way my body processed sugar, and it was supposed to help the fertility issues.
The baby was measuring at over 3.5 pounds! Most charts say he is supposed to be a little over 2 pounds. He is a little pig. ;) His size makes me worry (not the dr. or nurses) because, diabetic babies are often larger, but their lungs and sort are not developed. He is still head up, and kicking my bladder. I told James, he better turn before he runs out of room.
On a lighter note...I only gained 2 pounds. Ha..lighter note. :)
I go to the specialist on Thursday after my glucose testing.
Everyone has said how terrible the glucose drink is. I was able to get it down, but it was not too terrible. It reminded me of red kool aid that had about 10 times too much sugar in it.
Please pray that all the testing goes well on Thursday. I am a little bit worried, but feel very peaceful about it.

What can Brown do for you?

The bedding was on my front porch when I got home today! YEA UPS guy! Let me just say that Brown has done a lot for me today. :)
I LOVE the bedding. I was having some doubts, but it is perfect. The white in the picture is actually a khacki/beige color.
I am at a little bit more peace about the nursery now. But, here is a list of things I (James) still need to do for it to be 'ready'. In no particular order...

Get new light/ceiling fan
PAINT-My mother is coming on March 8th to take care of this. I won't even be in town. SCARY, leaving her in charge, but she has good taste.
FIGURE OUT how to paint the room. One wall dark brown with the other khacki, all khacki with polk a dots on one wall, half khacki and half weird blue color, blue and brown stripes. There are so many options.
Put the stuff in the closet in the attic
Get a mattress for the crib
Wash the crib sheet (note to self, buy Dreft)
Iron the dust ruffle and quilt
Find window treatments (I am just goint to get a sun block panel (the setting sun comes right through the window in the afternoon/evenings), and a sheer brown curtain for now. The window valance will not be here until JUNE 2nd. Have I mentioned, how much that bothers me? I will let it go though sense I have the bedding.)
Get a glider, side table, and lamp

More on the baby bedding

According to JC Penney online, THE BEDDING SHIPPED on February 14th. I am anxiously waiting for it to be delivered. Part of me was thinking, 'they should have sent it over night.' I was also mad at myself for not requesting this in one of my many hormonal rants. I am very thankful that I will hopefull have the bedding next week. That poor bedding better be as cute as it is in the catalog and online. :) Cross your fingers that it is.
Check it out and let me know what you think about it.


http://www2.jcpenney.com/jcp/Products.aspx?ItemID=1332900&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=PRD&ShowMenu=T&ShopBy=0&SearchString=mad+about+plaid&RefPage=SearchDepartment.aspx&CmCatId=SearchResults&Search1Prod=True

The nursery battle

The nursery battle started last week. Well, really as soon as we knew we were having the baby. It has taken me a while to be able to write about this without my blood pressure rising significantly. It’s funny, now that I am pregnant when I get mad I feel my heart start to beat faster and my face turning red. That is another story in itself.
Background on the nursery
In December before our 19 week visit, I ordered baby bedding. I just knew that we were having a boy, and our doctor pretty much called it at 14 weeks. So, I searched the internet far and wide and found a bedding I liked called Baby Picasso made up of blue and brown colors. Well, my mom came into town and we decided that we like one from JC Penney’s called mad about plaid that was blue and brown better. So, mom gave us gift cards and we ordered Mad about Plaid. It was not going to ship until February 2nd, but I was okay with that.

Last Monday, I called Penneys to ask where my bedding was and if it had been shipped. Well, they said it would ship February 5th. I threw a fit about this, even though it was only a few days. Well, the 5th came and went and the bedding was not shipped. To make a long story short, I called JC Penny every night last week. On Thursday they told me the bedding would not ship until April 30th. As you can imagine, this posed a problem. My due date is May 15th. I was so upset and frustrated that I had to have James call. James called and talked to a guy and they worked something out as far as canceling the order and getting cash back. Well, then a lady called and said the bedding would ship by this Friday, the 15th. I said, okay that would be fine. On Friday, I called back and the ordered had been cancelled. During this whole ordeal, I was fine with it being cancelled because I knew I could order Baby Picasso that I originally wanted to order. Well, come to find out Baby Picasso was on back order at EVERY store that sold it, and could not be shipped until late March. So when I found out they cancelled, it I nearly had a mild heart attack in the hallway at school. The poor lady that had to deal with me managed to save the order and assured delivery by the 15th.

At some point, I broke down because of all of this. James said I could go and get bedding any where in town. (He didn’t know at the point that bedding at Kidspace was about $400.) I was ranting and raving about how the nursery is the most important part of the baby coming, and the most fun thing to do. It seems like everything that has had to do with the nursery has been difficult.

THEN after all of this it hit me! I stopped and listened to what God was trying to say/teach me sense the beginning of the nursery battle. It is not about the nursery. It is not about having a room for the baby perfect in every way so everyone can tell me how cute it is. It is about preparing our marriage, our hearts, and our future for this baby. If I would be so consumed with my relationship and walk with Jesus as I had been this nursery, I would be at a much better place. God rocked my world with this revelation. It all came together and made sense to me. In our crazy lives, that are about to get crazier, I can’t control everything. I might as well stop trying to control them and truly turn every aspect of my life over to God. I thought I had learned my lesson about letting go and giving up control, but God quickly reminded me that I still had so much to learn.

So, with this I can truly say I have let the bedding/nursery issue go. Zach will have a home to come home to where he is loved and truly cared for. He will be brought up in a family that adores him and LOVES God. He will be raised as a gift from God and given back to Him all the days of his life.

GERMS and the weekend

One of the joys of teaching are all the germs that are spread around. I have never considered myself a germ freak until this year. I find myself germ-xing my hands ALL the time. I give my students germ-x when they walk into the room, lysol my desks, and use extra germ-x after I touch any papers that have been touched by a student.
Luckily, our amzing Lord gives pregnant women a mega-immune system. I have been very blessed to have not 'caught' any of the lovely illnesses going around this time of year. (Knock on wood) I have had my share of allergies, but even those have been managable. I did wake up this morning exhausted and congested because of the garage sale, and I probably over did it setting things up.

We had an amazing, yet exhausting weekend. We finally got the baby's room cleaned out, with the exception of the things that need to go in the attic. All week we worked on getting ready for a garage sale on Saturday. Things started off realy slow and COLD, but in the end we had a relly great garage sale. The best part was that we got rid of the workout gym that was in the soon to be nursery. It amazes me that God knew exactly who to send to our garage sale, and that he knows who will need the things we sent to Goodwill. I am finding that I am seeking God more and more in the little things. For those of you who know me well, and my control freak nature, this is a really cool thing.

The rusty nail...the baby...the clinic...and the shot

Okay, so Tuesday night, James was taking apart some shelves. I felt the need to give my opinion on how it should be done, instead of just trusting my husband (imagine that). James told me to go inside and rest, but I decided to show him where he should step on the shelf. Well, there was a nail that I didn't see, where I was telling James he should step. It barely went through my shoe, but it did break the skin. It bled only a little bit, and enough for me to start to worry. Of course, I could not remember my last tetanus shot. I knew it was some time in high school, when I cut my finger on a nasty piece of wire in the barn. I figured it was early high school rather than later high school, and sadly more than 10 years ago.
I called my doctor this morning, and they affirmed what the Internet said regarding pregnant women getting the shot. However, they did not give the shot, nor did my regular doctor. They told me to try the health department and walk in clinics. Of course, the health clinic was closed, and I really wanted to go there just to see my friend Rachel, but she was not going to be there. I called the Covenant and UMC clinic on Quaker to see if they gave the tetanus shot. They both said, 'yes', and my plan was to go to the one that had the less sick looking people in the waiting room. Covenant was packed, so I went to UMC. Just FYI for all you pregnant folks, or future pregnant folks UMC will not take pregnant walk in patients after they are 20 weeks. I left very frustrated, but thankful that it worked out the way it did because there were lots of sick people in the waiting room. I thought that was the last place I needed to sit for 2 plus hours.
We had a doctor's appointment today. It went very well. The baby is breach right now, again. His head is above my belly button and his little feet are right on my bladder. Yes, I feel his kicks often, and have to go to the bathroom often too! He was uncooperative with his pictures, again. He was moving a ton about an hour before the appointment, but went to sleep when the camera came on. This did allow the dr. to get good measurements and a good heartbeat reading. He reassured us that he is a boy. ;)
The dr. reassured us for the need to get a tetanus shot, and I left to go to Grace clinic. An hour and 40 minutes later and shot I left the clinic.

I love being pregnant

I LOVE being pregnant. I know that is a bold statement. I can honestly say I am thankful for the backaches, 3 trips a night to the bathroom, bloated-ness, tight pants, and every other negative aspect of pregnancy. I have found myself tossing and turning at night thanking God for this experience and the opportunity to lie awake at night.
I know my last post was about being thankful for this pregnancy, also. But, I have become so filled with amazement and awe at what God is doing in our lives through this pregnancy.
Each time the baby moves, I can’t help but say ‘thank you, God!’ Each time, I see my rather huge stomach, I am filled with such joy (and at times wonder at how I could be so big already.)
God has truly worked a miracle in our lives by giving us our son. I know that the baby is a gift from God, and a testament to the Lord’s faithfulness and love.
As, I was thinking about writing this post, I remembered back to the time before we found out we were pregnant. I remembered the miscarriages, the months of disappointment, and the bitterness I felt toward God. My attitude then was far from what it is now. It amazes me how the Lord allows us to go down roads that are not always the ones we would choose to get to the place He wants us, broken, needy, and reliant only on Him. I do not believe that I would be at the place I am now, if it weren’t for the journey. Through this journey, I struggled to be thankful and recognize the blessings in front of me. Now, looking back though I see how God used this fertility battle to bring people and events into my life. I would have never gotten my masters, made the friends that I have, or experienced the grace and love of Jesus had we had a baby when we first started to try. A wise friend told me that the timing of God has been perfect for us, and she is so right. Who else but the Lord can plan a birth at the first of May, so a teacher has a month plus all of summer with her precious baby boy? We tried to plan and plan and plan a baby, but only God knew the perfect time for us to have a child. He knew the plans He had for us all alone, and it just took us surrendering to those plans to be blessed with our little miracle.
I am rambling, as I do so well. It amazes me the depths of our God’s grace and love, and once I start to reflect on it, I just keep going.
We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I will update soon, with pictures.

Joy and water exercise

I have been feeling the baby move for a few weeks. Over the Christmas break though, I really started feeling him move consistently.
Feeling him move is the most amazing thing in this world. Each time, it brings me a joy and feeling like I have never felt before, emotionally and physically. Each time, I am so thankful for his wiggly movement, even in the middle of the night. James has even felt him move a few times. When I lay down at night he gets very active until I go to sleep. He 'got' James a few times pretty good.
I thought that our little guy would bring us joy and we would love him, but I am blown away by the am out of joy and love we have for our baby.
My doctor let me start going to water walking/aerobics. I have been once, and really enjoyed it. It is really relaxing. I have done nothing in the form of exercise in 6 months!! Do not worry, I am not over doing it. I stopped as soon as I thought it was time.

PASSED!

I passed my principal certification test! I am now officially certified and finished with the program (once I pay the state of Texas for the certification).