Journey with You

We had a shower yesterday, they day of my baby shower. It cleared up by the time my shower started so it all worked out.

We had some great food at the shower, some store bought and some home made. Too bad I couldn’t try all of them because of GD. I had some bread with spinach dip, shrimp, raw veggies with dip, two small pieces of veggie pizza, and some fruit.

There were about 16 or so people there. They are all people from work. (It’s a work baby shower after all.) After people ate, we started playing some games. The first one was to guess how many mints there are in this baby bottle. The second one was that everyone, except me, cut off a part of the ribbon to represent the measurement of my belly. The third game was that everyone was given 4 cards, when the host called your card, you got to pick a gift out of four. When all four gifts were all owned by somebody, you could choose to take either one away from the owner. The gift kept being moved from one person to another until the host ran out of the card. The last four people got to keep the gifts (surprises).

The last game was conjugated with the gift-openings. Everyone got a sheet of paper with bingo boxes on it. They wrote down what gifts I was getting. When I opened a gift that they had on the list, they could cross it out. When someone got all four in the row crossed out, they won a gift. People were having a great time and some of them even got to take some gifts home.

I, or my baby I should have said, got lots of great gifts. Lots of baby outfits, some toys, some blankets, some baby bathing necessities, two bibs, two CD’s, a couple of hooded towel, a hamper, a night lamp with a rubber duck on it, two diaper bags I liked, one really cute Fisher Price aquarium bath tub, a changing pad and cover, two nursing pillows, a baby book, a photo album, a scrap book that I can write everything about the baby, etc. and etc. I also got a special one dollar bill from Department of Treasure with lots of 8 in the sequence number with a card talking about the year of dog and the personality of people born in the year. Oh, and the wife of my boss bought me all the bottles, nipples, and a sterilizer I need. That was so nice of her. This lady June even especially sawed a beautiful “multi-purpose” blanket for my baby. I can hang it up on the wall, use it as a curtain, or a blanket when the baby grows older.

The last but not the least, I cut a cake with “Welcome Baby OUR LAST NAME” on it. I couldn’t have the cake though. DH came before the party was over so he got to have some food and the cake so that was nice. He hung out with other two husbands of the hosts while we ladies were enjoying our good time.

I felt so moved that even though I am not really close to anybody at work, the hosts still put so much effort in organizing such a wonderful baby shower for me and there were so many people coming. It really made me feel home.

I had another u/s last Friday. According to my OB, I was 31week on that day. The u/s was to check on my cyst and the growth of my baby.

He was head down, which was perfect. The tech measured his head, waist, thigh bone, and his heart rate. All measurements looked good and his heart rate was about 154 BPM. I saw my lil one’s face for the first time. (I only got profile shots before.) He was so cute!! I think he looks more like his father than me. He has his Dad’s high forehead. His nose looks like my FIL’s nose. DH said he looks like a Bhudda. What’s really funny was that we both think he looks a lot like my FIL. I guess we’ll find out fore sure once he is born.

The tech told me he is 37th percentile and it’s normal. I talked to nurse Vickie this morning. She said it just means that chances are he is going to be a 6, 7lb baby instead of 9, 10lb one. His growth is fine. I feel relieved to hear that. At least I don’t need to worry too much about him being overly large. Besides, Asians statistically have smaller babies then Caucasians and I am small myself. Thus, as long as I follow doctor’s instructions and get enough calories I need, my baby should be fine.

I am just so glad I got to see my baby and so grateful that he is doing well in my womb. His health is the most important thing to me at the moment. My cyst was still there and about the same size. But I am not thinking too much about it right now. I am simply hoping to have a healthy baby and go with the flow on other issues. I may very likely need a surgery for my cyst after delivery but I think everything will work out just fine.

I am somewhere between 30 and 31 weeks today. I didn’t have a great weekend because I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes last Thursday. Yes, I’ve failed my 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. My 1 hour and 2 hour numbers were much higher than the standard set by American Diabetes Association. I am so shocked and depressed to learn this. Even though it may go away itself after the delivery, statistics shows that 40-50% of the women who have Gestational Diabetes develop Type 2 diabetes later in life. I sure hope I am not going to be one of them.

I am going to see a specialist tomorrow morning to find out what kind of diet plan I need to follow and how I should check my blood sugar daily. I’ve changed my eating habits a little bit, hoping it will help. I am avoiding all sweets, no juice, no fruit in the morning, decrease the daily intake of fruit, and eat high fiber whole grain bread and crackers. I am also eating a small amount every meal but eat more meals through out the day.

DH and I went to my prenatal appointment with Dr. F today. We first discussed how GD will affect me and the baby. She said we are going to see how I am doing with the new diet and check the size of the baby at the u/s before they decide what we are going to do next. I am having my u/s this coming Friday for my cyst. At the same time, they’ll find out the percentile of my baby. 50% will be perfect, higher number means larger than average and smaller number means smaller than average. The size of the baby will greatly affect my choice of delivery. She also said they will check the baby’s blood sugar right after the delivery so they can give baby sugar water if his blood sugar is too low.

We then went over my birth plan. They pretty much can work with most of my wishes, so that’s good. DH then mentioned about Dr. B. It turned out that Dr. F already knew our situation with Dr. B from nurse Heidi at the hospital. However, she didn’t comment too much. She did mention that Dr. T may be on maternity leave by the time I deliver, which means that I will have 1/3 of chance seeing Dr. B.

I haven’t gained any weight for the past month. She said it was okay and I don’t need to worry. She said some women even lost some weight while on diabetic diet but as long as the diet provides enough calories, there won’t be any concern. She said my blood pressure was beautiful. So was my fundal height, 31cm. I am hoping the fundal height being on target is a good sign showing that my baby is not over-large. We listened to his heartbeat, which was 158 BPM. His heartbeat sound strong and healthy. Dr. then touching around my belly for his position. He was head down. YA! I was so happy to hear that!!

I am praying that I’ll get my blood sugar in control and my baby will be strong and healthy!!

I am 30w1d according to my ovulation date, which gives me less that 10 weeks left till my due date. Getting more and more excited now. I can feel my baby’s moving getting stronger and stronger everyday. He has his schedule too. He is usually pretty active 5am-7am, 9am-11am, 4pm-6pm, and 8pm-10pm. I don’t know about any other times of a day since I may just sleep through his actions.

We got the lower apartment rent out yesterday, to a couple. DH showed them the apartment so I haven’t met them yet but I trusted DH’s judgment. We still need to replace some windows and upper kitchen floor cabinets. Special order takes about 2 to 4 weeks to arrive so I sincerely hope that everything will go smoothly so we can get these two main renovations done by early July so we can move in and set up the nursery. Not much time left actually and I am getting nervous now.

I failed my one hour glucose screening last Thursday so I went to have a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test done this morning. Unlike last week, which I ate 1 hour right before I had 50mg of glucose drink, I fasted for 12 hours this time. I am hoping and praying that it was the breakfast I ate causing me to fail the test last week. It was really boring sitting at the lab for 3 hours. I felt a little sick to my stomach half hour after I drank 100mg of glucose drink but was fine after that. I got a big bruise on my right arm but what can I do? I am praying everything will turn our just fine and to hear the good news from a nurse tomorrow morning. Please let me PASS!!!!