Pregnancy Post #3, A Moody post

            Tomorrow is typically when I would post a blog, but I have a lot on my plate with my diabetic clinic in the morning, and a butt load of errands to run, so are going to be fun, and some are the truest form of adulting. So I decided to post today, and while I feel the creative juices flowing, I'm a tad moody today, so we'll see how this goes. 

            Last night was birthing class #2, and it was a very interactive class. However I'm still fighting my cold, so I stayed back so I wouldn't infect the other offspring carriers, and wore one of those surgical masks they ask you to wear at the hospital when you're not 100%. That was like being in a sauna. Seriously, I wasn't having any sinus issues, but half way through the class I felt like my eyes were floating, and I became a heavy mouth breather...thank god most of my face wasn't visible. Speaking of visibility, reduced. Sans glasses I was attempting to squint, and luckily got the gist of everything...with the glasses was some serious foggy conditions. However, my kid, 100% worth it all, I don't want to miss any of these classes because I want to be as well equipped to make the actually birthing process as easy, and safe as possible for my little man. 

            And for just a second, allow me to gush about my big man, who was a rockstar this week. Not that he wasn't last week, but I did catch his chin on his chest once or twice when the lights went down. Not last night, last night, he took the helm. He was my cup holder...and really my anything I needed him to be holder. When we were practicing the stuff we could do from our seats, he was making me smile, and when I sat out the interactive parts, he was climbing all over the room to see what was happening. Most of the class was teaching the birth partner what to do, and he was paying very close attention. Don't be surprised if I go off on Cale gushing from time to time on here,because he has been amazing, and it's bound to happen. 

             Also, come to find out, another piece of baby furniture has arrived at my store! And it was the one I was hoping for next! The change table has arrived! Jake's room is currently pretty disorganized, aside from the closet, so I was waiting for this one, because most of the mayhem will be housed in the change table. 

             Well this blog post was... I guess more organized than I expected, kind of ranty, but there it is. excited (and maybe nervous) to see where my inspiration comes from on the next. 

              K, Luv ya, Bye

              Nancy 

Pregnancy post #2, Gestational Diabetes

         When I planned on doing these posts, I had originally made a list of ones I thought would be fun to do. I seem to be getting some of the grittier parts done first, and let's be honest, I had no idea #1 would be about being sick with a cold.

           Right off the bat, thanks for the comments I got on the cold post, I got some good feedback and while I'm not 100% this is my best morning I've had since getting sick.
 
           I'm considered a higher risk pregnancy, for two reasons. On we'll cover today, and another on a later post. Today, I'm talking about my Gestational Diabetes. Gestational Diabetes is actually very common, and since I've been treating it properly, I feel a million times better. I'm part of some chat groups and stuff for pregnant women, due the same month as me and a LOT of them blame themselves, and take it pretty hard. I guess knowing how common it is, and how many people in my family have some form of diabetes, I shrugged it off and said, I'll do what I gotta do (it's a phrase I've used multiple times through my pregnancy). I'm also going to stress when I met with the dietitian after being diagnosed, one of the things they hammer home is, we did nothing wrong, this happens.

          The biggest issues I've had since being diagnosed? #1 was probably Christmas. I am not on insulin, I control everything with diet alone. So while I was still posting about some of my traditions on my blog, some I had to pass up, like my Christmas Eve Hot Chocolate, and most of my plate for Christmas dinner was greens. The biggest temptation has also been the cookies. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but I do enjoy cookies now and then, and we had already done our baking when I was diagnosed. We still have a few kicking around at this point, and I can have one or two, as long as I'm careful.

            Another issue I've kind of had, is being tethered to my meter in more ways than one. So every morning I do my first test, and then two hours after each meal. I'm still working so I often wonder what my co-workers think when I have to run off the floor RIGHT after we open, because it's been two hours since breakfast (of course that has happened for other reasons as well). Night time is harder for me too. I'm supposed to have supper, and then wait two hours, do my blood and then have a snack before bed. I have been going to bed around 8:00 since my first trimester...some times I've forgotten and eaten before I check and then I'm reading higher...or I'm almost asleep and barely functioning to do my blood, or have a snack.

            In all fairness, if these are my biggest drawbacks, I'm doing well. No two pregnancies are alike, and things happen. For me, I guess I realized early on how little control I had in a lot of this process, so I just take it as it comes...don't get me wrong, I still wake up in the night stressing about something now and then, but for the most part, I just deal. By the way, way out of character for me too, I can stress very easily, and often.

             K Luv Ya Bye

             Nancy

Pregnancy post #1, Terrible cold

                Every year when I’m doing blog posts around this time, there is one about combating a massive cold…I said after the Christmas posts were done, I’d be getting into the posts about my pregnancy…and I am…while combating a massive cold. Before anyone jumps the gun here, I DID get a flu shot…so let’s crush that right now.

                

                Last night was my work’s Holiday party, as the captain of our social committee, I needed to keep it together for the  party. Was all hydration and vitamin c. But basically as soon as I got through the door, it caught up to me. Now typically speaking when I have a cold, I have a method. I take a night time cold medication so I can get some rest. I have avoided popping pills through my entire pregnancy, so instead I put a concoction into my oil diffuser. The only thing I’ve been popping is vicks vitamin c drops. I also try for a lot of hydration. Now usually I rotate Tea, OJ, and Water, once an hour for hydration.  I’m still doing my hourly rotation, but because of my gestational diabetes, OJ is not my friend as far as my sugars go, and tea, I have to be strategic with my time placement. SO Water has played a big role. Beyond that it’s been hacking up all the grossness I have in me. I have a total lack of voice right now, and I’m trying to rest as best I can, but in all honesty, I’m scared to try any more than I have.

                

                 Needless to say, Karaoke did not happen at the company party.

                K Luv Ya Bye!  

Wrap it all up

             

Well I sit here now a little sad, it’s all over for another year. Christmas was wonderful, not quite what we planned, but to be fair, does it ever go 100% to plan? I mentioned in the early post, my blog isn’t to give you a magazine styled Christmas, it’s to help make your Christmas, your way, and make it easier. I hope I was able to do this. This year, I felt my blogs were more consistent and helpful.

                What’s coming up? Well here is my PLAN! I will stress plan, because I’m not making a commitment, not sure what’s coming for me in the next couple months. My plan is to continue doing blog posts, to be fair it was last year too. But I plan to do some posts about my pregnancy. Before pregnancy, and during, I was super into reading blogs and watching vlogs about pregnancy, and motherhood. I’ve got no experience with motherhood yet, but I do have some stories of pregnancy.

                Back to this blog series though. I do plan to do it again next year (actually to an extent I have it organized already), so watch for that. I also posted on FB already an offer to people who enjoy my series, next year I can share it on  your facebook wall when I post on my pages. This way you’re alerted to the posts and know where to find them. I have a short list of names as it is, but if you’re interested, please let me know.

K, Luv ya, Bye

Nancy, Cale and Alice

Pack it up

              Okay, it’s here…packing up the decorations. This one can seriously bum me out, and can be overwhelming. Last year I decided to take it slow, I turned something on the TV that I enjoyed, and just took my time. This year, I get tired quicker, so I have to take my time more, but I have help.

                I always make sure I take a lot of breaks. If it starts to feel like a lot, stop, because it actually is A LOT. As you put the decorations away, try to organize it too. Another thing you can do is haul out that decoration inventory list you may a couple months back and add things to it, or use it as a tool to help you organize.

                This is really going to be the last thing on our Christmas planning and prep series. I’ll have one more post just reflect and review this year’s series and start to make some plans for next year.

Snap some Pics

               

Alright back on track with the Christmas stuff. So you might be ahead of me for this part, some people like to have Christmas finished quickly…I’m not one of those people. I do however need to put myself on a schedule for it...I’ve had years where I had Santa celebrate Valentines day.

                Today we still leave the decorations where they are. Actually what I want you to do is go around the house and snap pics of how you decorated this year. This is to help with the process next year. You’ll see what you did, what you liked and what you want to repeat. You might also get ideas for what you would like to change next year.

                Your other task, if you haven’t yet, is to put those gifts away. Open gifts like to linger in our house, so they need to be on that schedule I was talking about or they could sit out a while.

These are your two tasks today

Happy New Year

             

Happy New Year, welcome to 2018! I hope you had a fun/ safe night last night. So this post isn’t a productive post when it comes to anything with your Christmas stuff. It’s your chance to actually stop, and relax a little. However, I will be reflecting on this post.

Last January, I did a vlog. I think I did a total of two and that was the end of it, even though I said I would do more. Not sure I’m committing to that this year. I might throw the odd one in, and I may even slip a little on my posts (I sure did last year), but there is a lot more work to go into a vlog VS a blog, and my blog is something I enjoy, so we’re going to stick with just that for now.

Last year on this vlog, I shared my top 3 goals for 2017, and what I resolutions were. I wanted to share how I did.

#1 Cale and I wanted to start a Family. My goal was not to have a baby by the end of the year ( I felt that was an awfully short deadline), it was to be Pregnant by the end of 2017. Mission accomplished! A completed resolution! I am in my third trimester now, and waiting for my son to be born in March.

#2 Taking better care of myself, physically and emotionally. So emotionally, I’m generally in a good place. I chalk a lot of that up to being pregnant, I’m a pretty happy pregnant person. I have my moments, and hours where I worry about stuff in the middle of the night, but for the most part I’m in a great place. Taking better care of myself physically…I’ll take it as a small victory, because I have, but I really had no choice. My pregnancy has been considered “high risk” to me, not the baby (thankfully). This is due to my kidney disease. If I don’t get enough sleep, keep myself nourished properly, and make sure I have taken my meds, I have difficulty functioning. As far as moving more goes…I don’t count that as a win. So in the winter last year, and the spring too, I would do small things, but I did find a lot of excuses not to get in exercise. Then in June I found out I was pregnant, and soon after the nausea started. It continued into my second trimester until we got my meds figured out, then I was just tired, and in that time I went from a part-time employee to full time…so I’m walking more…at work. I might give myself a 50% on this resolution. Stuff was achieved, but wasn’t all because of my drive.

#3 Purging and organizing.  Ummm….my basement is a little better. So our storage room/workshop/laundry room, is in pretty good shape. The main part of the basement…has improved. We still intend to use the basement at some point, and hopefully soon. However we have some slightly higher priorities to work with, with our son first. So this resolution has made progress, but was not achieved as far as I’m concerned.

Resolutions this year? No, I don’t think so. Like I’ve mentioned, with our family growing, I have no idea what is about to happen. Getting pregnant before the end of 2018 is definitely a no. Taking care of myself, well soon after he’s born I’ll have no choice again. BUT it may take the back burner until I find my rhythm as a mother…or it could be part of my rhythm, who knows? Purging and organizing? I would love to get on top of this, but again, predicting this next year (or potentially several years coming) is going to prove to be a near impossible task, so instead I plan to go with the flow. Take it day by day, and try and achieve what I can. 

Another thing I mentioned last year that kind of fell through was what I plan to do with my blog going forward. I have some ideas. Before Jake is born, I plan to talk about pregnancy and things that I’ve done, and what I’ve learned. I checked out a lot of blogs and vlogs in the last year…probably too many, but I’m going to share my personal stuff on my blog hopefully. It may be fewer blog posts too, we’ll see. Beyond that, I do hope to get the odd Christmas planning one in, but again, who knows.

Thanks for reading this rather long post!