32 weeks

My mom suggested that I put up some updated belly bump pictures. So here they are - bare belly this time :D I am currently 32 weeks and 4 days pregnant.





The second one from the front makes me look really huge! I've been looking at it and my belly looks kind of lopsided or weird shaped or something. He must be postitioned weird.

One of my good friends, Megan, had her baby today! They had a girl, Layla Ann, so now they have a 2 year old boy and a baby girl. Congrats Bobby and Megan!

Tomorrow's the next baby shower! I'm so excited!

My mom's been busy

I took some pictures of the stuff my mom made for the baby's room. I forgot to add that she made an Iowa fleece tie blanket too! I don't have a picture of the curtain she made yet because she took it home to finish hemming the bottom, but I'll get it this weekend.


Wall hanging


Bumper pad


Baby blanket - both sides
She also made a crib sheet out of the same Vikings material.


Iowa fleece blanket

Cedar Falls Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower in Cedar Falls last Saturday. I thought that I would have pictures, but I didn't really take any and the ones that were taken were of us opening presents and didn't turn out very good. We got a lot of really good stuff - including LOTS of Vikings stuff! My mom has been very busy making stuff for his room too. She made a wall hanging, a curtain, a crib sheet, bumper pad, and a blanket! They all turned out really good too. I'll have to take some good pictures of them and post them.

The shower really wasn't a traditional shower - it was boy/girl, at a bar, and pretty much just cake, presents and beer (I just enjoyed the cake and presents, obviously). It was fun, but there were quite a few people that couldn't make it due to sickness and other family things. Ryan and I just went through all of our presents again last night and tried to organize and find room for stuff. That's going to be the biggest challenge! I can't wait to get everything in his room ready - especially the crib - so we can get organized and "ready" for him to come.

This weekend is my Halloween baby shower in Elkader with my side of the family and friends from Elkader. I can't wait! I bet I'll have some better pictures to post of that shower, especially since its a costume party!

I had a doctor appointment today too - 32 weeks and counting! I got vaccinated for H1N1 too, and now my arm is a little achy. Beats getting sick, though! The doctor said she thinks his head is down, and hopefully it stays that way. My blood pressure and weight are fine and his heartbeat sounded good, too. My blood platelet count is still low and I have to go in for MORE blood work next week to make sure that it is because of pregnancy and not something else, but the nurse said it's not uncommon for pregnant women to have lower than normal platelet counts. I guess we'll see!

I hate writing papers!

I finished my 8 weeks at Peet Jr. High for student teaching - YEA! But now I have to write a ginormous paper (to use technical terms) and I absolutely HATE writing papers. It's boring, I overthink everything about them, and it takes me forever. Not to mention the fact that I can't concentrate at home because of TV, internet, dogs and husband, and going to campus is a pain because I don't have a parking permit and they keep the labs about 55 degrees. BOO! I put myself on a schedule so that I will be done sometime tomorrow, and I've been following it, but that means I have to write all day today and all day tomorrow, because that's how long it will take me to write the sections I've scheduled for the next two days. BORING! I try to keep thinking about how nice it will be to have it done before my baby shower on Saturday and I can relax on Sunday before I start my next 8 weeks at Hudson High School (for which I will not have to write a paper, thank God!).

I did get a voicemail from my nurse to tell me I do not have diabetes, but she did not mention anything about the low platelets. I'll just wait until Tuesday when I have my next appointment to find out about that. And, thank goodness, my iron vitamins are working wonders on my fatigue. I can actually make it through the day without wanting to cry because I need a nap so bad! Yea!

Only 60 more days until my due date!! Ryan said last week that he wanted to put the Christmas tree up to get him in the Christmas/baby spirit. But thankfully he said we would wait until after Thanksgiving. :D He's pretty excited to meet this little guy!

31 weeks

I haven't heard anything from my doctor about the diabetes test, and when I was done I had asked for a print out of my results, and as far as I could tell, my glucose levels were fine and I don't have gestational diabetes. My platelets were still low, but I don't know that you can really do too much about that but keep it monintored.

This coming Saturday is my first baby shower! Since Ryan and I both work at the same sports bar, and have a lot of friends that either work there or are regulars there, we decided we wanted to have a boy/girl baby shower at the bar. It's pretty much just an excuse for all our friends to get together for cake and alcohol, and to bring us presents ;D Even though I can't partake in the alcohol part of it, I think it will still be a good time :) I'm pretty excited for it, and I'll be sure to post pictures from it.

Otherwise, there really isn't anything exciting going on. My mom came down on Saturday and helped me clean out junk from the baby's room, which is really nice to have done. Next weekend we are going to shampoo the carpet in there and then it will be ready for baby stuff! Thanks, Mom!

Quick update

I went to the doctor yesterday and my nurse told me I am anemic, my blood sugar was high, and my platelets were low. So she put me on iron pills and I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to take the diagnostic test for gestational diabetes. They will also recheck my platelets, which are important for clotting. Low platelets could mean preeclampsia (high blood pressure) and can be bad for delivery/c-section because you need platelets to clot your blood. My blood pressure is fine, though, and my platelets were just under the cut off, so I'm thinking I'll be ok there.

So anyway, I assume it'll take a couple of days to get the results from the diabetes test, so I'll let you know when I find out. Even if I do have gestational diabetes, most women can control it just by changing their diet (which I don't really want to do :D I love chocolate!)

Doctors

Well, I got the call from my nurse last Friday - I failed both of my blood tests :( Turns out I am anemic and my blood sugar was elevated, which means I have to go back for another test to see if I have gestational diabetes. The anemia thing isn't so bad, she'll probably just put me on iron vitamins, and actually I'm happy because I have been extra tired lately, but I thought it was just third trimester fatigue. So hopefully I'll get a little bit more energy. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow (Monday), so I'll know more about everything then.

The high blood sugar was a little bit more of a shock, since they check my urine for sugar every time I go, and have only mentioned high sugar once, and that was right after I had eaten pancakes with maple sugar on them. But anyway, from what I hear the diabetes test takes four hours because I have to drink something and then they check my blood every hour for four hours. Not looking forward to that. But like I said, I don't know anything yet, I just got a voicemail from my nurse on Friday and I'll see her tomorrow. So I'll let you know.

I also finally got my flu shot, which I was a little nervous about because people always talk about how much it hurts and that their arm hurts all night and blah, blah, blah, but it was nothing! A tiny prick and now I feel just fine. I tried getting the shot a couple of weeks ago for free at UNI, but they ran out of them the first day they were offered! I was kind of mad that I went all the way there and then got nothing. I got it at Target Pharmacy though, and it was only $12 after insurance, so it wasn't that bad.

Anyway, I'll know more tomorrow about everthing, so I'll try to post again then.

28 weeks

Well, I figured since Ryan and I finally bought a new camera, this would be the perfect time to start my baby blog to keep people updated. I am now 28 weeks (the first week of my 7th month and last trimester!), and so far everything has been going great. We found out about two months ago that we are expecting a boy and are very excited to have a future Vikings football player in our family. :) We decided even before we knew what we were having that if it was a boy, his name would be Owen William Burke. Ryan's favorite boy name was Owen, which just happens to be my dad's real first name, so it works out pretty well. William is Ryan's middle name.

The doctor says everything has been looking good and everything is right on schedule, and hopefully he stays on schedule because I am doing my student teaching right now and won't be done until 3 days before my due date, which is December 21, 2009. He'll be the perfect Christmas present. On Tuesday I went in and had blood drawn to check for anemia and high glucose, and I haven't heard anything from the nurse about my results so far, and she said no news is good news. I've had a really easy pregnancy so far - no morning sickness, my back is fine most of the time, and no swollen feet (yet - knock on wood). The worst part for me is 2-3 leg cramps a night and having to pee all the time. I've always gotten night leg cramps, but they were always more random and no where NEAR as painful. They aren't just in my calves either. Sometimes they are along the outside of my lower leg, which is really weird and are harder to get rid of, and in the arches of my foot. The other day at school I had cramps near the balls of my feet and had to walk around on my tiptoes during class. I wonder what my students thought.

Student teaching, by the way, is going great. Right now I am at Peet Junior High in Cedar Falls, doing 9th grade Spanish (the high school here is only big enough to accommodate grades 10-12). I'll be done at Peet on October 16th, and then I start at Hudson High School on October 26th, teaching 9th and 10th grade Spanish. I like it so far, but can't wait to get my OWN classroom.

Ok, well, I was able to take a few pictures with my webcam of my growing belly, so I'll post those. My head is cut off because I had to take them myself, and it was kind of hard. Our new camera has video on it, so the video is just a real quick shot of Owen giving me a pretty big kick. 22 weeks 

25 weeks 

28 weeks