Bye-Bye Nerds Rope, Milky Way and Reese's...

Well, it was bound to happen. The sugar train has pulled out of the station, and I've been refused boarding. The results of my 3 hour Glucose Tolerance test are in and they are not good. The doctor told me that I failed 3 of the four blood tests, which means that I have gestational diabetes. So, no more Nerds Rope for me. It's a damn shame, too, because I love those gummy, crunchy, sweet and tangy things....

On a serious note, this is very troubling to me. The doctor reassured me that it is common and that I shouldn't worry, and even said that typically women with gestational diabetes return to "normal" as soon as the baby is born, but I am still pretty freaked out. And unhappy. And I want a chocolate milkshake.

So, I'll have to control my diet for the next few months, and chances are good that Baby Max will be pretty darn big and that I will end up having a c-section. Once a dietition finally contacts me and I get in to talk to someone, I'll feel better I'm sure.

The First Hiccup...Literally

For the last few weeks the baby has been kicking up a storm. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, or where I am, or what is going on around me; he makes his presence known A LOT. Believe me, I'm not complaining one bit. I actually love it and cherish it. Today, something a little unusual happened, though. I was working hard and getting a lot done at my desk and felt a little jab to the middle part of my belly. Since it was a strange place for the baby to kick me, I sat back for a few seconds, and then I felt the same sensation again about 10 seconds later. By the third jab, I realized that he wasn't kicking at all, but he had the hiccups! These big hearty hiccups lasted for about 3 minutes and really made me giggle. Seriously, this whole experience is crazy!!!

I am officially in my third trimester today...we're in the homestretch!

The First Kick!!!!

As some of you may know, I am a big worrier, especially now that I am not only responsible for my own well-being, but also the health of the baby. To say that I feel the pressure is an understatement. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about the growth of the baby and what "milestones" may or should be going on week to week, and when I don't experience what is being described, I worry. So, when I read that most women feel their baby kick around 22 weeks and I hadn't felt it yet I obsessed over it. I had felt the little guy swim around in my belly, but I was longing for a real swift jab from him just to let me know that we were on track. So, I waited. And I worried.

Last night I was relaxing on the couch while Ted was downstairs doing his busy "guy stuff" in the garage. All of a sudden I felt it. "Thump". It startled me for a second, and then I realized what it was. Then... "Thump". I felt him! He kicked me!! Hooray!!! I yelled down to Ted and of course started to cry. While I was waiting for Ted to come upstairs again, I felt it again. "Thump". Clearly, he was making up for lost time. Of course, by the time Ted's hand was on my belly the baby decided he was done kicking me, so I was the only one to feel it. I was disappointed that Ted didn't feel it, but in his usual calm and supportive way he reassured me that we have plenty of time for him to feel the baby kick. And I'm sure that I'll experience it a lot more, too, which is wonderful!

The Name-Picking Process

Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted! For the few of you that actually read this blog, sorry it's been so long!

Well, I promised a while back to "announce" the name we've chosen for the baby and I think the best way to do that is to tell the story of how we came up with it.

Very shortly after I found out that I was pregnant (just about 5 minutes after!) I started making a list of potential baby names. Now, I'll admit, some of the names were a little out there (I had the name "Angus" on there for a little while and now that I think about it, that sounds better suited for a big old black lab then for a cute little baby) but if a name struck me, even for a minute, I added it to that list. Every once in a while I would run a name by Ted, but he wasn't ready to talk about names yet. Admittedly, I was getting ahead of myself, but the more Ted resisted talking about it, the more obsessed I became with it. Finally, we decided that no serious discussion about names would take place until we found out if we were having a boy or a girl, and I eased up on it a little. But, just a little....

One night as we were settling into bed, I brought up the subject again. I think we were talking about potential girls names, and I made a comment about how I thought that deciding on a boys name would be very difficult since I really hadn't thought of any that I loved. That's when Ted said, "I think if we have a boy, we should just name him Max and leave it at that". I was shocked. He sounded serious, but was he? So, I asked him very tentatively: "Are you serious????" He looked at me and said, "Well, kind of." So I almost screamed, "I hope you're serious, because I LOVE IT!!!!". He said he was glad, because he had thought of it a little while ago, but wasn't sure how I would feel about it. All of a sudden, that was it. We thought of a boys name that we loved.

So, there you have it. Our son's name will be Max Keenan Lorson. I love the strength in the first name, and I love that my maiden name will be a part of him. I'll have to let someone else have the name Angus....

The details of the the appointment

I've been a little tired (read: lazy) for the past few days, but after a relaxing Friday night on the couch and a good nights sleep followed by an early Saturday morning nap, I'm finally going to give more details on the appointment on the 20th.

I worked in the morning and left around 1130am to pick Ted up at his office. I went up to get him, met a few of his co-workers, and then off we went to Farmington. I felt like I was absolutely going to burst! A lot of people have been asking me why I would want to know the sex of the baby, and my response has been, "Finding out I was pregnant in the first place was enough of a surprise...now I want to know everything!"

First we were brought into the examination room by an ultrasound tech. I got comfy on the table while Ted sat in a chair next to me and we anxiously looked at the flat-screen monitor hanging on the wall in front of us. In the beginning of the exam, the baby was very still and the tech seemed to be able to get the measurements she needed: the top of the noggin, the length of the body, the thickness of the placenta, etc. A few minutes into the exam, she asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby to which I said "YES!!!" and she said, "Well, this baby is a boy!" Sure enough, she showed us a shot of the baby, taken as if the "camera" was underneath the baby looking up at his butt, and there was his "equipment". I cried (of course) out of happiness and Ted was just beaming.

Ok, I really don't want to scar my poor boy for life, so as he grows older PLEASE don't tell him that I posted the photo of his stuff on this blog, please. You can see it just to the left of where the tech wrote "BOY".

Aren't I awful?????

Ok. Next the tech showed us some really cool things, like the four chambers of the heart, his leg bones, spine, fingers, toes, lips, and of course the top of his huge head. Below are two of the most amazing photos:

Once the tech was finished, the doctor and an intern came in to look things over and talk with us. He said that the chances that our boy has any kind of birth defect or Down Syndrome are very limited which was great news. He offered an amnioscenthesis still, though, saying that it is always an option for me, but also saying that the chances of the amnio causing a miscarriage are greater then the chances of them finding a defect from it. So, we walked out of the Health Center happy about having a boy and even happier about hearing that everything seems fine!

The next installment of this blog will be the baby's name and how we came up with it, so stayed tuned!

NEWS FLASH!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!

16 Week Check-up Report

This morning I had my monthly OB check-up, and Ted was able to join me for this appointment which was great. The Doctor on duty today was Dr. Briggs who is a nice, young guy and very patient and thorough in answering questions. He went over (in great detail) the results of my UConn tests and also what I can expect from the next round of testing there. The basic gist here is that, although the test results were very promising, it doesn't mean that we're out of the woods for anything being "wrong". It is still possible that the Quad screening (a maternal blood screening test that checks for four specific substances that can be evidence of birth defects) will show less then desireable results. The test results from the Quad screening will determine whether or not I'll get the amnioscenthesis done which I'm obviously hoping to avoid.

The best part of the appointment was having Ted hear the heartbeat for the first time. I had told him that the first time you hear that "Wow-Wow-Wow-Wow" of the baby's heart beating away (ask me to do the imitation next time you see me....it's pretty good if I do say so myself!) it was amazing, and I think he agreed with me. We heard it right away when the doc put the instrument to my belly and then we heard a lot of swooshing which was explained to be the baby moving around. Seriously, this kid is VERY active!! In between all the swooshing, we also heard a few "whumps" which was "something hard" as the doc said, "like an arm or a leg". Crazy.

So, we have an active baby on our hands, it seems. Hopefully I can keep up! Next update on the baby's progress will be on the 20th of this month when we'll hopefully find out the sex of the baby! Stay tuned!