32 Week Appointment

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and it went well. We started with an ultrasound, then had another NST and then we saw the doctor.

I'll start with the U/S...It went well, we really had a great time seeing him, especially now that he is getting bigger, and boy is he getting bigger. It looks like he is measuring 2-3 weeks ahead right now and is weighing about 5.25 lbs. It is just an estimate, but it gives us some idea. We are not sure if the weight gain is normal for him or caused by the gestational diabetes. Hopefully, as I get better control of my sugars, which may include medicine, he will gain a normal amount of weight. He has a big head like his brother and he also has quite a bit of hair already. We could actually see it swaying in the water :) He opened his mouth for us and he even stuck up his middle finger for us. We couldn't believe he did it, but we have pictures to prove it! He is adorable of course!

The NST...It took some time to get him moving, but we finally got him going and he did what he was supposed to do, which was good. I didn't have any contractions during the test. Overall it went well.

The doctor...I asked the doctor about a few symptoms that I had over the past two days and he said that they were normal and the best part was that he said they were even normal for someone without a cerclage. I told Matt that I didn't want to hear that it was just normal, I wanted something more and when he said that it was normal even if I didn't have a cerclage, it made me happy! We also talked briefly about the cerclage removal. It will happen at the hospital and he said that they won't induce me right away, but will watch and see what happens and then go from there. I have a feeling it will depend on how big they think the baby is on how long they wait to induce me. I really don't think they'll let me go all the way to the end if he is getting too big. He even said he doesn't want to do a c-section unless he really has to and that made me happy, as I want to try to deliver the baby normally, since this will be our last baby. He is on call on Sept. 25, which is my 36th week, so I am thinking that may be the day of the cerclage removal. But, we'll know for sure in the next week or two.

I'll also know today if they are going to put me on medication for my gest. diabetes. I have had one number a day that has been high, which has been my lunch number, so they may put me on a pill to help with that. The doctor said that he is not too concerned because my fasting and morning numbers are really low. I will also go off of progesterone during the 35th week.

We are really excited and happy about all of the good news and hope that I can hold out until the end of Sept. I feel pretty confident that I may be able to. We go back to the doctor on Tuesday, I know it is quick, my appointment was changed from Monday to Thursday this week, so we have a shorter time between appointments. But, that is fine with me! Ethan and Matt are at Cedarpoint today because my appointment went well. Let's just pray that all continues to go well while Matt is out of town today :)

Here are the ultrasound pictures...

Look at those chubby cheeks!!!

The top picture in this set is where he decided to stick up his middle finger!

The bottom one shows his big round belly!

I also had to share this cute video montage of Ethan dancing the other night! Just click on the words!

My Montage 8/29/08

I made it to 32 weeks!!!

32 weeks! I had many moments early on and never thought I would make it this far and now I'm here!! I can't believe it. I am now in the 8th month and I couldn't be happier! It has hit me that I am only 8 weeks from my due date, so at most I have 8 weeks to go and I have at least 4 weeks to go. I can't believe that in just a few short weeks we will be welcoming this little boy to our family!

I'm hoping to at least go 5 more weeks, which would take me into the 37th week, but there is a lot that will determine if that will happen. My cerclage will come out sometime in the 36th week and that could go a couple of ways. I could go right into labor, I could go a few days before going into labor or I could go a couple of weeks. Now, that is all considering the fact that I am doing well and that the baby is growing well and is handling the gestational diabetes well. I have been told that as long as my non-stress tests continue to go well and that my sugars are maintained well, he should be fine. If for some reason he is needing to be born earlier, they may have to induce me if I don't go into labor on my own fast enough. So, hopefully, he continues to do well and I continue to do well so that we can go through labor as normally as possible :)

It is amazing that with all that we have been through with this pregnancy that we are now looking at the end. Last night, we were talking about all of the things that we have to pull out of the attic and the garage for the baby. I'm so excited to be talking about his homecoming. For so much of this pregnancy I felt like I couldn't get too excited and I wasn't sure about taking things out and getting things ready and now I feel like I can finally celebrate this new life and get ready to bring home our new little boy! Ethan might be out of town for some of this weekend with his Grandma, so that will give Matt a chance to pull things out and me a chance to go through some of the clothes :) I'm just excited to be at this point!

Thanks again for helping us to get this far!! Hopefully, we'll have some pictures to share with you after the appointment on Thursday!

Some new pictures and look at that belly!!

I thought I would do a picture post of my belly, along with some new pictures of Ethan. I want to show off my boys!!

Look at how I've changed in just 2 months...

21 weeks 4 days

26 weeks 5 days

31 weeks 5 days

Our little artist!

Our little German Hummel!

Ethan's Done It!!

He has finally finished potty training! We have had no accidents for the last couple of weeks! This has been such an exciting thing for Matt and I to finally have him done with potty training. It took us about a year to get it down and we finally did it! As with everything else he has done it just took one day for Ethan to decide to do it. He now even asks to go, which has been wonderful. We wanted it done by the end of the summer for two reasons: 1) We wanted him to start school fully trained this year and 2) We wanted him to be fully trained for at least a month before the baby comes, so that he would be less likely to revert. He does a great job with it now and he gets so excited everytime he goes!! We are constantly telling him how proud of him we are.

I'm so amazed at how much he has really grown up this summer. The baby part of him is disappearing more and more and it is hard for mommy, but I am so proud of how far he has come. Matt told me yesterday that Ethan has stopped needing his "chewy blankie" at night. It is a tiny little blanket that he has used to suck on before he falls asleep. I'm just amazed how quickly it can all happen. I'm happy he is becoming more and more independent, but I miss my little baby Ethan! I do think it is good that this is all happening now, so that he may feel a little better about us bringing home a new baby. This only confirms the age gap more for us! I wasn't sure about having such a gap, but now I'm really happy that there is one, because now he is better at understanding what is happening and what a big boy does!

So, Ethan is officially a big boy in so many different capacities and just in time for him to be a big brother!

31 Week Appointment!

I had my 31 week appt. yesterday and things are still going well. I had a few questions for him and everything I asked was normal. He reminded me that since I have never been this pregnant before, it will all be new to me. It's hard to distinguish normal from what may be early labor, because every little twinge scares me. But, it made me feel good to hear it from the dr.

He also told me that he would let me walk a little more at about 34 weeks!!! I can't wait for that. That's gives me another thing to look forward to. It would basically be a modified bedrest, meaning that I will still need to rest a lot, but that I may be able to make small trips out of the house. It was funny because he said that he didn't want me to go crazy and I just looked at him like, how crazy will I get with legs of mush! I'll be lucky to be able to walk for 10 minutes straight in a store! I figure though, that even if it is only 10 minutes, I can at least get my muscles strengthened for delivery.

Next week we will have an ultrasound to check the growth of the baby, which will tell us what the rest of the game plan will be. I am so excited that we are talking about all of these things now! It hit Matt and I how close we are when we saw a woman with her tiny little newborn baby boy at the dr. office. We are so excited!!!

I finally fit in with so many other women!

No, this has nothing to do with the pregnancy! Some of you have asked what I do and how I handle bed rest. I tried answering that a few posts ago, but it was before my latest activity....

In about 3 weeks, I watched the first 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy! Hence, the fitting in with so many other women. I have heard people talk about it for years and never understood the fascination with it, but now I do! I felt like I could not get to the next episode fast enough. Then, I couldn't get to the next season fast enough. I started out by watching it through Netflix, which was working fine until our queue got mixed up halfway through the 2nd season and there was some lag time. So, Matt had to go get it for me at the video store. Then, I couldn't wait for Season 3. So, he came home with that one too! I watched that in about 5 days, because I was in too much pain last week to do anything else!

Season 4 comes out in early Sept. so, I'm hoping I can watch that one before season 5 starts! This is crazy, but who can resist Dr. McDreamy's (Patrick Dempsey) smile or even McVet (Chris O'Donnel)! Who knew that the nerd in "Can't Buy Me Love" would keep me watching!

Rough Week

Physically and mentally this has been a rough week for me. Since going to L & D on Monday and my appointment on Tuesday, I have been exhausted. I have a few things working against me right now. The first being that the bedrest is catching up with my body and physically it is quite painful. The baby is also obviously getting much bigger, which is adding pressure to many different areas, which is also why the bedrest is starting to hurt more. I also have an abnormality in my back, which is now feeling a lot of pressure because of the baby's weight bearing down on it.

At this point, any position is uncomfortable for me. It would be nice if I could even walk a little to stretch out some of the muscles, but right now walking a few feet has been really difficult on my body. Like I said the bedrest is finally turning my muscles against me. One advantage of this new diet is that I am not gaining weight as quickly and I am using some of my pre-pregnancy reserve :) So far this week, I have remained steady with my weight. The weight has not helped any of this either. I think that now that I have some idea of this diet, I will be able to lose weight a little easier this time.

I actually did not gain much weight during my pregnancy with Ethan, only about 10 or 15 lbs. I gained all of the weight afterwards when he was in the hospital and then even once he was home with me. Of course, once the weight gain started, it was difficult to stop it, which is now working against me.

Mentally, I have also been drained this week. I think that since I cannot do any physical nesting, my brain is doing all of it. Basically, I keep playing out different scenarios in my head and how I would respond to each. I keep feeling like I won't be prepared when it is time to actually go to the hospital. I keep fearing each appointment because I think that will be the one that he sends me to the hospital. My biggest worry is what do we do with Ethan in each situation. It really does change things when you have another little one in the picture! I feel the maternal need to make sure he doesn't feel neglected or worried. I figure if I play all of these scenarios out in my head, I will feel better prepared when something does happen, which will hopefully be weeks from now :)

I go back to the doctor on Tuesday for another non-stress test. We passed well last week, so we are hoping that keeps up. From what I understand, Gestational Diabetes can cause him to not do well on the test. So, hopefully keeping my blood sugar level, will help him continue to pass his tests :) I'll have an ultrasound to check for growth, the following week, so I'm excited for that :)

I'll update you after the appointment on Tuesday!

50 Questions - If you're interested!

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought that I would fill it out. I don't have any other news to report, so here goes....

1) Do you like blue cheese? Cheese, Yes! Blue Cheese, No!

2) Have you ever smoked heroin? No, never done a drug or smoked anything.

3) Do you own guns? No, I don't even think we have any toy guns, unless there are some in Matt's boxes filled with his old toys in the garage.

4) What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I've never been to a Sonic. You can add flavors to the drinks?? Where are Sonics at?

5) Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depending on the appointment and reasoning. I tend to get more nervous at appointments for Ethan, especially if we think there will be bad news.

6) What do you think of hot dogs? I like them and actually had a couple yesterday. I love them cut up in Mac & Cheese!

7) Favorite Christmas song? Wow, that's tough...I love so many of them. O Holy Night, comes to mind. I love trying to sing Silent Night in German, well at least the first verse :)

8) What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Juice, but right now I'm stuck with the tiny amount of milk I'm allowed in my cereal bowl and water.

9) Can you do push ups? Maybe a push up, although I haven't tried in years. I really don't think my muscles could even think of it right now!

10) Can you do a chin up? Wow, memories of my name being on the wall under zero in high school just came flooding back. Why did they make us do that and then post it on a wall??? I hated Phys. Ed. and I still do. I do not like bringing my students back from it, because 6th graders have a funky smell after P.E.

11) What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My favorites are my wedding and engagement rings and the earrings that Ethan and Matt got me. But, I love all of my jewelry, I have a lot of interesting pieces.

12) Favorite hobby? Currently, the internet, especially anything having to do with my pregnancy. I also love making blankets and bibs and right now some Christmas decorations for my church. I also like to read when I can actually do it, which I have finally had some time for lately.

13) Ever been in a car wreck? Yes, I can count 5. One when I was about 14, we were in PA on our way to NY when we got into a 6 car accident. We were only hit from behind, but were inches from going over a bridge. I remember it like it was yesterday. When I was about 17, Matt and I were hit by a drunk driver head-on on a snowy night, Matt's car was totaled and I have had some long-term effects from it. I hate driving in the snow and get really freaked out. I am also scared to drive at night because the last thing I saw in that accident were the headlights. So, to this day headlights really scare me. The other 3 were all when I was driving and in each situation I was bumped from behind by morons! Two were in the rain and the person behind me couldn't stop and one was in a drive-thru line. No major problems with any of those and luckily no major injuries to my cars.

14) Do you have A.D.D.? Sometimes I wonder, because I can never just do one thing. I have to have a t.v. on when I do just about anything.

15) What's one trait that you hate about yourself? My weight. I hope I will finally get it under control after the baby comes.

16) Middle name? Tamarika - My dad made it up based on my 3 older sisters names, Taia, Mary, and Erika. Believe it or not, it was almost my first name!

17) Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. I can't believe I'm filling this out. These questions are really making me think about a lot of stuff. I can't believe that I've watched nearly the first 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy in the past 2 or 3 weeks.

18) Name 3 things you bought yesterday. I don't really do that anymore, but I can name some things Matt bought yesterday. A Mud Hens Hat and T-shirt for Ethan and lots of stadium food!

19) Name 3 drinks you drink regularly? Currently Water. Normally, water, juice and pop.

20) Current worry? Will this pregnancy go full-term and will this baby come home with me? Will the baby be healthy?

21) Current hate right now? The fact that I can't go anywhere with Ethan. It is heartbreaking when he asks if mommy can go and then he has to answer his own question with "after the baby is born" once he sees my face starting to say no. This is the hardest thing besides the health of the baby to deal with right now!

22) Favorite book? I love Jude DeVeraux books, she has a way of writing that just drags you into the story. She does a lot of time jumping books, which I love.

23) How did you bring in the New Year? With my family at my oldest sister's house. We have done this every year since she got married and I was about 11 or 12. Matt and I always stay the night there and end up spending the next day watching movies with my sister's family. There was only one year we didn't do this and that was the year my entire family had the flu. For a few years we did the same thing but at my other sister's house.

24) Where would you like to go? Right now, anywhere but my house!! I really want to go to a hotel for one night, just to do something different! Plus, it is something Ethan really wants to do. I figure I can lay in a bed there just as much as I can here and we have some really great hotels within a few miles of our house :) We'll see!

25) Name three people who will complete this. I really don't know.

26) Do you own slippers? Yes, I grew up in a house where everyone wore slippers and my feet feel really dirty if I don't wear slippers. I love slippers. During the summer I wear a pair of sandals from Italy as my slippers.

27) What shirt are you wearing? A red maternity t-shirt. I don't think it has any stains, which is rare since I have to eat mostly lying down, so I have a lot of clothes that don't get worn outside of this house and only a couple that do :)

28) Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I have. I love flannel sheets though.

29) Can you whistle? Yes

30) Ringer on your phone? One that came with the phone.

31) Would you be a pirate? No

32) What songs do you sing in the shower? Usually whatever is on my radio or CD, if I know it.

33) Favorite girl's name? Don't know.

34) Favorite boy's name? Don't know.

35) What's in your pocket? Maternity pants don't have pockets.

36) Last thing that made you laugh. Probably Matt or Ethan, they both have a great sense of humor.

37) Best bed sheets as a child. I remember I had sheets that were very 70's/80's style. They had stripes of yellow, orange and brown flowers. You know the flower power type of flower!

38) Worst injury you've ever had. As a kid, when I got bit by one of our rabbits, I still have the scar. As an adult, when my dog dragged me across someones yard and I hurt my shoulder. It was when Ethan was in the hospital and I couldn't pick him up by myself and I had a really hard time driving and doing anything with that arm.

39) Do you love where you live? I love the part of town we live in. We have just about anything within 5 miles of our house. I also really like our house right now. Although, someday we would like to be in a neighborhood.

40) How many TVs do you have in your house? 4 that work and one that doesn't. In our garage we have 3, 1 that works and 2 that don't. Out of all of our tv, I think we have only bought one brand new one and one from a garage sale. The rest have all been given to us second-hand and one as a gift.

41) Who is your loudest friend? I've never really payed attention to that. Most are probably louder than me :)

42) How many dogs do you have? 1, Maggie

43) Do you like sushi? No, I hate fish.

44) Best friend in grade school? I had a lot, but my longest 3 were, Erica, Colleen and Kelly.

45) What is your favorite song. Hmmm....I have too many to name.

46) Favorite candy? Anything chocolate, especially with hazelnut, almonds or walnuts.

47) Favorite Sports Team? Do Matt's favorites count?? I guess I would say Ohio State and Mud Hens for me, but Matt also likes the Browns, the Pistons, and the Tigers. So, when we watch any of those games, those are the ones I root for.

48) What song do you want played at your funeral? Amazing Grace

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night? Working on falling asleep.

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Did Ethan pee yet? and Why is he up already?

Good News - Bad News

I ended up having to go in for my first official trip to labor and delivery today. I had cramping for about 3 hours this morning and decided to call the doctor about it. It is on the list of preterm labor symptoms and since it was constant and didn't go away, I decided it was time to call. They called me back and told me that the doctor wanted me to go to L&D instead of the office. Matt and I would have much rather gone into the office, but we were able to get some tests done that we would have had to wait for results on if we went to the office.

We got in there and I was put onto an incredibly uncomfortable bed, they hooked me up to the monitors and told me they would be back soon. You know how that works at a hospital. Eventually, instead of the nurse coming in to get me checked in, the doctor came in. He talked to the woman next to me and me at the same time. It turned out that all three women in the triage area had doctors in the same group, which he found odd. He then saw each of us individually and that is where the good news comes in.

The baby was doing well on the monitor and I only had a couple of contractions while I was there. He checked me and I was not dilating, which was great news! He also said that my cervical length was still 3 cm, which was really good! He performed the Fetal Fibronectin (fFN) test and we waited an hour and a half for those results. Basically, it is a test for preterm delivery, it shows if you will deliver in the next two weeks or not. They did it when I was in the hospital with Ethan and it came out positive and I had him a week and a half later. This one, thankfully, came out negative!! We were so happy with all of this news today.

The bad news is that I have another bladder infection, which is really frustrating. I had been having some symptoms and I was going to ask about it at my regular appt. tomorrow, but it was good to get the news today and get started on antibiotics. It turns out that progesterone not only relaxes the uterus, but it also relaxes the bladder, hence the UTI's. Gestational diabetes also causes UTI's, so I have a double whammy on that one. Speaking of that, I just posted that my blood sugar numbers have been pretty good and today that was all completely changed. I had a high one this morning and then I had to eat a hospital lunch, which caused it to be really high this afternoon. I think all of this was working together today and now I know that the UTI was causing all of the irritation this morning.

Hopefully, we'll stay out of the hospital for several more weeks with no more visits :) I have my nonstress test tomorrow and a regular appointment, which I probably won't have much news from since I went in today. If there is anything new I'll let you know. Otherwise, my next appt. is next Wed, I think. By the way, I'm 30 weeks tomorrow, the doctor's original goal!!! 6 more weeks until the cerclage comes out and then I'll have the baby anytime after that :) I'm getting really excited!

My Numbers Seem to be Good

I started my new diet on Thursday night, after Matt went shopping for me. So, I did not really count my blood sugar level tests until the one after dinner on Thursday. At this point, I have only had one high number and now I think I should have retested, just to be sure. I had one high one yesterday and when I retested a few seconds later it was not high and more true to what I had been doing. Even the one I did record that was high was only slightly above the range, so I don't think it was too bad.

The diet has gone pretty well so far. I think there are two things that I have found to be a little difficult with it. First, I am finding the dinners hard, breakfast and lunch are a breeze for me, but the dinner is where I normally eat a yummy, tasty meal. So far, it has been hard to get used to making the dinner fit in with the diet and make it yummy. Second, Matt, Ethan and I have not shared a dinner since I started the diet. We haven't even eaten at the same time. With this diet I have to try and stick as close to the time schedule as possible. Matt and Ethan have not been on the same schedule as me due to various reasons. It doesn't even matter if we were not eating the same thing, but it would be nice to at least eat at the same time. I guess it will take some getting used to.

One benefit that I have noticed is that I am finding a taste for a few new things and maybe it is rubbing off on Matt and Ethan. Tonight all Ethan wanted for dinner was salad with dressing and grapes. He even had almost 2 servings of salad. Even Matt had some veggies and salad added to his dinner tonight. Hopefully, at some point we will start to make a meal that we can all eat, rather than 3 different meals, which is what is happening right now.

One fun part is when I find something that I'm allowed to eat for a snack that actually tastes yummy! Like, vanilla wafers, graham crackers or even cheese. Poor Matt is going to have to go to the grocery store a lot more, at least until I get this whole thing figured out.

The goal here is to get a healthy baby out of this and hopefully, a better diet for all of us :)

Ethan Update

Ethan has had a lot going on lately, so here goes...

He had a dentist appointment on Tuesday and he did really well. He got a rating of excellent and he did a great job with the x-rays, even the hygenist was impressed! He has no cavities, which makes us so happy! His mouth is a little small in terms of having room for his adult teeth, but that will be something we'll deal with later, if we need to at all. We are really proud of him and how good he was for the dentist.

We've also been working on potty training more seriously since my spring break. He's been in underpants only since then and we have been about 50% of the way there, up until last week. Around his birthday we told him that 4 year olds go poop in the potty and last week, he must have taken it seriously. We had a few accidents last weekend, but he has no accidents this week! We are so proud of him. Last week, he wanted to call someone every time he went, but we have moved this week to him wanting, in his words, "3 things, a hug, a kiss and a five". So, now he is happy to have those three things and to be told how proud we are of him. We are so happy to have this done before the baby comes. We are hoping it is done and that we will have enough time for him to get it down completely so that he does not revert when the baby is born.

Ethan just finished his 8 week Nature Explorers program. It was a program that was held once a week for 2 hours at local metroparks and it was through his private therapy. He was able to get extra speech and occupational therapy while there, which is a big reason we signed him up. We also signed him up to help him get more opportunities with kids and adults he didn't know as well. It has been great because he has been so much better about playing with and near other kids, including groups of kids. We really noticed it when we had his b-day party with my family a few weeks ago and if you know my family there are a lot of kids, 10 total. The 7 youngest were at the party and Ethan impressed us so much by playing with them in the little pool, in the yard and even just talking to all of the adults in the family. Normally, he gets very shy and clings to either Matt or I and doesn't play with any of the kids. He also went to our church VBS this summer and he did a great job there. We think that the group therapy he got this summer really helped him. We are so proud of the changes he has made in the past year especially. We can't wait for his teacher to see him now, as he has changed tremendously during this summer also :)

I wanted to put a few pictures and videos of Ethan also...

Aren't I cute??

"Sleeping" with his football.

"Sleep" Dancing, this is his new thing, pretending to be asleep.

GD Meeting Update

I had my meeting with the gestational diabetes educators today. I was there for a little over two hours and met with 3 different people. The first person went over the medical aspect of it, the 2nd went over the meal plan and nutritional aspect and the 3rd went over how to test my own blood sugar.

I will have to test myself 4 times a day. The menu is not too bad, I'm counting my carbs and watching all other sugars. It seems to be pretty simple, although it is quite different from what I have been eating. I am having to cut my meals literally in half or more. It is crazy. I'm sure it will take me a few days to get my stomach shrunk down enough to not feel as hungry after a meal. I will eat 6 times a day, but as I said they are all very small meals. I started the new diet with my dinner tonight, since I had to wait for Matt to be able to shop for some of the stuff I needed. When I took the bs 2 hours after dinner, it was good :) So, the diet worked for my first meal, which made me feel confident that I can certainly do this. Like I said, I think the hardest part will be the smaller meals and feeling hungry at first.

Overall, I feel a lot better about it and now that I better understand the risks to the baby and I, it really helps. It does seem very easy to drastically reduce the risks simply by changing my diet. The bad thing is that I cannot exercise, which is why the diet has to be a little more strict. But, they did say that as long as the diet works, there should be no problems. I also felt better about the future risks. I know it will help me to better control my weight after the baby comes. I think the diet is something that will really help me to get a handle on eating better. I decided that this is a blessing in disguise :) It really helps me to see the positives in this, rather than focus on the negatives. It will help me to be able to change my habits for the better. I have already thought of ways to work in exercise after the baby comes and they even gave me some tips on what is important to do.

I thank all of you for your continued support through this pregnancy and all of the things that have come our way. I truly believe that I would not be able to see any positives in what I am dealing with if I did not have all of you as part of my support system. So, I thank you so much!

Week 29 Appt. Update

Today's appointment went well! I am now 29 weeks and doing pretty well. I had some lower back pain over the weekend and the doctor told me that the next time I have it where it is consistent to go ahead and get checked by either him or L&D. We also talked about what to look for in contractions. It made me feel pretty good to have a better handle on some of my symptoms and when to be scared and when it is normal. It is so hard going through all of this the first time and being high-risk and knowing what is normal and what is not. I know it is hard enough during a normal pregnancy, but with this I am literally worried about every little ache and pain. I think the closer I get to the end the more anxious I am to get there :)

I will start weekly appointments now and before each one, I will have a non-stress test. He said that is normal for someone that is high-risk and for gestational diabetes. I will go to the nutritionist, finally, on Thursday. I am really wanting to just get this diet started, so that I know I am doing the right thing for the baby.

The baby has been kicking like crazy lately, which has made me so happy. It is so great to feel him moving around so much :) It really eases my mind when I am feeling a little stressed about the other symptoms. Every day that I get at this point is one more day of growth and that makes me happy. I'm really working on a daily basis and then as a week goes by I'm even happier :)

The next big goal the doctor wants me to get to is 32 weeks. He said that is another big milestone in the health of the baby. That is only 3 more weeks and I know I can hold out for that :) The goal after that is 36 weeks, where I will get my cerclage out. After that, it doesn't matter when I deliver. Hopefully, I could go to 37 weeks and be officially full-term, but I'm not sure I will hold out that long, I guess we'll see :)

Thanks again for all of your support through all of this. We will bring home a healthy baby in just a few weeks :)

Guestbook

I'm going to try and set this up as a guestbook for everyone to sign. I will put a link to it on the right, so that you can sign again any time you want. We would like Ethan and the baby to know who was following their stories. It is pretty easy to sign the guestbook, at the bottom of this post, you will see comments, next to the time, just click on that and post a comment. You do not have to have a google account. Just write your comment and then fill in the security letters and then just click on anonymous if you don't have one of the accounts they list.

Just make sure to sign your name, and if we don't personally know you, please let us know where you are from and how you found us.

We look forward to seeing who reads our blog!! Feel free to write a special message to Ethan, or the baby or both, or even Matt and I :)

Thanks!