28 Weeks: Start of the Third Trimester

Doctor's Appointments

This could be the theme of my past two weeks. I've had four doctor visits in the past 11 days.


During the week of July 9 I had some pains in my lower right side while I was working out. Two different days at the gym I had to stop what I was doing and switch to something else because I was having a bad pain. Then that Thursday July 12 I woke up and had been in pain throughout the night, in the same spot. It continued all day Thursday. That night Jacob suggest I call my doctor in the morning, since that weekend I was leaving for Austin for seven days. I called Friday morning and left a message with the nurse. They called me back (when I happened to be out on a 3 mile walk with Athena) and asked me how quickly I could get to the hospital. When I said I live 15 minutes away, but was about a mile away from my house on a walk, I was scolded and told to come in ASAP. Luckily all checked out well and it was said to be 'round ligament pain'. I am glad I went in because the pain continued for about 3 more days and it was a relief knowing all was okay. My doctor kept telling me that I did the right thing by calling and coming in, even though afterwards it felt like overreacting.


That same Friday July 13 was my follow up with the diabetes doctor. He was quite impressed with my numbers and told me that he had to see me back in three weeks, but if my numbers continue to be good, he doesn't want to see me EVER again! =) So far in the week and a half since that appointment, I have not had a single high reading.


Monday night I was home lugging two watering cans outside and stepped down a stair wrong and twisted my ankle. Of course, Jacob is gone for three nights (taking the bar exam) and so I hobbled back inside and was in an incredible amount of pain. I had a bunch to do that night, but crossed my fingers that when I woke up the next morning it'd be fine. I woke up with a very swollen ankle and was still in a ton of pain. I had to work in North Dallas all day on an audit and unfortunately had to be on my feet quite a bit. I finally couldn't take it and went to Urgent Care at 3:00. They took x-rays and all seems fine, just diagnosed as a sprained ankle and told to ice and elevate as much as possible over the next few days.

Today I went to my 28 Week OBGYN appointment. I saw the only male doctor in the group; and I was surprised but I liked him a lot. I measured right at 28 weeks and Embry's heartrate was 140 bpm, he said right on track for a happy baby! He asked to see my logs for my glucose readings and was very impressed. He said I can move to only checking my blood sugar in the morning now (after fasting overnight!). I guess morning is when people's blood sugar spike, so I'm now just supposed to keep track of that. It will be so nice not to have to deal with carrying my monitor around all the time, especially since we go on vacation soon and then I have one last business trip! (I will still follow up with the diabetes team)

28 Week Photo: Start of the Third Trimester

Here is our every-other-week photo! Jacob took it Monday morning before we split ways for the week. I had been gone a whole week and when I came out in my t-shirt and jeans he said- WOW! You're belly has gotten bigger! Hah! We also had to take this really early in the morning, I feel like I look tired and puffy after a nights sleep!

28 W, 0 D

A Week in Austin

Last week I spent the entire week in Austin. I had to go for a week for work at some point in July and thought the week before the Bar Exam would be a great time to let Jacob have the house to himself! It started out with Ruthie (and assistant Tomi) taking an afternoon to take maternity pictures of me! We plan on doing some with Jacob when we are in town for my baby shower in two weeks. Here are a few of my faves!

The week was a busy one with work, but I had a lot of great lunches and dinners with my family, in-laws, and girlfriends!

Friday night I was so excited to be in town for the premier of Ruthie and Jon's episode of House Hunters! I was able to attend the party at their house and had so much fun! I also got to stay the night at their house! We stayed up until almost 3:00 am that night chatting!

Saturday and Sunday I spent with my girlfriends for my friend Erin's Bachelorette Party. I had a great time catching up with the girls and so glad I got to attend since her wedding is October 12 and I won't be able to go! I did get some crazy looks being the pregnant lady at the bar....haha!

The whole gang

Me and the bride-to-be, Erin

I was definitely happy to get home that Sunday after being gone for seven days and seven nights!

Bar Exam

Right now Jacob is in Arlington taking the Bar Exam. Today he will finish day two of the three day test. Things seem to be going well! I can't believe tomorrow night Jacob will be DONE!

Since he's taking the test at the Arlington Convention Center, we took people's advice and booked him a hotel Monday-Thursday a mile away from the test. It's been great for him to have a quiet space to go "home" to each evening, instead of fighting an hour or more of traffic each morning and evening. It's my first time to ever stay in our house alone without him in three years!!! Pretty unbelievable! Athena has been a great companion, but we're excited for him to arrive home tomorrow evening after the test!

Here's a picture of Jacob enjoying a good luck beer from Ruthie and Jon on Sunday night when I returned home! It was the Bar Exam Eve, Eve. Hah! This was him taking the evening 'off'....which still meant going over notes, outlines, etc.

Baby Moon

Saturday we leave for our trip to Key West to celebrate our 'babymoon' and law school and the bar exam being over! I cannot wait to spend five days relaxing by the pool and ocean with my husband! I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures to post from our time there!

Three Years of Marriage

2012 marks our three year anniversary! How has time flown so quickly? How have we been living in Dallas for three years already?

July 11, 2009

 

We celebrated our anniversary last Saturday with a full day of quality time. The first part of our day was spent at the Dallas Arboretum, which is an amazing gem in Dallas, that we live less than a mile and half from. We also have a very generous neighbor who has a family pass and lets us use it anytime we want. (Saves us $40 a trip!) 

Right now there is an awesome exhibit going on at the Dallas Arboretum...the Chihuly Exhibit. (Dale Chihuly is a famous artist who does amazing glass sculptures and his exhibit will be in town through November). After seeing it on Good Morning America and all over TV in Dallas, we finally went! It was a hot day, but the Arboretum has so many places to rest and good shade spots, that it was quite pleasant. 

Something that was really fun was to see the dozens and dozens of families with young kids at the Arboretum and envision bringing Embry there! The Arboretum in the Fall is out of this world with thousands (maybe a million) pumpkins! And the tulip festival in the spring is truly amazing! They always have things going on for kids there and there are thousands of great photo op spots I can't wait to take advantage of!

Here are some shots from our time there...

Now if you know Jacob well, you know he has an obsession with trees, plants, etc. He called me over to this tree in the arboretum and told me that he has been thinking a lot about it and he wants to plant a tree for each of our children when they're born! What a cute idea, right? He happened upon this tree, an Empress Tree, and thought it'd be perfect. I told him I loved the look of it, count me in... An Empress for our Embry!

When we got home Jacob screamed my name from across the house. He got home and googled Empress Tree and found out in the Chinese tradition that families plant an Empress Tree when the first daughter in the family is born! What are the odds of that?!?!?! Embry will hopefully have an Empress Tree of her own one day!

After some down time relaxing and getting freshened up at home we were off. We braved Dallas' IKEA (really in Frisco, TX) for some things for Embry's nursery. (The book shelves that are really picture ledges). What more can you say about IKEA on a Saturday? Oh, well and a TWO STORY IKEA that's undergoing a huge renovation scheduled for completion in two weeks. Yes, it was crazy. But we got what we wanted.
We had a fabulous dinner at a hibachi grill. A few months ago, for Kathleen's birthday, we went to a hibachi grill with Jacob's family. It was his first time going to one and we both loved it. We figured it was the perfect opportunity to go back to one. It was a great atmosphere, yummy food and overall entertaining.

Here is a look back at our three anniversaries! (No champagne in this years photo! We'll resume that next year- hah!)



Nursery Progress

I think this is my favorite post I've gotten to share yet! These past few days my mom has been in town and we've been crazily working on Embry's nursery! The room has made a complete transformation as it used to be Jacob's office, painted a serene green/gray. Well not anymore! Pink has hit our house! A few neighbors who have come by have all said the same thing- "Whoah, it's PINK!"

Here is a quick shot of what the room looked like before...

To give you an idea of our color scheme, here is the fabric her bedding will be made out of. I wanted something with a crisp, white background and something not too pink, since I knew we'd be painting pink! I also love the touches of the robins egg blue!

And now for the best part, pictures!

Welcome to Embry's Room!



The light, sheer curtains, rocker and chandelier!
(The bassinet will not stay in here when she arrives)



One of my favorite parts, the book shelves!

The crib, minus her bedding which should arrive in late August!
Also, will do some wall decor above the crib!

This table was in our guest room, it now holds some trinkets from my nursery when I was a baby and one of my other favorite things, my $3.00 thrift store lamp that I spray painted!

The robins egg blue closet! So fun!

Our craigslist steal, the $100 cherry wood dresser/changing table
(I have some fun wall decor in mind for above the changing table!)

The knobs we found at Hobby Lobby to match the bedding!

The most fun part of the nursery- the chalkboard door!
(We painted the door with chalkboard paint!)

Here are a few pictures taken at night. Trying to capture the true colors of the room is tough!

One of my favorite views! I love the contrast of the blue and pink!

The dresser in the closet was actually my dad's as a baby!
So fun to be able to have meaningful pieces in the room

I love the soft, sheer curtains with the crisp white curtain rod!

I also took a little video tour of the room in hopes that it makes the colors look a little more true. Although, I think the pink walls look a little light in the video!

And last but certainly not least, a picture of me and my mom on Day 3 of Nursery Transformation! Couldn't have done it without her! She painted, hung every book shelf, hung the light and curtains, and helped me get the room organized! Thanks Mom!!!

26 Weeks

26 Weeks

This week I am 26 weeks along and feeling great still. This past week has brought some major pregnancy changes (gestational diabetes....), but physically, I'm feeling great! Embry is quite active these days, especially when I lay down to go to bed each night!

I only have two more weeks left in my second trimester, which I've heard called the honeymoon trimester. I have had a glimpse of a few days of lower back pain (mainly days I'm up doing a ton of walking, etc.) I hope the exhaustion from the first trimester doesn't come back! Time sure is flying!

26 w 2 d

Gestational Diabetes

Well things did not go as well as I hoped during my 24 week appointment. A few days after my appointment I got a phone call that I failed the blood glucose test by a mere few points. After stressing about it I found out that multiple people I know had failed the one hour glucose test, but passed the three hour test (my mom included). So I didn't think I had to worry, especially since I failed by just a few points. 

The following Monday I had to go in for the painful three hour blood test. It was pretty bad and I was very dehydrated. Long story short, you aren't even allowed a drop of water to drink, but they had such a hard time finding veins in me that they forced me to hydrate so they could even find a vein. It was bad.

Thursday July 5 I got the dreaded phone call that I again, barely failed the test and needed to go see a diabetic specialist. I begged to get in ASAP and was able to get in late Friday afternoon. 

I really liked the doctor I worked with and he gave me news that I wish he hadn't...he told me that I barely failed two of the four blood draws. I passed the fasting blood test and one hour blood test with "flying colors". So I asked him, so if these were my results for the initial one hour test at my 24 week appointment, I would have passed and never gotten a call back? Yup! Great...Regardless, I now borderline, but none-the-less, have gestational diabetes. 


I now have a lovely blood glucose meter to tote around and get to prick my finger four times a day.


I also am on a "food plan". When I sat down with the gestational diabetes coordinator and went through all of my meals and snacks I told him that this is more than I am used to eating. He told me that it was a food plan not a food diet, it definitely keeps me eating around the clock. It's very odd forcing myself to eat substantial snacks when I am not hungry, but the key is to keep food in the body. I have only been doing this a few days, but it seems like it's going to be fine, just take a lot of planning! On my flight this Sunday for work, I had planned my meals, snacks and blood draws perfectly, but when my flight was 90 minutes delayed, I had to test my blood on the flight. Kinda odd! 

Here are a few pictures of what I get to do four times a day...

My kit of goodies

My finger pricker

Test strips and reader

Testing my blood

I go back this Friday to check in on how my first week has gone. I'm hoping they tell me I've done so great and gotten such great results that I can stop all this pricking stuff! Hah! We shall see. Things could be worse, that's for sure!

Anniversary and Nursery

Today week we celebrate three years of marriage! And my mom is in town to help paint the nursery! I will update on both topics later this week/weekend!