6 weeks

We're pretty much about six weeks away. It's a little weird. Like I'm doing all these things to get ready but I feel really detached. Like I'm doing it for someone else. Packing the bag for the hospital, washing and putting away baby clothes. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that we will have a baby in just a few weeks. I'm sure this all normal, the feelings of "what if I'm a shitty parent??" or "what if it hates me?" or even "what if I dont like her?". I've talked to people who were totally indifferent their whole pregnancy and they've all assured me that once she's born and we settle in, things (and by things I mean feelings) will start to make more sense. Well and that I'll think I've gone totaly insane. But really, that's pretty regular nowadays.
Anyway, I've got two dr appts this week. One with Dr. Steiger for a Non Stress Test and a date/weight ultrasound and then another with my reg doctor for the non stress test and regular check up. I'll be having the NST's twice a week for the rest of teh pregnancy. The ultrasound will tell us if she's growing faster than she should be or if she's sticking to the schedule.
Tomorrow is my last event until the baby is born. It's in LA, it's the 1st one of it's kind and my parents are coming. I'm looking forward to it but am sad too. It's weird to not be making towels and collars all the time.
OH also, I signed up for a class for fall. Did I already mention that? well I paid for it and everything so it's legit. I'm excited. After that I'll have one class in spring and will have my accounting certificate! YAY!
Lastly I've started a different baby blanket. I've got like an inch done but it's with thicker yarn so hopefully will go faster. I have no delusions that it will be done in 6 weeks but I realized I only knit her ONE thing and I haven't even put the flowers on that dress yet. BAD KNITTER. Terrible. So I need to get cracking on this blanket!

Here's some random pictures of our life at the moment.
New Couch:

 Rocksy Snuggle Bug:

 Gift from co-worker! Yea!

 Baby Books! My mom and I are working our way to get the whole Serendipity collection! Now we just need a bookcase. Someone had mentioned getting us one, but I'm not sure exactly how to ask about it. I'm pretty sure to ask about a gift is bad taste so maybe I'll just have to let that go.

 Closet organizers! Purple is from Land of Nod (thank you Bronwyn) and the tan one is from my Auntie Diana They're awesome! I'm putting clothes up and blankets and towels and sheets and bibs and socks and tons o other crap away!

Here is the crib! With my ewok and mogwai hanging out in there for now.

 Changing table with pad and cover courtesy my best friend Jennifer. It's so pretty and soft. And my mom made that pompadour ball!

 And lastly our pizza! It looks pretty terrible but I swear it was Delicious! :-)

Keep Calm and Carry On

Things have been busy here at the Thielman house. Since we last chatted I did a fun event in San Diego with my mom where something like 150 dogs were adopted to new families. That is just so awesome, it really makes me feel good about being a part of it.

Monday the 11th, I had an ultrasound appointment. Because my mom was still in town, she got to come with me which was super cool. She's only seen pictures of ultrasounds and now she got to see the real thing, moving around in there. I made the lady double check that it's a girl and it is, thank goodness! The reason they were checking was to measure her size. Babies of gestational diabetes can tend to grow a bit more than normal so they wanted to see where she was. I was at 32 full weeks and she was measuring at a little over 33. Her head was 34.5! It's all that brain, she's a smart girl already. She weighs 4 pounds and 9 ounces. My doctor said she wasn't worried and that we'll do another ultrasound in a couple weeks to remeasure. We want to be sure she's staying like a week ahead and not growing exponentially. She also told me that I'm going to have to start having twice weekly Non Stress Tests. One with her and one with Dr. Steiger. Basically, I get strapped to monitors and whenever the baby moves, they track her heartbeat. Just making sure that it's all in normal range. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing this twice a week through the end of the pregnancy. The biggest bummer is that Dr. Steiger is in Palm Springs, so I have to take my lunch and then sick or vacation time to cover the rest since it takes 30 min to drive there and 30 min back nevermind the actual dang appointment. But hey, we do what we gotta do. It's all a-ok.

Today was our childbirth class. We had options for weekly ones but opted for the one full day get it over with one. The day started out a bit rough because we were running late and I really hate being late. So I was grumpy most of the day. The class was informative, although not much that I couldn't google and find out myself. We did watch some awesome 80's videos about birth. I even got a little teary eyes when the baby finally came out and was put on his moms chest. We did some breathing exercises, which kind of sucked because no one told us to bring pillows so we were sitting on the floor and my feet were swelling and falling asleep. But we've got the hee hee hee Whoooooo breathing down I think. They talked a lot about things for Brendan to do to help me and keep me calm and happy. Oh and we got a tour of the hospital. That was one of the main things I wanted to do. I've never visited anyone at Desert REgional so I didn't even know where the labor and delivery or maternity ward was. We cruised around, they explained where we would go and how things would work. In the labor room there was a TV and DVD player and shower and stuff for us to use while laboring. The recovery rooms were all in use so we didn't get to see those but they're not private so that kind of sucks. And that was about it! We got lots of info that we'll have to go over more at our leisure. I want to get the car seat in the car and pack the bag soon too. I've got 7 weeks to go but you never know!

I'm definitely feeling more pregnant, like peeing often and not being able to eat a lot at a time (no room in there!). The swollen feet I'm pretty much used to, even though they suck terribly. I'm tired all the time. I wish I could take naps in the afternoon. I'm more prone to want to cry. And I want to throw everything out. haha! Tomorrows plan is to clean the office more and get rid of a lot of stuff hopefully.
Oh and we got a new couch. We bought it on craigslist. We still need one more couch but at least we got rid of the pee one so hopefully B-Bop will be ok with this one and not need to mark it all the time and ruin the rug.
That's all for now. The only picture I have for you is the new stroller. It's awesome. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Stromberg! I love it! Things are starting to come together!

Baby Showers, Zoo and Family

We had a really awesome weekend this last weekend. My mom came into town Wednesday night and helped me out on my last night of Villagefest. It's so weird to think I won't be there until after the baby is born. I've only missed like a handful of nights in the last two years. I'm bummed that I'll probably lose my spot too. But it was a good night and I got to say bye to everyone. Now I'll get to go back and walk around like a regular person :-)
Friday I worked a half day and then picked up Brendan's mom Carol, my sister and nieces from the airport! It was so awesome to have everyone here!! I made a no sugar added carrot cake for the party. I must say it was pretty darn good!!!

 Saturday we got the house all ready, decorated and whatnot for the baby shower! It was awesome. The house was packed with people, I just didn't realize so many people were coming! I mean, I saw the numbers but it looks like so much more when they're all sitting in your living room! We got so many presents, I was totally overwhelmed. It really made me feel loved to see all the things people picked out for this little girl. There was so much thought and caring put in each gift. It's amazing to me how special it all is. I got to hang out with like almost all of my favorite people in one sitting! It was beyond awesome.

And we had a sprinkler after party!

Sunday we went to the zoo and did some shopping. By the end of the day, my feet were dying, but it was totally worth it. All THREE of the cheetahs were out and I got to say hi to all my goat friends :-)
 

Sadly, everyone went home Monday. The house felt so empty!
Today I had another diabetes appointment. The girl I meet with is really nice, I like her. Anyway, I'm having a hard time with my fasting numbers. I test four times a day: once first thing in the morn (fasting) and then an hour after every meal. My meal numbers are all perfect. But the fasting ones are always high, never below the mark they set. So I have to take an average this week, if it goes up I have to make an appt for next week and meet with Dr. Steiger about possibly going on medication. If it stays about the same then we'll just play it by ear and keep an eye on it. I have my regular OB appointment tomorrow and I'm supposed to find out how big she is. If she's trending to be bigger than she should be (by the week I am) then I'm also supposed to call and make an appointment with the diabetes people. Fingers crossed tomorrow will be a good appointment.
This weekend I have an event in San Diego. It's a special event to me, it was the very first one I ever did and I've done it every year since. My mom is coming with and she's done it with me every year too. It's the SD Doggie Street Festival. Can't wait!

 And lastly here's a pic of Ava on the awesome bouncy thing at the mall!


 

Until next time................

Thank god for three day weekends

This weekend was pretty awesome. Not that a ton has gotten done or anything but I've finally been able to just do things, relax and just hang out. Three days off was much needed! I made towels, cleaned a bit, put together a shower caddy thing for the guest bathroom, semi organized my desk, went couch shopping, napped. It's been great! Couch shopping has been rough, we found one we Loved and it's on backorder. I seriously wanted to cry. Ok, I'll admit it, I did cry. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm hormonal and I was upset. Mostly because we have so many people coming over this weekend for the baby shower and our couches are yucky and pee'd on and it's embarassing. Whatever.
The diabetes is going well. I have an appt tomorrow for her to go over how well i'm keeping it under control. I've sucked at writing what I eat but have been pretty good about remembering to check my blood.
I'm going through our wedding photos. I've uploaded ALL of them to shutterfly and am now going through one by one and deleting duplicates, blurries etc. It's crazy time consuming, but I really want to make a scrapbook for us and some wedding books for our parents. Maybe I'll be done in time for Christmas haha I've got about 1200 to go through.
The baby seems to be doing fine, next appt is in like two weeks. She's moving around a lot, not really kicking, more like pushing. Pushy kid! I put away all the clothes my sister gave me and other stuff that friends have given us. I can't believe there's so much already in her room. It's starting to really look like a baby room. A baby will be living in there in like TWO MONTHS! Wowzers.
Other then that, just preparing for lots of visitors this weekend! And here's some old wedding pics to bring back memories :-)

Messes.

Why is it that the mess always seems to get bigger when I'm cleaning? I need to do a Massive office/craft room purge. Jeez.

Duh.

What was I thinking? There is no way I'll finish this in 10 weeks! Maybe for her first birthday!

Diabetes

Today was my gestational diabetes class. It's out at Desert REgional (30 min away) and was supposed to start at 10 but started 30 minutes late. Lame. I apparently was the only person that did research on anything. They went over what gestational diabetes is, how we get it and nutrition and keeping it under control. Basically as a pregnant women, your hormones are all wacky and prevent you from producing enough insluin to balance out sugar intake. Also your placenta can prevent you from making it. It's all very strange. Anyway, as we are now, I will not need to take medication, we'll be controlling it with diet and exercise. Since my feet are like balloons and often hurt to walk on, I'm not sure exactly what exercise I'll be doing but I'll figure something out. Anyway, so she went over things to eat and not eat and stressed that they know no one is perfect and that making good choices and keeping my blood sugar pretty even is the most important. So I'm supposed to eat every couple hours, no fruits or milk in the morning and stay away from the obvious candies and such.
We got two goody bags while at the place. One had formula, coupons, milk holders, a insulated bottle holder and a teeny tiny diaper that just looked so little and cute. It looked like it was for doll not a baby!

I also got my blood testing kit, which comes with the tester, the poker stick and strips.  It's not the worst thing in the world but the first time the anticipation was brutal. I thought it was going to hurt MUCH more!

 

You prick your finger, plug the strip in the machine and put your blood on here. Here's a bloody strip:

And here's my owie fingers:

I'll go back next week for her to look at my stats and make sure I'm not all over the place. I need to go grocery shopping and buy some healthy snacks, bc I don't have much morning stuff. I always ate cereal. Which is like all sugar (that's why it's delicious).

So bloody fingers crossed that we have this all under control, that the baby stays healthy (and doesn't grow huge) and that this goes away when she's born!