Week #38

Otherwise known as the last week of my pregnancy! The week began as any other with the first of many appointments. First off that week was an appointment with my midwife. Everything was good. I was measuring slightly ahead of schedule, but not too much, and my blood pressure was good and I was feeling good. The midwife did a stretch and sweep to try and get things going (it didn't) in an effort to try and avoid an induction.

My second appointment was with the OB later on that week on Wednesday. We talked some more about how I was doing and it was decided that since Peanut was looking like she could be 8lbs or more, and since my Gestational Diabetes was going a little crazy again, it was best that I be induced. The big day was booked...March 5th, that very Saturday. For those of you that know me well, that was also my birthday, and more importantly the day my OB was on call.

Since my birthday plans were now cancelled we decided to celebrate a day early. So on Friday we had my mother and grandmother over for a nice dinner, then had the rest of the family over for some birthday cake. The only person who wasn't there was my dad, since he was working an afternoon shift at work that week so he was working. We had a great time, and made sure to snap my last belly shot ever.

Week #36!

Otherwise known as "HOLY CRAP THIS IS REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN!!"



First off we'll start with how big our little peanut really is:

So from their estimations Peanut is weighing a little more than the "average" fetus. We had another growth ultrasound on the 3rd of February and according to the tech our Peanut weighed in at a whopping 5lbs, 12ozs already. This may sound huge to some, but with the average weight gain for the baby at approx 0.5lbs/week for the rest of the pregnancy she will probably still be under 9lbs at birth, which is completely average, and awesome for a Gestational Diabetes Baby.

According to thebump.com, at 36 weeks Peanuts circulatory and immune systems are good to go. Her skin is getting smooth and soft, and her gums are rigid. The only thing we're waiting on right now are her little lungs. They are the only organs that are still maturing.

Peanut and I have a deal going that even though we're ready for her arrival, and cannot wait to meet our little girl, that she's not allowed to come until she can breathe all on her own!

Everything continues to be going really well pregnancy-wise. My sugars continue to be monitored closely every other week at the local Gestational Diabetes Clinic. I feel the odd pain in my low back, pelvis and groin, but that's been behaving the last week or so, so I've actually been feeling really good. Peanut continues to move inside like a little monkey. She's even at the point where if she feels like it she'll even respond when Andre and I talk to her, by giving us a little roll or kick. I've learned that Peanut has a stubborn streak, and will do things only on her terms. She also has hiccups daily which always make me smile since before getting pregnant, I was the one getting hiccups all the time.

For all of you out there waiting for a bump shot, here you go! This was taken at 35 weeks after getting home from my baby shower.

Happy New Year from Peanut!

This was our early Christmas present this year, another ultrasound! The one advantage to having Gestational Diabetes are the extra growth ultrasounds. We fell in love with our little Peanut even more after this ultrasound. She's fattened up so much since the 20wk ultrasound, and she is looking even more and more cute if I do say so myself! The final result of the ultrasound is that our little Peanut is right smack dab between the 50th and 95th percentile for growth, after asking my midwife some questions I found out that this means that she is perfectly NORMAL. This is a huge sigh of relief. So as of right now my GD has not caused our sweet little Peanut to be a huge baby. Let's hope she stays that way!




So since we know that Peanut is perfectly average sized right now, and I am 30 weeks (!!!!!) pregnant. Peanut is now the size of a squash!

It's hard to believe that I have a little tiny human growing inside of me that could potentially weigh just over 3 pounds! Craziness I tell you. She's moving around like crazy now, especially first thing in the morning when Andre and I eat breakfast together, and then again later at night when I'm relaxing after Andre has gone to bed. Last night I even felt what was unmistakably either a foot or a knee. What I do know for sure is that it was sharp and hard!

Otherwise I have been feeling really good. The odd ache and pain in my hips and low back. Some swelling in my ankles, but I am on my feet most of the day at work, so that's unavoidable. The belly is steadily getting bigger, and about three weeks ago I really started to feel pregnant, especially when getting into bed at night, I joke with Andre I need a crane! To give you an idea of how I look now here is a self-portrait I took of myself in Peanuts room. Don't get too excited though, we haven't started to decorate, so it's just a yellow room.

So without further ado I will end this blog entry with a picture of the the belly (and me) at 30 weeks:

Week #25

Almost two thirds of the way to the finish line!! Whoo Hooo! The good news is that I'm still feeling pretty darn good. I'm not feeling anymore sickness for the most part, aside from a random bit of nausea here and there. I'm not super tired, and for the most part I can still do everything that I did before, which is nice!


Everyone keeps asking about crazy cravings, and I haven't really had any honestly. This I'm thankful for as I have developed Gestational Diabetes, which has worsened to Insulin Dependent Diabetes in Pregnancy, and have to watch what I eat fairly closely. It's amazing all the food I'm expected to eat during the day, and mostly just have to watch the amount of carbohydrates that I eat. This means very little of my beloved chocolate is allowed. I have found that occasionally I can eat a regular dessert with no consequences to my sugar levels, so this is a nice bonus here and there.


I also had my first odd comment just this past Friday. Andre and I were at his work Christmas dinner/dance, and one of his co-workers asked me if I was carrying triplets because I was so big! I just laughed and reassured her that there was only one baby in there. It was an odd comment especially since I'm told multiple times a week that I'm carrying small.


Now onto Peanut!


Peanut has now grown to be the size of...

An Eggplant!!

She is now just over 1 1/2 pounds in weight! She is definitely a mover and a shaker (just like her Daddy!) and her equilibrium has kicked in as well, and she's starting to figure out right side up from upside down! This is definitely true in her case as I feel her starting to roll and flip a lot more. I can differentiate from her kicks and the more fluid rolling movements that she does during the day. The best part is that now her kicks are stronger so I can share the fun with family and friends that want to feel the movements too.

Week #24!

And an entire month since I last blogged about little Peanuts progress! In my defense there has been a ton of stuff going on around here, so I hope you're ready for today!


Up until now there has been so much development going on with our little peanut that every week she has grown so much that there is a new piece of produce to represent her size. Now that growth has slowed down a little bit, it will be one piece of produce a month. So for this month (month 5 according to http://www.thebump.com/ and month 6 according to What to Expect When You're Expecting) Peanut is approximately the size of a Papaya!

If you were to actually get a really good look at Peanut she would look like a perfect little baby already, a small baby, but a perfect little baby. Her skin is slowly becoming less see-through thanks to all that baby fat forming, and little capillaries (blood vessels) are forming giving her a nice pink colour.

I've actually been incredibly blessed by how good I've been feeling so far this pregnancy. I've actually found that I'm feeling just like my old self for the most part. The only negative is that I have been diagnosed with Insulin Dependent Diabetes in Pregnancy. Not exactly something that was part of my overall plan, but something that I have to deal with. I am being closely monitored at the Gestational Diabetes Clinic at the hospital where I am delivering, and meet with a Registered Dietitian every other week. The diet isn't horrible, and aside from the first week of carb withdrawl I am feeling really good. Thankfully I do not have any problems with needles, so the Insulin injections are going well so far.

I am being referred now to an Obstetrician (OB) since with the addition of Insulin I can no longer be treated by my Midwife. Although until I can get an appointment with an OB she will continue to be my primary caregiver, and will continue to stay on in a supportive role once I am transferred to the OB as well.

In good news though, there has been some definite movement over the last month! I am feeling Peanut moving daily, and just this weekend Andre and my mom got to feel her kick for the first time too! That was a wonderful thing to be able to share that with them.

The countdown is also on until my next ultrasound the week before Christmas! With Gestational Diabetes there is a risk of Peanut being a bigger baby, so I will be getting a few more ultrasounds to monitor her progress and make sure she stays a nice healthy size. They say there is a silver lining with everything right? Well I think the extra ultrasounds are the silver lining in this situation. Who could ask for a better early Christmas present then to see our little girl again?

Week #20!

I have been a horrible blogger I know! But to make up for the horrible lack of blogging I promise that before I leave this computer tonight you will have two blog entries!

I knew it had been a little bit since I last wrote about little peanut, but didn't realize that it has been a whole month! So to start off little peanut has been growing. At week 16 peanut was about the size of an avacado, this week peanut is as big as:

Holy cantaloupe! Hard to believe isn't it?

Peanut has been busy practicing, by gulping down the amniotic fluid for nutrition and to get used to eating later on. If peanut is like Andre, they'll need a lot of practice!

I've been feeling pretty good lately. Long gone are my regular clothing. I can actually still fit into most of my regular pants, but they just aren't comfortable anymore, so elastic waist bands it is! The fatigue is still present, along with the nausea with brushing my teeth and cooked veggies for some reason. Hopefully one day I'll be able to eat cooked broccoli again! Other than that I'm feeling like my old self, along with the occassional mood swing thrown in for a little excitement!

Oh I forgot, "Pregnancy Brain" has also set in. I have decided that the bigger that peanut grows the less memory I have. This drives Andre crazy!

Week #16!

Well I guess updates every other week are better than nothing right?

This week I am 16 weeks, or about halfway through the fourth month! Peanut is now about the size of an avocado:

I laughed when I saw this one because I have joked with Andre that little peanut might come out green because I devour avocados in a flash whenever they are in the house, this goes for any food that is Mexican-influenced.

Also exciting is that the little bones in peanuts ears are forming meaning that he/she can now hear me telling Andre that he's driving me crazy! Needless to say the hormonal surges on my end are still going strong!

I've been feeling a lot better lately, almost like my old self again, well my old self in maternity clothes. I had to give up my regular clothes this week and move into the wonderful world of elasticized pants. I am now feeling 100% comfortable in pants again.

Week #14!

And just under the wire too!

So this week peanut is about the size of my clenched fist, or if you want a visual, about the size of a peach.

Peanut is making more fluid movements (as we were able to witness at the last ultrasound!), the roof of his mouth is forming, and his (or her) little intestines are developing Meconium (AKA baby's first poop). A thin layer of downy hair known as Lanugo is developing on peanut to keep him or her warm until the baby fat takes over. So peanut I guess would kind of feel just the same as that peach!

In other good news I'm starting to feel more like myself. I'm slowly weaning myself off the Diclectin, and the nausea is staying away for the most part. I still get the gags and heaving from certain smells though, so I still have to be careful. Brushing my teeth is still a chore, and I gross Andre out with my gagging most days. Our dentist appointments later this week should be interesting!

We had our second appointment with our Midwife this morning where we met the secondary Midwife Shannon. The primary Midwife's name is Karen. This appointment was great b/c Andre and I got to hear Peanut's heartbeat for the very first time! Shannon found it in no time, and it was nice and strong and even at 160 beats per minute. It was an amazing sound, and I'm so glad that Andre was there with me so we could share that milestone together.

Week #12!

I know, I know, I'm slacking on the updates again. Since I can I'm going to use Peanut as my excuse. The fatigue has increased with a vengeance over the last two weeks, and some nights it's all I can do to stay up until 9pm before I'm falling asleep on the couch.

In week #10, Peanut was the size of a prune, in week #11 they had grown to the size of a lime, and now Peanut is the size of a large plum!

It's hard to believe that I can have some little person the size of a plum growing inside of me and I don't feel a thing! It's amazing really. By now most of the bodily systems are all in place and some are already starting to work, even though they still have another 6 more months of maturing left to do.

Aside from the increasing fatigue there have been a few other changes with my symptoms over the last few weeks:

-By about week 9-10 the bloat had really begun to set in. In order to prolong the life of my regular clothes I purchased a Tummy Sleeve on the advice of a friend. It helps by allowing you to wear your regular pants undone without them well falling to your ankles!

-One day last week (11wks) I woke up and suddenly I could do up some of my pants again because the bloat has disappeared! This could be caused by Peanut moving therefore moving some of my internal organs

-The all day fatigue that had started to get better started to kick my butt again last week. Not fun.

-Nausea (what I like to call all-day crappiness) has gotten worse especially in the morning. Every week I try and decrease my dosage of Diclectin, but my body wants nothing to do with that and the next day I'm back on my regular dosing schedule. The gagging and retching are so bad that every night at dinner and before I go to bed Andre asks me if I've taken "all my pills".

-The good news is that for the past week and a half I've only had to get up once/night for my nightly bathroom run. Yeah for more sleep!

This week is going to be a busy one with our IPS screening scheduled for Wednesday morning, and then another visit (and another ultrasound) with my specialist on Thursday morning. Andre has meetings at work all day on Wednesday so my mom will get to see Peanut (or as she calls him/her "Cashew") on the big screen. Andre will be with me on Thursday morning though.

Stay tuned everyone for another couple ultrasound pictures this week, and hopefully not too soon afterwards the "Global Announcement", after we get a chance to share the news with my grandparents that live locally.

Week #9

I'm realizing that I'm really slacking with the whole week-by-week updates, but I have a really good excuse because Andre and I were on vacation for a week and a half, and a week of that was in sunny Aruba! We had a great time on vacation, but we're happy to be back home.

So on to peanut! So much has happened since week #6, and peanut has been doing some serious growing! Peanut is now the size of...

I'm not a big fan of olives, but at least we have a visual!

In week 7 peanut was the size of a medium blueberry, and last week the size of a raspberry, to give you an idea of the rate of growth that is going on. In week 7 little leg and arm buds were forming, and by week 8 is looking a little less alien like everyday! The best part is that by week 9, our little peanut has officially graduated from embryo to fetus! Little muscles are beginning to develop as well, so on an ultrasound we could actually see our little peanut swimming around! Later on this month we could also be lucky enough to hear the beautiful sound of little peanut's heartbeat!

So much is happening!

I mentioned in our last update that the nausea train had arrived, and that I had tried Ginger Gravol. Well the nausea continued to worsen, so after a call into my specialist I was starting a prescription nausea medication named Diclectin. This medication has worked it's wonders for the most part making me feel (almost) normal most days. One side effect of this drug can be fatigue at the start, so thankfully I was on vacation and could nap under a hut on the beach every morning. This has been replaced by normal first trimester fatigue now.

I'm still feeling:

-bloat, mostly at night, but happens all day

-aversion to scents

-constant feeling like I'm going to gag, often for no reason at all. This drives Andre crazy!

-fatigue

Thankfully my daily heartburn has eased up, and I'm only getting up twice a night to a full bladder which is a big improvement to 4 times a night! This means more sleep for me.

Things are going well overall though, and Andre and I are so excited for another appointment at the clinic on Thursday when we will hopefully get another opportunity to see peanut on a second ultrasound!

Week #6!

Better late than never! I officially only have 2 days left of being in week 6 so I thought I better get a move on it!

So to give you an idea of how big our little peanut (or cashew, it all depends on whether you're asking my sisters or my mom!) is look no further than:

No, not the whole thing, but one of those little sweet peas equals the size of our little sweet pea, oh I mean peanut! In fact, our little peanut is 5mm in size, so about half a centimeter, but that's for another post altogether!

This week in peanut development:

I think the most important thing is that our little one's heart is beating! It's truly amazing to think that something so small already has a beating heart! The kidneys, lungs, and liver are also developing. Little peanuts eyes, ears, jaw, cheeks and chin are also forming (destined to be a looker our little peanut...).

I've been feeling good overall so far. The biggest thing that has popped up this week has been morning sickness, or the correct name for it "Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, or NVP". The "sour stomach" that I had been experiencing earlier on, has been replaced but full on nausea. I haven't experienced vomiting (I'm knocking on some wood right now), but have experienced some gagging and dry heaves. Equally as unpleasant I'm sure. Today it was so bad that I had to call in sick. Then as luck would have it ran into one of those cancelled clients in Shoppers Drugmart as I was purchasing some Ginger Gravol. That was definitely an "Oh Crap!" moment for sure! I felt too crappy to devise some clever excuse, so I just spilled the beans, and since she is herself a mother of 2 she was very sympathetic.

Some other things I am experiencing are:

-fatigue (O.M.G. I am so tired all the time!)

-heartburn (daily, cannot live without my Tums)

-frequent urination (I'm slowly turning into my mother, God help me!)

-aversion to certain scents (scents/odours that were before just unpleasant have me running from the room)

-bloat, bloat and more bloat

All in all though, I am feeling pretty good, and I will take each experience for the blessing that this truly is.

Week #5!

See that orange seed on the right? That is how big the baby is this week! Although resembles a tiny tadpole in shape more than the seed. This week still might be a little early to see the heart beating on an ultrasound, but hopefully by next week when we have our first ultrasound we'll be able to see that little flicker on the screen. The most important thing developmentally that is happening right now is the neural tube. This is very important, because as this closes it forms the brain and spinal cord of the baby. All that folic acid that I've been taking for months and months now comes into play, making sure that the neural tube closes properly and prevents any defects such as Spina Bifida.

Symptom-wise I am still feeling really good. The odd morning I have a bit of a sour stomach though, but over the last few days I've been feeling pretty normal in the mornings. I'm still making more frequent trips to the washroom, and getting those hunger/nausea pangs though. As long as I remember to stock the kitchen at work with lots of snacks I'm able to keep it under control.

I am starting to feel the odd little bit of pressure and odd crampy sensations throughout the day as well in my abdomen. I just have to remind myself that this is normal, and that this is just my uterus stretching to accommodate our little miracle.

Week #4!

Okay, let me start this by saying I totally don't understand how they date pregnancies, at all. According the medical profession I am already just over 4 weeks pregnant! I don't get it, but we'll go with it. I'm going to (try) to at least do one update a week telling you how big the baby is at that point, fetal development, and how I've been feeling.

This week the baby is approximately the size of a poppy seed!


All I think is "holy crap that's small!". Followed by "how can that little thing be making me feel all these symptoms!". Overall I have been feeling pretty good, and most of the time I feel just like my old self. I have noticed over the last two days though that there has been a little bit of a "blah" feeling in the mornings. If I do not have a little snack mid-morning I go from hmmm, I'm a little hungry, to I am going to puke. So I eat a snack. Seems pretty simple to me. I've found that for some reason after lunch that feeling stays away as long as I remember to have a little snack mid-afternoon too.

There's nothing too huge development wise going on this week. Right now the baby is just settling into his or her little spot for the next 9 months. Next week is when all the cool stuff starts to happen. Stay tuned!!