Mothers day, NCLEX, St. George, and Baby Prep!!

May was an exciting month starting out with Mother's day!  John got me some pretty earrings and made me breakfast :)  John also spent a lot of time putting in a new faucet for our kitchen sink (that had the worst water pressure imaginable) which subsequently fixed our dishwasher!!  Praise the lord.  You never know how grateful you are for a dishwasher until it breaks... I'm a lucky girl.  We also enjoyed having dinner with my mom and siblings and then talking to Kyle!!  It's so crazy to think that the next time we talk to him will be in person when he comes home in July!

John studied practically every day taking practice tests in order to pass his test to become a Registered Nurse.  He seriously worked so hard and took the official test near the end of the month.  He passed with only having the minimum amount of questions (75), however it was tough as 40% of his test questions were the "select all that apply" type.  We are both so happy that he passed and has started his new position as a nurse on the same floor he worked at before (ACVU at IMC). This will hopefully help him transition to being a nurse since not everything will be brand new to him! 

The bulk of May centered around a trip to St. George, we had a blast and were overdue for a vacation :)  We had some friends invite us down to celebrate their 30th birthday with them (they're twins).  We all pitched in to rent a house on VRBO and spent our time hiking in Zions and Snow Canyon, relaxing, swimming at Sand Hollow, shopping, playing games, and celebrating with them!  We were able to go a day early because sister's family was already down there and invited us to stay with them on their last night!  Deja loved going to the Children's Museum with her cousins.  Then, we actually stayed another day and a half, after the regularly scheduled trip, just because we could!!  (I wanted to do a baby-moon before June, so we pretty much counted the extension as such.)  It was an awesome trip and I was especially glad that the baby didn't decide to make an early entrance to the world ;)

                                   

Speaking of baby, less than a week till we get to meet this little guy!!  I had my last Dr. appointment and non-stress test yesterday.  It's weird to think that the next time I go in, I'll be leaving with a newborn. At the appointment I measured 39 weeks (couple days ahead), was dilated to 2 1/2, and was about 50-60% effaced!  Things with GD have been fine.  My numbers have almost always been within the proper range and our family exercises by going on walks.  Because of the GD, I haven't gained as much weight as my last pregnancy, which will be nice once it's time to lose it again, haha.  Other than that, I think we're pretty much ready to have the baby and we have been slowly checking off our final to-do list!  Hopefully the next post will be all about a smooth labor and delivery ;)

37 Weeks

Now that this post is forever long I feel the need to also talk about Deja ;)
-She no longer sleeps in a crib!
-Most of her ouchies are still healed by kisses
-She is very aware that there is a baby in my belly and will often hug, kiss, and say hi to the baby.
-She knows we're probably going to name him Calvin.  While we were in St. George, she was wearing a shirt with a mermaid on it and someone said "I like you shirt" and she said "Yeah it has a mermaid!" They replied by asking, "What's the mermaid's name?"  She promptly shouted "Calvin!!"
-She's still a Daniel Tiger fanatic!
-She's getting more into playing "pretend" which is pretty fun to watch.

35 Weeks & No Ice Cream...

On April 5th I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes :(  My mom had GD with me, so I wasn't overly surprised, jut a little depressed haha.  Luckily one of my best friends just had this with her last pregnancy and was able to give me lots of suggestions and helpful hints.  My biggest pet peeve so far is I feel like people are secretly judging me about my previous eating habits or lifestyle, but the first thing the nutritionist told me was "You didn't give yourself this condition, it's purely hormonal."  So now I just need everyone else to know that ;)  One thought that has kept me going is that lots of people have had it and gotten through it just fine, so I can do it too!  I'm just crossing my fingers that this doesn't lead to true Diabetes in the future.  However, it has been quite the eye opener for people who have diabetes and eat like this and do blood sugar tests all the time!

The diet I have to follow basically consists of Carb counting... between 170-210 a day.  Half of those carbs should contain protein, so that I get a 2:1 ratio.   I test my blood 4 times a day.  Once before breakfast, and then 2 hours after each meal (and I can't eat in the mean time).  My levels should fall between 60-120.  I have gone over a couple times, but feel like I'm doing pretty well.  My biggest trouble time is dinner, which makes sense, since it's usually the biggest meal of the day...  The hardest part about following the diet is when I'm having a "Hard Mom Day" with Deja, or am overly emotional and all I want to do is binge eat Cadbury eggs and cry on my bed.  Other than that it's not awful.  The biggest things I've been craving since I started are Ice Cream, Pie, Cookies, and Candy/Desserts in general.  After I deliver this baby the one thing I have had John promise that I get is a chocolate chip cookie dough shake from Ice Berg.   I didn't crave ice cream all that much earlier in the pregnancy, but now it always sounds good!  The other weird bonus thing that has happened since I started the diet is my heart burn went bye-bye, which is fabulous!!!  Maybe it's unrelated to the diet...or maybe I'll just have a bald baby :) 

Speaking of the baby, he's doing great!!  I get to do weekly non-stress tests, which although they are kind of annoying, have their benefits as well.  The biggest problem with them is I can't take Deja, so I always have to find a sitter.  Luckily John usually doesn't work when I have to do them, so it's worked out ok.  On the bright side I love having a short ultra sound once a week to see our little guy!  So far they have all been normal and he is quite the mover, so that's always comforting. One of the side effects of GD is having a Still Birth even this late in the game :(   The other major side effect is a big baby :)  This guy has measured big at almost every appointment!  At my 33 week apt I was actually 33 1/2 weeks along, and the doctor said I was measuring about 36 weeks!!  My poor body... I can do this!!!

Because of my condition, the doctor doesn't want me to go past my due date, so we decided to set an induction date for June 1st (as long as the baby is still doing well).  That gives us a month or less if he comes on his own ;)  With Deja, my water broke the day after her due date, so I'm thinking June 1st is going to be our day!      

April fun!

April is always a big deal at our house because it's both John and my Birthday's!!  Mine came first and was over Conference weekend.  We celebrated a little early by going to Leatherby's with some friends.  At Leatherby's we were actually celebrating how well Deja's been doing a the Potty Training Scene with some of her friends that are the same age!  She still has some leakage issues we're working on, but she hasn't had a #2 accident in over a month!

We also took Deja to her first movie at the theater to see Zootopia!  She was kind of all over the place.... I totally forgot to bring snacks as a distraction, and thought she would be more interested in the movie than she was, but I think she had a good time at least!  Haha, we'll have to try again in a couple months ;)

On my actual birthday we watched conference, ate lunch with the Southwick clan and dinner with the DuPaix Clan.  It was on a Sunday, so it was nice and relaxing ;)  John got me new Teva's and the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!!  Next came John's birthday.  He had school during the day, but that evening we were able to go on a dinner date to Teppanyaki (Special thanks to Jenny and Bryce for watching Deja and giving us a coupon haha.)  For presents, I gave him a new t-shirt, an expansion pack to Ticket to Ride, the first season of Community and he wanted Banana Bread instead of cake for dessert ;)  My biggest regret of the month is the lack of pictures :(  I think I'm too used to my mom taking all the pictures on my own b-day!

The rest of the month was filled with dinner with some friends, a baptism for my nephew, work & school for John, and YW & starting the GD diet for me! At the end the month we enjoyed family dinner with the Southwick's and were excited for Aunt Carolyn to return home after being gone for about 3 months!! Deja loves having her back and we go upstairs to visit often!  As the cherry on top of a fabulous month John finished the semester with a 4.0 and getting his Nursing Degree!!! He has a nursing job lined up and just has to take the NCLEX before he's officially registered.  He worked so hard this year with working full time and doing school full time and I'm so proud of him!!!! Now we're ready for a break ;)