35 Weeks

35 Weeks -
5 more weeks to Noelan's due date...
BUT I now have an induction date of 12/19 so 4 more weeks until I go to the hospital! (Unless he decides he's ready to come before then which I will fully embrace now)

Baby's size: - Coconut

Sleep: There's been a few nights this week that I wake up at either 2, 3 or 4am and I feel wide awake but it's way too early to be up for the day. Some nights I'm able to get myself back to sleep within 15 mins or so but then there's others where I just lay there for an hour or two.

Mama's Growth: I've really been slacking with this update - I think part of it has to do with the back and forth of my measurements. I looked up my pre-pregnancy measurements and because I was already overweight it doesn't seem like major changes from then to now but I feel much much bigger!
Total waist growth is 3.5 inches
Total belly growth is 2.5 inches
I had lost an extra 3 pounds on top of the 3 pounds I kept losing and regaining within the last few weeks and have been currently been losing and regaining those pounds as well.
Overall weight gain from the beginning of my pregnancy to now (with current fluctuation) is between 11-15 pounds.

Food cravings: I can't wait for yummy thanksgiving food - looking forward to mama's 7-layer salad (which is actually low in carbs yay!!!!) and all the other carb filled foods that I'll space throughout the day.

Symptoms I have: back pain (sciatica) and I guess a mild case of insomnia, some pelvic pressure

Doctor’s Appointments:

Dr. Foehr - Today's Appointment: Everything was on track as usual and I asked a few questions on what he would recommend with the gestational diabetes & when to induce if Noelan doesn't come on his own like my other boys. He told me it would be best to induce at 39 weeks to make sure his weight is down and everything. Still very close to the due date but less risks than if I waited until 40+ weeks.
It'll be exactly one week before the due date he had for me. I was concerned that getting induced before my due date would cause complications and higher risk of having a c-section after going through labor and my body not cooperating and he assured me that because I've already had 3 successful VBs that it will be completely fine as long as no other complications come up.
So Noelan's birthday will be either 12/19 or 12/20 depending on how long my labor lasts. (Again that's if he doesn't come before then)
Now onto my next part of planning and figuring out what I'm going to do with the older boys while I'm at the hospital and the following day getting them to school and home & taken care of. Oh & I just realized that I was picturing driving myself to the hospital but then Tim won't have the truck...well I guess he could always get dropped off at the hospital. Oh man it's starting to feel really real! Deep breaths. Everything will be worked out.

Next Appointment: We're starting weekly checkups now so 11/27

Maternal Fetal Medicine(Sono/GD) -
I had written a whole long thing about this appointment last Thursday but it didn't save so we'll see how it comes out the second time around. Sigh...

I was waiting to write about this because I needed time to process on my own and wasn't looking forward to lots of opinions all at once while it was so fresh. Most of you all know that the couple of days leading up to my appointment I started getting high fasting numbers again even with strict diet and exercise. Going into the appointment I was feeling upset and defeated. What really put me over the edge was that besides waking up with yet another high fasting number, I went over my after breakfast number for the first time when I've never ever went over and I'm usually really low throughout the whole day.
I didn't know what to expect but at that point in my head I was ready to embrace being put on some sort of medication to help regulate my levels in the morning so I wouldn't have to continually be stressed out and feel like I had to be doing something wrong. I had ate a regular breakfast that I've eaten many times before & never had a problem. That was definitely the tipping point for me.
When I got there they checked my weight and blood pressure & they had to recheck my blood pressure. I went back and had a quick sonogram by the technician. The doctor came in and she did her own quick sonogram and we started talking about my glucose levels. She asked how I was doing and feeling with it and commented how I had been doing so good before the past few days and then it started going back up. I expressed my frustration and finally had a meltdown right in the room with her and the other technician (who was nice and brought me tissues haha) I talked about how I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong and she assured me that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I can't remember all she said but she explained about how as pregnancy progresses with gestational diabetes the pregnancy hormones prevent the insulin from doing its job and it can get more resistant. She asked if I had thought about the insulin and what I was feeling about that, and I said I didn't want to do it at first but at this point if it would help my numbers and reduce the stress and anxiousness I felt every morning because I didn't know what else I could do on my own. I talked about how the price of my co-payments are already crazy and I have to go once a week - I didn't want to add medicine on top of it. She asked how much it was to get my test strips & needles for my glucose monitor and I said $10. She said it sounded like I had a decent prescription plan and the medicine should be around the same price. At that point I felt like $10 or even more at that point and the inconvenience of giving myself a shot was worth peace of mind and knowing that my body would have what it needed and that it would help me & Noelan for the remainder of the pregnancy. I still have to diet and exercise as usual but at least my numbers match up to where they should be. I then had my non-stress test and even though he was moving so much during the sonogram he stopped moving once I was hooked up to the monitors so they gave me some cold water to get him moving again. Once I was done with that I went to see the diabetes counselor. She reviewed my numbers and commented on how great they were the week before. I showed her my notebook that logged my days and the final carb count and exercise for the past few days and she said it was absolutely perfect even though my glucose numbers were still high so she could understand my feelings of frustration. She asked if I had made the final decision about the insulin and I said I did but I still had questions. I asked her about a pill medication that I had heard about and she explained that it was one of two types that are usually prescribed for gestational diabetes but she had never seen the Dr. prescribe the pill I was asking about. She said any medication that you take orally can get to the baby but it doesn't mean that it would be harmful. She said they recommend the insulin because that would only go to me. At that point I officially agreed to do it and se taught me how to set it up & use it. She showed me once and then had me practice on a little plastic pad. She then got the prescriptions for me and I got them from the Target Pharmacy for $10. $5 for the insulin that will last me the remainder of the pregnancy because I'm on such a low dose and $5 for 100 needles/syringes.

Next Appointment is tomorrow 11/21
And every Wednesday morning until Noelan comes

Movement: He's still a mover

Gender: Baby BOY!!! :)

Names: Noelan Chase

What I’m looking forward to: Besides Noelan finally coming, Thanksgiving :)

What I miss: "normal" pregnancies haha

Events of the week: besides the appointments mentioned, the church distributed Thanksgiving baskets to families on Sunday and we had a potluck when people got back. Monday I took Josh to the dentist in the morning & it took so long so I ended up keeping him home the remainder of the day. It was also my brother's birthday so we went over to have dinner with him and my parents.