11 posts tagged “food”

The follow-up gestational diabetes appointment was this morning. Not the greatest counselor/nurse in the world, but whatever. She looked over my blood sugar numbers from the last week and we discussed what i have been eating. Overall, she said i'm doing well. i need to focus on more activity ("just walk around the house after eating"), more whole wheat (refined carbs are bad), and eating more snacks with protein. i can handle that.

Unfortunately i'm out of testing strips today. i went to the pharmacy to get more (each strip is a buck and i go through 4/day!) but they said it'll be a day or two before it's ready. i do feel educated enough at this point to eat properly and know Allison is fine though. And really, i don't eat differently even after i know the magic number after a meal... i did do my walking dvd (girlie parts started hurting pretty quickly though). i think it's been drilled enough into my head at this point: you need to exercise. Don't want high blood pressure? Exercise. Don't want type 2 diabetes? Exercise. Want to be a size 12 again? Exercise. Want your kids to have healthy habits? Exercise with them.

Anyway, things are good. Alli is very very very active in my ever-increasing belly. i can't wait for the 31 week ultrasound next week to find out how big she is and see what position she's in.

So i had my gestational diabetes class today. Andrew went to work early this morning so that he could attend it with me and i'm so glad he did. =) There were only two other pregnant women there, along with one spouse, and the teacher was really good. She answered all of our questions, gave us lots of information and showed us how to test our blood sugar with one of these. A couple hours after lunch, my # was 89. i'm still not sure what numbers are acceptable when (except that anything over 120 at any time is bad and under 60 is bad) but i have a follow-up appointment in a week to make sure i'm doing things right.

We talked about what to eat, how much and at what times. It feels like i'm being forced into a cruel diet while my body has never ever been so hungry. Poor Alli... i mean, normally this would be fine, i'd welcome the nutritional advice, but this baby needs food! i had a snack of 7 crackers with tuna when i got home, which counted as my "carb choice" for the afternoon but i was miserable waiting for Andrew to get home for dinner so i also had 2 plums and some peanut butter (plums are bad, didn't you know). Now i have to be careful at dinner; supposed to test 4 times a day: before breakfast, 2 hours after breakfast, 2 hours after lunch and 2 hours after dinner...

It's going to be a LONG 10 weeks but it's going to be worth it.

Weight gain.

Let's see... 27 weeks! i survived another hot and muggy day here in Portland (the humidity is so unusual, it sucks). We've been slowly unpacking boxes, trying to find room for everything. Andrew's step-grandma passed away last week so he took the day off and we went to her funeral at the last minute yesterday. My contractions have calmed down so it seemed safe to go (the only issue now is my *CRAZY* hunger... thank God for Dairy Queen). i got to meet more of his family (step-brother and so on) and see his dad and step-mom. Then we came back and got to work unpacking and reorganizing... it's looking much better, just need to conquer Alli's room.

The hunger thing is interesting. This morning at 5:30, the typical time zoe kitten likes to start playing on our heads, i had to get up and eat a banana or i was going to die. Tuesday night Andrew made a trip to the store for me. What sounded good? Fudgesicles, corn dogs, watermelon, cereal, mac and cheese... and he got it all for his poor pregnant wife. Mmm okay now i'm starving. My third trimester starts next week! She'll be here in 3 months =)

According to most pregnancy sites, i should be gaining (considering i was overweight to begin with) a pound every week until my due date. i'm "allowed" to gain 15-25 lbs. total but i know at this point that i won't; i haven't gained more than a pound at any one appt. and mainly i've been losing. My OB is fine with this, although we haven't discussed exact numbers, i know his main concern is exercising and eating smartly, which i'm doing.

Probably the biggest thing is eating breakfast every day, which i didn't do before. i find that i HAVE to eat something in the morning or i get nauseous. i also HAVE to eat something if i want to take any medication (Tylenol, prenatal, antibiotic...) or i get sick sick sick. i think this is a great habit i've kind of been forced into. And certainly my huge craving for fruit and salads has been positive. i wish we could go to a salad bar every night. i'd also love to hang out at the Farmer's Market every day (i can not WAIT to get my hands on some Oregon raspberries this weekend!!!)

i've cut down the amount of Diet Coke i drink (probably 1-2 cans a week instead of 5+) and WAY less coffee, less tea, more juice, more water. i may still crave icecream but ya know, i'm doing good! i happen to like that i'm still not wanting meat most days, especially steak, eww. Instead i crave salmon (i WISH we could go to Outback for their salmon...) which is pretty unusual for me.

Swimming is the next thing. i need a new bathing suit that will fit my tummy and then i'll probably go swimming while Andrew is at his photography class. It's strange but my body desires to be in the water right now, like it knows that's what it needs... the pool near our new apartment will work. =) They have a baby swim class too, i can't wait heh. 

i think i have the best husband. The last few days i haven't been very hungry, nothing sounds good for some reason, but at around 9pm i decided a corn dog would hit the spot. He offered to go out and find me one. The two places near us didn't have them so i ended up with a juicy hot dog. It was very sweet of him. Then there was the issue with the heat and our fans... i hate the ceiling fan, i hate air blowing on me when i'm trying to sleep (who knows why), so he agreed to just have the window fan on. Well, of course i get cold at 4am so he says i can turn it off if i want. =) He also mentioned the other day that he'd love to give me more foot massages, i just have to ask. i'm pretty lucky.

Not sure what's up with the appetite though. It's all wonky; aren't pregnant women generally starving all the time!? i normally LOVE pasta, could eat it every day, but i order it or make some and i get nauseous. Most meat still doesn't agree with me, unless it has nitrates. Guess i'll stick with fruits and veggies. Although today i'm craving a turkey sammich from New Seasons. Yum-o.

On our way to week 12, i'm thrilled! My BIG complaint right now are the headaches. They started last week and although i've had headaches in the past, usually due to caffeine withdrawel, these are pretty unbearable. And i feel bad taking Tylenol but i just have to take something.

To keep a record of my progress, i wanted to make a list of the foods i've been craving (ever since week 4) and the ones i can't stand. i think a lot about food lately =)

Yes Please:

plain bagels
dill pickles
fruity icecream
plain pasta
strawberry milkshakes
corndogs
soft pretzels
mashed potatoes
cheesecake filling
clam chowder
lemon drop martini (haven't had one though)

Yuck:

most meat!
milk
chai
smell of garlic
bananas
sweetened yogurt
(i've been eating vegies, apples, peanut butter, soup, crackers and other things but i don't necessarily enjoy them.)

i also have to mention that my gorgeous husband has been making it to the gym and/or hiking a bunch lately. i'm very proud of him. Alli or Kadin is going to have a healthy daddy!

i had such a nice time today watching 1 month old Aria and chatting with her mama, who came to my bridal shower.  Even though the baby has a cold and ear infection she was super sweet and easy. That'll be my twice a week gig for a while.

Aria

Somehow the 7-ish pounds that i'd gained have disappeared. i guess i haven't been eating very much lately. The second i'm hungry (every two hours) is when i start to feel sick... i know how to "fix" this but... yeah. It'll be exciting to have a normal appetite again.

Today's weather was perfect: 65 degrees and sunny. Talk about Spring fever!

i'm so tired and nauseous and hungry i could cry. Oh wait, too late. Getting into bed last night at 9pm was nice but it took a while to fall asleep (a while being like 10 min...) because every position was uncomfortable, particularly my stomach, which is my favorite way to sleep. i know, i should really get used to it. It's the boobs that are the culprit right now.

We almost have a grape! i'm starting to get anxious about our OB appointment in 12 days. i'm so giddy to see him/her, hear the heartbeat, listen to my Dr. tell me how perfect everything looks. Nothing in my life can prepare me for what that's going to feel like. i am just so happy. (More crying....)

So far this weekend the plans are:
Sleep all day Friday
Babysit Friday night (get to meet Aria (4 weeks old) and finally see Asher)
See a big bunch of family Saturday (although this might get jumbled up because we just heard my uncle in Eugene had a stroke... waiting to hear how he's doing. Lots of praying) and meet my cousin's baby, Nola, who's around 5 months.
Sunday is up in the air.

All i can think about is a fluffy stack of hot pancakes and my warm comfy bed...

The only thing to report on the baby front is my INSANE hunger. In two weeks i've gained 5 lbs! Now, this really doesn't make sense to me. Here's my logic: i ate WAYYYY more during the holidays, having desserts and sugar and gravy and booze up the wahzoo and barely gained a thing. Lately i've been eating very healthy things, with tons of fruits and vegies, juice and tea instead of coffee and diet coke, extra water, along with going on walks... and i'm really only eating when my body says its hungry. i know i'm going to get bigger but everything i've read said that it's normal not to gain anything this trimester, or even lose a little. i hope my growling tummy means twins. =)