Week 33 and Counting

Well, if you voted for Kathryn Ruth, you may want to change your vote because Sparky's name is not Kate. We both really loved the name Kate, but we didn't want to fight with people who would have wanted to use Katie, which we didn't like. And, Steve's family already has an Aunt Kathy and a cousin Cathy, so we didn't need to add another Kathryn to the mix.We've now survived 3 weeks of the diabetic diet. I have to admit, it's not as terrible as I thought it would be. It is expensive to buy all the fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grain products, but we have had a good variety of food and there are only a few things I want that I can't have (mostly in the baked goods category - like donuts, waffles, and cinnamon rolls). I've figured out how much I can eat of sweeter foods and what to pair with them to make sure my sugars stay in the acceptable range. I can't wait to have a big glass of chocolate milk and a cinnamon roll when this is over.

Steve and I did a lot of home improvement kind of things on Saturday and I did a lot of packing, which was not such a great idea in retrospect. I had quite a few contractions on Saturday night, but after laying low on Sunday things are back to normal. From my perspective it seems like Sparky is riding a lot lower since last week (and actually since yesterday), but that is based only on the fact that I can see my belly button again. Those of you more experienced baby bump watchers will have to tell us whether she really did drop a bit lower this week. My belly is still 45 inches around, so I haven't gotten any bigger in the last week. Since starting the diabetes diet I also haven't gained any weight (in other words I weigh the same now as I did in early February).

Dr. Sammarco says we are doing a great job managing the diabetes. Steve is going to try to come to this week's appointment so that we can get a better guestimate of Sparky's arrival date. It will also be Steve's first time hearing Sparky's heartbeat, since she would not cooperate for that the last time he came to the regular appointment.

So now for Sparky's estimated size. According to our friends at webmd.com, Sparky should be about 19.5 inches and 4.4 pounds. She is basically stuck in place (I can tell you this because we can feel most of her bumps and lumps now and can feel her whole back). Apparently Sparky is going to gain over 1/2 of her weight between now and birth. We hope that the 1/2 is less than 4 pounds, because if she is already over 4 pounds and gains much more than 4 pounds I may not be too happy when it comes time to evict her from her current home.

Check back Wednesday for more details about the timing of Sparky's arrival (we hope). Safe weeks to you all, especially those who live up here in cold Michigan with us and who are expecting another winter storm this week.