What happens when you give the baby sugar...

I've been sick since Thursday, so today I decided I didn't really care what I was supposed to eat. It's been 5 or 6 weeks with no bad readings, so today at lunch I decided to have Arby's for lunch. My blood sugar has been high all week anyway from being sick and taking medicine to combat the symptoms.

Sparky obviously enjoyed today's cheat. We won't be doing it again - her extra energy made it so not worth it.

Sick of Traveling

It seems that every weekend we plan to head out to visit family, I end up with some kind of random illness. I woke up yesterday with a very scratchy throat and now have a voice going in and out. Oh well...

It is my first day being unemployed again. I was so ready for a break to relax and wrap up some last minute details for Sparky and the big move. Today Maize and I are going to take it easy and hopefully this cold (or whatever it is) will be short-lived. We've got lots of things to do to be ready for Sparky, but it can all hopefully wait until next week.

Happy Easter to you all - we will be seeing a lot of you and will be thinking about the rest. God Bless ~ Jen, Steve, Sparky, & Maize

The "Day to Day" List - and Week 35 Update

In basketball they list players as "day to day" when they have an injury. Sparky has landed us on the "week to week" list. This week, we are clear for another week of being pregnant, unless Sparky decides to come on her own terms. I talked to the doctor today and he said Sparky is at the high end of normal, but every week counts. So we'll re-evaluate next week and probably have a day or two notice for when labor will be induced. Maybe Sparky will do us all a favor and decide she is ready to evict herself before the doctor has the chance to pick a birthday for her.

Sunday was the start of a not-so-amazing new phenomenon - incredible discomfort. When the doctor asked me with morning how I was feeling I told him I felt like I had a baby elephant riding around, not a baby girl. As my good friend Sue put it, I have a one bedroom apartment, not a three bedroom house, for this girl to live in and she is taking up all of the available space. The poor little occupant is also having a very difficult time moving, so I've had to help her out a few times when she gets stuck halfway through moving around.

My waistline is up to 45 and 1/2 inches, but somehow I've managed to lose another 5 or so pounds in the last couple weeks. That was a slight cause for concern at the appointment this morning, but since Sparky seems to be doing well the weight must be coming off me, which is just fine with me. I'm hoping that by the time that we head to Steve's graduation I can fit back into my normal clothes.

This week Maize decided that she is scared of the kicking belly, so she's taken over Steve's personal space. She prefers his lap, but if he fills it with the computer she just takes over his shoulders. Someone needs to let the dog know that she is not a lap dog or a small kitten.
We are headed to Hastings this weekend to visit family for Easter and for the second of 4 baby showers. We are really excited about visiting family and getting out for a weekend. Happy Easter to you all - we hope you get to eat the share of the Easter candy that I can't have.
A pictorial recap of the expanding baby belly - weeks 8 through 35.

Surprise Shower

My co-workers had a surprise baby shower for us today. I was SHOCKED and very thankful for such generous co-workers. Sparky got a lot of wonderful things, including the really cool Baby Einstein excersaucer that we had registered for. We are so thankful for the many people who are so generous, Sparky already has much more than any baby probably needs.

We are looking forward to a quiet weekend at home, which may be our last since we will be traveling next weekend and Steve may be going to Sault Ste. Marie the following weekend to get our housing situation in order (we hope). We are hoping to wrap up a few last minute projects and to get a lot of cleaning done before we need to start worrying about baby things. We hope you all have an equally relaxing and productive weekend.

The BIG News

Just when we thought we had things figured out and under control, Sparky threw us for another loop. While a normal infant at week 34 would be 4.9 pounds or so, Ms. Sparky is well over 7 pounds. The ultrasound technician said the doctor would be able to give us the official weight, but she only knew how to get within the range. When I came home and tried to calculate the weight based on metric conversion I came up with 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Either way, Sparky is at least 2 pounds heavier than the average baby and will likely be here sooner rather than later. Based on her size, she is equivalent to a 36 week old baby, which would put a revised due date around April 7th. We are hoping to get some better information on the new plan of attack next Wednesday at our weekly visit.

So... other than that, week 34 is off to an uneventful start. My knee is bruised from the fall on Sunday, but not hurting. We now know why I feel like I have the world's largest baby in my belly. We have most of the essentials ready to bring Sparky home and now we just play the waiting game.

Congratulations to Becky Rasey for being the first to figure out that Sparky's name is Abigail Grace. Steve and I originally were debating between Elizabeth and Kathryn, but neither really ever really just seemed to fit Sparky. So after much debating and consideration we decided that Abigail was going to be the best name for our little gal. So, Abby will be joining our family shortly and you can all pray for a safe delivery and for a healthy little girl.

Also... on the above ultrasound photo Steve and I are trying to decide whether Abby's arm bones look more like a pirate skull or the ginger bread cookie from Shrek. Feel free to add your interpretation of her interesting photo to the mix.

Sparky's Name

We wanted Sparky's name to be reflective of how we felt about her. Do a little research and you should arrive at her name. The first to post the correct answer will be rewarded with a special surprise sometime after Sparky's birth (no, not the joy of diaper changing or anything else like that...).

Wipe-out...

The pavement of the church parking lot and I got up close and personal this morning. Luckily for Sparky, I am an expert faller. After all those throws from the horse, combined with my notoriously poor balance, I have gotten very good at the protection of vitals when falling. So Sparky probably didn't even notice us going down. I also managed to fall during a time when there was (surprisingly) no one else in the church parking lot. So beyond a bruised and skinned up knee, a bruised palm, and dirty pants, we escaped just fine.

Steve can now enjoy a few days of "I told you so time" since he warned me that there was black ice in the parking lot. This will probably be the last time I attempt to shove a water bottle in my pocket while ignoring where my feet are being placed. The extra pounds around my middle section probably were a huge contributor to the fall.

The Doctor's Visit

Steve joined us for Sparky's visit to the doctor's office this week. It wasn't really a very eventful visit for Sparky and I, so I'm sure Steve found it much more interesting than we did. We heard Sparky's heartbeat and we were measuring at the right size for 33 weeks. The doctor said we have been doing so well monitoring my sugar level that he thinks we can probably go all the way to week 39 before inducing labor. I was not too excited about that idea - I was thinking 37 or 38 weeks sounded just fine to me. Of course, that is why he is the doctor and I am not.

We are scheduled for an ultrasound next Tuesday to check Sparky's height and weight. I am really excited to get another peek of her. We're also going to be sure to have the technician confirm that Sparky is a girl - if she's not then she will be a little boy with a lot of pink and purple clothing. But they were 99.9 percent sure Sparky was a girl at 20 weeks, so I'm sure we won't have any surprises.

We have continued to have an uneventful pregnancy. Sparky is moving a lot, but it is a very different movement now that she is so big. We've started to get things washed, set up, and assembled for her big arrival. Last weekend we created a baby first aid kit just in case our little girl needs a band-aid or has a fever. My afghan is coming along well - I have 2/3rds of it sewn together.

Steve is taking his licensure boards this weekend, so Sparky, Maize, and I will be cleaning and catching up on rest.

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.

Another Trip to the Doctor

Sparky and I made our weekly trip to the doctor's office this afternoon. The wait is much longer when you have to go during the afternoon. I got bored waiting and Sparky got the hiccups. It was entertaining to watch my belly wiggle with each hiccup. According to Dr. Sammarco we are doing really well managing the sugar levels, so that may be pointing to a later delivery (like April 11 or 18). Fairly soon we will have an ultrasound to check in on the size Sparky has achieved.

Yesterday, in spite of the terrible headache, Steve and I washed all Sparky's smallest clothes so she would have something to wear in the hospital and when we all got home. It was so funny to be folding dozens of shirts that all came from the same load - we are so used to washing our clothes which fill the machine quite quickly. We are starting to feel ready to add this little girl to our family. This weekend will be another weekend of little projects and trying to finish Sparky's afghan so it is ready to bring her home in.

We all hope you are having good weeks and that you haven't come down with the mystery virus I've had.