Glucose Test #2

I guess I should have explained why I needed the second test. For the first glucose test they are just seeing where your blood sugar levels are, weather or not they are in the normal range or not. My levels were a bit high, which means I have to take test #2. If 2 of the draws for the second test are high, it would mean I have gestational diabetes. Luckily, most women who have it don't need insulin shots, just a very strict diet. And they monitor the mommy's blood sugar all during labor so that everyone stays healthy and there is no danger to baby or mommy. Since I didn't finish the test, the nurse told me that they will probably just treat me as being diabetic, but I won't know for sure till I hear from my doctor.

Awake

So, here I am at 2:30 wide awake. I was really sleepy after kinda a yucky day. Rick and I had dinner, we sat around for awhile, and then went to bed at about 9:30. I woke up about an hour ago wide awake and just cannot fall back asleep, and I'm not super pleased about it.

This last weekend I went to my parents house for a sleepover party that Kellie was having, the M&M party. It was really fun. The girls were all excited to be there and I think they all had a good time, and mom and I had a good time too. I taped most of the hearts for the heart attack to the skewers, and I helped think of a few of the names, but the girls did most of that. I was a party pooper though because I didn't wake up to actually do the heart attack, I just wanted to keep sleeping. I did go to breakfast the next morning though, where we kidnapped Marshall and took him to breakfast. I had delicious pumpkin pancakes. Marshall was a sport and was really nice about the kinda wacky presents he got, and the girls were being quite girly. The part about breakfast that made me laugh was when Mom offered Emily Lawrence my hashbrowns because she wanted some. I got other things done that weekend too, I shopped around for a rocking chair, did a few loads of baby clothes since I guess you have to wash everything before the baby wears it and in special baby detergent. I also just picked up a couple of things for our apartment that we haven't been able to get in Pasadena, like a good trashcan.

This week has been kinda blah. I had a doctors appointment on Monday, but I didn't actually see my doctor but one of her associates. She made sure I picked up my iron to help the anemia, and she gave me my paperwork for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test. She also just measured my tummy and felt the baby, whom she said is huge and asked if I was really only 34 weeks along. I have my ultrasound next time, so we'll see how the baby is doing. Not much else going on this week, I secured the bookshelf to the wall so we could actually fill it, I folded a million baby clothes, our dishwasher is broken so I've been doing lots of dishes, and just other random stuff around the house. I had one lazy day cause Rick stayed overnight in Thousand Oaks so I took a me day. Mom came over Wednesday night so she could take me Thursday to do the glucose test. The 3 hour test means 4 blood draws, and Rick forbade me from going alone. I'm now really, really glad mom was there because I was less than the ideal patient, I didn't even make it the 3 hours. And I'm really glad I didn't have to walk there and back, really glad. She brought me home afterward and made sure I ate a little and left when I got in bed to take a nap. I never really felt better for the rest of the day, so again I was a bum. And now I'm awake.

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie

Well, I was going to try to write this post yesterday, but blogger wouldn't let me sign in, which is weird.

I went and got a glucose screening done yesterday. There are 5 labs in Pasadena and luckily for me one is just about half a mile away up my street. The weather is so nice here and it is such a pretty place that I really don't mind walking most places. And I calculated it took me only about 10 minutes ( at a relaxed pace) to get to Colorado St. from my house, so if anyone wants to see the Rose parade, we're pretty darn close. Anyhoo, for some reason I totally did not have in my mind that the glucose test would be a blood test, so I was a little taken aback when they took me in to do the fasting draw before I drank the sugary stuff. I told the nurse I am a fainter, but she wasn't too worried. I don't know why, I just faint. I don't look while they're doing it, I make sure to breathe evenly, I relax my limbs (as best as I can) but I usually still faint, which was the case yesterday. I have never had a blood test by myself before, there is usually someone there like my mom or Rick, so I was trying to be brave. I started drinking the sugary soda stuff they give you, but I had to put it down a little later and just put my head down. A few seconds later (I think) I woke up hot, sweaty and yucky. The nurse was like "wow, you're really pale. You weren't kidding when you said you're a fainter". Luckily I felt well enough to finish drinking the stuff and walk myself out to the waiting room to wait the hour till the post sugar test.

I was still feeling hot, but a little better. I read some of my book, Emma, and then a magazine for a little while. When my hour was up another nurse was going to do the test. I sat down in the chair, closed my eyes and leaned my head back. She laughed and commented that I must really not like needles, and I told her that I'm a fainter and was just taking precautions. She was nice and let us go into another room where they had a bed so I could lay down to do the draw. I felt hot afterwards, and she told me "Your lips are really pale, you don't look so good" She got me a cold compress for my forehead and a glass of water, which really helped. This nurse was weird though, and was pretty entertained by the fact that I nearly fainted. She laughed a couple of times and asked "so what are you going to do during labor, pass out?" How am I supposed to know? Luckily since I didn't faint again I was able to walk myself out of there fairly well. Only half a block away was a deli, so I stopped in for a snack just so I could eat something on the rest of the way home. I ended up getting half a sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie. The sandwich was alright, but the cookie was Amazing! It was really chocolaty and kinda gooey, it was a perfect way to end a doctors appointment.

I'm glad, actually, that I didn't realize it would be blood tests, or else Rick would have banned me from going by myself or from walking. He knows I don't really like needles, and he would have felt so guilty for abandoning me in my time of need. When I told him after the fact I tried to emphasize how good the cookie was and how it made it all worth it, but he still felt bad. He is a sweetheart and too good to me. That was my biggest adventure yesterday, other than that I just took a nap (I crashed after the sugar high of a cookie and sugary drink) did some dishes, and made dinner.

Week in Review

Monday: I had a doctor's appointment, it was just the basics: heartbeat, tummy measuring, taking my blood pressure etc. I walked there and it was really nice outside, but it was looking pretty stormy by the time I was done so I took the bus home. I've taken public transportation more here than anywhere else, it has been taking some getting used to, and I'm sure I'll feel more comfortable doing it when I've got more practice. I tweaked my back at the doctors, so I had a limp the rest of the day, and I didn't get much done. Some laundry, and packing a bag to get ready for sleeping over at my Mom and Dad's house. When Rick got home he changed and we left for Redlands because that is where we registered as voters. We had El Burrito for dinner and it was so tasty, my chicken tacos hit the spot.

Tuesday: First thing we did was go vote. It was raining and a little chilly, but luckily we didn't really have to wait in a very long line. It was exciting for both Rick and I because it was our first time voting. After that Rick just dropped me off at home and headed out to Thousand Oaks. Luckily he could be late to work because CA has a 2 hour paid window of time for voting days, employees can be 2 hours late or leave 2 hours early and not be penalized. The rest of my day I spent going with Mom to vote and than going with her to do Christmas shopping for Carlie and Kellie. It was fun to go to the Mall and hanging out with mom. I think the girls will like what we got them for Christmas. I picked up a couple of things too, which is always nice. We went to Motherhood Maternity and I got some pants to get ready for the coming winter months. I also got a dress because it was too cute and too comfy to pass up.

Wednesday: While the girls were at school and Mom and Dad were at work I helped get ready for Carlie's cast party. She wanted to have a party to help her cast bond, but she hadn't really made any plans. I baked some cookies and cleaned up the house. Mom got home from work and we got some more food ready and then her cast came. Mom and Kellie ended up taking naps and dad was either sleeping or reading a book in his room, so I just hung out in the back of the house to give Carlie and friends their space. I talked to Julie too, which was fun. Rick had to stay overnight in Thousand Oaks so I just stayed to play with my family. We went to Mervyn's because they are closing so everything is on sale. I got a cute jacket that fits over my pregnant tummy but will also totally work for post-baby too.

Thursday: Mom and I ran some errands and also had just some fun hang out time. We watched a movie, ate ice cream and just relaxed. That night everyone had somewhere they needed to be except me, so I was just chilling for awhile. Later Mom and I went for the last hour of band practice. It is fun to get to watch them march on the field.

Friday: I packed up and cleaned my room because it was finally time to head home to Pasadena. When mom got home from work I helped her dip pretzels for the other band booster parents for the REV v. RHS game. It was fun, and I had to eat a couple of the pretzels that were too ugly, so it was delicious too. After that Carlie got home from her festival, which meant it was time to leave. Mom was taking Carlie to the Inland Center mall, which is right near the train station, so they took me on their way. The train has been a pretty fun experience so far. They are double decker trains, and I like to ride on the top and look out the window. There isn't a ton to see because the Metrolink rails are out in the boonies, but I did get to watch the sun set. It is an almost 2 hour train ride, then I waited a few minutes for the Metro, and from LA to Pasadena it is about 25 minutes. Rick picked me up at the station and we had dinner. Rick looked exhausted so after dinner we watched an episode of the Office and than went to bed.

Saturday: It was fun to get to see Rick after being apart almost the whole week. I woke up with a headache, I think because I slept like a rock and barely moved all night. Rick had a physical first thing in the morning, and the guy came to our house to do it. It was for his life insurance, so now that is finally done. After the guy left I was feeling so yucky from my headache I took some asprin and fell asleep. I took a longer nap than I thought I would but when I woke up I felt much better, so obviously my body was trying to tell me something. After lunch we headed out on a fun adventure to the Huntington Library. It is an old property that has now been converted into museums, a library and mostly botanical gardens. It is on over 200 acres, so there is alot to choose from. We were there for almost 3 hours and we saw only the English art (which is in the old house) and parts of 4 gardens. We went to the Greenhouse, which they have part of laid out like a rainforest and another part we went into was the learning garden. It was so fun because they have tons of interactive learning stations. We went to the Children's garden which had fun areas to run around and play in, and lots of pretty plants. Next we headed over to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, which were huge! They were so pretty and it was fun to just walk around and enjoy the nature around us. By that time it was closing time, but on our way back to the exit we passed through the Rose Garden (so many beautiful roses!) and part of the Shakespeare garden, which had english plants and near some of them were quotes from his plays and sonnets that mention the plants, it was cool. We also peaked into a garden with tons of statues, but I don't know what it was called. We are definitely going to have to go back because we saw only a small fraction of what there is available. After that adventure we went grocery shopping and came home and made dinner together. After that we curled up on the couch and did some reading, then we watched Wall-E. It was cute, but not my favorite.

Sunday (Today): Woke up and got ready for church. This is our second week in our new ward and it is fun getting to know people. Sacrament meeting was good, a newly married couple spoke and they were obviously both super nervous. It probably didn't help that the bishop only called them on Wednesday night to ask them to speak. We tried the other Sunday school class today, and not many people were in it and the teacher got off track, so we only made it through about 1 of the 5 chapters in the lesson. In RS we read letters from Joseph Smith to Emma, and they were sweet. One lady who was asked to read a letter was crying before she even started reading, she was so moved by how much Joseph obviously loved his wife and children. The rest of our day will be making bread for dinner, taking a nap, maybe go on a walk and talking baby business. I hope you are all having a great day!

8 Things

I thought I'd do this as a kick start to my blog, since it has been so long since I posted last.

8 Favorite TV Shows:

1. The Office
   
2. 30 Rock
   
3. Life
   
4. Kitchen Nightmares
   
5. So You Think You Can Dance?
   
6. Ugly Betty
   
7. Pushing Daisies
   
8. Grey's Anatomy
   

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. El Burrito
2. The Old Spaghetti Factory
   
3. Carl's Jr.
   
4. Olive Garden
   
5. Delia's
6. Panda Express
   
7. Carraba's
8. Hogi Yogi
   

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:

1. Went to our new ward for the first time
   
2. Started reading Emma
   
3. Took a nap
   
4. Watched an episode of Ugly Betty
   
5. Admired our new Venus Fly trap
   
6. Put together the lamp for the baby's room so it finally has light
   
7. Planned my bus trips for today and hoped that they are more successful
   
8. Took my Week 32 picture
   

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. No more heartburn!
   
2. Making Banana bread for Rick
   
3. Voting!
   
4. Going on walks around town with my baby
   
5. Back to back Thanksgiving and Christmas
   
6. Making some friends here in Pasadena
   
7. Holding my baby
   
8. Finishing the apartment and making it look cute

8 Things I Love About Fall

1. The perfect weather: sweaters and flip flops
   
2. Pretty leaves ( even though we don't see much of that here)
   
3. Getting to celebrate Thanksgiving
   
4. Pumpkin cookies
   
5. Apple pie
   
6. The Dog Show on Thanksgiving day
   
7. Going to Oak Glen
   
8. Anticipation for the holiday season
   

8 Things on My Wish List:

1. A glider rocking chair
2. Home decorating skills
   
3. My baby to not be born on Christmas or Dec. 30th
   
4. A season pass to Disneyland (someday...)
   
5. To see a concert in the Disney Concert Hall
   
6. A puppy
   
7. To see a production of the Nutcracker
   
8. Every good recipe in the world