Bean's First Week

Our first week with Bean went as well as could be expected. We had a slew of visitors come by to meet her and drop off gifts. First were her Nini and Pop, who came down the day after she was born. They were so happy to get to meet her, and they were such a blessing to us helping with housework while we were still at the hospital. Most of our friends came and visited her once we were back home.

Even in the first few days we noticed her personality developing. She definitely likes being clothed, and swaddled up tight. Her favorite place to nap is in momma or daddy's arms, rather than her swing or bouncer.

It took us a few days to figure out our days and nights that first week. However, with some patience and work we got into a good routine. For the most part we spent that first week just trying to get a handle on life with a newborn.

One week old!

Bean's arrival

 Our little bean took her sweet time coming. In fact, we ended up having to evict her a few days ahead of her due date because of my gd and the doctor's schedule.

We went in to the doctor's office for my weekly visit. At that point I was already at 4, but no contractions. So we decided that we would induce me Friday if little miss didn't decide to come before then (which she didn't). 

So in the wee hours of Friday morning, we awoke and headed over to the hospital. After a lengthy check in process (apparently it was a busy time of year for having babies), we got settled into our room in L&D. The on-call ob did one final ultra sound to make sure Bean was in the right position and give us a weight estimate.

Even with how far along I was to start, labor and delivery took quite some time. 13 hours after the initial induction we were finally blessed with the arrival of our little girl. She was a healthy 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 in long.

Needless to say, I was exhausted and starving by the time it was over. A good friend brought us food that night. I couldn't really eat much, even though I really wanted to. Then around 2 am we got moved from our room in L&D to our postpartum room, and our Bean joined us a little later.

Because of some minor complications from the delivery, I ended up having to stay in the hospital a little longer than anticipated. In the end, I'm glad for that though because Bean ended up having some borderline bilirubin levels that we had to treat with photo-therapy. We spent a total of 2 and a half days (from time of check-in to discharge). Once we were both cleared, we packed up and headed home to start life as a family.

Thanksgiving, Ren Fest and Aggie Football

I'm long overdue for some updates. Few things have been keeping me busy of late.

We enjoyed a nice, quiet Thanksgiving weekend with my folks. I did so well with controlling my gd that my doc gave me a two day grace period for Thanksgiving. So Thursday and Friday I was able to eat what I wanted and not have to check my glucose. It was wonderful :)

Thursday was full of yummy foods, football and lazing around. Then Friday Beau and I headed over to Plantersville to spend the day at the Texas Renaissance Festival. I'm glad we didn't get to go previously because I didn't have to worry about what I ate or testing while at the faire. For the most part we had a lot of fun, I just could have done without the bee sting. Thankfully I'm not allergic. 

Rudy, my folks' beagle

Friday night, the folks took us to Santa's Wonderland to see the lights. It was fun to drive through.

Saturday night we all headed to watch the Fightin' Texas Aggie football team btho mizzou. It was great being back in Aggieland and at Kyle Field. Little Bean got her first taste of growing up Aggie. Sadly, we had to leave the game early to head back home so I could be at work on Sunday. Thankfully though we were ahead, so it didn't matter much that we missed the last quarter.

Beau and I outside the Zone

Maternity shoot at week 33

I've gotten behind on my postings, again. So we'll do some catching up over the next few days. We got our pictures back from our maternity shoot with Oceandance Photography. She did a great job with the pictures and I can't wait for her to do the newborn shoot after Ada arrives. Below are some of my favorite shots from the session.

Bean - 32/33 weeks

A little behind on my postings, and finally getting caught up. Week 32 came and went with little major news. I had my second growth check ultrasound to see how Ada was doing. My tech this time was very quick. I was in and out in maybe 30 minutes. Ada is in range on her growth, and the tech said they'd let me know if I needed to come back one more time.

These are probably the last pics we'll get before she arrives. The second is our one and only 3d image. Just not enough fluid around her head to give us a good image, but it's something.

This week was an awesome week at the doctor. I'm back in the "healthy" pregnancy category, even though I still have gd. This means no meds, no more growth checks and I get to go 2 weeks between appointments!! I get a week off from going up to the doctor (although we'll probably tour the l&d ward next week). I'm stoked :D This means I will officially make it to 35 weeks without having to add meds, giving me a total of 9 since diagnosis and 5 more to get through. I never thought I would do this well. I feel amazing. And on the plus side, I'm currently at a net gain of 2 pounds for my entire pregnancy. Depending on how the next 7ish weeks go, I could be back to my pre-pregnancy weight before she's even here (along with losing about 10 pounds at time of birth).

Also this week, we did maternity pictures. The weather cooperated and we were able to go out to East Beach for the shoot. I'm excited to see how they turned out. I'll definitely share some shots when we get them. No more news until week 35 though.

A Trip Home (sort of)

A couple weekends ago, I got a chance to return to my home turf (sort of). One of my high school friends got married in Michigan, on the west side of the state. Not quite "home", but close enough. Dinner on Friday night was with another high school friend. While she had been able to attend the wedding, we hadn't gotten to chat much. So this was a nice opportunity to catch up properly.

Apparently I picked the right hotel to stay at for the weekend. I arrived after my nice dinner to find my friend's family chatting in the hall (just down from my room). This afforded us a great opportunity to chat all weekend. Later, I found out that several others that I knew from growing up were all staying at the same hotel too. So I got to see lots of familiar faces.

The wedding was lovely. Holly was a beautiful bride, and JC a dashing groom. The reception was amazing to say the least. Despite my gd, I was able to enjoy most of the food, and even some cake.

Of course I couldn't pass up the chance to see some of the west side of Michigan. Believe it or not, in the 15 odd years I lived there we never traveled that far west to visit. Just down the road from the hotel was the winery of one of my favorite wine makers, St Julians. I just couldn't say no to a free tour of the facility. Too bad I couldn't do the wine tasting portion :( However, I did come home with a bottle of their latest product: Grey Heron Vodka. To be sampled after Ada comes of course. Interestingly enough, it's vodka made from grapes.

On Sunday, to kill time before my flight left, I headed to the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids. I'm a sucker for zoos, plus it gets me out and walking around (which is good). Several of the animals were already put up for the season, but I still got to see a good variety. Plus it gave me another chance to play with one of my birthday presents: the 55-275 mm lens for our camera.

All in all, it was a great trip back "home".

Bean - 31 weeks

I was trying to space these posts out somewhat evenly, so we could have pictures. The timing is weird on this one, so no pictures today.

On to the update!

Last week my doctor was concerned about my last reading of the day (after dinner). We agreed to give it one more week to see if I could get things under control. This was a difficult challenge as last week had my birthday. I did pretty well until Sunday. For some reason my glucose was wonky, and I was sure that was the end of my run without meds. Much to my surprise, the past two days have been back to normal. I got the thumbs up again today for another week without meds :) My goal is to make it at least to week 32 without meds, which is next week. Goal 1: check. New goal? Make it to week 34 without meds. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

The good news is that with my diet changes for gd, I've actually lost a bit of weight. My overall net gain for the whole pregnancy is 4 pounds, which means I've actually probably lost about 10 pounds at this point. I might actually come out of this weighing less than I did before pregnancy.... Might....

In other news, I think I've narrowed down a photographer for maternity and newborn shots. Baby showers are just around the corner, and Friday I head north to Michigan for a friend's wedding. This means I'll have something to post about that's not baby related ;)