Insulin

Okay... here's my drama from last week... My blood sugars were unusually high first thing in the morning almost every day last week. I couldn't make sense of it since I was still being really cautious about my meals so I called the Diabetes Center. They returned my call while I was with my class and informed me that I would have to be put on insulin. I guess my blood sugars through the night are being affected by my hormones, something that a meal plan can't really help with. In fact, as I near my due date, my hormones are probably going to require larger doses of insulin. Anyway, I broke down in tears at the news because I absolutely hate needles! Needles on top of everything that I already have to do! They insisted that I come into the center either that day (Thursday), or Friday. Waiting until the following week was not an option. So... after sharing the news with my principal, completely unable to do so without crying, he suggested that I take Friday off. Reluctantly, I did. My appointment the next morning was an hour long and the nurse taught me how to inject myself with insulin. I must've held the syringe for 10 minutes, unable to even look at it. It took a lot of coaching for me to finally do it. It feels like when I prick my finger- not painful, but I am definitely very aware that something is being put in my skin. I know it's completely psychological- I really have to work at building myself up to do it... When I went to pick up my supplies at Rite Aid, I was given something completely different due to my health insurance. That means that I spent an hour learning how to do something that I won't even be doing. I had to leave to head to Stockton, so it wasn't like I could go back to the center to learn how to use this new insulin pen. After the Josh Groban concert, my mother in law and sister in law both helped me in our hotel room. Jennifer read each direction (there are a lot of steps!) while my mother in law helped to make sure the insulin was completely injected. All of this has been incredibly overwhelming. I can't even begin to tell you how emotional I have been. I now have to inject insulin once a day, right before I go to bed so that the insulin can help lower the blood sugars by morning time. It has not gotten easier each night- it is definitely the worst past of my day!
One of the nurses mentioned that since my pregnancy is considered "high risk," my doctor will probably not allow for the pregnancy to be full term (40 weeks). Gestational diabetes causes babies to put on too much weight and because of that, usually are born at 38 weeks. That moves up our due date by two weeks!!! I'll find out for sure on Tuesday. My doctor has mentioned on several occasions how he'd like to have me induced. I think it's very likely that I'm going to be put on disability leave next week. Yesterday, I was given some news about my job that ended up leaving me feel so stressed out that I had 6 contractions last night, the longest one lasting 10 minutes long. For a short while, Jason and I wondered if I had gone into labor! Thankfully not, but that just reminds me how close we are to meeting our new baby! I'll share about my job news next post since this one's already too long.

Girls' Weekend

For my birthday present earlier this year, Jason got me tickets to see Josh Groban. I didn't get to see him when he was in Fresno a few months ago, but he had a concert date in Stockton (so random, I know) just this past Friday, so I got to go! In fact, I went with Jason's mom and sister, Jennifer. We made it a girls' weekend, probably my last hurrah for a while. We left Fresno on Friday afternoon and were able to have a nice dinner in Stockton before the concert. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my own to share- cameras weren't allowed. I will say though, that it was GREAT! His music really calms me and it was such a treat to hear him live. I also really enjoyed the fact that he was so personable and interactive. He has a great sense of humor, and talked as if he were talking to just a few people, not an entire arena. At one point during the concert, he even walked through the arena- he was right in front of us (3 rows) and it took a second before we realized that it was him. Thank you, Jason, for such a special night!
We spent the next day in Sacramento's IKEA. I'm actually serious when I say "the next day-" we were in IKEA for about 6 hours. And I ended up leaving with the most stuff! I love that store...
After a really emotional and overwhelming Thursday and Friday morning, I am grateful to have been able to enjoy a great weekend! (I'll try to blog about the other stuff later this week).

Life with Gestational Diabetes

Well, I'm 31 weeks along. Depending on who you talk to, I'm either going to "pop" any day now because I look so big, or that I look "just right." It's been a real adjustment, dealing with gestational diabetes and changing the way I eat. I now eat 3 meals and 3 snacks everyday, and I test my blood sugar by pricking my fingers 4 times a day. I have a pretty defined meal plan that states how many servings of different kinds of food I can eat at each meal/snack. Out of convenience, I pretty much eat peanut butter several times a day. It's been hard remembering to test my blood sugar when I'm at school- sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing that I forget. A positive thing though, is that having this has forced me to leave school at an appropriate time to make sure that I have dinner at the right time. It's been hard to eat out so we really have to be intentional about what we eat. I LOVE fruit and now I can only eat it in really limited amounts. That's been disappointing... And, I haven't been able to have any slurpees or bubble teas for weeks now!!! AAGGH! I've never been crazy about desserts, but not being allowed to have any has made me really want to have it! When this is all over, I'm going to celebrate by going dessert-crazy. I'm thinking a dessert potluck or something. Who's with me!?

I have to carry these with me all the time- my nutrition journal, my blood monitoring journal, and my blood monitor kit (has the monitor, lancets (the things that prick my finger), and test strips).

When I was pregnant with Grace, I went out on disability leave from work at 33 weeks. I started having contractions and the doctor believed it was stress related (due to work). Well, this past week, I started getting cramps (it was the same with Grace). I don't want to call them contractions yet because the pain is still manageable, but if it's the same as with Grace, the pain is going to start to intensify. It makes me feel overwhelmed to think about having to already plan for a long term substitute for my brand new class! I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to teach as long as possible. Please keep praying for me and this little one.

Back to School

Well, we're back to school! The summer passed so quickly, but overall, it was great- we got to spend time as a family, spend time with extended family, travel, relax, work on the house, and do school work... I am very excited about the start of a new school year at a new school! After 7 years of being at Herndon-Barstow School, this year, I decided to move out of my comfort zone to Harvest School, Central Unified's newest school. What an experience it has been, opening up a new school. I am getting to know my new co-workers and I really respect my principal. Everything's really new at this point, but I feel good about this upcoming year. That's with all the craziness of this past week! We weren't allowed to start moving in and setting up classrooms until last week. Our school's construction was supposed to be done many weeks ago, but the date kept being pushed back later and later for a whole bunch of reasons. Let's just say that crews were and are still working on projects around the school. There are a lot of things that we're still waiting to have completed, but our classrooms were ready to go for the first day! For a normal person, it's hard enough to move all of their belongings, and get a classroom ready- being pregnant really slowed me down! I am so grateful for Jason and my grade level partner, David. They helped me a great deal.

Here are some pictures of the "before"

Here's a glimpse of the "after"- obviously it's still a work in progress! Notice that I don't have a whiteboard yet- apparently, it's still stuck in Texas somewhere, delayed because of Texas' recent floodings? Also notice- I have a T.V. and a DVD player! That's a first for me! The front of our school- plants still need to be planted
This actually doesn't feel out of place right now!
Anyway, to everyone who is heading back to school- have a great year!

Pregnancy Update

It totally dawned on me today that I have yet to share some of our baby's ultrasound pictures from 10 weeks ago. (In case you didn't know, there's a pregnancy countdown at the bottom of this blog- I'm 29 weeks along!) Some people have made predictions about whether it's a boy or girl based on these ultrasound pictures, but the one with the actual label of "boy/girl" is still in a sealed envelope. Surprisingly, we haven't been tempted to look at it. What do you think?!

On another note, I had my glucose tolerance test done last week and got the results today. It turns out that I have gestational diabetes... Does anyone know anything about that? I'm feeling really scared because I don't know what that involves, what to expect because I have that, and how that affects the baby. I also can't think of anyone that I know of who's had that during their pregnancy (or has shared about it). I have to go into St. Agnes' Diabetes Center on Friday to learn how to monitor my blood sugar level, change my diet, etc. I knew there had to be a reason why I have been unusually tired and hungry this pregnancy. Anyway, please continue to keep me and the baby in your prayers!

Trying to Stay Cool!

It has been plenty hot since we've been back from all of our travels. The weather here in Fresno has been over 100 degrees (think 40 degrees Celcius, Canadians!) for quite some time. Today was the first day it has dipped below 100 degrees. I've been really hot and uncomfortable. Anyway, I'm looking forward to these upcoming few days because it's supposed to feel cooler. Cooler still meaning hot, but at least it's not above 100! Here are a few pictures of Gracie in our pool this past week. She's actually excited to go in the pool nowadays which we are thrilled about. Jason's been taking her every day as a way to cool off and keep her interested in being in the water. You'll have to read previous posts from our time in Edmonton if you don't know about how terrified of the water she was just weeks ago.