Tired

I have 10 weeks until I hit my due date, and I feel exhausted. I've been reading that this is normal, but it sure has been difficult, I don't remember being this tired in my first trimester. Everything seems to take more effort to do, and I get tired a lot faster when doing normal things!

Today, I went on a 30ish minute walk during my lunch break, when I returned to my office I was ready for a full blown nap. I still haven't recovered and would take a nap right now if I could. I'm praying for a second wind to hit sometime over these next 10 weeks. I'm trying to enjoy these last few weeks of being pregnant, and yes I am being serious. There are a lot of great aspects to being pregnant, right now one of the best parts is being able to feel the baby move. He sure is active!! There have been multiple times where I could even feel his heartbeat through the belly. Derek enjoys giving him kisses through the belly, and has also been very good at reminding me to watch what I say because the baby can hear us. It's been fun to go into the baby's room and look at all of his clothes and the cloth diapers that we have so far, I can't believe he'll be here so soon.

Time has been flying by, it seems like yesterday was the 4th of July and now it's August 11! Before I know it, we will be posting pictures of the baby to introduce him to all of you.

Victory!

Yesterday was my 3 hour gestational diabetes test, which included fasting as well as 4 blood draws all an hour apart. Sounds like fun, right?

As many of you know, needles and I do not get along, I tend to faint. I was terrified for my appointment yesterday, and I would like to announce that although I went through the motions of passing out I DID NOT FAINT ONE TIME!!!! This is a HUGE deal for me! Derek was a trooper and a great supporter with each draw yesterday. I know I had a lot of friends and family praying for me, thank you! The ladies at the lab were very nice and understanding and even agreed to drawing my blood with me laying down on the floor since there wasn't a reclineable chair or table for me to lay down on. My arms are pretty sore and bruised today, and yesterday I was exhausted, but I survived.

Doom Day Approaches

Tomorrow = my funeral, have I mentioned how much I hate doctors, more specifically labs?

Meet Glucola, my best/worst friend:

This stuff tastes about as toxic as it looks and tomorrow I get to chug this whole bottle with glucose content of 100mg in a 5 minute period of time without throwing up. Last time this little friend gave me the worst heartburn I've experienced in awhile? Whose genius idea was it to make pregnant women take a diabetes test drinking something that is citrus? Whoever it was deserves to be punched.

I haven't slept very well in the past 2 nights, and last night all I could think about was pasta, which I am adamently avoiding until after the test. I fully plan on walking around in between the test and doing whatever it takes to pass, even if that means sneaking some caffeine in when the lab tech isn't looking to boost my metabolism - not sure how to do that yet without drinking some sort of sugary drink...possibly tea, but I'll need to brainstorm that one out. I'm already working on a checklist of stuff to take with me for tomorrow. So far I have:

-Derek
-washcloth (their chintzy paper towels don't do anything)
-laptop and DVDs to watch
-cheese to chow down on once the tests are over
-change of clothes (don't ask)
-cell phone so I can talk to my mom since she won't come home from Romania to go with me to this appointment (life's not fair)
-water, lots of water to help flush that crap out of my system
-possible green tea or something w/o sugar but with caffeine to pass the test

I'll update tomorrow after I'm done, but maybe Derek will have to as I don't think I'll be in any state to do anything.

Baby Shower Pictures

My sister in law sent me some of the baby shower pictures today so I figured I would share some of them!

This is a onesie that Derek made:

Here is a onesie that my oldest brother Benj made, and yes it really does say Pimp on it:

A picture of my sister, Kelsey, and I. I'm just now realizing how tired we both look in this picture, but still a good one of us!!

Here's one of my mom and I, we were playing the toilet paper belly measuring game, apparently she took a little bit too much!!

Some of the delicious food and presents:

Correction

Slight correction to the post below, I don't get my blood taken 3 times. Apparently that's not enough, I get it taken 4 times. Once when I first get there then I drink the crap then each hour after that. And to think the nurse laughed on the phone when she mentioned that she thought she had called me yesterday, and how silly of her to make that mistake. I had wrongly assumed ahead of time that no news was good news, big fat stinkin lie. Is it October yet?

GD Test = Fail

Yup, I failed the stupid 1-hour GD test and have to take the WONDERFUL (sarcasm) 3 hour test on Saturday. What does that mean? It means fasting, double the glucola, and blood draws at 1 hour, 2 hour, and 3 hours. What does this mean for Arwen? I am pissed beyond belief and am almost guaranteed to pass out on Saturday. Great, that's exactly how I want to spend my Saturday morning. This also means that I won't be able to see my really close friend, Rachel, who is in town on Saturday.

Sometimes I think Derek's right when he says that pregnancy is a scam. Think about all of the people who are making money by me having to do the 3 hour test. The company who makes gucoloa, my doctor's office, the lab place, and of course my wonderful insurance company. I don't think this is necessary I do not have GD, sorry that I failed the test but they flippin made me drink straight up sugar and then decided it would be "genius" to see what my sugar levels were right after. Yes, that sounds like a fabulous idea, everyone but the pregnant woman wins because they're all getting paid by ensuring that I fail the test.

I'm starting to see the logic of people who forgo the doctors all together and go all granola and natural.

GD Test Today

I have my GD test today, which stands for gestational diabetes (for those of you who haven't been pregnant before!). I am not looking forward to it. At this point, I could care less if I pass the test, I'm more concerned about passing out when they take my blood. Granted, I would like to pass the test, but I'm not sure all of the factors they measure (including how much the baby weighs) actually "prove" you have GD. I was just under 10.5 pounds, and my mom did not have GD, I was just a big baby. Thankfully our nurse mid-wife is phenomenal and really supports us in our strive to have a natural and medicine free pregnancy and birth, thank God!