A Very Personal 22-28 Week Pregnancy Update, Health Update, Baby Moon and House Update!!

Friend I just got out of my 28 week growth ultrasound. So last time we did a pregnancy update We did a 15 week to 22 week. So what you're gonna sit back and enjoy right now is a 22 week to a 28 week update so lots of good ups and downs that come along with pregnancy and If you are interested in this just sit back, relax, you can, it's just me talking, so you can go do the dishes, do the laundry, do whatever you need to do

about your day and I will kind of give you a play-by-play for the last month basically. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Good morning friend. We are heading off to an ultrasound this morning as a family. I popped into my car a little bit early. As of today, I am 25 weeks pregnant. We have not talked about or I haven't done any updates with you all since the last update and I think I was 22 weeks pregnant then.

So really not much has changed since then. We haven't been to the doctor. No new symptoms other than she moves so much. So what today is, is a growth sound ultrasound. So we're going to start having these I think once a month because of the gestational diabetes diagnosis they want to keep track of her growth because I guess with gestational diabetes

babies can grow a little too quickly and you just wanna keep a good pulse on that. And so that's what we're doing today. So we get to go see the baby. Josh and my son are gonna come with us and I've got a few questions. So after we have the growth ultrasound,

we're gonna meet with the fraternal medicine doctor and I've got a few questions for her. We have now been doing the insulin for, I think about three and a half weeks or so, and that seems to be helping. We're still doing the really low dose,

and that is just for nighttime blood sugars. I have been able to keep a pretty good track on my daytime blood sugars. I have really, even in the last like month, cut back even more carbs because the farther along you get in pregnancy,

the harder the blood sugar is to control from what I understand. With gestational diabetes, there is a hormone your body produces that blocks insulin receptors. And so if you have gestational diabetes, you're producing more of that hormone.

And so your own insulin is not working properly, so that's why you have gestational diabetes, you're producing more of that hormone. And so your own insulin is not working properly. So that's why you have gestational diabetes. And the farther along you get in pregnancy, the more of that hormone is created and the harder it is to manage. And I can definitely tell it is. So we've really been focusing even more on proteins, veggies, even less carbs. The only carb foods that I'm trying to eat are like berries, beans, lentils, but first

having protein and fat with it to try to manage the blood sugar. Because I can tell when I have like a rice or a bread, it affects my blood sugar quite a bit. Berries and like an apple with peanut butter, I can keep a pretty good handle on my blood sugar so that's good. Now the one thing I want to talk about the doctor today with gross ultrasounds is when I was 38 weeks pregnant with my son,

we had an ultrasound and they said that he was weighing on average about eight pounds.

And I know ultrasounds can be off when he was born. Two weeks later, he was six pounds, three ounces. So that's seems like a huge difference. And so I want to talk to, this is a different clinic we're going to so maybe it was just the ultrasound tech or I'm not exactly sure how they measure that so I want to talk to the doctor today that's kind of like my biggest thing with these growth ultrasounds how do they know that they're more accurate than that one because I was expecting to give birth too because I was at 38 give birth to, because I was

at 38 weeks. Two weeks later, something bigger than eight pounds and he came out super teeny tiny. So that's my biggest concern. And then I have lost, I'm going to set you down because my arm's getting tired. How about right here? I've actually lost two pounds or

Since I've been pregnant. I'm down a total of I think four pounds. So that's six months, right?

But I want to talk to her about that, too Just making sure I'm not restricting calories I'm eating till I'm full but I've noticed that when I'm eating a high protein, higher fat, lower carb diet, I am full for so much longer, and I'm so much more satiated that I just wanna make sure that I'm getting enough nutrients and calories.

And so I'm gonna talk to her about that. Now, I did have excess weight when I got pregnant, and so my doctor said total, she wouldn't like me to gain more than nine pounds and typically you gain the most weight in the last trimester and so I just want to talk to her about that making sure that that is

Okay. Yeah, it's super interesting with really limiting the carbs How much more satiated what I've been doing is listening to a lot of podcasts with doctors. Dr. Beckman, I think is his name. He is a insulin expert. He's a scientist and he is super, super fascinating to listen to. So I've been listening to a lot of his talks. I actually just got his book on Audible. It's Why We Get Sick, I believe is the title, and it's been super interesting.

So my family is here. They're coming out, and I'm going to talk to my doctor about all those things, and then I will be with you to give an update. We just pulled into our driveway and that appointment really, really, really well. I saw the same MFM doctor fetal, no, maternal fet... MFM, I don't know why it's so hard to remember that. Maternal fetal medicine doctor that I saw last time and I really, really, really liked

her.

So 25 weeks pregnant right now, baby is growing appropriately. Everything looks great. She's in the 60th percentile, 62 percentile. And the doctor said you want above the 10th and you want below the 90th.

So 60th is great. She said at this point, baby is focusing on growing organs and bones and things and it's not usually till the third trimester where they start putting on weight. So when it comes to gestational diabetes the biggest concern is baby growing too quickly, getting too big, making it harder to

deliver, and then if they're producing too much fluid and there's too much amniotic fluid in the sac then that can lead to complications. You want not too much amniotic fluid, I didn't know this, and you don't want too little and so when there's higher blood sugar levels that can affect how much you're in there producing and it can increase the amniotic fluid. And she said right now everything looks good.

And she's super happy with my daytime blood sugar still. She said, keep on the diet, keep on the walking, keep on doing what you're doing during the daytime. She's super happy with that. At night though, my blood sugar, it's still a little bit high, higher than she'd like.

She'd like it in the 90s and it's just jumping up into the hundreds too many times at night. And so she is going to increase my insulin level that I take at night by five units. And she said, I'm still on, she's like, this might seem like a lot to you, but in the grand scheme of things, it's super, super little. And she started me out at so low, she said, we might be just playing a little catch up

because we started out so low. So that's good that she's happy with daytime blood sugars, the ones that I can control a little bit better. I had three main, I think it was three main questions I wanted to talk to her about. One was, when you deliver, do you have concerns with gestational diabetes,

like after, like how long does this linger? She said, basically, once you deliver, it's the placenta that's causing this, because it's producing hormones that's blocking your insulin from attaching to your cells, and that's why you become insulin resistant because you have this other hormone that is playing a part because the idea is your body

wants to have the baby grow and so this hormone helps baby grow but if you have too much of it then it can cause insulin resistance and you can have gestational diabetes so she said basically once you deliver the placenta, you're considered cured of gestational diabetes. She said, they don't even ask you to check your blood sugar after,

you will not take another insulin injection once the baby's delivered. Now it can increase your risk of type two diabetes down the road. And I was thinking, I think I'm gonna keep this continuous glucose monitor

well after I have this baby because I was already on this wanting to, this health journey that I was wanting to go on and then I got pregnant and I wanna see what my body does after having the baby and I would like to get more in shape and things like that

but that'll be another journey that we'll focus on after I have the baby and I would like to get more in shape and things like that, but that'll be another journey that we'll focus on after I have the baby. Another thing I wanted to talk to her about was my weight, obviously, I had mentioned that earlier. And when I weighed myself today at the doctor's office, I weighed exactly the same as I did last time I was there,

which was for the 20 week ultrasound, so five weeks ago. So I don't know if it's the scale that we have at our house or the fact that when I weigh myself at home I'm weighing myself first thing in the morning and I had the same outfit on when I was at the doctor's so I think it might be the clothes difference and our scale might just be a little bit calibrated different. So that wasn't a concern.

Basically, I'm steady weight. Haven't lost or gained any weight according to the scale at the doctor's office. The other thing I wanted to talk to her about was taking baby aspirin, because I take baby aspirin to prevent preeclampsia,

because I had severe, severe preeclampsia with my first pregnancy and this helps prevent it. And I had seen a reel where they were talking about aspirin can affect kidney function in utero. And if the kidneys aren't working properly, then the baby can produce too much urine

and you can have too much ambiotic fluid and She said that's if you're taking high high doses and The amount I'm taking there's been no studies to show that it affects it at all And I am gonna be having growth ultrasounds up until 36 weeks. The last one is gonna be at 36 weeks I think every four weeks from here on out. And so she said, we're gonna be able to monitor baby's kidneys,

how much ambionic fluid there is, but all the studies show that the amount I'm taking, which is two baby aspirin a day, reduces the risk of preeclampsia and shows no adverse effects for fetal health. My nose is itching.

So that made me feel better because I had seen that reel and I was just like oh I want to talk to her about it so I feel better about that. And then the other thing I wanted to talk to her about was I don't remember if I talked to you about this this morning but a risk of gestational diabetes is baby growing too fast and if the baby gets too big too quick they might recommend you have the baby earlier than later for risk of complications with

trying to deliver a really large baby. And my goal if I can would be to go into labor naturally. That is my number one goal. But so I was asking her because my son I remember I had an ultrasound at 38 weeks and they told me he weighed about 8 pounds and then two weeks later I had my son at 40 weeks one day and he came out weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces and that's what I have remembered in my head and I was talking to her about that and she's like that she's like that is quite a bit off she's like normally we give um a one pound difference you

know growth ultrasound and then we give like a it could be about one pound heavier or lighter hope hoping that it's more in like the half pound difference and she said that seems off and she said normally we don't do growth ultrasounds past 36 weeks. And I said, you know, I don't remember all the details. And she was like, I'm going to look into that. Cause I was like, could you look and see

if I'm remembering that correctly? Because my fear is that I have these growth ultrasounds, he's measuring really big. We, you know, do an induction for that reason and then he, she, she ends up coming out smaller. And so I wanted to talk to her about that because if we do need to do an induction or something like that we are tracking an accurate size. And so she

was more than happy to look into it. So she already looked into it and on our way home she emailed me and I had remembered this wrong. So my last growth ultrasound was at 36 weeks, two days with my son. He was measuring around six pounds, seven ounces. That's what they had estimated. And then he was born two weeks, no, four weeks later

and at 40 weeks, one day, and he weighed six pounds three ounces, so That growth ultrasound he was it was much more accurate I was off on when I thought that growth ultrasound was it was sooner in the pregnancy than I thought it was and it was more accurate I had preeclampsia and a risk of preeclampsia if undiagnosed is that it can kind of inhibit

baby growth. And so I think that that's what was going on is that I had like a low line preeclampsia. He wasn't growing that much. And then it got super severe when I went into labor and then he he came out about that size. So I felt a lot better about that, that the growth ultrasound, I think where I got the eight pounds in my head,

Josh and I were talking about this, is that that's what they were projecting because they say that they typically grow in that last four weeks about a half a pound a week. So that would make sense that if he was measuring about seven pounds,

or if he was measuring about six pounds, seven ounces at the 36 weeks, if he grew a half a pound a week and was delivered at 40 weeks, he would be around eight pounds something. So that's just where the numbers,

the labor and delivery, if you watch the labor and delivery birth story, it's very foggy because the medication you take when you have preeclampsia is magnesium, and it's supposed to slow your brain down because it's reducing the risk of stroke, and it just makes things super foggy. So I just remembered that wrong, and so I'm glad I brought it up with her because that's been kind of like a lingering thought in my head with the accuracy of ultrasounds but it's

more that my memory was wrong when it came to that I hope that makes sense so overall I feel really good about today's appointment I physically feel good I am over like the initial shock of having to take insulin. It's kind of annoying every day because it is an injection that I do it, or Josh actually gives it to me in my belly.

I think why I was so upset about, I'm gonna get upset about it again, the first time, is because I was trying to control it with my diet and I feel like I kind of failed with that but um my doctor is like it's it's your uterus kind of working against you it's trying to protect the baby and let the baby grow but it's also you know this like catch-22 thing your body's just producing

too much of this hormone and um so anyway I I feel a lot better about it. I'm okay with it. And I was talking to her about the doctor that I've been listening to. And insulin resistance in pregnancy is very different than insulin resistance in just everyday non-pregnancy related insulin resistance. And so it feels good talking to her because she explains stuff so well. And so I do want to make sure that after this

that I don't have insulin resistance and I want to keep some of these habits that I've been forming during this pregnancy. I do feel like I've been having healthier habits and it's just been easier to make those decisions on prioritizing healthy food choices just because I have this continuous glucose

monitor and I can see what's happening in real time in my body. If any of you guys have thought about it, I'd highly recommend you talk to your doctor about it because it's just like the numbers are right in your face. You know, so it's easy to say no to something if you're watching those numbers and you're trying to control the numbers.

It's easier for me to, you know, not have that super sweet treat. Like I used to be a sweet treat every night type person, but like my sweet treat, I'm not denying myself any sort of sweets, but you know, like my sweet treat last night was an apple with peanut butter. So I've got the carbs and the sweetness with the fat and the protein.

Um, but instead of having like half a chocolate bar or something like that, anyway, I've been talking a long time. My family went inside. I am having friends over for dinner tomorrow and I need to go inside and do a bunch of cooking and it's swim lessons tonight.

So I am going to go change and I'm gonna get in the kitchen and you and I are gonna spend a bunch of time in the kitchen today. It's gonna be great. Really looking forward to it.

I feel really good. Baby looks good and I'm really glad that I've got some good doctors that I can ask good questions to and they take the time to answer the questions. My next doctor's appointment is just with my regular OB next week and that's probably when I'll be back to talk to you when I'm heading into that appointment. If there's any changes from here to then I will give you an update and I will let you know what she has to say. So I will

see you in probably a week. Good morning. I am on my way to an OB appointment. I had time to shower, wash my hair, blow-dry it, but I have not done my hair. I didn't realize how much mascara I did not get off in the shower because I was getting ready in the dark.

It is early. I've had no coffee.

And I thought I would just give you a little update. I guess this is my

what I wear to early morning doctor appointments outfit.

I have a really fun exciting day planned with you all today. We're going to be baking

four really decadent different types of cinnamon rolls.

But I didn't have time to fully get ready before get ready before I had to get to this point then. So I thought I'd just tell you a couple little like symptom updates, a little, some house updates, getting ready for baby number two. Oh my goodness, I'm gonna set you right here. I did not realize the mascara, but it's okay.

I'll take care of it I guess when I get home. It is what it is at this point. I don't have time to go back inside to wash my face more. So a couple weird symptoms, not weird, yeah. Two symptoms that I'm having this pregnancy right now is my eczema on my hands is so incredibly bad right now.

I'm trying not to use my steroid cream, or I'm not using my steroid cream is what I should say and I don't know if it's like hormones. I was just gonna talk to my doctor if hormones can affect eczema. I've been putting bentonite clay on it as much as I can. When I was a dental hygienist my eczema would get this bad. Bed night clay was the only thing worked better than steroids, but it was easier for me to do it then

because I didn't have a three year old and more responsibilities because I would put it on at night. I like to put it on at night and then you can't really touch anything because it's literally like wet clay

and it dries and you don't want to touch stuff while you have it on your hands because you'll get clay on things. And then when it dries, you don't really want to move because then when it crackles, it can flake off. So it's been a little bit harder trying to get in a consistent routine using that now.

But I was just going to ask her if I'm crazy or if, not crazy, but if the hormones can be making it so bad right now

the other weird symptom

Never experienced this before is I have this like metallic taste in my mouth it probably started like a week and a half ago, and I looked it up and it is a common pregnancy symptom and It's just really really weird. It is this weird metallic II Taste and what the internet says to do is chew gum eat sour things Like regularly to try to mask the taste good oral hygiene That's about it and From what I've read is they think that that is related to extra hormones and a heightened sense of taste

So it's like a hormone sense of taste. So it's

like a hormone taste bud thing. I don't know. So that's kind of weird. But those are the only two like weird symptoms. Other than that, I did buy myself a pregnancy pill to sleep with. I'll put a picture of the one I bought here. I went back and forth between this one and this one and this one just seemed too bulky and I don't know it had good reviews But I went with this one and I'm glad I did last pregnancy. I did not invest in a pregnancy pillow

I just had a bunch of different pillows, but the one I bought I love it because it's super thin It's thinner than like a regular pillow. And so it puts my hips, it feels like at the perfect spot. Instead of it, the pillow being too big and my hips being too far apart or not having anything. I really like this pregnancy pillow. You can see there's like a kidney bean shape

and then an attachment. I don't use that attachment. I just use kind of like the body pillow and I like the thickness, I like the length of it. So that is nice. I should have bought one last time

because then I would have been able to use it this time. But oh well, I'm glad I bought it. House update. So we have been working for the past month, interviewing contractors, having different people out, figuring out what we should do with our house

because I think I've mentioned this before but one of our bedrooms in our house is actually our laundry room as well and we need to reclaim that space what was a laundry room it needs to be a bedroom and so we have been trying to figure out where it makes the most sense to put the washer and dryer and we finally decided we are going to put it downstairs because it will be probably the most inexpensive we're going to and the easiest solution.

One day we would like to maybe finish the basement but talking to contractors, we don't have time to like, draw up plans, and it would be a whole thing, get permits and all that stuff, so we're just going to temporarily, I mean, it'll probably be a while, our washer and dryer will be downstairs, but Josh and I did a huge organizational

cleanup project down there, and Josh has interviewed and gotten bids from quite a few different contractors, and I think today or tomorrow he's gonna go through and read the bids and the fine detail of each one, and then we are going to move forward with actually moving the washer and dryer downstairs.

I will create a space that feels clean and with a table and some rugs, and we'll need to make a makeshift linen closet. One thing my house does not have is a linen closet. It does now because I use the closet in that bedroom where the washer and dryer are,

but we will be losing that space. So I will need to make a nice clean area for things like bath towels, extra sheets, things of that nature downstairs. So that'll be kind of a fun project. We've started the process of cleaning and organizing the basement.

When we moved in, we just dumped a bunch of stuff down there that we knew eventually was gonna go up into our offices. And that stuff has been sitting there for three years. Now that our offices and the upstairs is finished. We are both going through and getting rid of and donating a ton of stuff,

because if it's been down there for three years, a lot of it can be donated. But some of it, like my sewing machine and a bunch of art supplies. My son is old enough now, I was going through it yesterday. And I was like, oh my goodness,

he has his art supply stuff, but some of the stuff I have, he could definitely use, and so that was kind of fun going through that. And I'm still working on getting that stuff organized. I took a ton of stuff to the donation center yesterday, but a lot of it still needs to go from my living room, because we brought it up from the basement,

staged it in the living room, and I've been going through it, Josh has been going through it, and stuff is going either up into my office or in the back of my car for donations. So that's the biggest house update. We've picked out her furniture, but we have not ordered it yet

because we want to have a space to put it before, because we don't really have anywhere to put it. And so the biggest thing is today or tomorrow, Josh is going to figure out which contractor we're going with so we can move the washer and dryer downstairs.

They're going to wall off that space, create a nice bedroom that will be a functioning bedroom, not a laundry room. And then we will be able to finish downstairs and have a nice area. So I have a doctor's appointment today obviously.

I am 26 weeks pregnant tomorrow I think. Let me check actually. Yes, I am 26 weeks pregnant tomorrow and so that means tomorrow we'll have 13 weeks which should be plenty of time for us to get this house project done. Most of the contractors said once they start the project,

it'll be like a two to three day project. It's taken us quite a few, we've probably been working on, you know, scheduling contractors and all this stuff for two months now. So I'm glad we started it when we did

because we should have plenty of time, hopefully, to get all that done and settled before she comes And now we're gonna go to the doctor's appointment. I have plenty of time. I'm gonna go get myself some coffee I haven't had any coffee. I haven't eaten anything today. I did Your sitting on my purse. I've got a couple snacks in my purse that I can snack on. And we are gonna head out. This is just a routine doctor's appointment.

I have been taking my blood pressure at home because when I went in, I don't think I even mentioned this last time, my blood pressure was a little bit elevated. It was a different person that normally takes it. When she took it at the beginning,

it was a little elevated. And then at the end of the appointment, she took it again and it was totally fine So I've been taking it at home, and it's totally fine with my blood pressure cuff I probably should have brought my blood pressure cuff. I'm just driving on our driveway I'm gonna stop here though. I probably should have brought my blood pressure cuff To I think it'll be okay because my blood pressure has been totally fine

Just because I'm trying to keep an eye on it, making sure I don't have symptoms of preeclampsia. Anytime my head's slightly, like ooh, my head's kind of feeling a little, like a headache's coming on, I always take my blood pressure

because a headache can be a sign of preeclampsia. I did not know that the first time around. Not that I suffered with headaches, but I do know that now, so I'm much more hyper aware of it. So let's go get some coffee and then I'm going to go to a routine doctor's appointment and then yeah I'm going to come home and do a bunch of baking with you.

This is my neighbor. I don't know if you can see there's cows down there. Sometimes the cows will be sitting up here in the morning and I absolutely love it. I love that my neighbors have cows because I can enjoy them, but I don't have to take care of them. Okay, see you there. I just pulled into my driveway and that doctor's appointment went really well. It was super quick.

Normally my doctor, I love my doctor. I interviewed a couple OBs when I found out I was pregnant with my son, and I chose her, and she is incredible. But because she's so incredible and takes her time and answers all your questions

and does not make you feel rushed, sometimes you get to wait a little bit. And I didn't have to wait today, so it was awesome. So it was in and out. I forgot to ask her about my eczema, but that's fine. It's just something that I deal with. Um, I had to get some blood work done,

normal routine stuff for the point of pregnancy I'm in checking for anemia and just normal stuff. So I did that after the appointment, the biggest thing that happened. Oh, and I asked her about the taste of my mouth. She said that's super rare, but sometimes it can be a zinc deficiency. So check your multivitamin to see if it has it in it. But it happens and it just, it is what it is.

The biggest thing I, at the, oh, we listened to baby's heartbeat sounded great. And after that and she did the measurement, the, fundal measurement. I'm not sure what that is. That looked good. And everything looked good, mostly just answering questions.

And at the end, I was like, just to let you know the two things I would like to try to avoid if possible would be a C-section, number one, and being induced, number two. And that sparked a really good conversation

that I did not know was something that was going to be recommended to me. I guess if you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes and or this is a separate thing if you have preeclampsia. I don't have preeclampsia yet, but if my blood pressure starts to get high, they're going to recommend an induction. And, which I knew that already, but hopefully my blood pressure today looked good.

Hopefully that doesn't become an issue. I'm just praying the preeclampsia thing is not gonna be an issue. But with the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, she said it is routine to recommend if your gestational diabetes is controlled. She said the MFM,

I don't know I have the hardest time remembering that acronym, MFM doctor will recommend routinely to do an induction at between 38 and 39 weeks if controlled. If not controlled, which mine is controlled, they recommend it at 37 weeks. Now, my doctor said, this is why I love my doctor. She said, she's all about informed consent, giving you all the information,

but she says it is your body, you make the final decision, you have to be the one to schedule the appointment. She said that we can go all the way to the end of 39 weeks and you come in, I I guess pretty twice a week and they check your amniotic fluid and they check baby's movement and heart rate and I guess if you have gestational diabetes it has to do with the quality of the placenta and And so I don't fully understand it.

I need to probably do more research, talk to the MFM doctor more about it. I'm really, really glad that I brought that up with her today because now I can mentally prepare myself that that is going to be a recommendation that is going to be recommended to me.

And my doctor said that she can do membrane sweeps starting at 38 weeks and we can do things to try to get labor started naturally. With my son, I had an appointment at 20. No, I had my last just prenatal OB appointment at 39 weeks and six days. She did a membrane sweep. I went back and forth whether I wanted that or not. That night at 2 a.m. I went into labor naturally. Now my doctor goes back and forth saying, you know, it can help start

labor but they don't have like, they don't know if maybe my body would have naturally gone into labor that night anyway or if the membranes we'd helped or what so that's definitely things that I'm gonna have to like mentally prepare myself for and I was talking to Josh on the way home letting him know kind of the updates and everything like that and we were both like oh okay so we need to mentally prepare that we need to have our house ready a few weeks earlier.

So I think I said earlier I had 14 weeks left and let's mentally prepare that we have 12, 12 weeks left. But I am going to pray that my body will go into labor naturally, but if it doesn't, and it is recommended with you know Checking the stress test of the baby the amniotic fluid all those levels

I will do what I need to do to you know, ensure I'm healthy babies healthy and things like that That's just not my number one choice I've heard obviously birth stories from inductions that are fantastic choice. I've heard, obviously, birth stories from inductions that are fantastic, and then I've heard ones that are not fantastic. But, you know, you can have both a fantastic or not fantastic labor and delivery, even if you go into labor naturally as well. So, I'm surprised that I'm not as like upset about that news as I thought I would be.

I am grateful that I know about it now and not in like a month or two. What I will say is that this news has definitely made me even more motivated to try to keep this gestational diabetes under control as much as I can with my diet. I have changed the way I eat quite a bit, but I certainly am NOT perfect and I have room for improvement. What I have noticed is if I have carbs in the morning it is much more challenging for me to make better choices throughout the rest of the day. Like yesterday I had one of the breakfast calzones that I

prepped with you all and it was so good. But it is basically a dough filled with eggs and cheese and sausage. So it is a higher protein item but there is more carbs than I normally would eat for breakfast. And it was a struggle to avoid carbs for the rest of the day. I made good healthy carb choices throughout the rest of the day but I ate way more carbs yesterday than I've eaten in a long time and so I'm just saying that because it's just this is overall going to make me even more motivated to try to eat mostly

protein healthy fats Really only complex carbohydrates like lentils and beans and I've got to avoid rice because rice is not good I mean rice is delicious and I love rice but I have noticed that if I have rice and white bread and things like that overall

my blood sugar is much more challenging to manage. So I guess that is a good information to have because it will make me even more motivated to make those better choices. So now I need to go in I need to wash my face and get this mascara off. I need to go do my hair. I need to go read my recipes because you and I are going to be doing a ton of baking and it's gonna be a really really fun day and I'm really excited about these recipes. This was a project I wanted to do a year ago and I got pneumonia and was not able to do it. So we are going to do it today.

So thank you for being here. I appreciate all your support and prayers and kind wishes. I can feel your support. You all are so kind and I will see you next time there is an update to give. Good morning.

We are headed in just a little bit to a growth ultrasound. Today I am 28 weeks and 4 days and we have some updates to give you. I'm gonna go over symptoms, some life updates, some house updates, getting ready for baby girl. Overall I have been feeling really really good. I can definitely tell at this point that sleeping is becoming slightly more uncomfortable.

Last night in particular, I am at this point, a rotisserie chicken going from one side to the other side, to getting up to go to the restroom, to transferring from my right side to my left side to my right side. But overall, I feel pretty good.

Last time we talked was quite some time ago. It feels like it's been forever about pregnancy updates. We have gone on a baby moon, which I want to talk to you about, and we have some house updates. The last big symptom that I had when we were together was this terrible taste in my mouth, and it was getting progressively worse and When my doctor had mentioned it could be a zinc deficiency I did look up the symptoms of zinc deficiency and Yes that definitely can put a bad taste in your mouth also pregnancy if you put like metallic taste in Google

Pregnancy is like the next word. It just like pops up. So talking to my doctor, I am supplementing with more zinc. My prenatal has zinc in it, but it doesn't have, it doesn't say a hundred percent of your daily value. So I'm supplementing with zinc and it has gotten so much better. It was getting to the point where I basically was like chewing gum or needed something in my mouth all the time because the taste was just terrible. And it's still

there, but it has gotten so much better. I could tell that I was like wanting to snack more and because when I was eating, I couldn't taste the taste, but anytime like water wouldn't help with the taste. And so I kind of resorted to chewing gum and Now at this point there's a little bit of a off taste But it's like so minor that I don't even realize it's there half the time. So I don't know if it's The symptom has just gotten better or if the zinc supplement is helping

I'm assuming the zinc supplements helping I did look up what zinc like what foods contain zinc and I eat all the foods that contain zinc So I'm not sure about that, but I'm so grateful that's starting to get better Let's see House update. So if you were with us when Josh and I did a big deep clean on our basement we I had mentioned that we are moving our laundry downstairs and we interviewed and had bids

from quite a few different contractors. It took time for all those bids to come back, for Josh to kind of read through them and he finally picked a contractor. We went on a babymoon during that time when all those bids were coming

in so it kind of pushed back when we were able to kind of choose which contractor we wanted to go with and I'll go into the babymoon in just a little bit. But Josh has decided on which one and he was out of town last week so he is going to come this week to go over the scope again and really go into detail our expectations what exactly we want done so that everyone is on the same page. I have really good confidence in this contractor so I'm excited about that. I'm

28 weeks pregnant plus I could potentially deliver at 38 weeks so we're getting close but I think we still should have plenty of time to Have everything settled before she gets here. I have all of her furniture picked out I have not ordered it yet because I don't have anywhere to put it at this point so as soon as they start the contract as soon as they start the Kind of a little bit of a remodel project we have to do Josh is gonna order the furniture and then

it should arrive after they are done with this little remodel project. So the timing should be perfect hopefully and she is going to sleep in our room for you know the first bit and we have the bassinet from my son so it's not like the end of the world if her room isn't fully set up but we should have plenty of time to have it completely set before she gets here at least that's what I'm hoping so that feels really really good baby moon baby moon so my one of my best friends who I met when I was a freshman in high school

she got married this October and for the last year she's been planning a wedding in New Orleans and I have never been there before and we were gonna go just Josh and I really quick go to the wedding and then come home because we actually had planned over a year ago before I was pregnant a 10-year wedding anniversary trip to Italy and oh oh I didn't think I was gonna get sad about this um we planned it before I was pregnant and we would be basically getting ready right now to go on that trip and it's a trip that Josh and I have talked about for like, oh man, since we got married 10 years ago.

Oh, I didn't think I would get emotional about this. But when we found out we were gonna get pregnant and this trip being kind of during the holidays and stuff, we went back and forth whether it was like a good idea to go on it. And I talked to my doctor multiple times about it.

And she said, she supports me going. The one big thing, and I hadn't thought about this, is that like it's technically safe to travel at the point that I would be to go to Italy. And it was gonna be like a food tour, and we're gonna go to wineries and olive farms and

We were gonna take cooking classes and it's gonna be so fun, but We just went back and forth so many times like should we go should we not and when my OB brought up one really good point is that Technically baby girl would be viable at that point if she was delivered, but you would want a really good NICU. And we were gonna be a lot in the countryside of Italy,

so not knowing really like how far we would be from hospitals,, it just, wow, I wasn't expecting to get so emotional at that point. When Josh and I finally made the decision, because we went back and forth for months, whether we should go or not.

It felt like a relief deciding that it just was not good timing and So I feel at peace about not going totally feel at peace about not going we will go someday just not right now We had planned that trip like I said before we were pregnant and it just especially being pregnant and you know not being able to taste the wine and It just I think that it would be a fuller Experience if I go when I'm not pregnant

and I just kind of want to sit back and enjoy the last bit of this pregnancy and Get our house settled and focus on the holidays and it just feels like the right decision, but we are definitely Sad that we're not able to go but we just know that we will still go on this trip. Just not right now so all that to say we did go ahead and postpone that trip, but we were just gonna go to New Orleans for just basically the wedding and then come back but because of that we decided that we would tack on a couple days to that trip and

Definitely felt more comfortable traveling in the United States. Less far, not as far away. Definitely closer to hospitals and things like that. And it wouldn't be as far into the pregnancy because we, that was a couple weeks ago that we did that. We had so much fun. We walked everywhere. We stayed in the French Quarter. I had never been there. History and food are things that I love. So we took some tours.

We ate some incredible food We took a cooking class we walked So much, we didn't really have plans when we got down there Josh, and I just kind of everyday Slept in because New Orleans is two hours ahead of us. We kind of stayed on our time So we were getting up around like 10 Which was like 8 our time and then we would eat dinner around 8 30, which was 6 30 our time.

And we just walked and walked. We didn't rent a car, but we did take an Uber from the airport to our hotel. And our first Uber driver was incredible. He gave us so many suggestions on museums we needed to go to, restaurants we needed to try. Plus I found some different like food travel vloggers and I took recommendations from them. We were able

to just kind of sit back enjoy the wedding and we did do a spa day which was amazing and it was just so fun. So that felt really good to kind of take that little bit of time away for Josh and I to kind of go on a babymoon. Just him and I, we don't travel. We travel a lot but it's usually for work or it is with family which we love to do both those things. I think this is only the second time since our honeymoon that Josh and I have gone on just a trip to just go on a trip and

explore a new city. I don't think we've ever done that before and we had really no agenda other than we knew we wanted to eat good food and we wanted to see the history. New Orleans is incredibly historic and beautiful and wow, just the architecture and the history, it's amazing.

Definitely a lot different than here in the Pacific Northwest because everything is so much older. So we had so much fun with that. So other than that, that is kind of the update. We need to head out. Josh is here, he's gonna go ahead

and we're gonna head to the appointment together. We are gonna get coffee on the way there cause it's early. I've been scheduling these appointments early so that I can't, we can get back and kind of get our work week started.

I will give you an update when we're done with the appointment. I do want to talk to the MFM about the induction that I talked about with my OB last time and or the potential for that and then there was one more thing I wanted to talk to her about but I can't remember that. I have it written down. So my son's gonna get in the car,

Josh is gonna get in the car, we're gonna head and get coffee, and I'll see you back after the appointment. As soon as I got off with you, I remembered the other thing I wanted to talk to her about, and that was obviously the gestational diabetes.

I have been really, really, really working hard on my diet and I actually was able to go down by five units of insulin which is very exciting and that's what I want to talk to her about because I take my insulin at night and it's a slow release insulin I don't do it during the day during the day with like walking and my diet I've been able to keep it under control. It's really those nighttime blood sugars that have kind of been a concern and they had increased my insulin level last time we were together but I've gotten my

diet even better under control and I kept getting alerts saying my sugars were too low so we've actually been able to go back by five units of insulin So that's been a really really good thing. So we just did a growth ultrasound baby is measuring two pounds 14 ounces, I think I don't remember exactly but she's in the 55th percentile today, which is perfect The MFM said you want it as close to 50 as possible But now that I'm in the third trimester, this is where blood

sugars can, you can have a harder time controlling blood sugars because of the placenta not working properly and you have to watch your blood pressure really good. So I've been taking my blood pressure at home. It's been fantastic. Today it was fantastic. I also am at higher risk for preeclampsia, high blood pressure, because I've had it previously with my son. And I talked with the MFM about being induced and she did say that their recommendation is to deliver, so not just be induced, but to deliver anywhere between 38 and 39 weeks. She did say that that is their recommendation but you get to choose as a patient what you want to do but I talked to her a lot about it.

She spent so much time with me and Josh talking about it and I actually feel better about if that is what we end up doing and she did, because my OB had said that she can start membrane sweeping at 37 weeks and the just because the membrane sweeping might not put you into natural labor It can make the actual induction process if you choose that to go smoother because your body is more ready for that. One thing that she talked about is

the longer you wait into that 39 weeks, the higher the risk of high blood pressure and preeclampsia and not having as pleasant of a labor and delivery. And she kind of put some of my fears, because what my fear is, is you get induced. I've just had friends. I've had friends that have had really good induction experiences, and then I've had friends and family had really good induction experiences, and then I've had friends and family that have had not so pleasant

induction experiences. So what I would like to, I guess, the biggest thing I would like to avoid would be a C-section. And so that's kind of why I also wanted to avoid an induction.

But I went into labor naturally with my son, and I had severe preeclampsia and I had to be on magnesium, which is horrible. And she said that if we could, if you get induced a little bit earlier and you're healthier and baby's healthy,

then you could have a smoother labor and delivery just because the risk of having to go on magnesium and things like that and having those preeclampsia symptoms would be reduced. And I'm obviously simplifying that a ton. She talked about some studies

and I don't know what we're gonna decide at this point if we're gonna get scheduled. Obviously that's a conversation with me and my OB and that's another thing is that the way our clinics work and all the clinics really around us is that you have your OB that you see

throughout the whole pregnancy but when you get to the hospital whoever's there is the one delivers but if I do become and if I do decide to be induced I could schedule it with my OB that I've seen for years now. So I don't know what we're gonna decide but I do have to say that after talking to this MFM she was fantastic answering all our questions that I the fear of it has gone by the wayside a little bit because she was talking about the

studies that just because you are induced doesn't mean that that puts you at a higher risk for c-section so that that made me feel a lot better so overall blood pressure is really good, baby's growing good, my blood sugars are really, really good and I'm really encouraged by that because I've been working really hard on my diet

and I actually, before the MFM came in, the nurse that I email back and forth about my blood sugars, she came in and she was just really, really happy with blood sugar levels, so that's great. So I know that I can't control all of it,

but what I can control has, I think, been helping, which is how much sugar I eat or carbohydrates. So that is the update. We are now in the third trimester. I do, starting at 32 weeks, I have to go in once a week for a fluid level ultrasound

because that's the thing with gestational diabetes is they worry that the baby gets too much sugar, they produce too much fluid, and they're floating around in too much fluid, which can cause, you want your baby kind of snug in there. You don't want too little fluid,

but you don't want too much. And so once a week, I have an appointment that I'm gonna have to come in, and they're gonna measure fluids. And then every other week, they're gonna do a growth ultrasound

just to make sure baby's not getting too big. And so this is gonna be kind of a full-time job. So I tried to schedule all those appointments on the same day. Now we're getting through like the holidays and so that got a little bit complicated and then they do a stress test too once a week. So it's like an hour to an hour and a half appointment depending on if they do a growth ultrasound or not between the ultrasound to measure the fluid and

the stress test. So that's the biggest thing, but overall things are looking really good. Baby girl's looking good. I'm good Yeah, so we're in our third trimester biggest thing right now is just to try to keep this track going and then get our house all ready and so that is what we are going to be working on and focusing on is just enjoying the last bit of the pregnancy and Getting our house ready enjoying our son and the holidays, so I will see you next time That we have an update

Probably I will do a third trimester update and then it will be Labor and delivery. I hope and Just praying that that goes smoothly, smoother than last time. So thank you for being here. I feel all of your encouragement.

I appreciate your kind words, your thoughts, your prayers. All of that is just so, so appreciated. So I will give you an update next time there is an update to give. next time there is an update to give.

Bye, friend.