bea wakes up

This was taken this past weekend. :-) She's always so happy when she first wakes up!

snow day

I'm home today with my baby Bea. It snowed about six inches overnight and the winds are supposed to pick up later today to blow it all around. It is quite beautiful as you can see in the picture of the tree in our backyard. Although I appreciate the day home with my wee one, it's fairly bad timing...meetings to reschedule, testing to complete, etc. etc. etc. I'm also NOT looking forward to school in June!

Below are a few pictures from the last few days...

holiday (and other) highlights

This time last year we started this blog to share our pregnancy with whomever would listen. (Is it whomever or whoever? I can never remember that rule) Since that time we created a facebook account for Bea, so our posts here have pretty much ended. I tend to prefer the old-fashioned blog to facebook, so I've decided to revive this blog from it's code blue, even if people stopped reading it. If nothing else it will serve as Bea's "baby book" since I'm horrible about contributing to that! Although Charlie can post too, I'll likely be it's only contributor with his focus on facebook. So this blog will mostly be a mother's musings...about a growing Bea and motherhood.

Since Bea's birth she has learned to breastfeed, smile, laugh, sleep through the (most) night(s), roll from her front to back, play with her toys and maybe a few other things I've forgotten to mention. Oh and drool. She drools often these days.

A quick look back in time...


In September Bea's big sister Hollyanne got married! The above photograph is Bea in her Grandma Braun's arms at the wedding. Hollyanne's beautiful wedding was at Palisades Park...and her flower was a pink Gerbera daisy...so Bea's outfit was perfect. Grandma Braun found the above onesie in a small shop in Algona, IA. It's really just a onsie...with tooling and a pretty flower attached. It came with little "shoes" (really just socks) that also have daisies on them. Quite cute!


On Halloween, of course, Bea was a bee (much to her father's chagrin). I thought the costume, a gift from my new friend, Amber, was adorable. Charlie thought it was mean to make her wear it! :-) He must've come around though...he made this video. I will admit that, at times, she did look like she was feeling a bit humiliated!

Here are a few photos from Bea's first Thanksgiving...

The above picture was taken at Uncle Mark's, where we celebrated with the Howe side of the family.

Below was at the Braun celebration...



After two Thanksgivings...Bea was tired!



If two Thanksgivings weren't enough...we had three Christmases!!!

First, at Grandma and Grandpa Howe's the week before Christmas...

A Bea sandwich with Aunt Jeanne and cousin Laila.

Cousin Rich and his son Ethan enjoying some father-son time.

Cousin Laila spent most of her day asking if she could hug Bea...and then doing it. Very sweet!

Hollyanne is holding her sister Bea while watching her baby, Mikaela, kick her! Only a few months until we get to see Mikaela (and Bea is an Aunt Bea)!

Our second Christmas was Christmas morning at our place with Hollyanne and Nate...


The first present opening (above) and loving (below)



Meet Sofie the Giraffe. Bea loves to chew on her. We think she might be teething already! You should hear the way it squeaks on her gums as she chews.

Eating the paper was probably really her favorite.

Really getting the hang of it now!

In the afternoon, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Brauns...

Great Aunt Mary is holding Bea.

Luc and Grandma

Yes, she is reading. Why not? Her mother is a literacy coach, father an avid reader and song writer, Grandma Howe was once a librarian and Grandma Braun a high school English teacher!

Cousin Jake is addicted to Hamster Ball (and quite good at it)!

Believe it or not we didn't take any photos on New Year's Eve. However, we did take lots of video with our new HD video camera. Here is a still Charlie captured from one of the videos!

Grandma Howe bought Beatrice the shirt! Happy New Year!!

45 days?

As I write this, the little floating baby next to the post says 45 days to go!  I haven't updated for a while, and I thought I'd better.  The 45 days is probably inaccurate!!

Let's see...I've had to increase the amount of insulin that I'm taking every few days, or at least every week.  Which I guess is fairly normal.  My body needs more insulin as my pregnancy progresses, but my body isn't producing any more than it was before...so an increase is necessary.  I'm not as stressed out about it as I was before because it seems to be working.  

I've had to go to Dr. Hazelton (internist) a couple of times now, and I like her.  She herself had GD with her third child.  She's always very positive and informative.  This week when I went they did a blood test to check my A1C levels, and the results were good.  It's gone down since June (From 5.4 in June to 4.7 now).  Because this measures how treatment is working overall - the big picture - this number shows that we are getting a handle on it.  This helps me not cry every time I have a high finger prick test!  :-)  

I also saw Dr. Driscoll, my OB, a couple of times since I last wrote.  Two weeks ago was the first time I've seen here since my diagnosis with GD.  She measured me and I was measuring a week ahead. One of the side-effects of GD is a big baby (which isn't good).  However, I also know that many people measure a week ahead one week, and then right on at the next appointment, so I'm not too worried, yet.  However, she did also tell me that because I am on insulin, I will have to have a non-stress test (NST) every week until the baby comes!  This is a pain in the butt and time consuming, but it's also nice because you get to listen to the heartbeat for twenty minutes or more. :-)  I've had two of those now, and both were fine.  It's also reassuring to know that, based on the NST, she is doing well.

Also at that appointment, Dr. Driscoll told me that they will not let me go the full 40 weeks.  If Raisin grows too quickly, they will do a scheduled C-section a bit early.  If she's an average-sized baby then they will induce me early.  She indicated that it would be around week 39 (which starts August 19).  At my appointment this past week (the second NST) I measured a week behind!  So, it looks like she's growing "normal" at this point.

Finally, the really cool news.  Because of all this, I get to have another ultrasound!!  Woo hoo!  In two weeks (July 23rd, week 35) we will get to take another peak inside to see what's going on!!  We've invited Grandma Kathleen and Grandma Howe to attend if they are allowed.  :-)  The main reason they are doing this is to check on the size, so I'm sure it won't be quite as long as the first one, but it will still be fun to watch her move around again!  I will post pictures, of course.

This coming week, my friends Amy and Helen are throwing us another shower!!  I will post pics as soon as I can!

g.d. update

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind at best.  The G.D. must be kicking my arse; I'm now dreaming about people stealing my food or forgetting and eating something with too much sugar and things like that!!  :-)

When I found out about the gestational diabetes I immediately changed my diet and Charlie and I started walking each evening.  It took a week or so to get into the dietician, who further "reduced" my intake of food.  Then I starved myself, basically, while trying to reduce the sugar levels.  All that did was make me spill ketones, which isn't a good thing.

Another week or so of that and they put me on insulin.  I've been on insulin since lunchtime on July 23rd....so about four days ago.  It has made a difference.  The internalist that I went to has me pricking my finger 7 times a day, checking for ketones every morning (always negative now) and injecting myself with Humalog three times a day.  She also informed me that it's pretty much inevitable that I will be also giving myself a fourth injection with a longer lasting insulin in the evenings....probably within a week or so.  Apparently most people have to go to that at some point.

I've been to a dr. or dietician or internalist more than once a week since this all started June 9th.  Next week, I go back to the dietician and I see my regular OB doc.  I have so enjoyed my pregnancy, every moment of it, up until now.  The last two and a half weeks have been complete hell!  I feel robbed somehow, I can't really explain it.

The good news is that I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Now that my blood sugar levels seem to be getting better, I can enjoy myself a bit again (however, I do miss food)!  I am hoping to put in some time in the nursery over the next couple of weeks.  As soon as I have anything to show...I will take pictures and post them!

baby shower

Kathleen (Charlie's mom) and my mom had a family shower for us this weekend!  Pictured are a few of the many gifts we received!













Everyone had an opportunity to decorate a bib or a onesie for the baby!  

Now I need to figure out what to do with the nursery!

failed

Well, at my 28-week appointment, I failed all the tests.  First of all, I have very low iron.  It's low enough that I am now taking my regular pre-natal vitamin, and then two extra iron pills throughout the day.  Although, it really hasn't been a problem yet (and it's been a week), I have a feeling that I may not be...uh...regular for the next three months!

On a more serious note, I also failed the glucose test.  This means that Tuesday (yesterday) I had to go back for a more diagnostic test that lasted three hours.  The result is that I have gestational diabetes.  Now that I've cried for two days, I'm ready to try to take care of it.  I'm waiting to hear back from the dietitian so that I can meet with them to determine our next steps.  Until then I am watching what I eat, and Charlie is helping me by walking with me in the evenings.

I bought this yesterday for our beautiful Bea...

I can't wait to see her in it!

Last day of school was Monday. Mom helped me pack things up for my move to Prairie Creek.  I have meetings most of the next few weeks, but I'm looking forward to getting that nursery ready in July!  Expect pictures in a couple weeks, Grandma Howe and Grandma Braun are throwing me a family shower in a week and a half!