I Survived

So last week I had my monthly prenatal appointment and I was NOT looking forward to it. This one was my glucose test. If you don't know, that means I had to drink a nasty orange, sugary drink, then wait for an hour and get my blood drawn to check my sugar levels and see if I have Gestational Diabetes. I was dreading that test because I hate getting my blood taken and I was pretty sure I was going to fail it and have to do the longer test. And of course I was right. I failed by 2 points. Just barely over the line. So today I took the day off work to go in and take the 3 hour glucose test, which means fasting and then drinking one nasty orange drink and getting 4 blood draws in 3 hours. Yuck!

Last week I kept asking Carl, "They wouldn't really tell a pregnant lady she can't have sugar 4 days before Christmas would they?" That would be the cruelest form of punishment. So for the last week I have been going back and forth between trying not to eat anything sugary (which is hard in a week full of Christmas parties) just in case I did have it, and wanting to eat all the sugar in sight because I knew I might not be able to for the next three months! 

This morning finally came and I went in for the dreaded test. They took my blood as soon as I got there and I passed part one right away. Then they made me drink the nasty drink, which was much nastier this time - I think I had a different kind because this one was making me cringe and gag and the last one didn't bother me at all. Then I sat in the lobby for an hour and went in for the 2nd blood draw. Passed it! Another hour in the waiting room and the 3rd blood draw. By this time I was starting to feel sick and  like I might pass out. I was out of arms to poke for this one so they tried to take it from the first one, but my arm was all swollen and bruised so they had to take it from the same one as last time. But I passed it! And since I passed the first three with flying colors, I got to go home and skip the last hour and the 4th blood draw. Merry Christmas Me!

Now I would do anything for this baby, so if I hadn't passed I would have gladly gone on the low sugar and low carb diet they would have given me. And I probably only would have complained when everyone else was enjoying all my Christmas baking while I watched. But thankfully, he loves his Mommy, and I don't have too. He just made me fail the first one to toughen my up a little and get me more used to needles.

I celebrated my good news by going home and eating a truffle.

Surviving A Blizzard Hagen Style

I started the weekend by joining thousands of other people at the grocery store Friday after work so that I wouldn't have to go anywhere Saturday. I don't know if I have ever seen a grocery store that crowded - it was ridiculous. But I got everything I needed and didn't have to leave my house during the crazy snowstorm. Mission accomplished. We also went to Dave and Buster's to do something different for a date night. If you know us very well at all you know that I lose almost every game I play against Carl. But I'm usually pretty good at Air Hockey! Not this time. I have now added it to the list of things I can't win at. It's getting to be a very long list. I blame it on being pregnant.

On Saturday we woke up to the realization that not only was there already almost a foot of snow outside, but it was supposed to keep snowing all day and our snowblower was at the shop getting fixed! So my poor, but wonderful husband spent over 5 hours outside in the freezing cold. He spent 3 hours shoveling half of our driveway and then a snowplow came by and immediately covered the end of it up again, which added another hour. And then, because he's a rock star and super awesome, he spent at least another hour helping the old man across the street with his driveway. And I stood inside taking pictures of him through the window. (I know. It was a rough day for me.)

This is Carl staring down the snowplow driver before he hurled snow at him and his freshly cleaned driveway.

The driver was not intimidated. This is Carl running away from the 15 foot wall of snow coming his way.

From inside my cozy warm house, where I was not allowed to help shovel, I thought it was a beautiful day and I loved the snow. We celebrated having half of a cleared driveway with a pot roast, homemade bread and our favorite sweet potatoe casserole. See, I did a little more than just take pictures that day.

And then we watched a movie by the fireplace. I thought many times that day about how thankful I was for a warm house, warm blankets and a warm fireplace. And also warm hot chocolate. What a blessing to have a safe, warm house to live in!

And the good news is, we got our snowblower back today and it only took Carl 35 minutes to do the rest of the driveway and the sidewalk to our front door!

It Broke!

My baby ticker is broken. According to the fruit chart he has been the size of a papaya for three weeks now. And I can gaurantee he has grown in the last three weeks. Or at least I have. I'm trying to fix it, but apparently my internet is also broken and only lets me do certain things, like complain about it. But it doesn't let me fix it. I want to know what fruits I've been missing!

The Things People Say

One of the things I have found most entertaining about being pregnant is the things people say about it! I would never ask some one if they were pregnant in those early stages, so I was shocked at how many people were not afraid and just said what they were thinking. It kind of brings their true personalities and lack of tactfulness to light. There were a couple people what asked other people about it instead of me, which is better than asking me and being wrong. But not most people. These are some of my favorite quotes from the last 2 months. Most of them were when I was not showing very much yet. Or at least I thought it still seemed questionable.

1. From a Dad at school who did know I was pregnant - "Wow, you're really putting on some chub there."
2. A parent shouted down the hallway crowded with people, "Are you pregnant?!" She's lucky she was right because with people everywhere it would have been really awkward if I wasn't.
3. "Wow. You're....growing."
4. From a Dad who saw me in the lobby, "You're not pregnant are you?! Are you pregnant? Oh, good."
5. A mom I hadn't seen in awhile - "Oh, congratulations! Wait. Right?"
6. Oh my gosh, are you pregnant? Where did that come from? You didn't look pregnant yesterday. Seriously, how did that happen?!"
7. "You are so pregnant now!"
8. My friend at church who just pointed at my stomach and laughed - "Baby!" :=)
9. And my all time favorite, from the mom in my class with no filter.  During conferences she said, "My only concern is that you got pregnant and you're leaving. You're husband did not consult with us before he knocked you up!"
10. "Wow, you popped!" That is the comment I heard at LEAST 5-6 times everyday last week. And they're right, it became a lot more obvious really quickly.

Here's the proof - the baby is growing!

23 Weeks