Welcome Third Trimester - Glucose, Naming & Preparations

On Monday I hit 28 weeks. That officially puts me into the third (and last) trimester of pregnancy. Wild. Assuming I carry the full 40 weeks and that this due date is in fact valid, there was 84 days till the baby's arrival on Monday.

As of today...

185 days have passed since the conception, and 81 days remain before the due date.
You are 28 weeks into your pregnancy,and have 12 weeks to go.
You are in the 3rd trimester.
70% of the pregnancy has passed, there is 30% left to go.

Doesn't that seem sooo very close? And did you know that the babe can now open his eyes. WOW. My sentiments now are a focused on the reality that this babe is actually coming. I cannot believe that not too long ago I was simultaneously excited and opposed to having kids and oddly worried that I wouldn't be able to have them either. There are days that I walk around as if I am still the same non-pregnant Dianne and then a mild movement makes me aware that I'm not one but 2 people right now.

Movements are freaking great. I have been blessed since the babe isn't really causing pain. His movements are 'reminders' of his presence. I don't ever feel what I hear from so many others complain about. The kicking in the ribs or annoying pokes and prods. He doesn't so much rest on my bladder forcing me to run to the bathroom. He never catches me off guard and he doesn't make me lose my breath from a movement. He's altogether a fairly mellow baby in there. I think I might actually come to miss the occasional movements that go on. I'm sure if people paid attention to me they would see me smile without reason from time to time. But that smile is pretty simply put there for the babe has tickled me from the inside.

I'm still in my 3 inch heels. I'm not in any kind of pain. I'm noticeably pregnant now and from time to time people will give me their seats in the train (and at other times they won't.) I do find that I get out of breathe easier and that I'm a slower walker. But that's cause I just dont' get enough air into my lungs to keep up my usual speedwalker pace. It gets annoying. Yesterday was the first time I got side pain as if I was running a while. But I'm going to blame that on the fact that I didn't empty my bladder before leaving to walk to the train. TSK. I am a wee bit more tired lately. Yet oddly when bed time rolls around, I lie awake with my mind racing of the things that need to be done. And the mood swings are rather commical. I'm lucky to actually realize when it is I'm being irrational. So I'll be simultaneously sobbing and laughing at myself for being so stupid. This is only really visible to Rob which I think finds it as funny as I do. I've gotten a bit of a sweet tooth. Not for candy but for baked goods and pastries. This is not a good thing and you'll soon see why. And I want to snack on things, but as always I SUCK at snacking. I don't know what people snack on but I can't figure out a damn thing that is snackable that's not junk food. I don't do junk food of cookies or such.

Doctor's Appointment
Tuesday was my doctor's app't. I was there for a standard visit as well as to take my 1 hour Glucose Tolerance Test (for those of you who don't know what that is - the test is administered to see the probability of having gestational diabetes, a temporary diabetes that affects 1 in 100 pregnant woman and is caused by pregnancy hormones. Want to know more visit this link.)

I wasn't looking forward to the drink they give you because I have heard horror stories on the taste. But the crap they gave me to drink wasn't that bad. Tasted like an overly sweet orange soda. And considering I like Sunkist, I had no problem stomaching it. I was told not to eat anything before the 1 hour test in the morning. Wasn't told to fast from 10-12 hours beforehand (this information will be important later.) So I drank the crap, and sat in the offices. Got called into my visit after about 15 minutes. I had taken my laptop with me and was working on a video edit in the waiting room.

May I say that people in waiting rooms are bored so they get nosy. There was a Hispanic man sitting with his wife, one seat away from me who had his entire body over the empty seat between us and his head arched awkwardly to take a glimpse of my screen. I turned and looked at him and I guess he got the hit. I mean, I understand trying to see what it is I was doing (like the older lady to the left of me) but to be so blatantly and annoyingly obvious??

So I walk into the standard office procedure. Pee in a cup, have my blood pressure taken. Saw Liz, the assistant and she has some nursing student with her. So it was an interesting visit as Liz had to explain to the student/intern everything. All normal - heard the babe's heartbeat. All looked good. Made my next app't (now going every 2 weeks) and returned back to the waiting room, the nosy people in it and my laptop. An bit later, my blood was drawn since it had been an hour since I drank the crap and I left. Simple. Rob stayed home as what the hell would he have done for an hour with me but watch the crap that they were showing on TV (some couples fear factor thing - um - YUCK.)

The Doctor's Office Never Calls with Good News
When I picked up my phone at work and heard..

"Hi Dianne, this is ____ from Dr. ____'s office"

I was already crestfallen. I knew that they never call with results of anything unless something didn't look right. I will admit to having been worried after taking the test that I could fail it, but in all honesty, I didn't think I would. Low and behold I did. But not by much she said. Your levels should be under 140 and mine were 157. She gave me the name of a lab and I made an app't to have a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test (fun right?) on Monday. That's when I started my researching. I wondered if what I had eaten the night before had an affect. I noticed too that some places require you to fast (refrain from food or drink except water) for 10-12 hours prior to the test. I had eaten dinner late the night before and no normal meal. I had a big ole plate of garlic & oil pasta. I can't remember if I snacked on anything before going to bed. I usually do. So a big ole plate of carbs which immediately translate to sugar and all before I went to bed, without any exercise at all, and I slept in till 8am and then I go for my app't at 9:30am. HMMM. Possibility. Rob also let me know when I called to tell him that we hadn't gone food shopping the week before and that I was subsisting on only iced tea. IF you ever had our iced tea you know we make it sickeningly sweet. So another possibility.

I am hoping that I pass the 3 hour, but to be on the safe side, I am not only drinking water - YUCK. I HATE the taste of water with the exception of my morning coffee. I'm keeping away from sweets although I have a horrible sweet tooth as of late. I'm not talking candy here, I'm talking cakes and pastries and such. I'm also limiting my carb intake so no more pasta for me! Bring on the steak and steamed veggies. I really don't want to have diabetes even if it's only temporary. So everyone keep me in your thoughts. set up the app't for the 3 hour already. I got a Monday morning app't. Fun. I'll be there for 3 hours. I'll get there. Have blood drawn, for the fasting blood sugar count and then am given the drink and I have my blood tested again at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hour sand 3 hours after drinking the drink. They'll consider me as having gestational diabetes if I have a fasting glucose more than 105 mg/dl, a 1-hour glucose level of more than 190 mg/dl, a 2-hour glucose level of more than 165 mg/dl, or a 3-hour glucose level of more than 145 mg/dl.

The Name Game
The eternal question. So you are having a boy, what's his name? As previously mentioned, there will be no junior here. Rob is already Roberto Velez Jr. and NO - we are not going for a III'rd. And yes, we have finally decided on a name but NO we will not be disclosing it until the baby is born. So try as you may, we are not letting anyone in on the baby's name or even it's initials. One thing I can tell you is that it will not have a middle name (neither his mom or dad have one so we don't see a need for him to have one.)

I will be happy to have you all rip apart the names we were considering. That should keep you entertained NO? We had Contenders that ended up not making the top 3 for various reasons.

Contenders...
Cheo - Sounds nice in Spanish and was based off the Spanish salsero Cheo Feliciano and we liked the nickname 'Che'. But is ridiculous when pronounced in English.

Ishmael - it has a distinctiveness to you. Like Ismael but not. Again we ran into issues with it's pronunciation in English and then it has a distinctive Israeli/Middleastern vibe to it that we thought would be best to stay away from at this time.

Jules - I absolutely LOVE this one and Rob liked it. Loved it. It was one of my favorite. The only reason it wasn't in the top category was because nephew's name is Julian. Jules is just too close to Julian.

Kai - another one I positively adored. Rob wasn't really that big into it but it was definitely distinctive. We opted against it once hearing that Eddie and Kathy plan to name their son Tyler. That would make their son's nickname Tye. Tye and Kai. UM no.

Silas - Rob wasn't a huge fan of this. I liked it. Name was found, of all places, on the HBO show Deadwood. It's one of the character's names.

Then we had the TOP 3 which we picked one from...
Benicio - both Rob and I really liked this name. I know it's an actor's first name but it had a strong vibe to it. Unfortunately, I couldn't stomach the fact that the kid might be called Benny or Ben.

Sergio - Rob and I really liked this name too. Nice presence, fairly common and we know nobody with any negative reference to this name. But yet it didn't win over the top name, which is a bit more eclectic.

??????? - the winner!!! You'll find out when this kid is born. Definitely not a 'common' name but not really 'out there.'

Preparing for the Babe - The baby room
So, we are going to start prepping the baby room on Oct. 1st. Only we would plan a 'start date.' Rob was in charge of making the plans for this and he has decided that what we will dois build a smaller built in in our room so that he can empty all his clothes from what will be the baby's room. That would also let our bedroom ACTUALLY be designed! YAY. Then all my clothes, the armoire and the bureau in that room, will move to the basement where I will be having my very own expanded closet and chill area. So that has to be finished as well. The loveseat in that room will also be taken down to the basement and the TV will be removed from that room. Crazy huh? We're getting rid of the TV. Baby will not have a TV but the surround sound system will be kept there since this kid will have it's own CD collection. We'll need to get a crib, a changing table and chair in that room. We will not be getting a glider chair thing as truthfully, neither Rob nor I find it comfortable and we think that we would actually benefit far more from a recliner/rocker (think Lay-Z-Boy.) That's it. IT will be a fairly open space. Where the TV is currently housed, will be made into shelving with baskets to store assorted goodies. The drawers that will be emptied out will house the kid's clothes and the larger drawers what toys the kid gets. Rob will be wiring the room for networking access so that my laptop will have both internet and networking access and I'll have entertainment I guess when I'm nursing. Those are the plans.

People have asked if I'm excited to redecorate the room. But we're not redecorating. We're not painting or putting up borders or such. The room is light green. The neutral rug that's in there will stay More likely then not, so will the curtains. The bedding we picked and registered for the kid is neutral toned with geometric patterns...The Flashback Baby Crib set by Glenna Jean


I'm actually a little concerned that since our colors are so neutral that we're going to get a bunch of baby blue stuff. Like Navy will work with this color scheme, but baby blue?? I just love this set cause of the geometric patterns and textures of the fabric and the fact that it doesn't have any lace or cutesy stuff.