trying to Re-Lax

Oh my, what a couple of weeks.

When I last updated, I talked about finding radon in the basement and the contractor never showed.  Well, he did show up the following morning and after installing a new fan that we hope will solve the radon problem, he did an “energy audit”.  He went around taking measurements and finding areas that were leaking air.  He was in the basement for quite a while and I was getting ready to walk out the door to work when he came back in and said that we had a “major problem”, never a good thing to hear when getting ready to leave town for the week.  Using his infrared camera, he found a water leak behind one of our walls.  It was a fairly serious leak and had apparently been going on for a few days and was just getting ready to seep into the carpet where we would have noticed it if we had been here.  I made an emergency call to the plumber and waited for him to arrive which made me late for a meeting at work.  I skipped the meeting (I got to work about 15 minutes before it was done) and got in trouble for that.  Oh well.  Hopefully we got the radon fixed and the water line fixed in the same day.

Mike and I headed out for a weekend in Gatlinburg to celebrate our 12th anniversary (since our first date).  We had a great time.  The cabin we rented was amazing and had a media room with a 72 inch screen and theater chairs.  It  was by far the nicest cabin we had ever stayed in.  I was feeling a little sick when we left, but otherwise the weekend was perfect.

We left the cabin on Monday and drove back home for a couple of hours before I had to fly to San Diego for a week of work.  The flight out was beyond awful, I arrived very late, then had problems operating the rental car requiring me to call roadside assistance around midnight and sitting outside for 20 minutes while someone talked me through it.  Work was very productive and i was happy to be there, but my sugars ran high the whole week (I think because I was eating a few hours later than my normal times).  I flew back home on Saturday, happy to be here for the duration of the pregnancy.

On Sunday I just laid around and felt like crap.

Today was my doctor’s appt.  The one where I was going to confront her with the VBAC vs C-section discussion.  Here is the problem: I have talked to all my girlfriends including a nurse that works at the hospital in labor and delivery and tried to get a recommendation for a new doctor.  The nurse was the most helpful, she said I should try to a stand alone older male doc (she gave me a couple of names) for 2 reasons.  1) A doctor in a big practice would be hesitant to take me away from my doctor and 2) no local doctor was going to be pro-vbac, the best I could hope for was a person who was practicing in the late 90s when vbacs were more common and not too scared to give it a try.  So having this depressing  information under my belt. I didn’t want to be too aggressive with my doc because I really don’t want to change to a stand alone doc.  I went into the doctors office prepared for a nice calm discussion and everything went wrong.

As it turns out I am severely anemic and getting worse.  I mentioned that I was really tired and they tested for anemia and it had dropped several points since my last test even though I have been religious about taking the iron supplements.  She also felt my sugars were too high last week and I should go on insulin.  I asked her to one more week and she said I had to fax my numbers into them on Friday and if they were ok, we would put the insulin off.  If not, they would start it next week.

Ugh.  So no big c-section talk today.  I am just feeling very defeated by this pregnancy.  The good news is that I have only gained 20 lbs (compared to ~45 at this stage with Iz) and I am measuring right on target for the date (33 weeks).

When I got back to work, I got in trouble for missing the meeting 2 weeks ago and then had a confrontation about some stuff in a committee I am on.  I so can not deal with this right now.  I just need to bow out of the committee and reduce my stress levels.  I keep thinking Re-Lax, Re-Lax.  Any good tips on avoiding stress that involve no exercise or sugar would be most welcome.

And that has been my week.  How was yours?

Snacked up

<>On Tuesday I had to drive to Nashville to help a student.  It was raining cats and dogs and I had to park a 10 minute walk (uphill!) away from the location of the meeting and I didn’t have an umbrella.  Foodwise, I had planned the day ok, I had breakfast at home, took a snack for the car and then was planning on taking the student out to lunch.  The student couldn’t go out to lunch and I really didn’t want to hike back to the car to go fetch something myself so we decided to order pizza around 11:30 (I needed to eat around 12).  Well, the pizza didn’t get there till 2!  I ate three slices and wanted more because I was starving but was wondering what the effect of this funny eating day would have on my blood sugar.  Sure enough, 2 hours after I ate (while I was driving home in the horrible weather) I tested and it was 200 (should be less than 120).  It was normal again by dinner, but when I went to the doctor yesterday, she freaked out about it.  I had a week of completely normal numbers, good numbers actually, and one really wacky one and she started talking about putting me on insulin.  Ack!

<>After going to the doctor, I went to the grocery store and stocked up on snacks, including ones that are easy to carry around like peanut butter crackers, so I would never be caught in that situation again.  I brought half into my office so I won’t have to worry about bringing them in each day.  My little office fridge and counter are now bursting with fruit, cheese, peanut butter, crackers, and nuts.

Do I always complain about my health care professionals?  Well, I really don’t like my OB.  I wish I had changed at the beginning of pregnancy.  There are some nice things about her and her practice, one of which being their office building is right beside the hospital and they can go back and forth easily for laboring women.  Your individual doctor is usually the one that delivers you, not whoever is on call at that moment.  But there are many things I dislike.  The biggest one is her wish that I have a c-section.  I have been insisting on a “wait and see” approach, I want to try for a vbac if at all possible.  She brings up having a c-section at every bump in the road.  Yesterday she brought it up again, saying babies from moms with GD tended to be larger and we probably couldn’t have a vbac.  However, I am measuring completely on target and I feel like this baby will be smaller than Iz because I have been taking much better care of myself and have gained a lot less weight.  (Iz was 8lb, 5 ounces.)  So I am not convinced.  I asked if we could do an u/s to estimate the baby’s weight closer to due date and then decide and she said yes.

The reality of it is that there will have to be a real medical reason for me to have a scheduled c-section, a real justification, not just some statistics that point in that direction.  If I am measuring ok and the baby looks ok, I am going to try for a vbac.  Even if they estimate the baby’s weight at larger than normal, it would have to be a lot larger for me to consider a scheduled c-section.    I need to bluntly tell my doctor this when I see her next.

10 weeks to go

Are you feeling better Cat?

We spent our weekend setting up the nursery!  It was great fun.  We painted the walls yellow 2 weekends ago and got the carpets cleaned last week.  This weekend we moved the furniture in, set up the crib, and unpacked and washed all the clothes from my 0-3 month bin.  We have ALOT of little clothes, about 25 onesies (some plain, some highly decorated).  Some of them to tiny and small it is impossible to believe that Iz ever wore them or that this baby will ever wear them.

Even with our overabundance of clothes and all things baby, I can’t stop looking at the baby section of whatever store we walk into.  I want to buy the baby at least one outfit that will be just for her.  It is hard to know what the temperature will be like, though, when the baby comes since she is due at the cusp of spring.  I will try to wait till slightly closer to the due date.

The gestational diabetes diet continues.  I am getting the hang of it and even though I HATE it, esp. breakfast, I am managing and my blood sugar seems to be ok.  I thought I would test it a little since I still don’t really believe I havee it and ate a little worse yesterday (we went out to lunch with friends), but sure enough, my blood sugar was high after lunch.  I guess I do have it. I can’t tell you how much I miss my cereal and juice for breakfast.  I have been having toast with cheese or eggs instead with a big cup of ice cold water.  Sounds like a prison breakfast, no?

Otherwise, everything is groovy.  I hope these next 10 weeks pass quickly, I can’t wait to hold a little baby in my arms again.

Eve’s Revenge

It is hot. I have spent all last week and this week eating my way through a bag of apples with this cool salad:

•  1 cup raisins
• 6oz. vegan feta
•  1/2 cup chopped walnuts
•  4 small red delicious apples, chopped (toss in lemon juice so it won’t go brown)
• head of romaine, chopped
• raspberry vinaigrette dressing to taste(bottled or make your own)

My copycat is based on “Eve’s Revenge” — a salad I get at a local teahouse sometimes for lunch.

Good morning

<>Did I tell you I was going away for the weekend?  My sister flew here and we (Mom, Iz, sis and I) took a road trip to visit my brother and ogle their new baby.  Very cute.  Slept the whole time.  It was a great weekend and my sis and I got some good workout in.  We walked 70 minutes two days of the trip and yesterday we did the first workout of the couch potato to 5k.  I heart my sis!  I was also able to take Iz to the pool (LOVED IT) and to the playground and around the apartment complex.  My brother’s house was full of baby stuff that Iz was dieing to try out (like the baby swing) and was otherwise un-toddler proofed so we spent a lot of time outside.  Eating was ok, but it was a girly road trip so there was icecream.

I am excited about doing the  5k thing again.  It consists of three jogging workouts per week, the other days I will try to walk or go to the pool with Iz.  My sisters and I have two more weeks of an exercise challenge.  I am currently in the lead but only with a small margin so I need to keep it up these next two weeks.

<>I went to target last night and was happy to discover that they carry many of the vegetarian soups that I like (and usually have to take a special trip to a health food store to buy).  Sadly, their tofu and other “fresh” soy products are still lacking so I still have to go to the other grocery stores to be completely stocked.  I discovered last night that we have an organic CSA that serves this area so I am thinking of joining for the summer to see if I like it.

Today for lunch I brought a can of Amy’s black bean chili, a huge salad, and fresh watermelon.  YUM.

blisters

<>When I got home yesterday, I started digging.  About 2.5 hours later, I stopped.  I noticed a pain on my thumb and when I looked down, I realized I had both formed a blister and broken it, leaving a hideous piece of skin about an inch long unattached.  It is not make me a happy girl.  But at least we have a semi level place to put the play structure.  It should go into its permanent home later tonight.  If we can lift it, that is.

We went out for dinner (burritos, yuk!) but I still made smoothies last night and my lunch for this morning.  I made a big salad with the few ingredients we have remaining (lettuce, cucumber, tofu).  I brought some ginger soy dressing that is YuMmY.  Iopened another can of soup, this one is organic hearty vegetable.  Ipacked a huge bowl of berries, finishing up our blackberries and blueberries for the week, a banana, and some tea.

the play structure is killing me.

From an email I wrote my sisters this morning:

I am so tired and sore this morning.  Building this structure is so hard, and we only did about 6 steps last night  (that puts us on step 12 OUT OF 100!!!).  It takes SO LONG to do one step because we have to line everything up, pre-drill (sometimes, sometimes the holes are pre-drilled), then use a rachet to get the hex bolts in.  To get them in, everything has to be in perfect alignment so it can take 5 minutes to get one bolt in.  Did I mention it is going to take forever???  I hope it starts going faster after we get the main structure built and are just adding the flooring/walls/roof.  I think we add those with regular wood screws and most of the holes are pre-drilled. These hex bolts are killing me.

Our goal last night was to get it to a place where we could move it into the backyard (it is on the patio now).  We wanted to make sure we had it square, so we wanted to build up the structure as much as possible to hold it all held together.  Well, we got it held together enough, but it is still sitting on the patio for two reasons.  1) It is REALLY heavy now, we might have to have help to move it to the yard.  2) We still haven't dug out a place in the yard for it.  That will be my first job today.  I am going home at 3:30 and will immediately start digging.  Mike thinks we need to rent a little digger, but I think we can do it ourselves with shovels.  (I mean, it is only a 4'x8' area!)

Hopefully I will report tonight or tomorrow that the structure is in its permanent location and building can continue.

Meanwhile, I am also trying to watch what I am eating so I have been trying to cook/bring in my lunch.  As if building something isn't enough work!  Last night I just couldn't cook so we went to a local steak place and I had a salad and baked potato.  For lunch today, I opened a can of split pea soup and poured it into a glass bowl (hard!), cut up a big bowl of berries, and brought some hummus that I made over the weekend with carrot sticks.  It is light on veggies (unless split peas count as veggies, I always thought of them as beans) but low calorie and really quick to make.  Tonight I am going to try and cook something, or maybe just get Mike to make pasta.

I can’t drink from a bowl

<>After a very depressed Saturday morning, I pulled it together and had a fairly nice weekend (though rainy) with Mike and Iz. Iz took off this morning with Mom for a week and while she is away, we will be building a play structure in our backyard for her 3rd birthday. I can’t wait till it is done! Mainly because there are a bazillian pieces piled up in my garage right now with over 2000 screws, I can’t imagine how long it will take us to get it together.I went to the market last night and bought a lot of food to get us through the week. After reading VJ’s impressive bloodwork results, I am thinking of giving ETL another try. We loaded up on veggies (and more veggies, and more veggies) and fruit and beans. For lunch, I brought minestrone soup, hummus with carrots and cauliflower, a bowl of berries and a back of low fat microwave popcorn. I like having lots of little “meals” that I can eat separately if needed.

I just ate my soup and realized, as I reached the bottom of the bowl, that I can not bring myself to drink the dregs from the bowl. I will spoon as much of the broth as I can, but after that, I just have to leave it. The same goes for cereal.

walk and talk

I had a great walk and talk yesterday.  I walked the loop (somewhere around 2.8 miles) in about an hour, so I am no where near your 15 minute mile Cat!   I am just getting back into the groove of longer walks.  Mary and I made some decisions about Greece which is sounding cooler and more fun by the minute.  I am just looking forward to my vacay with my sis, it is something we don’t do often enough.

For lunch today, another salad, this time topped with tofu.  I found another brand of baked savory tofu at the store last night and it actually has nutritional information on it.  It is 3 points per (large) serving and will be great in our salads.  Black bean soup and berries on the side.  No extra steamed veggies today.  I need to stop by the market and pick up more veggies and avacados for another taco night.

yummy yummy

I love it when Iz has a positive reaction to “good” food.  When I make my black bean soup, she rubs her tummy and chants “yummy yummy” and it makes my eyes water.  Since her normal diet consists of mac and cheese and yogurt, any healthy offering that is warmly received is celebrated.

<>Her new thing is to eat frozen pinapple and mango.  She has been helping me make smoothies for a while by dumping the frozen fruit into the blender.  Then she started picking out pieces of the fruit before putting it into the blender.  Now, she skips putting it into the blender altogether and just shoves it right into her open mouth.  So cute.

Last night I made tacos.  I use the ground soy stuff with all the traditional taco fixings, it turns out really well.  Iz ate the shell with cheese and a little soy, then topped it off with strawberries.  I brought the leftovers in today for a salad.  These leftovers make the best salad ever, taco “meat”, guacamole, and salsa on a bed of salad greens, tomatoes, and cucumber.  I am rubbing my tummy and chanting yummy yummy too.  I had the salad with black beans soup, a few steamed veggies left over from last night’s supper,  and a bowl of berries.  It is a lot of food for 6 points.

My sis and I have a walking date tonight.  I am going to do the 2.5 mile loop while chatting with her on the cell phone about greece!  Why haven’t we thought of this before?  Other than irritating the other walkers, it should be fun.