I got schooled

I have officially been educated on my new diet and my new blood glucose monitor. Let me just say that neither are as bad as I had envisioned. We did a "practice stick" to test our blood sugars during the class and I barely even felt it. Praise God! I was so worried that I was going to have to go have my mama stick me 4 times a day.

The diet is basically just eating healthy while keeping an eye on carbohydrate choices"...which translates to breads, starchy foods, fruit and milk. I can have a certain number of carb choices per meal and per snack. And I eat ALL the time. Here's a breakdown of my eating schedule:

Prick finger before breakfast
8:30 a.m. Breakfast - 3 carb choices, 1 protein, 2 fats
10:30 a.m. Prick finger
11:00 a.m. Lunch - 3 carb choices, 3 protein, 2 fats
1:00 p.m. Prick finger
2:00 p.m. Snack - 1 carb choice, 1 protein
5:00 p.m. Snack - 1 carb choice, 1 fat/protein
8:00 p.m. Dinner - 4 carb choices, 3 protein, 2 fats
10 p.m. Prick finger
Before bed - 2 carb choices

I can have veggies whenever I want, provided they aren't cooked with extra sugar or fat. This schedule will most likely be just for the weekdays when I have to eat lunch before work. Otherwise, I'd move one of the afternoon snacks to a mid-morning snack. The goal is to eat every 2-3 hours, no matter what.

She also said that occassionally having a sweet item is okay, so I feel much better knowing that I can have a cake square at my baby shower or a small piece of pie at Thanksgiving!

I'm thanking God for giving me everything that I need to educate myself and make the right food choices. I feel much better now that I know what I'm dealing with. I go back to meet one-on-one with the dietician on Monday so she can look over my food log and my blood sugar counts.

In other news, we're celebrating James' birthday today! We're actually heading out to dinner with his family in a few minutes.

Oh, and we carved pumpkins for the first time (as in the first time either of us had EVER done it...we were deprived children). I'll post pics soon. Of course his turned out better than me because he's got patience and a steady hand.

I have no faith in my doctor's office right now...

Turns out I was told the wrong thing this morning. I am going to be treated as if I have gestational diabetes because the one portion of the test that was elevated was SO elevated. So, I meet with a nutritionist on Tuesday to get my new diet and my at-home blood glucose monitor that I'll have to use 4 times per day. I'm still praising God that it looks like I'll be able to handle everything with my diet! I'm irritated that I wasn't told this at my appointment, but I understand that things happen. I will, however, express my concern at my next appointment.

Please pray for me as I learn to eat the right way and I figure out how to stick myself 4 times a day :-) Doesn't sound too fun, but praise God they have the testing, the nutritionists and the monitors to control everything!

The results are in...

...drum roll, please: I DO NOT HAVE DIABETES!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! I am so excited I can hardly sit still!!

The doctor does want me to be careful with my intake of concentrated sweets and carbs because one of the four blood draws came back elevated. But other than that, I'm A-okay! I just want to thank everyone for praying for us about this! I KNOW that this is a God thing!!

The rest of my visit was normal. Heartbeat was great, gained 1 pound, blood pressure was good. I went ahead and got the recommended flu shot. I go back in 2 weeks for another checkup.

Today has been a sad day for us as we said goodbye to our little Colby (actually, our big Colby - he went to the vet yesterday and homecat weighed 16 pounds). I've been crying on and off all morning, but I'm sure that's to be expected (hormones aren't helping). We're very thankful that he has a good home to go to.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Testing, testing 123 (and in this case 4)

Four sticks, that is. In my poor arm. Actually, the phlebotomist (however you spell that) was great...I don't even think I'll have a bruise. The test was pretty much no fun. I didn't eat or drink anything after 10pm last night except for a couple of sips of water. I went in at 9am and had blood drawn. Then the lady is like "here's the stuff you have to drink...it'll either have no affect or it'll make you feel very nauseous and sleepy." Well, for me it was the latter...sick on the tummy and sleepy. We (James went with me...he's a doll) sat in the waiting room for the 1st hour. After that blood draw, I was able to leave. So we ran a couple of errands and came back for blood draw 3 and then ran another errand before blood draw 4.

After that (it's like 12pm now), I'm HUNGRY. So she tells me to make sure that I go home and eat. So I did as I was told (plenty of protein, nothing sweet) and still ended up getting a little sick (sorry for the TMI). I'm thinking it was the fluctuation in blood sugar...which makes no sense to me. These people think that I have a problem regulating blood sugar, so they make sure I half starve to death, then drink straight sugar, then starve some more, then finally eat? Anyone else see a problem here?

All jokes aside, I'm grateful that God has blessed us with medical care and insurance to allow for tests like these. I may whine and pout about not eating candy apples, but I'm very blessed to have my health. I should know in a few days whether I have diabetes or not and I shall post any and all thoughts on the subject at that time.

In other news, we have found a good home for Mr. Colby (the kitty). This HAS NOT been an easy decision and I've gone back and forth on it a million times. But I really feel like moving Colby to a home without small children (or in this case, any children) is the best plan for him. He will receive lots of love and affection at his new home and I won't be paranoid of him hurting my baby with his jumping, running and occasional paw swipes. I also won't have to worry about him making me fall, as he has almost done three times lately...this would not be good for obvious reasons. I'm sure I'll be a basketcase when he leaves Tuesday (and so will James even if he won't admit it).

Everyone have a great weekend!!

I heart October...

...because of PUMPKINS!!! Just got back from Whole Foods with our three pumpkins and two mums for the front porch. It's so funny how just the sight of a pumpkin can cheer me up. I highly recommend you get your pumpkins and mums there - they are cheaper (3 for $13 as compared with $8.99 each at Kroger for the pumpkins and 2 for $15 for GIGANTIC mums as compared with $11 each at Lowes) and they are beautiful. Now that I've advertised for Whole Foods, I shall go take my nap...nighty night.

*Note - if you know of a cheaper place for pumpkins and mums, don't tell me...I hate it when I think I've gotten a good deal and someone bursts my bubble. So just keep it to yourself, folks.*

Alas - no candy apple for me :-(

Got the call from the OB nurse today letting me know that my blood sugar was elevated after my glucose screening on Tuesday. Not good. In fact, it was quite elevated...they consider it a problem for your level to be above 140 and mine was 175. So - I have to go back in Wednesday for the 3-hour test which will work like this:

No food or drink after 10pm Tuesday night (sips of water are the only exception).

Blood drawn at 9am Wednesday.

Another round of super sweet fruit punch.

Blood drawn at 1 hour, 2 hour and 3 hours after I drink punch.

Then I'll know for sure. If I do have diabetes, I'll be sent to a nutritionist who will tell me what my new (strict) diet will look like. In the meantime (between now and when I find out for sure), it's no "concentrated sweets" for me. Suddenly the fair has lost it's appeal.

Seriously, I would appreciate your prayers. Of course, I don't WANT to have this, but if I do, please pray that I would be able to control it with my diet and that I'll be very disciplined in that area (which is NOT my strong suit).

I'll keep ya posted!

Doctor vist

I went bright and early this morning for my OB checkup. It was time for the gestational diabetes screening, so I downed some super-sugar fruit punch before I went back for my checkup. The drink wasn't bad at all...thankfully. My blood pressure looks good and I'm up 2 pounds (which brings me to an 11 pound gain thus far). She didn't seem concerned about that, although I am because I'm closing in on the 15 pound mark that I was originally told and I still have a ways to go. Could it be the onion dip kick I'm on?

She listened to Kendall's heartbeat and measured my tummy (right on track there) and then it was back to the waiting room for me. I had to wait until my hour was up and then have my blood drawn. Now, usually this isn't a problem for me at all, but homegirl hurt me this morning. I'll let her slide because she was quite pleasant and didn't make me wait forever.

We're off to look at baby room decorations. We actually cleaned out the baby's room and closet last night (PROGRESS!!) so now it's time to decorate. We'll see how this goes...could get interesting.

Week in review...actually more than a week, but who's counting?

Things are great around the Mason household. Basically back to normal after a fun-filled IMPACT weekend last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We had 9th grade girls stay over here and they were so, so sweet...I love them already and I'm just getting to know them. I had four girls total, which was a really cool thing because I was able to spend some individual time with each of them. This year's emphasis was on evangelism and boy was it convicting. It was very eye-opening to "lead" a group in the mall on Saturday and shake like a leaf when trying to talk to people. I feel remorse for the time that I've wasted when I should be telling everyone that'll listen what Jesus has done in my life. But this is a good thing...I feel like I've been motivated into action. I may not stand on street corners any time soon, but I can at least hand out tracts or invite someone to church. It should also be noted that my super fantabulous mother stepped up to the plate once again and stayed over for IMPACT with us. She's great (and also a faithful reader of this blog - HI MOM).

This week marks my second at the new job and I LOVE IT. Such a great atmosphere - laughing, joking - people seem genuinely happy. I'm not doing much of anything that seems important, but hey - that's cool with me. I spend most of my time helping Ali, a Muslim gentleman from Jordan. We've had some interesting conversations about the differences in our faith and I pray daily that the Lord will change his heart. He knows a lot about the Christian faith as his wife is a Christian (believe me, I've had a ton of questions about how their relationship works with such differences in faith). I don't know what kind of an affect our talks has on Ali, but I just pray that the Lord will use me in some way.

Tonight mom, Megan and I headed to the mall for some Christmas shopping (I want to be done WAY in advance for obvious reasons this year). It was lots of fun, even if I did prove to NY&Co's entire staff that I have the worst case of pregnancy brain known to man kind...but that's a LOOONNNGGG (and pretty boring) story, so I wont go there. I just have to say that Megan and Mom were very patient with me as I went back in the store for a second time because I "changed my mind" about purchases I made 10 minutes beforehand. DUH! Anyhoo - it was good to hang out with them - we always have fun together. Megan is spending the night tonight and we're all heading to the County Fair tomorrow - should be fun!

Baby is doing well (I assume...she sure moves around a lot) and I feel great! I head to the doctor on Tuesday for my diabetes screening and checkup. I can't believe I'm in the 3rd trimester already! I praise God for this miracle! Now if we can just make some progress, any progress, on her room - we'll be in good shape (what can I say - we're unorganized by nature).