Cheese

DSC_2122, originally uploaded by katiebutler04.

This is a test post to see how to use Flickr and Blogger. :) The above photo is of Ben at the park! He's wearing his Take Pride t-shirt- so cute!!

Sweet

I saw this online at Old Navy yesterday, and I thought it was PERFECT for our little girl. I'm glad to give up all fun sugary things for my sweet baby girl!

Speaking of the gestational diabetes, at my NST on Tuesday my doctor printed off my blood glucose readings over the last week, and made the call to up the dose of my medication from 1/2 a pill twice a day to a full pill twice a day, and see if that will work before doing insulin shots. And as of the last two mornings IT HAS, praise God!!!!!!!! Please pray that it continues to work over the next month (one month from tomorrow is induction day! Holy smokes! :-O) so I can avoid insulin injections. We have our ultrasound tomorrow to check her growth, so hopefully I will have some pictures to post and some stats on how big she is, so check back! :)

4th of July Weekend

We were lucky enough for Albert to have a 4-day weekend over the 4th of July so we packed up our car and hit the road for our last family road trip to St. Louis as a family of 3!! (It's getting harder and harder to sit in the car for the drive to St. Louis the farther along I get, so this was the last time we were all going together, next weekend just Ben and I will be going up- my Mom is coming down to get us- because Albert is having a Guys Weekend at our house, and then after that our next trip will be a family of 4!!).

We left our house Friday morning and made it to St. Louis just in time for some lunch, and for me to satisfy my craving for a Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Wrap... mmmm.... soooooo gooooood! After lunch we went over to Babies 'R Us to check out some double strollers, and then headed over to Target to check out their selection as well. After our shopping trip we went back to my parent's house and Ben and I laid down for a much needed nap.

That evening my parents were kind enough to watch Ben so Albert and I could enjoy a date night!! We had a WONDERFUL evening together! We went to dinner at a restaurant called Bacana Brazil and it was an experience unlike any other! They had a salad and side bar, and you could help yourself to whatever you liked, and then they had servers come around to each table with different cuts of meat! So delicious!! After dinner went went to see the movie Away We Go, oh my gosh, so funny!!! We loved it! I would definitely see it again, there were so many funny/awkward parts, oh man, so good! :) After the movie we went over to Fritz's Frozen Custard to get some tastey treats (they have a No Sugar Added ice cream for diabetics, it's amazing!), and while we were driving back to my parent's house we noticed people out all along the street, and then fireworks started! So we pulled into a parking lot and watched the fireworks while eating our ice cream! Then my dad called and said they could see the fireworks from their back deck and Ben was up watching it with them, so we headed over and enjoyed the majority of the show from my parent's deck. Ben LOVED them! :)

The next morning (the 4th) started with some thunderstorms and dark cloudy skies, which set the tone for a nice, lazy day. Albert wasn't feeling well so Ben and I just hung out around my parent's house and enjoyed spending time with the family. We made a short trip to the mall with my brother Tim, and I got some great deals at the Children's Place for Ben and baby girl, and Ben got to play at the indoor playplace, so it was a successful trip all around! :) That evening we had some yummy BBQ and then my dad, my brother Tim, Ben and I headed over to Schroeder Park for the band and fireworks show! We met up with my friend Steph and her sister Jackie and nephew Jackson and we had a great time! Ben and Jackson did AWESOME, they loved the live band and were enthralled by the fireworks! Ben kept saying "woah..." and when it was over he said "more, more, more!" lol! :) After all that excitement, and staying up late 2 nights in a row, he was one exhausted boy and slept like a rock that night!

The next day Albert was feeling better (yey!) and we had a wonderful morning at church, and then a great lunch with friends at McAlister's Deli. After lunch we went back to Babies 'R Us and decided on a double stroller and a new car seat! I feel so much better to have that done and I'm really happy with the one we decided on. Ben seemed to love riding around in it, so I'm sure his sister will be happy in there as well. :) The rest of the day we took it easy and enjoyed the time with my family!

We came back home today after lunch and we're trying to get back into the swing of things after our fun-filled weekend! :) For some 4th of July pics, check out the Gallery.

My 1st NST and OB appointment #7

This morning I had my first Non-Stress Test and everything went perfectly! My blood pressures were great, her heart-rate was beautiful, she wiggled and moved around for us, her oxygen levels were exactly where they should be, and I was SO happy! I also got an ultrasound (surprise bonus!!) to check my amniotic fluid levels, and I got to see our pretty girl as well! And I will get to see her EVERY week! Hooray! :) My amniotic fluid levels were perfect as well (they want it to be between 8 and 25cm and mine was 15.6 something), so everything is looking great!! :)

At my appointment my doctor took a look at my glucose readings and has decided to put me on an oral medication to see if that works to keep my morning fasting numbers down. I will go on half a dose until Tuesday, and if it looks like it is helping then he will put me on the full dose for the remainder of the pregnancy, but if it isn't working he will put me on insulin. PLEASE PRAY IT WORKS! He stressed over and over how proud he was of me, and how well I'm sticking to the diet and exercise, and just reassured me that it was a product of the pregnancy, and completely out of my control. That definitely made me feel better and less like I was "failing" when I had high numbers. I lost another pound, so I'm 5 under my starting weight, lol, and he measured my fundus and I'm measuring at 34, so a week ahead. We will hopefully get a better idea of her size at the ultrasound on Friday, but I'm not concerned because Ben starting measuring ahead at this point as well, and he was perfectly normal sized.

I scheduled all my appointments for the rest of the pregnancy, AND an induction day! :-O Unless she comes on her own (please PRAY SHE DOES!) I will be induced the morning of Monday August 10th. :) 40 days, people, 40 days!!!! I can't even believe it!

I am so grateful for a healthy baby and a wonderful appointment today, praise God!! :)

Pregnancy Update + 32 Weeks Belly Pic

Since our computer was having issues I was never able to blog about my last OB appointment last week, so this is sort of a catch-up on all things going on with the pregnancy!

• Gestational Diabetes, my doctor was super proud of me and how serious I am taking this new lifestyle and told me I was a "very good diabetic." ;) I have to take my blood sugar levels 4 times a day, once when I first wake up (my "fasting" number) and one hour after every meal. My fasting numbers have pretty consistently been about 5-10 points above my target, and I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of to get them to stay down- exercising at night, changing up the time of my nighttime snack, changing up what I have for my nighttime snack, changing the time I test in the morning, etc etc. He said he wasn't concerned because they were not that off and I was still learning what foods trigger high numbers, so he said he would give me 2 more weeks and then if they are still consistently high he may put me on an oral medication to take at night. So, so far no insulin, PRAISE GOD! Because of this new diet and exercise regimen I have lost 8 pounds... putting me 4 pounds UNDER my starting weight. Yeah, I am 8 months pregnant and 4 pounds lighter than when I started, lol!
• Pregnancy, my doctor mentioned he will want to induce at 39 weeks because of the GD and my high blood pressures when I come in the office. So, please PRAY PRAY PRAY that she will come on her own before the induction day, because I REALLY do not want to be induced again. It is saddening to think of being induced again, but also exciting to know that she will be here in no longer than 7 weeks! Only 6 more Tuesdays until I get to hold my baby girl! That is very exciting. :) So her birthday will be on or before August 11th (you can feel free to change your guess on the baby pool if you would like, lol). I also will start doing Non-Stress Tests twice a week at the hospital starting the 1st of July. A NST is when they monitor the baby's movements and heart-rate for an alloted amount of time, which is another precaution they are taking because of the blood pressures and GD. But I do get to do something fun because of all these issues- I get another ultrasound!!!! :) I will actually have 2 more, because he wants to check her growth every 4 weeks, so I have 1 on the 10th of July, and then after that I will schedule another one for 4 weeks later. So that will be fun, I love getting to see my girl. :) When he measured my fundus I was measuring right on at 30 (I was 30 weeks, 6 days at my appointment), so that gives me hope that she is just the perfect size and not getting too big, please continue to pray for her growth! :)
• My Belly, here is the updated slide show with my 32 Week Belly pic, enjoy!

(I was unable to edit it on Photoshop to add 32 Weeks, since our iMac is out of commission, so just know the last pic is 32 Weeks.) :)