We are still gathering all the “essential” baby items and have decided that the nursery needs a make-over. I’m trying to complete multiple projects for work that “must” be completed before Sticky arrives, I need to do my tax return and work out finances for those months that I’m not working! It’s all a bit too much and if Sticky decides to come early, well, umm…not sure! Arghh!

The third trimester fatigue has set in and to top it off, yesterday I had some sort of horrid tummy bug. I won’t go into the gory details, but I was at a client and ended up in their sick room for an hour and then had to try and drive the 1.5 hour trip home without vomiting! I thought it might have been morning sickness returning but I’m feeling much better today thankfully, so I believe it was just a tummy bug! I think that may be my last trip to the city. It was a horrible feeling being stuck there and not knowing if I was going to make it home. The long drive isn’t good for my blood glucose levels either or my pelvis and back pain! Sticky is also squishing my lungs making breathing a little difficult! Climbing a few stairs feels like I’ve run a marathon!

We have finished up with the pre-natel classes. Today I was waiting for my appointment with the OB and ran into a father from the group. His wife had their baby last night – a little boy – and he was so happy. It was so cute to see how smitten he was and how proud of his wife he was.

My OB appointment went well. He was pleased with my blood glucose levels, even though I’ve had quite a few over the limit the last couple of weeks. My uterus is measuring on target and my blood pressure is perfect. I’m booked in for a growth scan in a couple of weeks to make sure Sticky is growing nicely and isn’t too big from the diabetes. I’ll then have another scan at 36 weeks. I’m really looking forward to seeing him/her again.

Sticky is very active, rolling, turning and kicking. We’ve even felt some hiccups, which are really cute! At night we have a little bonding session with him/her in bed as he/she tries some acrobats around my belly! I can work out exactly now what is what sticking out. He/she is sticking to the same position, head-down, facing my spine, which is perfect so hopefully he/she will stay that way.

I have a couple of Liebster award nominations and I promise I will get to them soon when I get some time! Thank you to those who nominated me!

1. 1 – My Belly – I love watching my belly grow and knowing there is a lil being in their rolling around, kicking and growing
2. 2 – Baby Movements – I love watching my belly move as Sticky makes his/her presence known. Every night K and I lay in bed and watch the party that goes on in my belly as Sticky, rolls, kicks, hiccups and waves at us. I love it when he/she reacts to K’s voice or when I laugh.
3. 3 – Counting down the weeks – How quickly time flies, but I love updating our chalk board each week with where we are up to and knowing we are getting closer and closer to meeting our baby.
4. 4 – Getting creative with knitting and sewing – K would say I’m a little obsessed, but I love knitting little hats, booties and blankets for Sticky and I’ve finally got a good excuse to get the sewing machine out. I’m currently making my first ever quilt.
5. 5 – Dreaming – Every night I have the most wacky dreams and I’m loving them. I had a dream of flying last night, off a very tall building and as I’ll was flying towards the ground, I transformed into many different creatures, eventually becoming an eagle so I could fly back up and not hit the ground.
6. 6 – Imagining – Not knowing what sex our baby will be has meant every day my imagination goes wild with images of what our child might be like. Sometimes it’s a cute little boy who’s into music and loves to sing, other days it’s a sweet little girl with an adventurous spirt who loves the wilderness and animals.
7. 7 – Anticipating – Sometimes I just want the weeks to hurry up so that we can meet our little bundle of joy, but then I realise that every moment of this pregnancy is to be savoured. Who knows if I will ever be pregnant again? The anticipation is building with every day and every new pregnancy symptom and I’m learning to love it and take it as each day comes.
8. 8 – Being Alcohol free – Most of my friends would tell you that I’m known for always having a glass of wine in my hand, but I’m loving the feeling of being alcohol free. Despite the horrendous pregnancy symptoms I feel healthy and don’t feel the need for a glass of wine after a long stressful day at work. It’s a lovely feeling.
9. 9 – Soaking in a warm bath -I never used to like baths that much, but now I LOVE them! Absolutely love them. It feels so nice on my aching body just to lay there and relax
10. 10 – Marvelling at the Miracle -Women get pregnant all the time, but it doesn’t mean that the creation of life is not a miracle. Every now and then I get a reminder of the miracle growing inside me. A kick, a hiccup, sore breasts, sore back, expanding tummy, fuzzy brain, etc, etc. It never ceases to amaze me that that Sticky was once a tiny cell, that has now got a beating heart, legs, arms, toes, fingers, eyelashes, eyes and a personality that we’re yet to enjoy.

I can’t believe I’m in the third trimester already. At 28 weeks I’m really starting to feel the aches and pains of pregnancy. My back and my pelvis are killing me. Small amounts of physical activity, such as a 30 minute walk or rolling over in bed leave me immobile for a week. This is hard to take for someone who has spent most of her years on this planet cycling, running, and competing in adventure sports. My OB suggested a pelvic girdle for the pelvis pain. To me, that sounds so weird and ridiculous and it makes me a bit hesitant about going into a chemist to ask for one. Here is an article on PGP for those who are interested. I’m actually thinking that mine could be a result of a pre-existing pelvic dysfunction. I was a professional ballet dancer in my younger days, and my hips and pelvis were really pushed to their limits. My mum, who worked for a ballet company and knows a lot of dancers who have had babies has said that it seems to be quite common with dancers, and most end up having a c-section! Great…thanks mum!

I now love baths and long hot showers and this morning I indulged in a 1 hour massage at a day spa close to home. It was absolute bliss and I highly recommend it to all those pregnant woman out there reading my blog.

We are starting to think about our birth plan. We have done 3 pre-natal classes and we’ve discovered that being induced is not so great after all. Because of the gestational diabetes, I will need to be induced before 39 weeks. At first I wasn’t bothered by this, but have since learned through the pre-natal classes, that an induction means more intense contractions and the inability to move around as you are constantly monitored. Our hospital only has one fetal monitor that allows you to move around and get in the bath. I will be fighting for that one! Induction also increases the need for analgesic drugs, which I was hoping to avoid. I’m secretly hoping that Sticky will come a little early, lets say the day before the induction is booked!

My BFF, who is 31 weeks pregnant, asked me yesterday if I’d written a list (or a few) for people we would be texting at different stages of labour. To be honest, I’d not even thought about it. Do we really need to tell people I’m in labour? I guess a text to our mums, K’s sister and my BFF might be the plan, but other than that, I’d rather wait until our Sticky arrives before telling everyone.

I’m beginning to think that travelling to the city to work might need to go soon. It’s the one thing that absolutely pushes me to the edge of pain and it also makes my blood glucose limits increase past the limit. I think it’s the 3 hours + of commuting that does it. It’s a scary concept not working and I’m lucky I can continue working from home up until Sticky comes. Then once, Sticky comes, I’m having 4 months off work! I’ve never not worked for that long. It’s a strange feeling and scary that I won’t have an income for that long. I’m sure it will fly by though.

It’s been a very busy week. We have moved into our new house and are slowing getting it setup in a way we like. I love having our own house that we can do what we want with. We don’t have to worry about rental inspections anymore, we can drill holes where we want, we can knock down a wall where we want. It’s an awesome freedom.

My amazing parents flew over from New Zealand to help us move. I wasn’t permitted to lift anything, so I was on un-packing duty, whilst Mum, Dad and K moved us from our old rental. It took two days to move everything and another 5 to unpack to the point where we can happily say the house is almost perfect. We have even started setting up the nursery. My mum has gone nuts buying baby clothes since she found out I was pregnant and has done a wonderful job, in a very gender specific baby world, to buy gender neutral clothes that are absolutely adorable. She’s even knitted some blankets, cardigans, hats and booties and also gave us some of my old booties, hats and blankets from when I was a baby.

Only 2 weeks till I’m in the 3rd Trimester. Wow, how time flies! We started our antenatal classes at the hospital last week as well and we have some “calm birth” classes booked in for August. We were the only same-sex couple in the antenatal class (not surprising), which contained a range of different people of different age groups and backgrounds. We watched a video…a very close up video of a birth and it was funny seeing some of the guys reactions. I think K was a little traumatised too! I do think we’ve been de-sensitised slightly by watching ‘One born every minute’ though.

I’m still receiving random comments from strangers. The other day in the supermarket, a lady came up to me, patted me on the stomach and said, “oh, what a cute baby bump”. Five minutes later a little girl came up to me and asked me if I was having a baby. She then went on to ask me what it’s name was. She was cute, but I was a little dumb-founded by the stranger touching my stomach.

Finally, on a very sad note, I would to send out my thoughts and best wishes to Lex (Crazy Lesbian Mom), who has been diagnosed with cancer. Her blog was one of the first I stumbled upon when entering the blog world and I have enjoyed reading her journey to parenthood. It saddens and angers me to hear of the news only months after she gave birth. I wish her and her family the very best and I hope for a miracle.

Yesterday’s OB appointment went well. The actual (not fill-in) OB was there and I was very happy about that. K was also with me. We both agreed that he was a whole lot nicer and more personable than the horrible fill-in two weeks ago.

As per normal, they were running very late, so we sat in the waiting area along side two other mums-to-be for about an hour. I tried to read, but could only listen to the conversation between the other two mums-to-be, who were actually already mums and of course acting like pros over the whole process! Sitting there listening to their conversation left me feeling a little inadequate in my knowledge of baby making and little did I know that K was sitting next to me having a minor freak-out about mother-hood! Afterwards we both agreed that we didn’t fit into their world of motherhood and wondered if we would ever fit into the world of motherhood.

As we walked into the doc’s room, he immediately seemed warm and very happy to meet K. He then asked me off handedly if the baby was moving around lots. My response, “oh yes, he/she’s having parties in there at the moment”. The night before, K and I were lying in bed for quite some time, watching my stomach move in all directions as Sticky was dancing up a storm.

After the initially “hellos” he asked me to jump on the scales. I’ve put on a total of 500 grams in the past month. After putting on 4 kilos in the first trimester it seems a bit of a shock to have slowed down the weight gain so much, but he seemed ok with that and said it’s quite often the case with women with GDM who are watching their diet so closely. He had a look at my GDM levels and asked if I was a perfectionist after I seemed a bit annoyed at the fact I’d had a few outside the boundaries. He didn’t seem too concerned with them, but reminded me that I’m doing everything right and that I can’t control it anymore than I am already, and that it’s probably going to get harder in the 3rd trimester.

He did a quick scan (sticky waved), took my blood-pressure (a low 90/50) and measured my uterus whilst we chatted casually about questacon in Canberra – a wonderful place to go with kids and of course us grown up kids. He was so happy with all my results that he didn’t want to see me again for 3 weeks, instead of 2. Yay! Although he did remind me that now at 24 weeks, I could potentially go into labour at any time and the baby can survive, so I must call the hospital if I feel I might be going into labour. I really hope that doesn’t happen for a few more months.

It’s also a big week for us. We are packing for our move in a few days. We can’t wait to be in our new house, but really hate moving and especially having to come back and clean the old place. We are currently surrounded by boxes, which of course the cat just loves and because K has been doing most the packing, I wouldn’t have a clue where anything is! It will be fun at the other end opening boxes to discover what is inside!

Yesterday I worked on a TV show for a new Australian drama series playing a small part as a mum who had just had a baby. I’ve not had much acting work since getting pregnant, which is sad, as it’s the only thing that I’m really passionate about and when I’m not doing it, I get a bit down. It was a small part, but enough for me to feel like an actor again. They used a real baby for the shoot and it was so adorable. They used a dummy for the rehearsals and only brought out the real baby for filming as it’s not permitted to be on set for very long. When it was placed in my arms (part of the scene), a great big smile lit up on it’s face! It made acting so easy. How could you not react to such an adorable thing? I almost forgot I was being filmed! It reminded me of what I have to look forward to in just a few months.

In other news, I finally saw the dietician today for my gestational diabetes – only 7 weeks after diagnosis! Good thing my diet is already pretty good. We went through everything I’ve been eating and had a look at the times when my blood glucose were outside the limits. At the moment, I haven’t been outside them enough to require insulin, which is great. This, of course could change in the 3rd trimester when the hormones will most likely play havoc with insulin production. The only thing I need to change is to have more carbs with dinner. I am consistently having lows in the morning (some hypos) and she thinks by eating more carbs with dinner might help. She also said to avoid too much exercise as this will also lower my blood glucose. I’m not doing that much exercise at the moment anyway, so no problem there! I only need to go for a walk when my levels are high, as the exercise will bring them down. I somehow managed to get through my birthday weekend with just one high and I even indulged slightly!

Tomorrow I have another appointment with the OB. I’m really hoping it is the actual OB this week and not the fill-in, who I don’t think liked me very much, or she seemed to have some issue with me. I just got bad vibes from her. The actual OB is very nice and very thorough in his assessment of me. The fill-in didn’t even measure my uterus last time, but just made up a number and wrote it on my card! I’m really pissed off about that, as I’ve not put on any weight since finding out about the gestational diabetes and I’d really like to know that our baby is growing!!! Although if you compare my tummy pic from 22 weeks to now, there is quite a difference, so I’m not too worried.

At 23.5 weeks I do look very pregnant. I have a very large basketball tummy and can’t image what it will look like when I’m 9 months pregnant. I’m a little person, with little boy hips and a very short torso. My bub has nowhere to go but out and up, sitting just under my ribs. In fact, I reckon in a few weeks I won’t need a bra to hold my boobs up, my tummy will do the job just as well.

This random stranger comment did make me thing of all the random comments people say to people who are pregnant. I’m no stranger to receiving random comments from strangers in general. I was once walking down King street in Newtown, when some random lady came up to me and told me I was a very cute little boy! I was going through a very tomboy strange, with army cargo pants and very short hair. Before I could respond, she had gone and I was left wondering if this random comment was a compliment or not.

I love to hear what random comments you’ve received from strangers, so please share!

Tomorrow is my birthday, a day I’ve never really enjoyed celebrating. I’m not entirely sure as to why, but gather it’s something to do with being adopted and not ever feeling like I deserve to celebrate the day I was introduced to this world after a 14 year old’s mistake. I tend to be on edge a bit around my birthday. I bit emotional to say the least. Today, I had an appointment with my therapist and when I came out, I had a message from my mum saying call as something bad had happened. Of course as soon as I hear those words I think the worst. It turns out my Nana, who I just adore, has had a minor stroke. She’s ok, but it was enough to push me over the edge. On top of that, on the way home an idiot in a car not worthy of the streets, decided to illegally under-take me then get upset with me because I was reluctant to let him in. He stopped in the middle of the tunnel on-ramp, with 100′s of cars banked up behind me, just to piss me off. I freaked, thinking he was about to get out of the car and start yelling abuse at me. It didn’t take long, for him to move again after all the cars behind me started honking their horns in disgust at him. So by now, my emotions are at breaking point. I manage to make the hour long journey home just in time to test my blood glucose levels, and wholly shit, they were way off the charts! It turns out birthdays, therapist appointments and road rage incidents are not good for diabetes! And damn those pregnancy hormones for making it so easy to lose the plot!

There are many things I’m enjoying about being pregnant. I love feeling Sticky move, I love seeing my belly grow each day, I love the feeling I get every time I look down and see my belly and think, wow I’m really pregnant!

There are lots of things I don’t like about being pregnant, and I feel selfish for admitting them, but at my age, the chances of having nothing but an easy, smooth pregnancy are rare. I don’t like the stuffy nose and hay-fever that has worsened ten-fold, I don’t like the feeling that I’ve been riding my bike for weeks on end without a break (self-diagnosed PGP), I don’t like having Gestational Diabetes and pricking myself every few hours, I didn’t like the first trimester morning sickness and fatigue, and I don’t like that I’ve turned into a paranoid mum-to-be!

But despite the ups and downs I’m so happy and grateful that I am pregnant and can’t wait to see our little miracle in just a few months time. I can’t wait to see it’s face, see it smile for the first time, hear it laugh for the first time, see it bond with our cat and dog, see our dog and cat bond with it and most of all, I can’t wait to watch it grow up. There is so much to look forward to.

I’m slowly starting to understand blood sugar levels. I’ve had a couple of readings that are considered to be “hypos” (low blood sugar), which, according to Google, are considered very uncommon for Gestational Diabetes unless you’re on insulin, which thankfully I’m not – yet! But it does make me paranoid. I’ve also had some readings at the other end, one yesterday that was way over the limit and others bordering on “hypers”, which seem to be sparked by stress! It’s causing me a lot of concern and I’ve spent way too much time Googling all the things that can go wrong when you have gestational diabetes, including the placenta failing, pre-term labour, still birth, deformaties, etc. It’s all very scary! I thought by this stage in the pregnancy I’d be feeling a bit more relaxed and at ease, but now I’m just filled with worry. I’m not even in the third trimester yet, when the hormones play havoc with glucose levels. K has a friend who is Type 1 diabetic, who had a pre-term baby at 24 weeks. It only lasted 4 hours! This plays on my mind constantly.

I’m still waiting for the dietician to ring to book me in for an appointment! At least I have another appointment with our OB this afternoon to check everything is okay.

K has been wonderful, ensuring I’m checking my levels and eating frequently and I’m now carrying a bag of glucose jelly beans in my bag for those lows – the only time I get to have something sweet! I guess I just have to remember that lots of women get Gestational Diabetes, whilst pregnant and go on to have healthy babies.