Pregnancy Update: 30 weeks

Happy Friday! I'm closing out another year of blog posts with a pregnancy update!

Baby size:The baby is almost 16" long and weights about 3 pounds, making him/her about the size of a head of cabbage. It's kind of crazy to think that I have a 16" baby in my stomach because my bump doesn't seem all that big! But I guess the baby is scrunched up in there!

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

Symptoms/RA management: My RA remains pretty active and I got my 9th steroid injection of this pregnancy the week before Christmas. However, since then I have gotten a break from RA flares - possibly because my body is focusing on fighting a bad chest cold that I got over Christmas! Other than feeling tired and having to go to the bathroom often, I don't have any other complaints (no heartburn luckily!).

I also was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD) in the last month which has resulted in quite a change in how I eat. I've always been a low-carb eater due to being GF, but now I have to eat way more protein and fat than I was before. The first couple of days were pretty rough but now that I have adjusted it's not too bad. I've learned that I need to eat way fewer carbs than the GD diet prescribes. I will say that I am very glad that Christmas is over because all the sweets pushing I experienced (ice cream, gelato, etc) drove me a little crazy. I'm glad we won't be eating at others' houses much for the rest of the pregnancy as it's easiest for me to follow the diet when I'm on my home turf.

Recent/upcoming appointments: We had our 30 week OB appointment yesterday and I had Phil come with me so that he could be there for the explanation of how my GD diagnosis will change the way my pregnancy will be managed. I'm measuring 2 weeks behind but that's fine as you can measure +/-2 weeks with no concern from the doctor. The best part of every appointment is hearing the heartbeat, which was 150 bpm.

Then in the afternoon I met with the endocrinologist. She decided not to put me on insulin yet because my blood sugars have mostly been in a healthy range. I've had some high reading the last couple of days but she thinks it's due to the stress my body is under from the bad chest cold I have. I'm really hoping to not have to go on insulin as it would really change the way my pregnancy is managed. I would have to see my OB twice a week and would have a lot of extra monitoring which just sounds stressful. Fingers crossed I can continue to manage it with my diet. It's not easy but I keep telling myself it's only for ~10 more weeks.

Sleep: Sleep is tough, especially this past week with the all the coughing I am doing. Plus I get up to go to the bathroom about every 2 hours so I can't say I feel all that 'rested'. Weekend naps are my saving grace.

Cravings and favorite foods:Well GD has really thrown a wrench in my ability to give into any cravings. I was sad to have to give up eating dried mango (which is basically straight sugar) as that was my favorite afternoon snack. Womp womp. Since dairy is a good source of protein/fat, I'm eating lots of cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese. I don't know how a person could have GD and be lactose intolerant or a vegan...  it would be so hard to find enough sources of protein/fat!

Recent baby prep/decisions/purchases: I went shopping for a glider with my MIL in mid-December and we ordered one. It will arrive in early February. It's sooo comfortable so I can't wait to have it in our house. Besides that, Phil assembled the changing table we purchased around Thanksgiving and we shifted things around in the guest room to make room for it. I'm really happy with the changing table. It was fun to fill the top drawer with cloth diapers!

Ignore all the stuff piled on the guest bed - this room is in a state of transition so not very tidy!

Classes: We were planning to do Bradley birth method classes, but they got cancelled due to low registration so instead we signed up for some lamaze-based classes which start next week. We also did a hospital tour in early-December which made things feel a bit more real!  We also registered for a breast feeding class at the hospital in January. That's all the classes we plan to do so hopefully we feel ready for childbirth by the end of January when the birth classes end!

Mood:  My mood has been so so. The GD diagnosis was pretty hard on me. The pregnancy has been pretty tough as is with all the RA flares I've had so it was tough to get another diagnosis that puts me in the 'high risk pregnancy' category. But after following the diet for a week and mostly having great blood sugars, I am feeling better about the diagnosis. I'm just really ready for the pregnancy to be over with as I think I will much prefer caring for a newborn (which means being sleep-deprived) than dealing with being pregnant with a chronic illness (RA) and managing GD. I will definitely be ordering a chocolate milk shake or something indulgent like that in the hospital after the baby is born!