Celebrity Babies and Other Stuff

If Brangelina dare to have their baby on the day I give birth, they've got another thing comin'! Little Karalyn deserves a bit of fanfare of her own...at least she won't have the horrible last name of "Jolie-Pitt". Yucko. I didn't realize that the spring of 2006 would be studded with celebrity babies. Aside from my own, there's still Brangelina's baby, Gwen Stefani's kid, Mira Sorvino's bambino, Rachel Weisz's contribution and Mariska Hargitay's child. Da Dum. It's a trend. I hate being trendy.

Last you heard from me, I was whining about drawing blood from my fingers multiple times a day. That has not changed, i.e., I am still whining. My glucose numbers have been good so far, though, and I am a little more relaxed about the process if not the pricking itself. So enough about that.

Latest news. Well, I have carpel tunnel too. This is no biggie because it just happens to a lot of pregnant women. What is surprising is how little talk there is about it. The edema I'm experiencing is pinching the nerves in the carpel tunnel tube. It presents itself as tingly numb fingertips and very stiff fingers overnight. It's like having arthritis. Really weird...I wake up and my fingers are so stiff I can hardly bend them. Only my thumbs seem operational which makes grabbing toilet paper rather comical.

Latest, latest news. My obgyn nazi doc suddenly turned solicitous and said, "How do you feel about taking maternity leave now?" This was, like, last week. She took a look at my swollen, nonexistent ankles and noticed that my blood pressure has crept up to concerning levels. Basically I have pre- preeclampsia. Pregnancy-induced hypertension. (nothing surprises me anymore) I am not exhibiting full blown symptoms but the doc decided to take precautions. "I want you to lie on your left side a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon." Weeellll, how do I this at work? I can't.

I am currently WFH (working from home) in an attempt to keep my legs elevated and prevent more swelling. Plus there's just generally less stress at home. I'm doing this at least this week and next week. Then I might go on leave as early as May 8th. Oh, I'm looking forward to it. At my last appointment my numbers were good - no weight gain, no blood pressure increase, no protein in the urine sample. I did, however, have to submit to another round of blood tests. I only have so much blood, ya know. The WFH is an arrangement where I can still transition the last of my work to my coworkers who are doing me a huge favor while I'm on leave.


Could there be any more not-so-good news?? No! I'm happy to say that I had a wonderfully fun baby shower last Saturday hosted by some really sweet and thoughtful friends. My future sister-in-law, Audrey, came up from San Francisco to be with me. She is super! They say the camera adds 10 lbs and it really shows up in my face in this photo. Ick.


One of the shower activities was to design onesies and I would pick the winning design. Kristy created a simple but elegant one with a flower on the front which is the one I selected. Kristy is the friend who would like the handknitted baby blanket - I am still determined to finish it next weekend.

Life goes on...and on...but the baby will be here soon. There's still so much to do. All the gifts from the shower are in the dining room and the baby's room is, well, a bit unorganized. My yarn is still housed there. I told Cyndi at lunch that if anyone ese asks me what my nursery theme is, I would tell them "yarn". The baby's room is decorated in yarn and a few sheep ornaments!

This is Hard

I started crying at my desk at work today. I've been monitoring my glucose levels for 4 days now and I'm stressed. I've been doing OK with only 2 readings out of 15 that were above the recommended blood sugar threshold. I talked to the dietician yesterday about how we could fix the higher readings and I felt OK with the changes to my meal plan.

Then today at lunch we ate out at a Vietnamese restaurant. My usual order is a soft noodle bowl with marinated, charbroiled pork and shrimp as well as a couple of egg rolls. This dish is relatively healthy with lettuce, carrots and bamboo shoots. I was careful not to eat very much vermicelli too. I even took a 20 minute walk around the company campus. Yet my reading was 14 above the threshold, my highest yet! I was so crushed. And I was in the middle of a conference call so I had to do the testing at my desk. I felt so bad about it, especially since my readings after lunch have been good up to now.

All the stress got to me - watching what I was eating, counting carbs, making sure I was testing at the right times, and pricking my fingers...sometimes I have to try 3 or 4 different settings on the little lancet pen before I draw enough blood - ouch! My fingers don't want to give up any blood. I started to cry while I was IM'ing Karl about it.

It's so frustrating. I feel like I have no control. The dietician says it's not my fault but as my pregnancy progresses it will become even harder to ensure I stay below the thresholds because of surging hormones. Aaaarrgh!

I can't imagine being a Type I or Type II diabetic and having to deal with this all the time. It is draining to constantly worry about what you're eating and when. I try to give myself pep talks and say it's for the good of the baby and of me later in life. But I'm scared to eat out now! Heck, I'm scared to eat....

Carb Counter

How ironic. After swearing off trendy diets, especially the fanatical Atkins and slightly more subdued South Beach, I am on a very carbohydrate-restricted diet for my gestational diabetes. I met with the nutritionist/dietician and nurse on Monday. They gave me a meal plan and my blood sugar metering kit, respectively. The meal plan goes like this:

Breakfast
30g total carbs
1 protein

Midmorning Snack
15g total carbs

Lunch
30-45g total carbs (depends if I exercise afterwards)
2 proteins

Midafternoon Snack
15g total carbs

Dinner
45g total carbs
2 proteins

Evening Snack
30g total carbs

Do you know what 15g of carbs equates to? Think 1 slice of whole wheat bread or half a hamburger bun. Or half an English muffin. Or half a cup of mashed potatoes. Or one extremeley small apple. Or 2 tablespoons of raisins. Or one cup of milk.

Protein sources are virtually carb-less so the limitation with them is the amount of fat. Vegetables can contain carbs but are generally listed as 5g per serving (1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw).

Fats in moderation, some might contain sugars like salad dressing or cream cheese.

"Free foods" which can be consumed in any amount include herbs, sugar free drinks and mixes, soy sauce, garlic, lettuce, mushrooms, salsa, unsweetened decaf coffee and tea.

Now for the glucose monitoring part. I have to check my blood sugar levels 4 times per day. First thing in the morning (called the fasting) and then 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. I cannot eat the snacks until after I take the glucose metering. The timing is pretty strict - no earlier than 1 hour 45 minutes and no later than 2 hours 15 minutes after the first bite of each meal.

I'm on the first full day of this diet and I'm already weeping. It's not so much the obsession over food although that in itself is extremely inconvenient and very annoying. It's the schedule. I have to watch the clock constantly. My little finger prick kit is quite interesting. It isn't as bad as I thought since the pressure of the lancet can be adjusted. I just set it to the lowest possible pressure that still draws blood. However, I've experimented with several fingers and decided that I'm not going to use the 4th and pinky fingers of either hand. They are too sensitive. Basically you need a small drop of blood on a test strip which is inserted in a glucose meter. You get your reading in seconds. Regardless of how easy this has become in the past decade, however, I am still anxious about drawing blood. Why does it have to be the fingers? Why can't I draw blood from, say, my elbow?

Oh, I am such a wimp. I think I will adjust to the food part of this diet OK...I'll probably eat certain foods all the time (e.g., yogurt, peanut butter and apples, wheat bread, egg anything) but keeping to the schedule and the anxiety about drawing blood makes it difficult. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

I'm feeling sorry for myself right now. I know it's stupid and could be a lot worse but still. Waah.