26 & 27 Weeks

Thursday, November 9 - 26 weeks
Good morning from Milwaukee, Brother! We'll be spending the next three days here learning about teaching science with several of my coworkers. I'm really happy that I'm feeling well enough to walk all over for the next few days - there would have been NO way I could make this trip when I was pregnant with your brothers.

You were so squirmy this morning, as soon as I woke up. It was a nice thing to wake up to. :) I'm excited to see what Daddy and Anna get done at home, while I'm gone, on your room. Last week Daddy was able to put drywall on the ceiling, so now he just has to patch the hole in the wall between your room and the kitchen, then I'm hoping we can start painting before he does the wood on the ceiling.

Thursday, November 16 - 27 weeks
We made it to another "viability milestone" this week, according to my app, because your lungs "are developed enough". Your organ systems are mostly developed by now, so the rest of the time will be focused on developing your brain and growing some fat on your little body. The closer and closer we make it to your due date, the more excited I am about bringing you home, and the more it's becoming a reality. You still have lots of growing to do, so stay cozy in there for several more weeks, please.

As I get closer to my third trimester, and since I'm officially a gestational diabetic, they're going to be keeping a much closer eye on both me and Brother. Once I hit 32 weeks, I'll be seen twice a week! One of those days will be a non-stress test and the other will be an ultrasound. Since I'm now on insulin, which seems to be helping, they want to monitor Brother's growth and fluid level, especially as this pregnancy progresses. As long as he's not getting too big, he'll hopefully be able to stay in there for a long time.

I'm supposed to be starting a meal-time insulin (faster acting) with dinner, but I'm waiting on Walgreens (or, most likely, insurance) to tell me it's approved. The overnight insulin I'm on seems to be helping my fasting sugars, especially now since we increased the dose to 8 units before bed. Everyone involved in this process - CF doctor, CF dietician, high risk team, and high-risk OB dietician - have all been communicating really well with each other, keeping my CF in mind and Brother in mind. It's really nice to have support from all sides and I'm glad we're all finally on the same page about insulin. They all tell me that my sugars are basically going to get more uncontrollable as I continue to progress through this pregnancy, and that I'll probably have to continue to increase my insulin dose until Brother is born. It was frustrating at first to see my sugars all over the place, even after eating healthy meals, but I'm glad I'm not doing anything wrong. It's just a combination of baby growing, CF, and pregnancy.

This week, the waddle is in full-effect. Brother is sitting very low and sitting/standing for too long makes me uncomfortable - also, transitioning from sitting to standing, or the other way, is sometimes uncomfortable. I can only imagine what it's going to be like teaching in January with an even bigger baby to lug around, but I know I can handle it.

I'm looking forward to getting more done on Brother's room over Thanksgiving weekend. That's the one time of year where Tim and I have 4 days off together, and we are typically very productive. Brother's room needs a ceiling and some paint on his walls before we can start with the fun part - decorating! I can't wait to get his crib up, start arranging his furniture and washing/organizing his clothes!

Wednesday, November 22 - 27w, 6d
The ceiling coverage began last weekend and will hopefully finish tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to painting the walls in your room because it's going to start making it seem more like "your room" instead of the office still (or as Anna still calls it, my "treatments room").

I started a mealtime insulin on Friday night that seems to be helping. It feels really good to be able to eat what I want now without worrying too much about my sugars. I'm hoping that keeping them in better control will help keep you healthy when you're born. At my last OB appointment, they checked my A1C level and it was 4.6 which is actually lower than it was at the beginning of my pregnancy, so I was very pleased. I'm looking forward to your appointment on Monday because they're finally going to measure you again. I can't wait to see how big you're getting. Your big movements are getting more visible from the outside, and your smaller movements are getting more noticeable throughout the day, even when I'm standing, and you've even had the hiccups a couple times within the last week or two. :)

I just can't wait for you to be here - I can't wait to snuggle you! Bring on the third trimester and let's hope it goes by just as quickly as the last two have!