Second Pregnancy

They say every pregnancy is different. Overall, I would have to agree. I had a post about my pregnancy with Will, so I feel like I need to write about this one too so I don't forget. There were plenty of similarities, but enough differences that I thought the baby would be a girl.

Sickness:
I was much sicker this time. I had morning, noon, and night sickness from week 7 up until 6 months. JT actually started preparing himself to have a girl after the sickness continued into the second trimester. Sweets made me sick with Will, but this time there was no certain food that triggered it. I ate sweets this time, but I didn't necessarily crave them. I actually didn't crave anything. Just like last time, my diet consisted of lots of ginger ale, bagels, and apples.

Looks/Weight Gain:
I had gotten up to 21 pounds, but started losing weight toward the end. I ended up with 19 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight. I gained 30 pounds with Will.
I was "all belly" again! This is the one thing that made me think we were having another boy. Back to girl thoughts, my "bump" was definitely higher this time though. When I looked in a mirror, I thought I had gained weight nowhere but my belly. I see it in my face and arms though when I look at pictures.
I had some swelling like last time. It was mainly my right hand and right leg though. It actually hurt in my fingers because of all of the extra fluid. I expected more swelling since I went through some summer months, but it really wasn't too bad. Thank goodness this was a mild summer!

Gestational Diabetes:
At 28 weeks I failed my first glucose tolerance test. I was expecting that since it happened with Will. I had to go through the 4 hour glucose test and failed the fasting portion of that which was an automatic indicator for gestational diabetes. I argued with the nurse about this though because I had taken my blood sugar that morning 2 hours before I went for the test and it was within goal. I have no idea how it jumped up for the lab test. I demanded a retest, but honestly I really didn't want to go through all of that again. (What should have been 4 needle sticks ended up being 7. I hate needles - and my veins refused to cooperate during this entire pregnancy.) The nurse said I had to go to diabetes nutrition and education class, but I told her that I actually teach that class at Publix so she let me skip it if I promised to check my blood sugar 4 times a day and follow a low-carb diet. Since I was still convinced that the lab was wrong, I checked my blood sugars for 2 weeks and couldn't wait to show off my awesome results - and I didn't even change my diet really! When I went for my 32 week appointment, I showed Dr. Crowe my blood sugar readings and told her that her lab was wrong.  She looked them over and told me they were excellent blood sugars for a diabetic, but not a pregnant diabetic. What?!?! The goals are so much stricter for gestational diabetes, and I was not aware of this. My goodness I felt like a fool! I begged her to let me change my diet to control it because I did not want to be on medicine, especially insulin shots! She told me to fax my readings over each week and I could stay off medicine if I could stay at goal. I worked so hard at this (aka starved myself) and was able to keep it managed by myself throughout the rest of the pregnancy. Dr. Crowe taught me a trick that we both feel is absolutely ridiculous, but it works - eat a bedtime snack with carbs. I didn't do this at first because I just couldn't understand why I would do that when the whole point was to cut out carbs. But it worked! Before bed I would eat an apple or peanut butter toast or a small bowl of ice cream. My fasting blood sugar the next morning would be 70-80. If I didn't have that snack, it would be high 80s. Makes no sense, but it was the one time of day that I actually enjoyed eating!
**I think I probably had this with Will too. I was just exercising several times per week with him which I know helped me, and I didn't exercise at all this time.

The night my water broke (before I actually realized what happened), I had a really good time with Will. JT had been asleep since dinner and Will and I just hung out. We had a little dance party together and then I put him to bed. I didn't get to tell him bye before we left for the hospital, so I am so thankful for this fun memory.

This pregnancy went by so fast! I really enjoyed being pregnant both times, even though this second one was definitely not so easy.