Like I said...

I am not dead... I am still well knocked up... and somehow two entire weeks have gotten away from me.

I am 28w+3d pregnant now, and showing no signs of any trouble at this point. Weight gain is good, BP is steady at 100/60, passed the glucose tollerance test just fine and am having no inordinant contractions at this point.

I did, however, have an incredibly busy couple of weeks. Dr. appointments which included some 4-d pictures (surface representations) of the boys (COOL!), kid activities, chasing papers for disability benefits which I should be hearing about any freakin' day now.

and lots and lots and lots of other random crap. And now, here it is, nearly Friday again, and I still haven't had a moment to sit and just be!

well... that's not etirely true because today there was a LOT of sitting. You see last night I got to contend with another lovely stomach bug. And while vomiting and diareah aren't the most sexy topics to write about they were my reality and I got about zero sleep before the world woke up this morning. Luckily things have improved significantly as the day has worn on, and the babies have been VERY active, almost as if to reassure me that they're no worse for the wear.

Allrightey, I must get to sleep now that I've posted... take care all!

so hi!

I am not dead.

hope you are same.

:)

comment sp@m

I spent an hour tonight deleting comment sp@m... I need to close my entries back to August... I haven't been keeping up with that. There were over 700 individual sp@m comments. How annoying. But they're gone now and after I'm done here I'll go close the entries, and get caught up with some maintenance.

Speaking of maintenance... I really don't feel like I've been a good blogger of late. I haven't been keeping up with all of my favorite reads over in the left hand column, and while I wish I could promise better... until the May time-frame, I just can't make any promises at all.

I miss you all. Lee, how is the new season of biking shaping up? Renee, I hope the stress is getting to be under control. Fred... I'm glad you're back to lifting and I send my best to Robin for a swift recovery! Mojo... girl, you are a brave woman, and I know you'll succeed no matter what path you take. Neca, girl... you are so strong, and I can't wait to catch up with your running progress. Erin, I can't wait to get back to your sarcastic wit! Tzuj, I wish I could spend more time reading you because we are sisters in this city...

and everyone else... so many... I am SO behind... I do plan to catch up at some point... but some things have come up with the pregnancy, primarily that make it hard for me to focus on fitness and running and health related issues in general. So I just talk about being fat and pregnant and each passing week... I hope you'll all forgive me at some point.

I have some pregnancy and fitness related stuff to post here, so be looking for that in the next couple of days. for now I need to go do my stretches and take a bath before bed.

Kudos to everyone fighting the fight and winning with every step taken and every bite eaten!

(((HUGS)))

Its Wednesday - 26 weeks!

Just threw a meatloaf into the oven... after being handy-woman fixing stuff around the house all day... I'm starting to feel like June Cleaver.

I replaced appliance bulbs in the oven, microwave and fridge today, along with the water filter in the fridge. Did laundry, tidy'd up the house and somehow the day just disappeared. I don't know how I'm going to get bigger (in the belly) than I already am, but I still have at least 10 weeks to go so I know it will happen.

My maternal grandmother sent me a bunch of "granny-squares" all knitted out of black and other colors of yarn... they're really adorable, but she never got around to putting them together into anything, so now I have to figure out how to knit the squares together... I've never joined two pieces of knitting together, but it can't be that difficult, right?

ok, enough rambling from me... time to make the mashed potatos and veggies to go with the meatloaf!

so forgive me if you already know this....

but Dreyers Grand "Fudge Tracks" Ice Cream is freakin DEADLY.

Seriously.

Vanilla ice cream, with ribbons of fudge and chunks of peanutbutter cups??? HELLO!!!

If you are in any way hoping to avoid a binge, do not bring this "crack in a carton" into your home. I am not a huge sweets eater. I love chocolate, don't get me wrong... but it was always the more substantial breads and pastas that got me when trying to control my carbohydrate intake... but this ice cream is truly deadly for me.

Had a good monday... tho I learned that Monday at 11am is NOT a good time to go to the post-office. It will not happen again. I saw the line out the door and realized there was no way I could possibly stand in line for half an hour without this belly dragging me down to the ground so I turned around and left. Went for a nice walk in the park instead... which also ended up making my belly ache (muscles along the top of the belly that attach at the rib cage are getting pretty worn out these days) as well, but not like standing in a line would have... plus I was moving, and feeling good and it was SUNNY!!!

HOLY CRAP has the sun the last couple of days been nice. On Sunday I kicked the boys outside for 3 or 4 hours... they rode bikes, scooters, played with the neighbor kids (I live on a dead end street and know all the neighbors and everyone looks out for all of the kids which is GREAT!) When they came in they were EXHAUSTED and RAVENOUS. I had chopped up 4 bell peppers (red, yellow and orange) for snacks for the week and they sat down and ate them ALL, plus their dinner. And then they went out and played some more while the first half of the game was on.

Disapointing game that was... poor calls... inability of the O to complete a drive... etc. But I do have to say I'm glad I saw the Hawks make their first SB appearance.

Not a lot going on here... oh yeah... except that I have to take that damned Glucose Challenge Test next Friday and I am SO not looking forward to it. At least they gave me the drink ahead of time so I can drink it at home before the appointment and they'll just draw my blood an hour later at the clinic. Gotta love a clinic where all of the nurses are Expert Phlebotimists. If I had to go sit in some lab waiting room for an hour I'd probably cry.

I'm not at all worried about gestational diabetes. I have no risk factors and I know how my body has been processing sugar up to now, but that doesn't make the test any more pallateable. Oh well, wish me luck just getting the Glucola down my throat next Friday.

Stay well!

Deviled Eggs?

Ok... so my favorite part of any large (food oriented) family gathering is undoubtably the deviled eggs. Everyone makes them differently but I LOVE the things in all of their myriad forms. I only wish they were better for me. I mean, the egg itself is a fairly healthy item... its just the mayo that gets dumped in with the yolk that pushes them over the edge right into the junk-food category.

I've made them with low-fat mayo... but it still feels... devilish, to eat them.

SO... I'm putting a call out for your favorite reduced-fat/cal deviled egg recipie. I know I can't make them "GOOD" for me... but at least I could make them less devilish.

;)

HAPPY SUPERBOWl!!!

GO HAWKS!!!

kicking back

having a relaxing day with Nate today. We went out for pancakes for breakfast, then over to the mall (pre-opening) to play at the indoor play-ground for a little bit. Picked up the requisite Seattle Sweatshirts to wear tomorrow... and yes I got them for the whole family (but NOT matching). Grabbed some groceries for lunch tomorrow (brats... just... well, just because darnit), and then came home and relaxed the rest of the day. We played cars, petted the cats (who are PISSED at me about the vaccinations yesterday) and I got a couple hour nap around 1pm while Nate hung out in his bed.

I'm getting a bit more used to being home from work... but I was supposed to get a call from the benefits people last week that I didn't get, so I'm a little concerned about that. I know there is a deadline for filling out the disability paperwork, so I'm hoping I hear somthing early next week. If I don't I'll be chasing people down because I can't live without my paycheck for very long.

Ok... that's not true... We'll be fine for a couple of months, but I really don't want to have to deal with that, so I guess I'm just motivated to be proactive.

The babies were SUPER active today... probably all the chocolate covered pretzels I ate. ;)

Ok... time to put the kid to bed!

They're Growing... I'm Growing.

Babies are growing well. Baby A is in the 54th% at 1lb 14oz and Baby B is in the 48th% at 1lb 12oz (give or take 4 oz). No big changes other than growth.

Especially mine.

I am officially up 36 lbs from pre pregnancy weight (which was not my all time low that you see in the left column)... and the doctors and nurses say I'm doing great. I am starting to think ahead to the training plan and dietary plan I'll be following post-partum. I REALLY want to get running again, so it will likely be very running focused with some doses of interval training and weights. I also want to get back into the bikram yoga, but that may have to wait until I've dropped a few so I can ballance well again.

Oh... and I think someone is trying to tell me somthing... I brought my work laptop home today... and it won't boot up. HAHAHAH!!!

Guess I'm really NOT supposed to be working. :D

Its Wednesday - 25 weeks!

A local hospital has published a study that the did trying to come up with a consensus on treatement (or non-treatment) of VERY premature babies. They looked at the long-term outcomes for babies that were born between 23 and 27 weeks to see how many of them were healthy and developing "normally" at 5 years of age. Less than 25% (of those who survived) were normal at 5 years of age if they were born before the 25th week. The rest had ongoing physical, neurological and developmental issues that ranged from blindness, retardation and cerebral palsy and significant paralysis... often with multiple issues in the same child.

That information led to a hospital wide policy of not recommending recussitation for babies born before 24 weeks... now that doesn't mean they WON'T treat and recussitate these babies if the parents want that... just that they will tell parents that they do not recommend recussitation before 24 weeks.

I think that it is GOOD that they did the study to REALLY examine the long term prognosis of a baby born so prematurely... but I also think that people REALLY need to know what they're in for when they decide to go against recommendations and recussitate an extremely premature baby. This kind of work creates a MUCH clearer set of information for these parents to consider and base their decision on. I have great respect for that.

As for us, we've made it to 25 weeks and in 3 weeks we'll hit the point where-in 98% of babies born will survive with zero complications or on-going health issues. That is a huge milestone, so I guess, as always, I'm just keeping my eyes on the prize.

Luckily the Prilosec I started taking today has REALLY helped the reflux and I was able to eat comfortably all day... which I haven't been able to do in about 4 months without downing handfulls of tumms. I wish they'd told me about this stuff earlier, but I'm glad to have it now. I really don't like to take medication at all when I'm pregnant, but when it started to hurt to swallow and the sore throat from the acid in my esophagus just never went away... I knew the almonds and tumms just weren't cutting it anymore.

Ok... ultrasound update tomorrow! Time to get ice-cream with the boys!