Greetings from Austin – October 6, 29-30 weeks

We’ve been really fortunate. Given my age, I was a little worried about how I would handle pregnancy. Really and truly, it hasn’t been that bad. There’s some heartburn and fatigue, but generally, I feel fine. At 20 weeks our ultrasound looked good, and the baby has been active, routinely nudging at me off and on throughout the day. At every appointment, my stats have been consistently good. All that to say that we’ve gotten really used to the idea that I was going to have a nice, uncomplicated pregnancy. This past week, we were introduced to our first complication.

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. (Please read more here if you’re interested.) I didn’t even see this one coming. My diet is generally good, and while my exercising has been a bit inconsistent, it’s not been bad. My weight prior to pregnancy was normal, and my gain so far has been good. Prior to this, my blood sugars have always been decidedly normal. I went into the glucose tolerance test believing it was a formality. I had borderline numbers on the 1-hour test, so I took the 3-hour test. I didn’t fail by much, but fail I did.

The good news is that hopefully I can control it with diet and exercise, and we’ll go back to enjoying an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy. I’m told that if I can keep my blood sugar within acceptable levels, there’s no reason for us to change how we manage the rest of the pregnancy or labor and delivery. If I can keep my blood sugar in line, the baby should be healthy and normally sized when she’s born. Also, it’s most likely that this will go away once I’m not pregnant anymore.

I have decided not to go into the bad news, because most of it shouldn’t be relevant. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to keep this under control and that everyone will come out healthy and happy at the end. If nothing else, this will force us to be a little more aware of how we’re composing meals and what the ramifications of our lazy takeout nights are.

My step-mother Carol pointed out recently that I hadn’t posted pictures in a while. I have a few “belly pictures” from the last month or so. Yesterday, we decided to take this show on the road. We went to a place in Austin called Graffiti Park and took a few photos. Plus, as seen above, we couldn’t resist taking a photo in front of the “Greetings from Austin” painting that graces all the tourist literature.

August 20, 22-23 weeks

September 9, 25-26 weeks

Graffiti Park – October 6, 29-30 weeks

Graffiti Park – October 6th, 29-30 weeks