Sunday, February 27, 2005

OOOPS!!!! I forgot the biggest YAY of all!!!

I haven't shared it here because I'm not sure who is reading this. I'm not even sure I should be sharing this yet. The person I'll be talking about hasn't really shared her news with everyone yet. (so if she hasn't told you yet...act surprised when she tells you....ok?! and shhhhhh!)

I'm going to have company this summer being pregnant...my SIL, D!!! She's due with #15 in mid October. This is her 17th pg (she's also had a miscarriage and a stillborn at 26wks). Her youngest will be 1 at the end of April. :o) I'm happy to hear that her sense of smell has gone bonkers and she's had bouts of queasiness. I'm sure she's not so happy to be experiencing it though. LOL

We've been pregnant together for quite a few of my pregnancies (she's had a few without me lol) but we haven't had babies that'll be born this close in a while. Now to get us both successfully to delivery of healthy babies!

Yays and Nays.....

It's the last day of mid-winter break....NAY!!

It looks like we may be in for a snow day or two this week (snowstorm coming tomorrow)....YAY!

My parents came over on Friday for a visit....YAY!

I got really busy in the kitchen Friday and made tons of bread, rolls and cookies...YAY AND NAY (nay for me and my diabetes)

We only had to do a quick pickup around here in order for it to be presentable for them to come....YAY!!!

We switched chores yesterday....yay and nay

Most didn't do their jobs yesterday...NAY!! (Carrie happily has food prep and made pancakes for breakfast Saturday) :o)

SOME things are still needing to be done today....NAY!

BIL, J, and his son little j, a friend and his girlfriend are here snowmobiling....YAY!

I stayed in the house while everyone else has been mostly out...big quiet YAY!

I'm not sure what to do for dinner for everyone...NAY! (could turn into a yay if certain people decide to give me a break and order pizza and wings)

Pat just smacked his hand (pinky knuckle) on the wall, making a gash and immediately turning it black and blue...NAY!

Our insurance carrier dropped Pat in January claiming they have no proof of his attending college (required after the age of 18)...We have procrastinated in getting them the info...BIG NAY!!!

Pat's gone outside to ski behind the snowmobile....YAY???

Luke had two of his cousins over on Fri for his birthday...YAY!

They were up until 3am and snuck EIGHT of Tom's beers (like Tom wouldn't notice that there were 9 out of 30 beers missing after he only drank ONE lol)....NAY!

I had to make two phone calls Saturday morning to inlaws explaining what happened and cutting Luke's celebration short....NAY

I'll have to play the enforcer for the next umpteem million days until Luke's off being grounded...NAY

Luke was hurting all day Saturday and everyone relished in making it worse....LOL (sorry but it was funny...he won't volunteer for that activity again any too quickly)

Decided to be on the ball and do bills immediately (Friday was payday)...YAY!

Discovered I'm out of checks....NAY!!!

Balanced checkbook and found out I made a $1000 error...AGAINST US!!!....NAY! NAY! NAY!

No spending money this payperiod...BOOOO!

We had some overtime and tax refunds to cover my mistake...YAY!

I tested my dad's glucose level while he was here (type 2 diabetic and not very good at following his plan)...he was 287!!! YIKES!!! *sob*

I lost my glucose meter on Friday after my parents visited...NAY and freak out!

I found my glocose meter Saturday afternoon...YAY and phew!

I haven't been tracking my sugar levels well this weekend...BOOOOO!

My bottle of blood pressure meds seems to be missing...NAY! (will call the dr for a new script tomorrow)

The kids having off this week has messed up my sense of time (missed TOK chat on Tues and Friday)...NAY!

I thought yesterday was Sunday...giving me an "extra" day of vacation...YAY!

I haven't had too much time online this week...nay...with a tiny bit of yay thrown in.

I'm feeling tons better pregnancywise! I'm more energetic and less m/s'y!...YAY! YAY! YAY!

Being busy around here has my sciatica flairing up a bit...NAY!

I've fallen in love with my microwaved rice sock...YAY!

I've passed my dreaded 11.5wk mark of when my m/c started...halfway through my 10days from hell of it....YAY!

I received some snail mail from ma yesterday! I can accurately measure out my food now!...YAY!

I haven't gotten into chat to thank her yet....NAY!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

It's Island Week!!!

That's what Tom declared this weekend. He wanted to have a tropical party and the kids seemed to like the idea. The older kids went to Walmart and hit the dollar store. They came home with a few treats for the party (plastic leis, cups, straws, treats, etc) but it was a bit too late to start the party.

On Sunday afternoon I broke into my box of party supplies I bought at the dollar store closeout sale (10 for $1!) I gave the girls a bunch of streamers and ballons and told them to decorate for a party, then went to take a nap with Tom. When we got up....WOW! They did a great job! They even made a palm tree, water with tropical fish swimming in it, jumping out of it and tropical flowers all over. Oh yeah and they made a HUGE sun out of a paper plate painted yellow with a yellow lei taken apart for the sunbeams. It looks cool (still up)

Jessica and Michelle spent quite a bit of time making up things to act out for charades. We played for over 2hrs! At one time I laughed so hard I started crying hysterically which made us laugh even more. Of course when they found out that mom laughed so hard she pee'd her pants... Glad I could entertain them all. One of Val's friends was here. He kept saying....so you guys just decided to have a party? There's no reason? Just did it? He seemed to be amazed that you'd have a party for no reason and could get it up and going without too much forethought.

The kids are off this week for Mid-Winter break. It originally started during the energy crisis of the 70's so the schools could turn down the thermostats and not use so much energy during the coldest part of the year. We'd have had a snow day on Monday if they didn't have it off already. We got 7 inches between 11pm Sunday and 9am Monday.

The chore list is going well! My house hasn't looked this good in a loooong time!!! The kids seem to actually enjoy knowing what they have to do each day. I was shocked when I got home from the doctors today because they'd done their jobs while I was gone!! Yeeehaaaw! Most of the kids are looking forward to getting food prep. Even the older kids encourage Jake to make them cookies or something. Whenever they suggest something for dinner, I suggest they save it for THEIR week. Our next obstacle will be working chores in after school next week. If we can get over that then I'll see it as a huge success!

My dr appt went well today. I'm 11wks 4 days and lost another 2 lbs this week (212lbs). I said that I'm fine with the weight loss as long as he was ok with it. Dr said as long as I'm following my diet and keeping my sugar levels good....then everything is good. He even said that if I get down to 200 before delivery, I most likely won't need to go on oral diabetic meds after delivery. :oD

My sugars have gone up since I started getting a cold on Saturday. They aren't terribly high but I'd rather be where I was at the beginning of the week. I confessed to raising my evening dose last night. All day my numbers had been in the 140s range after eating. I took my sugar before dinner and it was 122 already. We were also having spaghetti. I'd thought about cheating and having more then a cup of spaghetti since I had more insulin but decided that I'd rather have lower numbers then more food. I didn't even have my whole cup of spaghetti and my numbers were great! I asked the dr what I should do when my numbers creep like that. He gave me permission to raise my dose 2 units if I think it's needed, but I can't raise both doses in the same day. I'm hoping next week we'll start to be able to look for the baby's heartbeat at my appointments!! I think m/s is starting to go away, unless it's the B-6 doing it's magic still. I'll finish up this bottle of prescription prenatal vits (with b-6 in it) then go to OTC Walmart ones.

Drew got his car fixed tonight! Just in the nick of time since the water pump on our Olds is going and needs to be worked on. At least one of us will have a car though. Now if only they could work on my van too. I'd love to be able to plan to take everyone somewhere....would have been especially nice this week.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Now that's what I call a good day!

FINALLY! I managed to have a busy day and actually get things done!

On Friday we didn't get too much done but sat and hashed some things out...mostly our chore list. I've said we're going to start our chore list back up again, just haven't taken the time to get it going. I figured a week off of school would make a great start to getting into the routine. I also figured it gave us enough time to get things going incase I end up on bedrest. I want them to be ready.

We originally started with 10 jobs....one for each kid, switching jobs weekly. I realized that I'd have to cover Olivia, Eileen and maybe Jake. Seeing as Drew and Pat tend to be gone a lot that left FIVE of the ten jobs needing my attention....not what I was aiming for. Michelle suggested we put some jobs together, team Eileen or Olivia with Drew or Pat and add in a week off. Last time we did a chore list we had a week off on the rotation. Everyone wanted it back on.

Jobs are...
Livingroom
Kitchen table and floor
Wash dishes and put them away
Both bathrooms
Stairs and Hallway
Laundry
Food Prep/Menu planning
Week Off

I think it's going to work!!! Either Drew and Pat cover Olivia and Eileen or I do....I can handle that. Today was the first day and everyone surprised me and just jumped in to their assigned jobs. Some had a LOT of work to do to get things in order. Michelle worked on the hall and stairs (normally a 30sec job) all day. It's an area that isn't touched on a regular basis. She cleaned out the closets too! It looks great!!!

I was busy all day between answering questions, giving the little kids a hand and teaching kids how to do jobs correctly (Carrie's first time doing laundry lol). This week is Jake has Food Prep. I won't have him make a menu and make the meals like I plan on the older kids doing, but he's a great helper. I let him do more then he's ever done before and he LOVED it! I had Eileen whining that she wants to work with me in the kitchen too. LOL

After putting off making all the things I've wanted, a nagging 8yo finally got me to actually do it. It's one thing to think...maybe I'll make cookies. It's another to hear someone say....can we make cookies now? Is it cookie time now? Mooooom! We were busy beavers today. We made....

3 loaves of bread,
1 batch of rolls
double batch of chocolate chip cookies....baked 5dz, froze over 3dz
Pasta salad for dinner
Boiled eggs for egg salad (tomorrow's lunch) and to eat out of hand
Quad batch of banana banana bread (dz mini bundt loaves in freezer)
London Broil for dinner
4 sausage/pizza rolls (double batch of pizza dough)

I haven't had a day in the kitchen like that in a looong time, felt nice! While doing that I also helped Luke with dishes (I was REALLY behind on them), Carrie with 7 loads of laundry and various other problems, questions. I barely sat down all day and felt fine. My feet started feeling like they might have started to swell by dinner time but they were fine. I laid down (didn't sleep) after dinner for about 45mins...MISTAKE! My hips froze up! (wondering if it's sciatica starting) UGH! It totally hobbles me up at first and throbs for the rest of the day...they are still sore after 5+hrs later.. I'm just hoping this doesn't get worse.

Off to bed. Fingers crossed that today wasn't a fluke and everyone cooperates with the chore list tomorrow. Also that going back to school doesn't mess it up!

Friday, February 18, 2005

SNOW DAY!!!!

YEAH! A perfect start to mid winter break (all next week off)...an extra day! The only thing nicer would've been if they hadn't waited until the last second to decide. We woke up to a 2hr delay. About 15mins before buses were due to leave the garage to start their routes, they closed. At the moment you wouldn't figure there'd be a snow day by looking out the window. Give it about 30seconds and that opinion could be changed. Lovely, fickle lake effect snow...snowing around the corner but not here earlier. From the looks of our forecast we'll be in and out of moderate to heavy snow from now until at least Saturday.

I've given the kids until 11 to do what they want, then we'll start cleaning. I'm trying to encourage them to get everything done so we don't have to do it this weekend. If we get things taken care of I'll allow friends to come over next week, invite my parents out for a visit and will let Luke have his birthday party about a week early...maybe even have Val's too. It'll ease up birthday week that's approaching quickly...3 birthdays in 1 wk.

I'm fine with getting snowed in as long as Tom, Drew and Pat get home safely. Yesterday D called me. We had an idea that the weather wasn't going to be so hot this weekend and we decided to go grocery shopping. Of course going into the "city" can't involve just going grocery shopping. You're in...gotta stuff as much into it as possible. So we threw in a stop to Toys R Us too. BIL had told us they had an additional 90% off their clearance stuff. It'd been going on a while so there wasn't too much left but we got a few deals and trinkets for the kids and my prize closet. It's nice to see the closet starting to get stocked again. I bought 2 Playstation2 and 2 XBox games for $1-3ea...brand new. I promptly gave them to Drew and Pat when I got home. Afterwards I kicked myself as they are two of the kids that are the hardest to find clearance stuff for. I could have used them for birthday presents or filler under the christmas tree and seemed REALLY generous! LOL

We've finally gotten cell phones. I didn't really care to have them but seeing as Drew, Pat and I have all broken down in the last 6mos or so without a way to call anyone....we decided to jump in. Last semester we were going to do it but the boys seemed to have less funds then they thought they had. We've gone with a family plan. We'll evenly divide the bill (and yes, I'm getting the money UP FRONT from them!) I'm about ready to smash their phones already! The smart alecks think it's hilarious to call me a zillion times a day. I couldn't hear the ringtone I'd picked when it's in my purse and didn't know they were calling. I've since picked a louder more obnoxious one. LOL

Pat went to pick up Val on Thurs night. He called to tell me that he'd broken down again not too far from the house. I told him I'd send his dad in his work truck to be patient. He said to hurry cause he was cold and Val was scared. I told her to assure her it was ok that he had a cell phone and help was on the way. He responded with...Mom, cell phones can't shot monsters. HUH?!?! LOL OK. I got off the phone and was telling Tom to go help them when everyone started laughing and in walked Pat and Val. They'd called me from the driveway!!! SNOTS! Like I said...SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! Toy, I mean phone all gone.

On the pregnancy front...my sugars have been GREAT! My fastings are 75-85 and I haven't had a 1hr postprandial over 120 in 2 whole days! Even last night after "pigging out" on Cheeze Nips crackers (read that lots and lots of carbs) and before I took my insulin the reading was 125. I thought it was going to be 150s to 180s easy.

After getting done here I'm hoping to get the kitchen and livingroom all cleaned up, start laundry and start messing up the kitchen again. LOL For starters I'd like to make....

Banana banana bread
Cookies to bake and freeze...chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and PB
Pancakes to freeze....triple berry (add muffin mix to homemade batter) and blueberry
BBQ beef in the crockpot
Stew
Bread...bought Whole wheat flour yesterday and found a few pkgs of 10grain bread mix at the dollar store!

There's tons more...but that's enough for now I guess. At least I already know what's for dinner...pork chops and pasta salad. YUM!

I'd also like to get into Luke and Jake's room along with the little girls' room to get it hoed out and set up nice. I won't even start to think of working on my room yet. And to start sewing.... *heavy sigh*

Time to finish up things around here now.

BTW...I can't see across the street now because it's snowing so bad.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Food part 2

Kathy, the diet is pretty generous when done right. I do find that I get hungry soon after a meal but the meals/snacks are spaced for that purpose. (3 meals and 3 snacks per day) I often find I skip either my breakfast or afternoon snack because I'm sleeping or get busy. If worse came to worse I could snack on some non-starchy veggies like celery and cucumbers if I needed to. I'd have a few more options open to me if I could tolerate sugar free things. I'm not that desperate yet. Ask me how generous this diet is again in about 5wks, after m/s is gone and before baby takes over my stomach space. LOL

To everyone, thank you for all the encouragement and advice I've received. I appreciate it. I have to admit, I sometimes find myself thinking....that won't work here or in this size family. I'm not sure if it's just an excuse or if my family dynamics really do play as much of a part in it as I think they do.

I feel my family is suffering to a point and I do feel guilty about that. Unfortunately I can't afford to feed my family my diet. (I doubt they'd go along with it anyways) We're a carb family...pizza, spaghetti, potatoes, bread, starchy veggies are a fact of life here. It's how I feed and fill up so many on a semi tight budget.

It's not just a matter of eating non processed food for me, it's eating the right kind. I usually cook from scratch. For us to eat processed foods is a "special" thing or comes at a time when meal prep time is at a premium (me feeling sick, lots of evening activies, me not being around a lot...etc). Eating the right kind means watching carb counts right now. Unfortunately for a diabetic, glycemic index doesn't matter very much. Yes, whole wheat pasta and brown rice would be more healthy. It's still going to elevate my blood sugar albeit a little slower. (1/2c brown rice has 20.6g of carbs, same amount of white rice has 21.9g...a carb allowance is equal to 15g)

Then I have a problem of guilt. Because I'm dealing with morning sickness and can't eat the normal foods I usually cook. I find I'm not cooking for my family like I normally too. So they are suffering...adding onto my guilt. Now if I were to be organized and precook things for myself. There's the problem of how to package it. There's snacks...which I can have 1oz of protein, lunch....2oz, dinner...3oz. UGH it's mindboggling. Then there's me wanting something quick for my family....seeing the precooked chicken in the freezer and going YAY!!! Quick stirfry for 12! No more chicken for me. Not to mention sneaky hands that are looking for a quick lunch or snack when I'm not around. LOL

Exactly how do you figure out how many carbs and proteins our normal dishes equal anyways? Chili, turkey and gravy, baked ziti, etc. Unless I measure my things out separately and fix it special for me...it's either complicated or guessing at best. (I never measure when cooking for the group...just dump) Either way...I'm back to square one. Or I'm stuck grabbing old standbys like my ham or turkey sandwich on one piece of bread. There's only so much of these you can eat before they become nausea inducing themselves.

Please don't take this as a sign I don't want suggestions and ideas. I love them! Keep them coming. Especially from those who've BTDT and have dealt with TOK dynamics.

So let me have it...what do you think...is it excuses or is it legit?

Dr visit and thoughts on my favorite subject....

Food! LOL

Tuesday was my weekly doctor visit. I dropped Drew and Pat off at school and got to my appointment about half an hour early...or so I thought. The receptionist looked at me funny when I walked in. She couldn't find my name on the list. While she went to the computer to look up my file and check things. I dug into my wallet for my appt card. OOPS! I remember now. There was no 10:15 appt open so I made my appt in the afternoon AFTER the boys would be out of school. They saw me anyways, so no running back in in the afternoon. PHEW!

I saw my weight as 216 (AFTER the dark 215 line) nurse saw it as 214 (before the line) Not really that big of a difference I guess. Just hope I don't gain a couple pounds this week and then get yelled at for gaining 2 more then I really did. My blood pressure was so so from what it's been but good all around...I'll take it. No fun stuff like measuring my belly or looking for the heartbeat yet...still too early. It was a quick visit with the doctor. He upped both doses of insulin again...4units each and said...see you next week.

I went shopping after my appt, picked up the boys and hit the stores again. We ended up running through Walmart and I hit the freezer section. I had decided I wanted to buy complete meals that fit into my diet. Then I could just heat and eat when I needed them. Not being used to buying premade things like this it took me a looong time to figure out what I could and couldn't get. I also bought a lot of clearance sale Valentine's Day candy. I knew that was a mistake!

I got home, put the groceries away and sat down at the computer. I opened a bag of cherry jelli/gummi hearts and had 2. Next thing I know...HALF the bag was gone!!! I'd sunk into my old habits and had been stuffing them into my mouth while typing away and hadn't realized it. GULP! I felt icky so went to lay down for a while. Got up an hour later and promptly threw up what candy was left in my system. I felt off for most of the night.

One of things I bought in the freezer section was a dinner of Orange glazed chicken. It fit into my dinner allowances perfect..with a veggie and glass of milk added. I decided to have it that night for dinner. Opening the package I thought...WOW! That's a lot of food. How can all that food fit into those allowances...especially with rice. I micro'ed it, micro'ed some frozen stir fry veggies and mixed it in. I just couldn't get over how much food it was. I shared a bit with Tom, gave all the little ones a bit of chicken and a bite of rice and veggies, no problem. After at least half of it was gone I got to thinking again...this CAN'T be right. I got up and checked the box. OOPS!!! The container was THREE servings!!! No wonder I was amazed at the amount of food I thought I could have. I ate the few remaining pieces of chicken and gave it to the kids to share. I'm not sure how my sugar was...I thought my glucometer was in the car and Pat was using the car. (Pat had brought it in before he'd left and I didn't know) I'm hoping ignorance is bliss this time around and being high for one day won't do too much damage in the long run. Now to get back on track.

I've decided not only do I have my laziness, family size and newness of diet against me. I also have the weather against me! If it was spring or summer it'd be so much easier to get a lot of things that are "freebies" in my diet. I could go out in my garden and grab a cucumber to snack on. I could make a salad with greens supplemented from the garden, etc. Right now I'm paying top dollar for cheap iceburg and spinach which is also bulky to store. If I make a salad for my family we can easily use 1.5 or 2 heads per meal. Where do I store a week's worth!?!? I definitely can't do my once every two weeks shopping trip anymore....which means more spending then normal, requiring more $$$.

I wasn't too thrilled with the taste of the frozen dinner. It's just not the same as what I'm used to. I do think it's really better to try to get things done ahead of time...make my own frozen dinners. Just have to find the time, keep the ingredients in the house and keep the cooked things away from 22 other hands. I guess if I was super mom I'd make enough for EVERYONE...but I'm not. LOL

Monday, February 14, 2005

Rough weekend.....

I need to get organized in terms of meals, menus and having things for ME available. I'm just not doing well lately with this diet. I never got my Friday afternoon snack and was starting to feel it. Thing is, Tom was due home with groceries any second so I held off. I figured we'd get groceries put away and then make something quick (Tom tends to buy chicken nuggets or something "fast food" when shopping on the way home from payday day). He'd bought fish fillets and fish sticks..yeah!!! I'd been wanting those! So I threw them in the oven, checked the package while they were cooking and figured out I could have 2 fillets (enough to fill out a piece of bread) but could only have one piece of bread...oh well, I'd live with that. I might even only have the fish and use the other starch for french fries I was frying up.

It got to be time to turn the fish and I opened the oven door to find....a COLD oven! The pilot light had gone out on the oven and it'd never started when I turned it on. Grrrr! I was hungry and starting to feel a bit nauseaus due to not eating for a while. I relit the pilot light and turned the oven on. Tom checked the fish about 15 mins later and the oven was STILL cold! Pilot had gone off again! Now it's about 15 mins before the kids needed to get out the door for church activities. So I take the fish sticks off the cookie sheet (leave the fillets for those who are staying home) and start microwaving chicken nuggets while I fried up french fries. I ate one starch allowance of french fries...2oz...about 8 crinkle fries...woohooo! *dripping in sarcasm*

After the kids got out the door I realized I really didn't feel good and I wasn't going to be able to wait for the fish I really wanted. So I started making my standby of 3oz of deli ham on the one piece of bread I was allowed (only 1 starch allowance left after the fries). The whole time I'm making the sandwich I'm bawling!!! I feel lousy and I don't want ham!!!! I want fish!!! Before I can finish making the sandwich I'm coughing and gagging...eventually running for the bathroom to lose what little was in my stomach. Good thing coffee isn't so bad the second time around ;o) I came out...still crying...and ate my sandwich, veggies and milk. Then I promptly planted myself on the couch in a stupor. Within an hour I was shivering so badly (not unusual to get cold after I eat). I put my coat on and hunkered down on the couch. I wasn't warming up and I still felt lousy, so just before 10 I decided to go to bed. I immediately went out and slept soundly.

Well, soundly that is until about 1:30am when Liz woke me up crying. It seems that Carrie threw up all over the stairs and Tom had left it to Liz to pick up.....telling her....do NOT wake up mom. I'm glad she didn't listen to him!!!! I was NOT happy with him. I guess he was having the dry heaves over it and if it'd been up to him, he'd have just covered it up. GRRRRRRRRR!

Saturday was a lazy, unproductive day. I got up at 8, tested my sugar and laid back down until 9. I decided I couldn't wait too much longer to eat or I'd be a mess all day that day too. So got up, took my insulin and ate my regular breakfast of peanut butter toast. I started feeling sleepy like I normally do about 45mins after eating. I decided to lay on my bed and stretch out my back until it was time to retest my sugar in 10 mins or so. Next thing I know....it's 3PM!!!!!!!!!! I'd slept for FOUR hours!!! The whole day was gone! I wasn't happy that they left me sleeping that long. The kids said they couldn't win. Tom was on their case about not waking me up, then I was on their case for letting me sleep! LOL Poor things. It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd woken up refreshed and raring to get some things done around the house. But I wasn't. I was a lump on a log and lounged for most of the day. Carrie laid on the loveseat and slept most of the day.

I did it again....I waited too long to figure out and get something for dinner. I couldn't find anything even though we have food in the house. Nothing seemed to be able to work for some reason. I started crying again and sat back down in my computer chair. I knew I had to do something or I'd end up throwing up again like the night before and feeling even worse for the rest of the night. I finally asked Tom if we could order chicken wings from the local pizzeria. He said sure...PHEW! Smart man ;o) I could only have 6 or 7 but they were GOOD!!!! I started feeling icky when Drew and Tom were out getting the wings so I micro'ed some veggies and had a bowl. I then stayed up playing Final Fantasy X until about 1:30.

Sunday was much better! I was the lucky person who got to eat the leftover chicken wings for my protein allowances for the morning and lunch! :o) I should probably order a hundred of those and just package them up according to a snack, lunch or dinner allowance. When I was pg for Drew I craved Hot Wings and would often eat a bucket of 50 of them from Kentucky Fried Chicken all day Saturday when I was at work. And I wondered why I gained 60lbs with him! LOL

This day it was Liz's turn to not feel well. She didn't throw up but slept about 8hrs and looked terrible after getting up. My SIL, D, and I went to visit MIL about 3'ish with a bunch of D's kids. MIL looks a lot better then the last time I saw her. She's still really weak but doesn't seem to have as hard of a time breathing. I'm hoping it's a sign that the pneumonia isn't going to be stubborn and stick around.

So I've come to the conclusion that I need to get more organized in terms of food in order for me (and my family, living with me) to survive this diet. I HAVE to make sure I have the snacks that I'm suppose to. I HAVE to plan meals before it's too late. I have to have things in the freezer for me to grab and make for myself. I'm not sure what they'll be. I'll have to take inventory, do a heavy duty grocery shopping trip and make up some things for the freezer. This putting myself first is getting to be a drag!

Friday, February 11, 2005

Toopid Carbs!!!

Just when I start to relax and think that things are finally getting under control....BAM! *heavy sigh*

After upping my morning dose of insulin on Wednesday my sugars have been good. On Thursday they were great starting with a fasting of 92. Breakfast was 95 (even finished Jake's apple which wasn't allowed), Lunch was 114. I started thinking....YEAH! It worked! THEN I had dinner. My exchange list says that 1/2 c of pasta is a starch, so I measured out 1 cup for my 2 starch allowance. 2 starch equals 30grams of carbs. While eating I input my meal into my fitday tracker. The tracker gave me 40g of carbs for my eggnoodles...huh? So I ran out and checked the package...yep, it's right. UGH!

I forgot to check my sugar level 1hr after dinner and ended up checking them 2hrs and 20mins later. (keep in mind my 2hr level is under 120). What did I test out as??? 159!!! I thought...nawwww that has to be wrong so retested. Got 143, ok so I am high...I redo it and average it. I then went into a testing frenzy. In the matter of a few minutes I got.... 138, 214, 127, 145. All because I had 2/3 of an exchange of carb extra?? GRRRR! This is SO frustrating!!! It wouldn't be as frustrating if I'd gotten that number because I ate something I WANTED! To get it after eating something I made myself eat (deli ham out of hand because I couldn't have bread for a sandwich and it was easy/accurate to measure 3oz)

This morning when I got a fasting of 98 I thought last night was a fluke. But nope! I'm back up to the barely ok level with a 140 again after breakfast. It was my normal breakfast of 9 grain toast and peanut butter too. :o(

Oh yeah and I felt headachey yesterday afternoon and took my blood pressure. It was up a bit. Luckily this morning it's back down, even to a GREAT level! :o)

Oh well, time to go eat again! Who would have ever thought I would dread EATING!!! LOL Guess I just figured out a new diet. Make people HAVE to eat...biggest turn off in the world!

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

I got a peek!!!!

I got to see the baby today! :oD The dr mentioned that it was too early to hear the heartbeat with the doppler (have a tipped uterus and extra belly fat...so not likely). I mentioned that at times I wonder what's going on because I feel like I'm not tired or sick enough. He asked if I wanted to sneak into the sonogram room and take a quick peek. He didn't have to ask me twice!!! Someone was already in there so we had to wait...but it was SO worth it!

Olivia went with me for the first time and was really shy. The dr let her goop me up. She'd squeeze a little out...check to make sure she wasn't in trouble. Rethink it and squeeze some more. She did that about 3 times while the dr was getting my info into the compture.

As soon as we could see the uterus (past my VERY full bladder...ouch) we could see the baby. It's hands were waving all around and the dr told Olivia...Look! The baby is waving at you! :o) I wish he could have gotten a picture of that because after that all the limbs disappeared. What didn't disappear was the HEARTBEAT! We didn't take the time to measure how fast it was beating...but it was beating really fast. It measured almost perfect too.... 9w 3d.

When I mentioned that everyone can stop talking about twins now too. He decided to look a little harder for a second one. If it's in there...it's a VERY good hider. LOL

I was thanking him up and down and telling him that I appreciate it. It wiped a lot of worry from my mind. I felt like if I saw a good heartbeat after 8wks...things would be fine. My m/c started at 11.5wks..finished at 13wks but the baby had stopped growing around 8wks. I can now relax a bit, but not too much. I wouldn't be a pg woman if I didn't worry! LOL

My blood pressure was good, she even took it while I was standing up! My weight stayed the same. My morning insulin doseage was upped 4 units. I giggled to myself that he did that, seeing as last week he said I was going to be one of those that needs a higher dose at night then in the morning. I guess waiting until the last second before bed to eat my nightime snack has helped my fasting levels. The last four days they've been....93, 89, 93, 86.

Oh well I just fell asleep while sitting here...going to lay down for a few minutes.

Monday, February 07, 2005

Whiling away some time...

doing some laundry. I know...I should be doing the laundry during daylight hours. I have this thing about running into the basement while the kids are around....I try to avoid it. It's probably a throwback from when most of the kids were little and would follow me down there. It was always a pain to keep them out of things and then herd them back upstairs when I was done. It took almost as long as the task I originally went into the basement for (mainly laundry). So I got into the habit of doing laundry after the kids went to bed. Problem now is...my kids are big and don't go to bed until LATE! Olivia is still sleeping with us so she's not on a fixed schedule like the school kids are. This means that she's usually up after the school kids go to bed. I am starting to break old habits...but it's HARD! Of course if I didn't procrastinate and save the laundry until the evening before it's needed...it might help too. LOL

I was thinking/worrying tonight that I'm not really tired anymore. Then I remembered...I took a TWO hour nap this morning! PHEW! A little worry gone out the window. I ate my breakfast, waited the hour to test my sugar and then climbed back into bed next to Tom. I only wanted to ask if he was getting up...he said yes and started to stir. I let my head hit the pillow and I was out cold. I did keep waking up (or is that kept getting woke up), think...I HAD to get up....that I was wasting the day away, then roll right back over and go back to sleep. So much for hating to sleep. I just wish I'd quit beating myself up over it after I get up. It's done! Get over it already!

I did luck out though because Michelle and Val wanted friends over today for a "Super Bowl" party (they didn't watch a second of the game! lol). This fact meant that they took it upon themselves to clean up the house so we'd say yes! Of course it worked but who cares...my housework got a huge dent put into it...and I was SLEEPING the whole time! Woohoo!

My fasting sugar broke 100 today. Not only did it break 100, but it broke 90 too with an 89!!!! My postprandials (after meals) are still hovering around the high limit. I'd love to see them drop at least 10 if not 20pts.

I've been tweaking the blog tonight...mostly adding links. I'd like to add something new but not something gimicky. It also has to not take up lots of space or take a long time to load. Having a fast loading site is important to me. I've found being online has caused me to be impatient...I want it NOW! LOL I haven't tried to look too hard, but it might be my next project here. I do know I need to get some new pics of the family and kids taken and put up. Just a matter of taking the time to do it.

I found a great forum for diabetic women of any type (Type 1, 2 or Gestational) whether they are pg or not. It's Diabetic Mommy and it's great to find people who understand exactly what I'm going through or will be going through. I've added the link over into my sidebar. I've also added a link to a Pregnancy Week by week site and my Fitday journal (meal tracking)

I've been playing around with Blogshares a bit more. It's a fantasy stockmarket game with the stock being blogs. I don't have all the skills needed to be really successful but I've increased my portfolio a LOT in the last month or so. Who knows...by the time I'm done....I'll own the world!!! *evil maniacal laugh*

Today I was in the mood to do some cooking/baking. I couldn't do it though. Everything I wanted to make were no-nos for me...fried dough, cinnamon rolls, pizza (although I can have some of it...just not enough), and cookies! I still was wishing I'd thrown together some cookie dough for the kids and threw it into the freezer so they could make a few batches every now and then. Yeah like I wouldn't be sitting here stuffing my face right now! Maybe I'll do it....tomorrow.

Oh well, laundry is ready for me to switch them over. Guess that's my clue to get off here.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Hormones raging....3 times in one day!

Yep, it's me again! I mentioned breaking the bad habit of not posting...well I've done it! LOL

I'm really on edge today and have broken down to tears once or twice...over FOOD! Grrr!

My sugar hasn't been behaving today! After having a high fasting and lunch (but good breakfast) I was really careful about dinner (also skipped my afternoon snack) and my level was still high. Granted it was JUST over the limit at 149 but still. It should have been GOOD and below that!

It doesn't help that Tom brought home 2 half gallons of REALLY yummy ice cream either. At first Tom didn't understand why I refused to make the sundaes for the kids. But I REALLY wanted one! I've already put in a request for the hugest strawberry sundae with strawberry ice cream after this baby is born. I might switch it to a banana split! Or even BOTH! ;o)

They used up the rest of the bananas and I told him to defrost strawberries from my huge bag. I was at the computer feeling sorry for myself while he got everything ready. He was joking with Jake to get a sandwich baggie and they'd save me a little bit (after Jake told him he can't use my strawberries, that I need it for my plain yogurt. What a sweetie!) All the joking brought me to tears and they wouldn't stop. Until MIL called...kinda put my situation back into perspective. TWICE I had the kids bring me their bowls with leftover mixed up mush in it. It smelled SO good! I had all I could do not to say oh well and dive face first into the bowl. I've been sitting here for the last hour, trying to figure out what I'm going to eat for my bedtime snack. It better be something really good!!!!

MIL is sore and exhausted as is to be expected. She did sound a lot better when talking though (not huffing and puffing like the other night). I automatically started asking her what she was doing this weekend but stopped myself mid sentence. We both started laughing. I then switched it to...Are you feeling up to company? I'm going to try and visit her in the morning. Maybe I can do it early so she's not exhausted. Plus I can get home at a decent time. Problem is...I'm going to miss out on our routine...work marathon on Sat afternoon to whip the house into a liveable state. That means I'll have to try to do it Sunday (but when...between church and homework?) Oh well, guess MIL is more important then a decent house. Then again maybe by leaving Tyrannical Daddy in charge...the house will be spotless when I get back! LOL

Grrrrrrrr!

Ok...so I was hoping my numbers were good for lunch. They STUNK!!! Such as....highest it's been since almost the beginning! UGH! I think I'm definitely doing something wrong during the meal. Or the fruit I was told I was allowed is just not going to agree with me. WAAAAAAAAAH! It was my one splurge...smoothie (half milk, half yogurt, serving of fruit) or plain yogurt with fruit added to it. Maybe I should have only had one piece of whole grain bread. But to cause it to hit 184!?! This is driving me crazy!

Ok...another pity party over with. I guess I'll go and do some DDR to see if it can bring my numbers down a bit. Have to hit the potty first ;o)

Getting into a bad habit

It bugs me that I'm not updating here on a regular basis. I come to blogger to do it but by the time I start...it's just too much to do. I think of things to post about all the time. I'm not sure why I'm freezing up about posting though.

Things have been crazy here. On Saturday Tom's brother J and his mom came over to visit. They also worked on the car and got it running. WOOHOOO! Tom's mom hasn't been over in quite a while and we had a great time visiting. I miss that she's not around so much...the kids really like the attention she gives them. His parents used to stay in a trailer out on our property for most of the summer until she started dialysis (6 yrs ago). (It's the trailer Tom's brother B stays in now when he's working their side of the property.) There were disadvantages to the close proximity too but now that it's been a while and we don't see them as much as we once did...I miss the benefits. While here though MIL had to deal with a bit of some stressful things and after a while said...call 911. She then acted like she was kidding and was fine. She even left our house around 6:30 and went to visit her oldest DD.

On Sunday Tom and I went out to dinner with his family to celebrate his baby brother's birthday. Unfortunately his baby brother didn't make it though. We all had a good time anyways. I ordered a 12oz sirloin and had thought I'd only eat some and take the rest (meat/protein allowance is 3oz for dinner lol) I decided I'd just have to deal with bad sugar levels for one meal and ate the whole thing! It was delicious!!!! Actually the meal wasn't too carby (coleslaw, garlic bread...ate a few bites like a good girl, french fries...saved until last and didn't eat them all) When I tested an hour later it was 139!!! LOL

While we were waiting for our table Tom's mom offhandedly mentioned she was having angina. I asked her about her nitro and she said she used the spray before we left the house (I thought she was using breath spray DUH!) By Monday morning she was in pretty bad shape and called her cardiologist. He told her to go to dialysis and they'd evaluate her. They hooked her up to the EKG and called an ambulance. Seems she had a heart attack over the weekend (probably Sunday night) and she also had pneumonia.

She's getting released from the hospital today after her dialysis treatment. Unfortunately they didn't have such great news though. They took her in for angioplasty on Thursday. It was suppose to take 45mins. They came out 2.5 hrs later and said no matter what they tried they couldn't clear the blockage...it was too blocked and like steel. There is no other option for her due to her delicate health. She's a walking time bomb (major stroke or heart attack waiting to happen)

Last night while laying awake at 3am I was thinking about her and praying for her. I started wondering if THIS would be the straw that breaks the camels back. That this would cause her to finally say she's stopping dialysis for good. Although I don't want her to, I understand if she does. After stopping dialysis survival is 7-14 days. :o(

On the pregnancy front...

I went to the nutritionist on Monday and learned a thing or two. :o) One thing was that my exchange sizes were a bit off (too big) on a few things...mainly oatmeal and pasta. Sorry but 3tbsp of oatmeal flakes and 1/2 cup of cooked pasta just don't cut it! She reworked my daily meal allowances. It's not too far off but still a bit off. I tend to have to check my sheet every meal/snack to make sure I'm doing it right. I wrote it up on my numbers log just so I'd have it online and couldn't lose it. LOL Seemed I'm always looking for my paper. I know eventually it will not be found! She's still kept me close to the 2200 cal Meal Plan. I seem to be doing ok on it and for the most part my numbers have dropped a bit.

The nutritionist talked to me about exercising. It's been something I've been wanting to start but wasn't sure if it would drop my sugars too low. She assured me that as long as I monitor my levels and watch for symptoms of hypoglycemia...I'll be fine. The worse that can happen is that I'll need a drop in my insulin dosage and that's NOT a bad thing. LOL She suggested the Walk Away the Pounds workout. I had to laugh because I've been considering buying these for the last month. I saw that Kathy did it for her whole pg and figured it'd be safe for my tired body. :o) Patrick brought his Playstation2 and DDR game down into the livingroom. I've been setting the timer for 20mins and hitting the dance pad. The first day I did it I could barely breathe at times. Now it's not too bad unless I try a really hard/fast song to do. Although my calfs tighten up immediately. That's my own fault and could probably be avoided if I took the time to stretch out before I started. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to do this though. It requires some balance and jumping around...not to mention puts some strain on my pg relaxed bladder. *blush* Hopefully by the time it gets hard to play this though...it'll be NICE OUT!!! Then I can walk and maybe even go swimming (if manage to find summer this year..unlike last year)

On Tuesday I went to the OB and I'm happy to say it went a LOT better then last time. I gained 2lbs and that's fine. :o) My blood pressure was a bit up but still good. I've been noticing it's creeped up at home too. The dr looked at my numbers and upped my insulin. It didn't surprise me. I said it looks like I'm one of those that will need a bigger dose in the evening then in the morning. He eventually decided to up it equally though so it would be easier to remember. I'm up to 14units 2x a day now.

He mentioned that I'll probably be doing weekly appointments for quite a while, if not for the duration of the pg. By the time we get the dosage in order, it'll be time to start upping it again (around 20-24wks). I'm not too happy about that but luckily the dr's office isn't too hard to get to and they're quick. I asked the dr about my chances of staying with them or getting shipped to the bigger city Peri. He assured me that the only reason to have to be transferred to the city is if the baby was to be born before 36wks. The local hospital not having the appropriate NICU. :oD Exactly what I wanted to hear! He told me he's only sent one patient to the city for the treatement of their diabetes but they weren't following along with the plan and had numbers in the 200-300 range.

I'm feeling a lot better physically. My cold is gone and my head is cleared of the cobwebs for the most part. I'm tired but not tired like I was last week. I do notice that half an hour after eating my big meals I can't keep my eyes opened. I'm attributing that to an increase in my glucose levels. My m/s isn't too bad and at times I start to wonder if it's too good. With my m/c I lost m/s symptoms at 8wks or so. I'm just hoping that it's the semi controlled glucose levels and the B-6 in my prenatal vitamin doing it's magic. I'm really trying not to worry about it. It sure will be nice to hit 13wks though! (UGH! another month to go!)

Last night I fell asleep before I got my bedtime snack in. I felt off this AM...dizzy and a headache. I thought for sure my glucose was low. NOPE it was the highest it's been in a few weeks. It was only 113 but for some reason it threw me for a loop and I had a not so great morning. I took my insulin and ate half my breakfast. 1hr numbers were great at 110! I then finished my breakfast allowance. LOL I'm feeling a lot better now then I did 6 hrs ago. Hopefully lunch numbers will cooperate too. Yesterday's lunch was a tad high.

When I saw my fasting number this morning I started crying. Yeah not feeling the greatest didn't help that, but I was also having a pity party of myself. This can be so much work! One thing off and it messes it up. I know one high number isn't going to be a real problem. I still want to have it right so that this baby can have the best possible outcome it can. I already feel like I've stacked the cards against it with my chronic blood pressure, maternal age and all around out of shape enviroment. Luckily the pity party didn't last too long. Now if only I could quit procrastinating and get off my rear!!!

This place is a dump and it's starting to bother me! I want to get rooms completely cleaned. I'd love to haul out my room and get it painted...everything is downstairs...just have to do the work to get it done. If only my mind could actually accomplish the work....everything would be perfect 100times over!!!

OK...I've got to track my meals and then get my kitchen into semi presentable shape. The vermins in there are starting to revolt due to the conditions. ;o) (kidding! we're vermin free...as far as I know)