fond memories

I have recently read posts on forums and blogs about when does a pregnancy actually feel real.  One post that I relate to so much mentions that even now that she has her babies she still sometimes wonders if they are hers...

I thought I was the only one!  Throughout my pregnancy I did not really "feel it".  I was always waiting for some revelation, or event, or just something, anything... to happen to make it real - like passing the 12 weeks mark, feeling the baby move for the first time, starting to show etc.  These things all happened, and yet still it did not fell real.  Telling people also did not make it that real too me.  Showing - well I just thought I looked fatter than normal.  And feeling movement - hardly felt him move and sometimes when I think I did I never really knew if it was real or not!

I have very fond memories of my pregnancy (and not so fond ones too...), especially the early days.  Like the day I found out I was pregnant, and the subsequent great beta results proving this one was sticking.  I constantly felt like I was keeping this really great secret!  I would sit and smile at odd times during the day when it was all I could think about.

And even now, nearly 8 months of actually being a mom, I still look at him with disbelief that he is actually mine.  that I am actually a MOTHER - when did that happen!?

My baby turns 8 months in a short few days.  And I cannot even begin to express how much more I love him today than I did the day he was born, or even yesterday!  I would never have imagined that you could ever love someone this much.

here and there

On Monday the man and I took the day off to go see a Fifa World Cup game - Portugal vs North Korea.  Oh my word - what a game, and what an experience!  We had so much fun, despite the cold cold weather and the rain.  Luckily our seats were completely covered, so we did not get wet during the match at all.  I did not expect the level of noise though!  We wore earplug throughout most of the game.  When I took mine out just as it ended I was shocked!  cannot imagine how people coped without earplugs....  Portugal beat the Koreans 7-0.

The day care is run by a Portuguese mom and daughter.  Over the weekend I found a cute little Portuguese kit for my boy and we dressed him in this on Monday - they loved it!  This Friday Portugal takes on Brazil, so they are hoping that I will be dressing him up again - but, the person looking after him is from Brazil, so I hope to find something to support her this time round :)...

After a great blood sugar day yesterday I woke during the night with a serious low blood sugar.  I downed a juice box, and then proceeded to finish off a chocolate.  For a change it tasted good (during lows things tend not to taste good, and everything tends to have the same taste for me), so I thought I may have over indulged.  I woke up with a good reading though, so all is good!

I don't have much more than this happening at the moment....  My little fella is still a bit under the weather so we added some more meds - to clear some phlegm and from today to clear a runny nose.  The past two nights have been good with no night wakings, so it must be working!  I am suspecting that allergies are also affecting it all, so at our 9 month visit I will be requesting tests.

sleeplessness

I have been up since 2am this morning.  I woke up, for no apparent reason, and just could not go back to sleep.  I tossed and turned, at around 4am I probably would have gotten myself done and gone to the office early if it wasn't for the little guy.  So now I am at work - and just hoping that it is not going to be too long a day...

And my cold is back :(.  Burny throat and runny / burny nose.

And that's about all I can manage for now...

feel it, it is here

Not only has the Soccer World Cup arrived in our country, but winter has arrived in full force.  Today on the way to work the temperature was 6 degrees Celsius.  Various mountain passes have been closed this morning due to snow, and we are still expecting some rain in our city today.  Yesterday morning while still in bed my husband's words were "it feels as though we are in a washing machine" because of the rain we were having.  And as irony and just bad luck would have it - our lounge got flooded within that hour :(.

But, today is a good day as tomorrow is a public holiday!  I had to stay home yesterday to clean up the mess, so a short working week for me.  We got it all cleaned up (thankfully we don't have carpets) and will have to see if the floor is damaged in a couple of days.  I hope it is not, as the thought of having to repair / redo it is not fun at all.

And in other news - we actually went to see two show houses on Sunday.  One which we liked, the other not so much - not much of a garden and yard for my fella to play in.  And yesterday we went to the bank to get some info on costs etc. of a new mortgage, and also what we would qualify for.  So we have decided to put our place on the market now (still need to speak to estate agent) and continue looking at the same time.  So I have all my bits crossed that everything happens real fast!

It seems as though my boy will be crawling soon.  For the past week he has been managing to lift his whole upper boy, and then his bum too.  Gets into the position and keeps it there for a little while but then drops back down.  So just a matter of time I am sure.

thinking back, not too long ago

When I look at my boy I sometimes cannot believe he is actually here.  That he is actually mine, and that everything turned out so so great.  I count myself one of the luckiest people in the world for this...

The road, although not too long, had some hiccups along the way.  Firstly, I was going to have a diabetes pregnancy - although I knew, that as long as I kept everything under control, this would not be a problem or a factor in the pregnancy at all.  I did not know how time consuming it would be though - how diabetes would become so much apart of my life.  That was not fun, but in the end it was all worth it.  I had no diabetes complications during my pregnancy.  I kept my blood sugar levels as tight as I could - I can honestly say that it was the best control I have ever managed over an extended period of time.  And if I had to do it again I would...

Pre-eclampsia was something I knew about, had read about, but it never crossed my mind that I would actually get it.  And just as easy as it could have cause me so much heart ache, it let me meet my man a few weeks early. And angels were watching as the events that led to that fateful OBGYN visit were all but coincidence I believe.  And he did great.

And as I look at him still, I cannot believe that actually he was conceived on 31 December 2008, in a little petri dish not too far from home while I was trying to celebrate the New Year with friends - But all that was on my mind were my little embryos, wondering how many of them there would be the next morning.  And for about three months my little man was frozen.  Isn't that amazing - I think it is..

Actually, all I really wanted to say is how happy and thankful I am, and how much I love that boy of mine.  And I hope that I will be able to give him the best life he could ever imagine.  I am just so happy that I got my happy ever after.  And I really hope that everyone can have theirs one day.

Pump upgrade

And once again it is Friday.  Sometimes I feel as though my weeks consist of only Mondays and Fridays.  The weekends fly by, but so do the weeks...

I plan on relaxing this weekend, and especially tonight.  We had dinner with my in-laws last night and got home quite late, so I am a bit sleep deprived today.  Dinner was very nice, with a nice glucose reading at the end when I got home (and then a rage correction bolus was followed by a low :()

And on the diabetes front - I met with a "Diabetes Educator" this week.  I have never used one before, have always just been managed by an Endo.  I really enjoyed the visit, which was to discuss pumps and joining a diabetes programme run by my Endo.  The "Educator" is his wife, a "retired" GP, and was great!  We discussed upgrading my pump - I am now just waiting for a call from the Medtronic rep to put the wheels into motion.  At the visit we decided to move to the Paradigm 722 - I am currently on a 712, in stead of upgrading to the new Veo (which I believe is something similar to the recently launched Revel in the States, but with an additional function of automatically shutting down the basal delivery if glucose levels drop below a certain point).  The feeling I got was that there are some additional functions to this new pump, but if you are not going to constantly wear the CGM you will not use these.  I just want to do some reading on the differences between the two, as apparently there is also not that much of a price difference.  She has let Medtronic know however that we are going with the 722 (but I guess I can still change my mind....).  She even gave me a new meter - granted it is identical to the one I have, but it is great!  I have been using my current one for more than 4 years now and love it.  In that time I have tried two others but they did not appeal to me.

I have also joined the programme - it does not cost me anything additional, but gives me access to some additional services at no extra cost.  Extra strips - YAY!, and the possibility of receiving LESS pump supplies.  yes you read it - less...  I currently have a draw filled with reservoirs and cannulas and the way I am currently receiving this I cannot have a "break" in delivery without causing issues with my insurance.  I found out yesterday that these supplies actually expire!  Need to check on that....

And more on that - I am considering / thinking about / contemplating Metformin.

house hunting

We bought a flat / apartment a few years back.  It is quite large, but only has 2 bedrooms.  It was never really a long-term plan anyway, and when we decided to try for baby we discussed what we would do.  The plan was that once he was born we would immediately start looking for a house, to give us enough time to move by the time he turned one.  However, this did not go according to plan.   So now we have talked and we really need to get our asses into gear!  Last night we did some budgets.... So next step is talking to someone regarding the size mortgage we would get, and then also start looking at selling our current place.  It is quite exciting, and I am actually really looking forward to moving eventually - not the packing and unpacking and all that of course! 

While we still have some space in our current place, it is not really going to work for us for much longer.  The little fella is taking up more and more space every day.  And we never really wanted him to grow up in an apartment anyway.  I will miss living there - while I do like gardens etc., an apartment is so much less stress in some ways!

I am looking forward to some off days in the next coupld of months, most of which will likely be spent with my boy, and at time boys :).  Makes work a little easier knowing it lies ahead!