How Did I Get Here?

Oh For the CUTE!!

I know he's been here two weeks...
but I cannot get over how freaking CUTE this baby is!!
I guess mommies have to think their babies are adorable... it helps make up for the sleep they steal. :)

Harrison Grey Gleason

He's Here!

Harrison Grey Gleason
September 1, 2008
8lbs 8oz
20 Inches

Welcomed by two proud parents, and one excited big brother:

The story of his arrival is a bit to tell right now...
we're home, after an extremely tiring and annoying 6 day stay in the hospital.
I'll tell that story another day.
For now, I just want to share pictures of our perfectly healthy, beautiful and blessed baby boy:

Busy Little Bees

I've had the past two days off work...
and it's safe to say, we've been busy little bees.

Yesterday, we designated "Connor Day" and let him choose what we would do.
What did he pick? Zoombezi Bay... the local waterpark. So off we went.
It turned out to be a gorgeous day.
I got to doze in a raft down the lazy river while Jon made sure I didn't run into any walls - heavenly.
Then, while Connor and Jon hit the slides, I got to doze again on the beach chair in the shade.
It almost felt like "Missy Day" except there was more walking than I cared for ;)
Connor had a great time and declared it the best day of his life.
So I think we hit a home run there.
We did it since we figured his life will be turned upside down very soon, with the arrival of his little bro.

Today, we got to work.
I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, another stress test.
Babe is good... movin and groovin.
He's now head down, and I'm a centimeter dialated, that news threw Jon into a slight panic.
Which meant he got the nursery painted today... so that's a plus!!
The color is just a tad darker than what was already on the walls.
Just enough to warm things up in there.

And while Jon was painting... Connor and I worked on a project for the baby's room:

I won't show you the whole thing, because I want to keep his name a secret on the blog until he arrives.... but I can say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out... and I actually set foot in a scrapbook store for the first time in more than a year today... yowza... I can't believe it's been that long. I tell ya, my wallet is not minding the absence from scrapping... but it was nice to get my hands all gluey and inky today.

I Couldn't Resist...

I bought this tonight:

So freaking cute.

Lately I've been:
-Indulging in Starbucks decaf iced mochas - it's one treat that doesn't seem to drive up my sugars. And I love them :)
-Feeling a TON of pressure and sometimes pain in my pelvic area/pubic bone... so much so that I'm walking like an old lady. I am the object of much mocking.
-Craving pasta. Darned gestational diabetes.
-Counting the days till my maternity leave starts.
-Really into the olympics this year. I think part of it is because I want Connor to experience it. And he definitely is. He's been pretending to be a swimmer, a gymnast and a volleyball player - and that was all today.
-Looking forward to my anniversary dinner with Jon. We'll be doing our traditional Hyde Park steakhouse. Steak Woody, here I come.

I promise I will have  a belly pic soon.
Tomorrow, we hit 36 weeks.
Gotta mark that milestone.
And before I go, I will leave you with a picture my brother in law took of David, Caitlin and Connor yesterday... so freaking cute. I love that these cousins love each other.

This Could Be Bad...

I realize I am opening myself up to all kind of ridicule..
but I wanted to share ultrasound pics.
And the scanner is on my crappy upstairs computer.
So you get a video blog.
Ick.

Quite the Adjustment

It's been a week since I had my awful experience at my gestational diabetes class..
and it's been quite an adjustment for me.

No longer can I just eat what I want - I need to think hard about the foods I'm taking in. And not in a "dieting" kind of way, but in a "is this a good combination" kind of way. There's definitely been a learning curve here. I liken it to trying to put a puzzle together, but the puzzle is the food and my body... and finding the ways they'll fit and not drive my blood sugars up.

On monday, I faxed my blood sugar numbers in to the doctor, and they were too high. So I've been prescribed a medication to help with them. But I still need to keep my diet in check. Yesterday, I had my first experience with low blood sugar... woah that's not a good feeling. I got all sweaty and dizzy... I felt like I could eat a house. Note to self: eat something every 2 hours.

Rather than bore you with the minute details... I'll just leave the GD talk at this: it's hard. But it's not hard enough that I can't do it for a couple more months... and every time I think of the little boy that likes to make my stomach look like it's straight out of the movie alien... I'm ok with a little extra diet attention.

31 Weeks

I've had a few requests for a recent belly shot..
so here you go:

WHERE HAVE MY FEET GONE!?!?!?!
Ok, I know this is the belly shot you want... as much as it pains me, here it is:

31 weeks.
Still large and in charge.
Even more large.
I learned some depressing news in the last week. I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
Which is diabetes that you get when you're pregnant. I wasn't surprised, I was almost expecting it. Diabetes runs in my family, on both sides. My dad has it. My sister was diagnosed with gestational diabetes with her second child. And we're both pretty sure we had it with our firsts, because looking back, we had all of the classic symptoms, it was just that our big 3 hour glucose test didn't catch it.

So I started testing my blood Thursday - 5 times a day.
When I went to the gestational diabetes class Thursday, I was fine.
I was prepared, I'd talked to my sister and she had prepped me for what I was getting into.
I knew they were going to talk about diet, and go through how to test your own blood.
But then, when the nurse started talking about all of the medical aspects of gestational diabetes... I just started to feel so.... overwhelmed. I have no idea why. But the tears started to come. I tried my best to hold them back, but my eyes just kept welling up with tears. I tried to look out the window, watch the rain, and focus on keeping my cool, but it just didn't work. I felt like a fool. I got it under control when it was time to learn how to test my blood. But then I just wanted to smack someone. I was in a class with 5 other women, and NOT ONE of them could prick her own damned finger without messing something up, or being scared to. I wanted to scream at them all: "YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!! IF YOU THINK PRICKING YOUR FINGER IS HARD, YOU ARE IN FOR A RUDE AWAKENING!!!"
But I kept my trap shut, patiently waited for the nurse to walk each of them through it, and silently wished I could just leave.

Once I did leave, I got in the car, called Jon, and broke down.
I cried for no reason. At least, I had no logical explanation. I just kept telling him I felt overwhelmed.
And Jon, who always knows just what I need said: "You can do this. WE can do this. You are strong and there is nothing you can't do for 9 weeks." Bless his heart. That helped.

Then I walked into work. And Tracy saw me. And I cried again. She and Nicolle did their best to cheer me up... and it worked. Tracy made me laugh, telling me "it sucks being strong". No kidding.

So I've been testing since Thursday, I'm never on the low end when it comes to blood sugars... I need to fax in my numbers this week, and depending on what the doctor thinks, I may have to take pills or do insulin injections. We'll cross that road if we get there. I just keep telling myself, this is for the health of my baby... and it's not because of anything I did wrong... it's just my genetic makeup.

On a lighter note...
Jon had the weekend off, and we took full advantage.
Yesterday, we finally got out and bought Connor a big boy bed. A BUNK BED.
It's a twin over a full, so we have a place for company to sleep.

Then today, we just spent the day at Easton, browsing the shops and getting ideas for the nursery and Connor's new room...
We stopped in to the Buckeye Corner and got Baby Gleason some buckeye gear:

He's going to be arriving just as football season starts... so we HAD to get him some Ohio State onesies... right??

And let's not forget my first little man....
I like to call this picture "rebel yell"

That's him, clutching the otter he got at the Newport Aquarium last weekend, and yelling at the top of his lungs for no good reason. Stinker.

He impressed Jon and I today, by trying 4 new foods: A smoothie, guacamole, lettuce and shrimp. Jon and I just about fell over when he went back for more guac and another bite of shrimp. I'm so glad he's trying new things :)

Ok. If you made it this far, you are a saint.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

UGH.

Bathing suit shopping has got to be the most cruelest thing ever invented.
Bathing suit shopping while pregnant is just plain evil.
I tackled the task this week...
because let's face it, if we're going to Zoombezi Bay, mama needs a swim suit.
BLEH.

It was hard finding one that didn't make my boobs look obnoxious.
Seriously.
After trying on several, I decided on this one:

It gets the job done.

Although I still look like a tramp with all the chest. Not much I can do about that.

The Details

oooh.. what a crappy picture... all blurry and whatnot. Ah well. You get the idea. 21 weeks today, and I am getting quite large. I also just realized I am barefoot in this photo. And pregnant. Somethign Jon likes to point out every time I kick my shoes off. Goofball.

So, I figured I should give a few details on the whole pregnancy thing.

No, we were not trying..

Yes, we are very very very happy.

No, we were not expecting to get pregnant. Not one bit.

We figured after 6 months of clomid last year, and a couple of near hits (as opposed to near misses) this summer - We were destined to be a one child family.

And the funny thing is, Jon and I were starting to come to terms with that... getting content with the thought of us and Connor for the long haul. I was starting to console and comfort myself with the fact that Connor has 5 cousins... all close in age... all close in relation. And that we'd be able to do more with one child, and give him more. Shoot. Jon and I even started to throw away baby stuff over Christmas vacation. Pack n' Play? who needs that? We're never going to travel with a baby again. Crib bumper? Not necessary. Pacifiers? Nope. Little did we know, the whole time we were cleaning out the baby supplies... little cells were dividing and multiplying... making themselves into a littly embryo.

And if you've been reading this blog or just know me, you know GETTING pregnant is never an issue with me. It's the staying pregnant part. Infertility really does not apply here. There's something in my body that has issues with pregnancies. I really don't even know if we ever figured it out. But I'm just happy to see that this little one is tough like his big brother... and he seems to be in it for the long haul.

Back to the photo here. Yes. My ass does grow with my stomach. I am not one of those cute pregnant girls who does not look pregnant from the back. I look pregnant ALL OVER. Fat face. Tush. Swollen feet. Boobs growing exponentially. You name it... if it's on my body... it looks pregnant.  (But my toes look pretty!!).

So the family plans are changing... we're losing our guest room and gaining a nursery.
Connor's going to have to accept the fact that someone else is going to be playing with his Thomas Trains and Hot Wheels... and No, they will not be leaving our house anytime soon.
Jon and I are still getting used to the fact that we're going to have a baby again. That we'll have to potty train again. And wake up in the middle of the night. And carry a diaper bag.

And you know what?
We couldn't be more thrilled.

Thanks for all of the well wishes and congrats on the baby post!!
Thank you for understanding my hesitancy to post about it earlier.
I really truly feel thankful for having such wonderful friends and family.

I've been keeping a secret...

from the blog world.
Ummmmm...
well...
you see...

I'm PREGNANT!!!!

Yes.
It's true.
The day I thought would never come again, came and went...
and I kept my lips sealed (for the most part).

We found out right after the New Year.
And it was safe to say Jon and I were "cautiously optimistic"...
we were happy... but we were waiting for the miscarriage to begin.
When you've been through 5 of them... you start to expect them.
So we waited.
And we tested.
And my hormone levels were good.
And a week later, we took a peek with an ultrasound.
And we saw a heartbeat.
And we started to believe.
Then I spotted.
And we looked again.
And all was well.
Then.... nothing.
Uneventful.
Nausea.
Tiredness.
First Trimester came and went.
Still tired.
Not so nauseous.
Still "cautiously optimistic"... but more emphasis on the "optimistic" part.
I rented a doppler monitor.
I listened.
I waited.
I heard a heartbeat.
I still kept it quiet (on the blog).
I started to feel flutters.
Flutters turned to kicks.
Kicks became constant.
Then today came.
D-Day.
Ultrasound day.
20 weeks.
YES! 2o weeks!!

Want to find out what we're having??
Why don't you find out with Connor.
I took this video this evening when I got home from work (late because of a meeting - boo)...
And you have to watch the full minute... or you won't hear the right answer.