Musings of a Multi-Cultural Mind

Somehow these first 2 months of our son's life have just flown by.  While he is still only in the 12th percentile for length/height at 22.25", and the 16th percentile for weight at 10lbs 10oz, his growth has been steady and he is doing super well.  He smiles and coos all the time, and recognizes mommy and daddy and loves to look in everyone's eyes and study their faces.  In fact, he was full of smiles this morning at the pediatrician's office after he dropped a deuce on the examination table when she went to do his exam.  Even after all his vaccination shots in both legs, he settled down again quickly with his pacifier.  We must have won the baby lotto with this guy! We did hit a little complication in our lives though when we came home from an appointment and found water leaking out of our water heater closet on our patio.  We had just replaced our water heater over the summer so we knew it couldn't be that, and a quick check confirmed the leak ha

Today our son is 5 weeks old, and I can hardly believe how the time has flown.  Surprisingly, Stephen and I have settled naturally into a little routine. We've been rocking the teamwork enough to put even synchronized swimmers to shame.  A few thoughts a month in:   1) Breast Feeding - I had heard stories from friends how their milk was just overflowing and leaking all the time so I prepared ahead of time with breast pads, clothes & bras for nursing, a pump, a support pillow etc  STILL NOT HAPPENING FOR ME!  I lost so much blood my milk just didn't want to come in right away.  I'm taking Fenugreek supplements and drinking a tea that's supposed to help increase my supply, but these cups just don't over-floweth.  The lactation consultant had said I should be pumping every 3 hours, but when I would pump I'd only get 1oz total for both sides 20min each.  And then I started feeling under the weather, like I'm fighting a cold, and with the fatigue I just c

On Wednesday 12/14/16, at 2:50am, our little king arrived.  He made quite an entrance too.... We arrived at the hospital on Tuesday, 12/13, at 7:30am, and met with our OB to do a final ultrasound to see what position our son was in.  Low and behold, he had moved into a head-straight-down position, very far down in my pelvis.  So we had to make the final decision as to whether we wanted to proceed with a c-section or go with a vaginal birth.  Our OB really made the case to go with vaginal since it was now a possibility so that I would have a much shorter recovery time, so we decided to give it a go.  All the birthing/delivery rooms were full at that point though, so we went off to the cafeteria for breakfast to wait it out a few hours.  In that time I remember feeling so nervous.  Did I make the right decision?  I was already mentally prepared for a c-section and the recovery that would be involved with that type of birth.  No labor, a quick cut, and the baby would be here.  Could I h

The past couple of weeks since Thanksgiving have been pretty busy.  We've been going to our ultrasound and prenatal appointments, and our doctor determined she'd like to deliver our baby at 37 weeks by C-Section on 12/13.  Seems my little guy is looking good in there, enough fluid, decent size (surprisingly doesn't seem overly-big so far!) and dropped low into my pelvis head down.  Problem is, he's at an odd angle - kinda sideways - which has been pretty painful for me.  He could end up moving into a more straight down pose, but on top of that, my blood sugar levels have just been too hard to control.  I'll eat something one day and I'm fine; the same thing the next day will send my sugars soaring.  But then I'll take a nap and wake up shaking and nearly comatose from extreme lows, so I can't risk increasing my insulin dose either.  Throughout all this, I've been so impressed with my OB and the diabetic nurses/counselors with Sharp-Rees Stealey.  The

So today marks our first Thanksgiving together as man and wife!  Though it definitely was a different vibe for us this year, as neither of our families were in town, and my out-of-control gestational diabetes makes the traditional Thanksgiving dinner limited to turkey only for me.  What's the point without all the goodness of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie?  Or even a good buttered roll?  Just adding those to my list of things to eat after I pop this kid out - even if its just Boston Market or microwave dinners!  :)  So today we just opted for home made tom kha soup(Thai coconut chicken soup) and a movie date.  I know we're a little childish, but we watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Disney's Moana.  I've been saying for years Disney should do something based off of Polynesian mythology - really there are so many great trickster characters, and Maui's a great one. And I love Dwayne the Rock, and thought they did a nice job with a mash-up

So here we are, at nearly 30 weeks, and it has already been an interesting start to the 3rd trimester.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I failed (miserably) at the glucose tolerance test, and despite all my denial, blood tests after fasting and normal meals without sugary items still showed that I do indeed have a problem.  My OB and the diabetes nurse & dietitian spelled it out for me in a clearer way.  Basically, after around week 25, the placenta starts to crank out even more fancy hormones, and your pancreas is required to produce 3 times as much insulin as normal.  And if you don't eat regularly, your liver decides to dump a bunch of sugar into your system because it thinks you need the energy, which in turn the pancreas battles by making more insulin.  So there can be a lot of internal spikes and crashes going on that can be dangerous for the baby, possibly resulting in preeclampsia/blood pressure spikes, higher birth weights, premature labor, or worse case even still