Giving attention to hubby

For more than 2 years, my hubby was my baby. He loves how I take care of him, cook for him, and make him lambing. He gets all my attention, especially when I resigned from work last year. Now that I’m pregnant I know that my hubby would also have to make lots of adjustments. He used to be my baby but would now be promoted to being a daddy. I know it’s so easy to get caught up with being pregnant and giving all your attention to making sure that you’ll have a healthy pregnancy to ensure that baby would be healthy and normal. More often than not, pregnant women usually (but not intentionally) tend to overlook the husband and his needs. I am a bit guilty with this during the early weeks when we found out we were pregnant. With the lifestyle adjustments that I have to make since a diabetic (and obese) pregnant woman would be very prone to pregnancy complications, I expected him to shower me with lots of attention and understand my emotional roller coaster ride. Having raging pregnancy related hormones didn’t help as well. During those early weeks, I would just prefer to lie down on the bed and rest rest rest. I’m just thankful that he stepped up and tried understanding what I was going through as much as he could. I really feel guilty during his am shift wherein he has to be at work by 6am in makati. I used to cook him breakfast no matter how early it was. I would just go back to sleep afte he has left. But lately I just really couldn’t manage getting up and make him asikaso. I would often wake up to seeing him iron his own clothes for work and no matter how guilty I feel, I was just too sleepy to get up. He would also just end up having his breakfast at work. Anyway, now that my energy’s slowly coming back and I’m almost on my 2nd trimester. I’m consciously trying to give more attention to the hubby. I know I was previously too lazy to cook (well, not to mention the fact that I despise certain odors while cooking and that my tastebuds were sometimes not cooperative as well) so now I’m trying to get my cooking groove back and cooking him food that I know he likes coz I know that’s one of the things he misses. I’m starting to get back the responsibility of ironing his clothes again. And of course I make sure that I don’t scrimp out on hugs and kisses as well. I’m just really thankful to be blessed with such a wonderful, understanding, and supportive husband. So far, I’m enjoying going through this pregnancy journey with him despite feeling like a pincushion with all the insulin injection and blood sugar monitoring that I’d have to do.

baby’s heartbeat

We just heard the awesomest sound ever – our baby’s heartbeat! Wop wop wop wop wop wop It was truly an amazing experience hearing our baby’s heartbeat through a fetal doppler! I’m glad my hubby was there with me. And he is a proud father indeed! At first my OB was a bit worried that she’ll have a hard time finding it due to my flabs of fat, but we’re really thankful that it just took a few seconds before we heard that awesome sound. Good job, baby!!!! I have been anxiously anticipating this OB visit and have been really paranoid if everything’s alright…if we would be able to hear baby’s heartbeat. Especially that lately, almost all pregnancy symptoms are gone, except for some ocassional barfing and lower back ache. Maybe I can attribute that withe fact that we’re almost at the 2nd trimester. Anyway, we’re just really glad the OB visit went well. She was happy that my hba1c went down. I just really need to make sure that I control my weight gain for the 2nd trimester. Since I’m obese, I would only need to gain 1-2 lbs per month as compared to those with normal weight who would have to gain around 1 lb per week. Also, I wouldn’t need to take folic and multivitamins, but instead she prescribed me to take iron and calcium supplements which my baby would be needing at this phase of my pregnancy. I was hoping she’d give me an ultrasound request since I really want to see my baby but she adviced that we just wait for my 5th month when I’m scheduled to have my congenital anomaly scan (CAS). Oh well. That’s a bit of a long wait! At least we’ll have the opportunity to hear baby’s heartbeat again on our next visit next month. There are lots of times that I’m really tempted to buy a fetal doppler so we wouldn’t have to wait for check-ups and we can listen to our baby’s heartbeat any time we want to, especially during those times when I get paranoid. I just need to make sure to follow my doctors’ orders, keep on praying, and trust God that He will bless us with a healthy, normal, strong, happy, and smart baby! :-)

weight gain

Obese pregnant women, especially those with diabetes, should monitor closely their weight gain during pregnancy since they are more prone to have bigger babies which usually causes a caesarian delivery. Usually it’s recommended to only gain 11-20 pounds for obese women as compared to 25-35 pounds for those who have normal weight. I’m aiming to have a normal delivery as much as possible so I’m really trying my best to discipline myself. Before I got pregnant, I was trying to lose weight so that I would be healthier. When I resigned from work in June I was at 240.5 lbs. At around 4 months I already lost 20lbs but a lot happened (parties, outings, xmas holiday, etc) and I started gaining again. And when I got pregnant I was around 226lbs. Two weeks after I got hospitalized so that my blood sugar would somehow normalize, I lost around 2 lbs which alarmed me a bit and got a bit paranoid, hoping that my baby is still getting enough nutrition. I’ve been trying to be really careful with what I eat and how much I eat so as to have a steady normal weight gain. It really is a struggle especially that I’ve been super hungry lately. It takes a lot of discipline in ensuring that I eat at the right time and at the right amount. Sometimes I just get super paranoid since I might not be eating enough for the baby and that our baby is not getting enough nutrition. But my sugar level can really go crazy at times that even if I don’t eat as much it, shoots up within an hour just like the other day (ex. breakfast: 2 gardenia pandesal 2 scrambled eggs –> blood sugar level: 178 1 hr after) but turns to almost hypo in 3.5 hrs (blood sugar level: 69!!!). I would easily know that my blood sugar is low since my hand would be a bit shaky already and I would usually panic a little in finding something to eat. At 12 weeks I already gained 3 lbs. So far I think that’s good progress. But I was starting to get paranoid again since I weighed myself this morning and I lost 1 lb, to think that I only last weighed myself the day before yesterday. Oh I just hope my baby is doing alright. Is it because I didn’t eat any rice yesterday? I’m trying to avoid rice since it’s usually the main culprit when my sugar shoots up. This whole diabetic pregnancy can really be challenging. It entails careful food planning if I want to ensure that my blood sugar is at a normal level and that I would be gaining just the right amount of weight and that my baby would still get all the nutrition that it needs to develop into a healthy normal baby. We still have a long way to go but I’m more determined to become better at this all for the sake of our baby.

Happy father’s day

It’s father’s day and the whole gang was at Project 6 again. We had a hearty lunch with sugpo, palabok, and liempo. In the afternoon we had a humongous pizza delivered from Big Guy’s Pizza just like last mother’s day. the daddies the gang Nothing beats spending time with the family!

pregnancy symptoms

I have been a bit paranoid a couple of times regarding my pregnancy symptoms. I hate it when I feel all these pregnancy symptoms all too much then one day I feel perfectly fine without any tinge of symptom. During those times I can’t help get paranoid and doubt if I was still pregnant. My mind can really go crazy at times. Anyway, what have I been feeling lately? Well, I’m usually very sleepy and lethargic. I would force myself to get out of bed to inject insulin and eat my breakfast then I’d usually go back to bed. I used to program my alarm to go off at 6am for breakfast (just like when i was hoapitalized so i can have snacks at 9 am, lunch at 12 nn, snacks at 3pm, dinner at 6 pm, snacks at 9 pm) but lately I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed and would end up getting up at around 8:30. I still try to eat every 3 hours but i often end up getting so hungry around midnight. I also end up feeling so tired even just after doing some household chores so I would usually try to space them out a bit and take naps every so often. But i know I still need to do a bit of exercising so usually I just do a bit of walking either going to a nearby market or doing grocery shopping. I never experienced throwing up until I was around 10weeks. I thought I wouldn’t go through that phase but I guess I spoke too soon. And unfortunately, my first major barfing episode was when I was cooking adobo which my hubby requested. Unfortunately, my tummy couldn’t handle the smell of adobo, much to me and my husband’s dismay. I had to instruct him to finish cooking and just locked myself in our room so I wouldn’t smell it anymore. He just ended up frying the pork and threw out the sauce so I wouldn’t smell it anymore. I couldn’t bear eating it, good thing we had leftovers of a different viand from lunch. Lately, brushing my teeth has also been triggering my barfing episodes. I really hate the feeling of barfing so I’m hoping by the 2nd trimester I’d graduate from it already. Another major symptom would be the frequent urination. Frequent would be an understatement. I almost go every hour and usually 2-3 times during bed time. I wouldn’t want to refrain from drinking water since I know I have to stay hydrated. It’s just a bit of a discomfort dragging my sluggish self out of bed just to pee. One of the 2 things I hate the most is having those nipples get soooo sore! As in super sensitive in a non-sexual way. Argh! It hurts darn bad! :( Well good thing that the last few days it doesn’t hurt as bad anymore but they just look a bit bigger. Now the other things I hate the most is the getting super constipated. I never experienced this before I got pregnant, especially since I was taking Metformin for my diabetes which makes me prone to pooping 2-4 times a day (usually right after meals!). But lately I’m really having a hard time doing my business and sometimes end up having blood when I do my thing which really scares me a lot. My OB suggested that I eat oatmeal and probably drink cilium fiber to help ease my constipation. Unfortunately I hate those 2. Oatmeals are so bland and I can’t add any sweetener to it. I don’t like drinking cilium as well since I don’t like the taste and I hate the bloating feeling after. Unfortunately too, I can’t eat as much papaya since that would also trigger a high sugar level. I just really need to drink more water and find other alternate foods which are high in fiber. Oh well. Despite all these, I’d still want to think that I’m pretty much doing ok with my pregnancy. I’m lucky enough that I’m a housewife and doesn’t have to drag my sorry ass to work. That would have been much stressful. Atleast I can pace myself and rest whenever I feel the need too. Despite the discomfort these symptoms bring, I’m still thankful that I have them since they just affirm my pregnancy. How I wish I can have an ultrasound whenever I want to just to make sure my baby is doing fine. Well, that would be too costly. I’m slowly but surely learning to trust more in God that He would help us get through this and that I would safely deliver a healthy normal baby.