Today I took care of fixing the peony bed here at the old place. In the fall I divided a portion of the bed, it looked much more bare and spread out unlike the rest of the bed which was clumpy and overgrown. Peonies like other rhizomes need to be divided and spread out as the years pass. Allowing them to grow for many years without division can result in leggy plants and less blooms as a result of the constant battle for nutrients.

Being the good tenant/ gardener I am I wanted to divide them so they were happier and more healthy but I never finished during the fall. I wanted to finish the job before we leave here since I started it and didn’t want to leave it in disarray. That’s not how I roll. If I start it I finish it, regardless of how douchebagy the landlords are.

So, after dividing the rest of the peonies N and I busted out the rest of the cat house I started building a few weeks back. He sawed the flaps and doors, I screwed the parts together and sealed the wood. It is now drying and just needs hinges, then Hailey will have her new home for the new place. One cat house built, now we’ve just have the dog house to go!

N took the bunnies and their cages outside today for some fresh air and a cleaning, this is a task in it’s self and took most of the morning. All the bedding needs to be removed from the cages, then the cages are scrubbed out and left to dry. Once dry, they can be re layered with bedding and the bunny can get all situated and comfortable again. If the cage is not thoroughly emptied and washed it can get smelly and be a breeding ground for flies and other nasties… So all the pets have cleaned homes, litter boxes and all that good stuff, yay!

We also took a load over to the new place today and did some pruning of the rose bushes/ trimming of the other perennials. While we were there we saw that the blood glucose meter Kari offered to loan me arrived in the mail. Thanks Kari, now I need to start finger pricking and recording my results. Ouchie!

Speaking of ouchie, I’ve been feeling pretty good these days. No weird symptoms creeping up other than the normal stuff. Pamela and I are still on the lookout for signs of pre-eclampsia like for racing heart or protein in the urine and we are also looking our for signs of Pregnancy-induced hypertension. All is still checking out just fine.

The only real stuff I am experiencing is the usual pregnancy side effects like heartburn, belly button irritation, itchy skin, back pain, joint and ligament stretching, freakishly fast growing hair and fingernails, hurty pelvis grinding, shortness of breath, oh and now sleep disturbances and odd dreams again.

Back in the first trimester I was waking about every 2 hours to pee and I would also have some odd dreams, that all subsided for a while but now it seems my sleeplessness is back and so are the freaky dreams. Good news is I am not waking every 2 hours like before. Now I wake for no reason once per night at about 4:20 am, like clockwork. I’ll wake, drink some water and pee.

Sometimes I wake dripping sweat, these days I am super toasty most of the time which has left N shivering throughout the nights and days. I’ve got fans blowing and windows cracked to let cold air in and I am still burning up. I am a little furnace and it’s kind of uncomfortable!

So the peeing and the overheating is making me sleep like crap. Also the weight of the basket ball sized water pocket in my abdomen is slightly uncomfortable but my Snoogle Body Pillow makes all that okay. Falling back asleep is a challenge these days. I woke at 4:20am and now it is 5:18am, I tried but couldn’t fall back asleep, too uncomfortable or whatever… so now I blog.

I guess in some twisted way my uncomfortableness, drippy sweat and constant peeing is mother nature’s way of conditioning me early for the new sleep pattern I’ll need to care for Tater in 3 months huh? I’ll adjust and adapt, it is just a bit different that’s all.

Well I am off to take a warm bath now, perhaps that will relax me enough to fall back asleep so I am not compleatly useless tomorrow. Wish me luck.

The post Don't worry, I am not dead- just blog slacking. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

I never imagined I would receive so much helpful information as a result of that post and I am now very glad I choose to share my vulnerable moment with the internet. There really is so much knowledge and support out there!

Basically after reading all the comments you left and after chatting with many people about it I’ve got some direction and resolution. I found out that my mother also failed her GD tests with each of her 3 pregnancies. After failing the tests all they did was advise her of ways to eat a better diet. Essentially they did nothing more to treat the issue, my brothers and I we were all born fine…

Also, my midwife is not concerned about my failing the gestational diabetes screen by 1 point. When I talked to her she said her major concern for me was to watch my blood pressure and any potential swelling (you know preeclampsia or pregnancy induced hypertension).

She also suggested that I get my hands on a blood glucose meter so I could monitor my own blood sugar levels at home (for peace of mind). She said I didn’t need to follow up with the second 3 hour blood glucose test like my OBGYN wants. Nothing wrong with saving myself the stress and the insurance company money.

She did say we should keep an eye on my sugar levels with a meter for a few weeks just to be sure nothing funny really is going on. If I do show blood sugar problems with day to day testing then we’ll dive right in to diet modification.

Even if I was officially diagnosed with GD after the 3 hour blood glucose test I would only be advised to change my diet. In rare cases when a woman’s blood glucose level is super high insulin can be given as a treatment method but with my test coming back at 140 (which is normally the highest normal result with other physicians) all this is a bit funny to be getting worked up over.

For most women GD is something that can be managed and even avoided with the proper diet and nutrition. It’s not a world shattering thing for the average woman like the doctors make it out to be.

We’ve decided to decline the 3 hour blood glucose test along with the RhoGam shot the OBGYN is pushing. Either they will respect our decisions about it all and back off or they will continue pushing and we’ll just cancel our appointments and discontinue care with them.

We are definitely planning to get a blood glucose meter to keep tabs on by blood sugar here at home just to be sure we aren’t ignoring any potential issues. Plus, the glucose meter will help me to see what foods (if any) are impacting me.

We are pretty sure there is no blood sugar problem, I just need to focus on eating more good stuff like I was trying to do back in the first trimester before the bad advice from the OBGYN.

Eating well is always something I’ve had to conciously focus on, if I let my cravings dictate my eating I’ll eat nothing but crap, I knew that when I discovered I was pregnant. Then I let the OBGYN make me feel bad for not eating what I was craving, now I need to just go back to my initial way of thinking. I can do that!

The post Gestational diabetes screening in pregnant woman, how my situation unfolds. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.