the good, the bad, and the ugly

let's start with the good!!! friday we met one of our best friends, Lauren Miller, downtown in Falls Park and she took some amazing pictures for us for Christmas Card/Maternity Shoot. We had so much fun, even though it was cold, and got some great pictures. I think Mary Tyler had fun during her first photo shoot, she kicked me all the way home. Please check out Lauren Miller Photography for any and all of your photography needs!!

The Bad - back pain. Yikes. Cheerleading season is over, but basketball season is not. Cheerleaders have to be at basketball games. Girls and boys, back to back games. And those cold, hard bleachers (with no seat backs) are not kind to me and baby! I need a stadium seat cushion with a back!! We had so much fun this past Saturday going to Charlotte for the ACC Championship game, but that walk back to the car... yikes. Definitely starting to feel the "pains" of pregnancy, but considering myself very lucky right now that that's all I have to worry about!! We have definitely been blessed!

The Ugly. Sheesh. Last Wednesday I went in for my glucose test and I didn't pass it, which was dreadful, because nearly everytime I have blood drawn I pass out because of my heart condition. And then for about a week thereafter, I am prone to passing out again. So, on wednesday, after I made it through without passing out, I celebrated (too soon) and was thrilled that that was the last "blood taking" of my pregnancy. Then I got the call the next morning that I was 3 numbers too high and needed to come back for a three hr test which consists of 4 venipunctures in 4 hours. :( nooooooooo . LUCKILY, my nurse at Piedmont OBGYN, Kristin, is amazing and loves me! She let me stay back in the fetal monitoring room in a recliner with a blanket and a tv instead of sending me back out to the lobby every time. It was SO HARD not to throw up. At one point I was tilting my head back continuously swallowing and trying to quit gagging, bc if you throw up, you have to go back and do it all over another time. Sarah came with me (thank you!!) and was in there helping me "talk myself out of it" but it was seriously one of the hardest things i've done. Having no food or drink on your stomach for 12 hours and then drinking Glucola is disgusting. Mary Tyler seemed to love it, she danced around so much in the first hour that I thought the movement was making me sick. Did a lot of in through your nose, out through your mouth breathing, and I made it through!! Now we wait for the results. If I don't hear anything by Thursday, then I am free of gestational diabetes! If I do have it, they'll call me in the next couple of days and send me to MFM. Everyone say a little prayer. God has kept me and baby safe and healthy thus far and I know He will continue to be faithful!

28 weeks tomorrow!!! Time is flying on by :) We can't wait to meet our baby girl!