P90X, Gestational Diabetes, and Meal Plans OH MY!

         My life is getting too complicated. *sigh* had a Pre-Natal checkup with Stork yesterday. I was somewhat expecting another lecture on not drinking enough water, however Stork said we were all go in that department. As a result of NOT (apparently) being dehydrated, I was not throwing ketones anymore, AND my liver enzymes were apparently "not wonky" anymore. YAY ME! However, since I'm now 30 weeks, we decided to test my blood-sugar levels - needless to say, a simple pin-prick and a tiny amount of blood on a test strip can seriously screw up a diet plan. 

           For the last 3 weeks, I have been following (mostly) Lion's P90X Diet - 1 (serving of) carbs, 2 fruits, 4 vegis, 2 dairy, and a freaking TON (his is 8-10 servings, but I was cutting back to between 5-7 servings) of Protein (he also gets 4 snacks which include protein bars and "recovery drinks" which I did not need and simply ignored). In order to keep Lion on HIS diet, I have been working off of a meal plan and cooking his meals in advance so that he would never have to resort to fast food (ie FAT food). I thought that by going on a extremely low-fat and low-carb diet, I would help my chances of not developing gestational diabetes (I had it with Vixen in the last trimester - but not for any of the others). I was seriously bummed when the blood-glucose screening came back with 155. :/ And that was an hour and a half after having had nothing but my (granted heavily sugared and creamered) coffee. Bummer.

       SO! Stork sent me home (after much talk on local politics, Giggle Family News, and the marriage of her son over the previous weekend) with a Blood/Glucose Meter and requested I test my Blood/Glucose Levels (hereafter BGL so I don't have to keep typing it!) first thing in the AM and 2 hours after each meal. Unfortunately, the BGLs I have been getting all day yesterday and today have not been promising. Of course, I haven't changed my diet yet either. All day yesterday, the BGLs stayed above 135. My fasting BGL this morning was 105 (good news there) but it spiked right back up to the 150s after each and every meal today. So apparently, a diet change will be necessary. Google here I come!
      Here is what I have learned: Baby Koala and I *do* need carbs and (can you believe it?!) FATS! Whodathunkit? "It is also helpful to get 45 to 60% of your calories from carbohydrates, 15 to 25% from protein, and 20 to 30% from fat."   :/ I guess the extremely low-carb and no-fat P90X Diet will simply have to be thrown out for me. ARG! That means I must work up *2* different (!!) meal plans! *sigh* what a pain in my backside. ***Mama Roo tells herself: It's Good for you, good for Koala, and Good for Lion, you can do this, you can do this, don't get pissy, you CAN*** So, here goes: this is roughly what I need: link source here

2200 CALORIE SAMPLE MENU A sample of a 2200 calorie gestational diabetic diet is listed below.

Breakfast: 3 carbs (2 breads: 1 cup bran cereal or 1 cup cooked oatmeal and 1 dairy: 1 cup skim milk, 1% milk, or nonfat sugar-free yogurt), 1 ounce meat or protein (like 1/2 cup scrambled egg substitute or lowfat cottage cheese), & 2 fats (like 2 tsp margarine) **I DON'T eat margarine!! - no way no how**

Morning Snack: 1 fruit (1/2 large banana), 1 oz. meat substitute (2 Tbsp peanut butter) - **Peanut Butter and banana?? What Am I Pregnant?**

Lunch: sandwich with: 2 slices whole wheat bread, 2 ounces meat or protein, 1 vegetable (2 lettuce leaves with 2 slices of tomato), & 1 fat (1 tsp mayonnaise or 1 Tbsp salad dressing) PLUS 1 fruit (like 1-1/4 cups fresh strawberries), 1 vegetable (like 1/2 cup vegetable soup or 1 cup carrot sticks), & 1 dairy (like 1 cup sugar-free nonfat yogurt) **that's a lot of freakin food!! - I usually don't eat much for lunch!**

Afternoon snack: 1 starch (like 3 squares (2-1/2 inch) graham crackers

Dinner: 5 carbs (1 lg baked potato or 1 cup pasta, 1 dinner roll, 1 Fruit, 1 dairy), 2 vegetables (1 cup steamed asparagus and 2 cups tossed salad), 3 ounces meat or protein (grilled chicken breast or fish), & 2 fats (1 tsp margarine and 2 Tbsp lowfat salad dressing)

Evening Snack: 1 carb (1 slice whole grain bread, 6 whole wheat crackers), 1 meat or protein (1 ounce lowfat cheese or 1 ounce lowfat ham), & 1 dairy (1 cup skim milk or nonfat sugar-free yogurt)

Totals For The Day: About 2180 calories: carbohydrate about 47% of calories, protein about 23% of calories, & fat about 30% of calories.

I foresee a few small problems with this diet: I don't eat that much food! Maybe without the snacks... but everything I read says that I need to eat between meals to maintain BGLs... don't know if I can eat that much. Also, this food is expensive!! On top of the crazy amounts we are currently spending on Lion's P90X foods, this is just plain lunacy. *sigh* I'll give it a spin and see how it works with what I've got for the week. If the BGLs don't normalize, then I guess Stork and I are gonna have to get together to figure out what to do. And I need to test the paradigm of regular exercise helping to normalize BGLs. I haven't been able to do my Yoga for several days due to getting other necessary things done in the house (laying flooring in the Spare/Craft Room, installing the ballisters  on the kids' room porch, massive amounts of laundry, running errands etc). 

              OH!! Before I forget!! All Photos in this Post were taken and edited by Aunt Penguin!! I gave her discs today so that I can get copies of both the originals and her edits of my maternity pics, and the pics of all by beautiful Giggle's Zoo Babies, so look for an up-and-coming post with all of those pics!!!

Hot Spot Vacation Trail Hike

Yesterday:

Lion, Eclectus, Peacock, Penguin, and I went on a Trail hike near our Hot Spot Vacation Cabin... we had INTENDED to go on a moderate hike of anywhere from 3-8 miles, mostly on flat or gently rolling terrain and walk-behind waterfall of a certain trail, but the Park road with access to the -jump-off point for the the Trail was closed for maintenance.... so, the gentle relatively easy hike we had planned got preempted and we had to roll with the punches and take was what was available....We started on another trail, intending to go from there to the jump-off point for the Falls Trail... we figured this only added 3 miles to the hike... no big deal right?? WRONG.

the before picture

We ended up hiking 3 miles with up-down STEEP terrain with a total elevation gain of 953 feet & 3 creeks we negotiated without a bridge... considering I'm 20 weeks pregnant, 4 of 5 of our hiking members are overweight, 1 member has diabetic neuropathy in her feet, and another has asthma, this wasn't going to be an easy hike! Lion and Peacock were really the only ones who hiked it with little to no difficulty, the rest of us were struggling to various degrees. I really enjoyed the hike, but found the very steep uphill portions very difficult, having to stop every 20-40 feet to slow my breathing and ensure I wasn't pushing my pregnant overweight a$$ to much... Unfortunately Penguin and Eclectus got the worst of it... Asthma and Diabetes are not good thinks to have on long strenuous hikes... Penguin did great on the downhill and mostly level parts of the trail, but those steep uphill portions that were making me stop so often were really causing asthma issues with her... Eclectus, contrarily, did great on the UPHILL portions and of course the level areas - it was the steep downhills that did her in... knees and feet weren't feeling great. BUT WE ALL enjoyed the hike... mostly (at least the pictures made it look like we were having a good time!!)!!

I admit though, that we DID NOT hike all the way back to the truck... Penguin, Eclectus, and I weren't sure we would make those steep uphill climbs again, and we were almost out of water (even though we brought 2 gallons!!)... so we decided to try to take the road back to the truck... unfortunately, the road way was a LOT longer. Wonderfully for us, a park service truck happened by and graciously allowed up to hitch a ride down the mountain to the truck... YAY forest service guys - - GOD BLESS YOU!!!! So we all made it back to the cabin, exhausted!! Now after showers and Papa John's Pizza, we are heading out the the hot tub for a good soak!

the after picture - - you may not be able to tell, but we were ALL soaked - - and of course this was AFTER our forest service truck ride!! LOL

Koala! The long awaited Ultrasound!

Yesterday:

Elephant, Zebra, Monkey, Vixen (Tortoise was on her last day of camp- Lion was with her as a Camp Big Buddy), Eclectus, Penguin, and I went to the Dr for an ultrasound to determine baby's gender and make sure all is well with development...

here is Zebra.. she is in the waiting room with the rest of us.. she set the princess dolls up in the chair next to her and was about to read to them when they called our name for the ultrasound... doesn't she look excited?! <~ see last Giggle-ism at the end of this post

here are the results: it's a GIRL! And she is perfect!!

She's measuring at 19 weeks 5 days (and whadaya know I'M exactly 19 weeks 5 days along!!)... the ultrasound tech said her little legs were long, that her heart was pumping perfectly, that there appeared to be nothing to worry about at all, she was even sucking (though not on her fingers... none of my babies have ever been finger suckers.... no idea why). She kept her tiny little hands up next to her gorgeous face during the entire ultrasound.. and even appeared to be waving a few times. The ultrasound tech had the common sense to outline the baby's little body parts for us, so those of you that aren't used to looking at ultrasound pictures can easily figure out where everything is...

Here is another picture.. this one is in profile. Koala's cute little head is on the right looking toward to upper left hand corner of the picture. Her right arm is slightly in the background with the hand right up next to her forehead. In the ACTUAL picture, you can even distinguish eyes, nose, and mouth... but those features didn't scan well.

So!!! Say hello to Baby Koala!!

Here's another couple of Giggle-isms:

This morning before we left for the ultrasound: Monkey comes to Penguin and:

Penguin: Do you want a baby brother or a baby sister Koala.

Monkey –pouting- responds: “I want a baby brother.”

Penguin asks: “Why do you not want a baby sister?”

Monkey: “Because I don’t want it to be mean to me all the time, like Vixen.”

~~ when the ultrasound tech announced that Koala is indeed a girl, he put his hands on his head and sat back down... LOL Poor Boy -- we had to reassure him that another baby girl couldn't possibly be as mean to him as Vixen is.

After the ultrasound as we were heading into Khols to shop for baby girl clothes:

Me: Zebra, are you happy about your new baby sister- Koala?

Zebra: *shakes her head no with a silly smile*

Me: Did you want a baby brother -Koala?

Zebra: *shakes her head no with same silly smile*

Me: Do you want a new baby at all?

Zebra: No.

~~ well, you can't win for losing! You weren't very happy about little brother Monkey, little sister Vixen, or our lost baby Gabriel either, so at least Koala isn't starting out life any worse off in Zebra's eyes than her now much-loved little brothers and sisters (well, sometimes she enjoys them anyway.. she is a very good big sis when Tortoise isn't around)

Why so many children do you ask?

Why so many babies do you ask?

.... I hear it all the time.... "You DO KNOW what's causing this right?".... "You have 5(!!) children?!"..... "How many more kids are you planning on having?!" - that one with an exasperated tone like it's somehow offensive..... "Will this baby be your last?!" ... It's amazing the stigma associated with having more than 3 kids... People say this one: "WOW you've got YOUR hands full" so often I don't even hear it anymore...

So here are the answers in case you are one of the curious... even though I don't think it's anyone's business but mine and Lion's (and God's) how many children we are going to have or when we have them...

Why so many Babies? - WHY NOT?

You DO KNOW what's causing this right? - I sure do, and it's oh-so-much FUN!

You have 5(!!) children?! - well, lets count... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... yes I do have 5, and another on the way!

How many more children are you having?! -- this answer will be the subject of this post.

Will this baby be your last? - well, I don't know... maybe, maybe not. (this answer is tied to the previous)

WOW! You've got YOUR hands full! -- *big smile* well, at least my hands aren't idle... YOU DO know how the saying goes?! Idle hands and idle minds are the devil's playground.

so since the basics are covered, I will now answer the only remaining question... How many more children WILL we be having? The answer is.... I don't know. I know that that seems an odd response considering today's prevailing attitude that women, and men, should be able to specify when they are "done". Lion and I have had many, many in-depth discussions on this very topic, and the end result of every discussion boils down to this: We are leaving the number and frequency of pregnancies and births squarely in the hands of God. It seems like a fairly simple thing to do... to leave something in the hands of God... but not simple at all when actually put in practice. It takes a great deal of faith, to place such a large part of our life in someone's else's court (even though that court is God's court)... to understand that even though *I* may not think I am capable of having another child (and maintaining my sanity)... He knows if I am, or if I'm not.

There was a time when we did NOT do this, however. I was on a form of birth control after Tortoise was born... for 3 years... it wasn't until I converted to Catholicism, and Lion returned to the Church that we came to the conclusion that it was the one area in our lives where we can safely say that God is firmly in control. And I have to say that it wasn't The Church that forced us into this line of thinking.. but our own conclusions drawn from the teachings OF the Church, in the bible, and the "classes" we took together for me to convert. We don't "preach" our viewpoint to others... unless they sincerely wish to know, or unless they ask dumb questions and I feel put-upon enough to tell them to butt the hell out of business that does not concern them ( I Do realize that this is not a Christian attitude, but sometimes pregnancy, nursing, and post-preggers hormones get the better of me - and sometimes I have no excuse... I'm just tired of having to hear stranger's opinions of MY life, when I didn't ask for them). Of course, I have no medical conditions or anything else that makes pregnancy and childbirth dangerous for me, so that helps with the faith aspect... I can honestly say I don't know how I could deal with that... maybe HE knows that 6 kids and a serious medical condition are too much for poor-little-ol-me to handle. There was a time -- very recently (after the loss of a pregnancy -and child- in December), when I thought I might have to insert my own opinions on how many children we should have... and when... but -- as always happens when my Faith in His Plan with regards to our children wavers or weakens-- He placed his hands into our lives yet again, and with the help of 2 very wonderful and kind and generous people, I am once again squarely on the right path again. I know it is the right path simply because any time I begin to falter, He is there to light the way... to make it just a touch easier in one way or another... and I Thank God and those Wonderful and Kind and Generous People (KaGP) for hearing Him and me, in my (our) time of need. THANK YOU GOD. and God Bless You KaGP!