No Reimer Reason

My mom’s comment on my last post (regarding a picture of me and one of our kitties) reminded me of a fun (and gross) memory.

When I was young, we had two cats – Sinky and Ashley. Sinky’s real name was Snowball, but Dad started calling him “Stinky” at some point and I must not have been able to say stinky so he became known as “Sinky” for as long as I can remember. I really loved that cat. (Ashley was scared of me-probably because we used to chase him around the house, exploiting that fear.) Anyways, I used to enjoy crawling around on the floor pretending I was a cat as well. Also on the floor was their bowl of drinking water. To get the full cat experience, I felt it necessary to lap the water out of their bowl in the same way they did. Ick. Definitely something that I will keep in mind for when our daughter is old enough to crawl around.

Mom – if you find that picture of me with Sinky, please forward it to me!

A coworker of mine sent this picture to me via email today, and I just absolutely fell in love with it. Doesn’t the dog look just like Chloe? Maybe we will have an opportunity to take a picture of Chloe and the baby posed together like this someday…

Heather and I are downtown again today for another class. On our lunch hour, we were taking the bus on the 16th Street Mall near where we had seen the homeless lady last time we were down here. She is still there on the same corner. Another pregnant lady got on the bus, and we overheard her laughing to her friends that she was asked “When are you going to have that baby? I want to get babysitting!” I am not 100% sure, but due to our proximity to the lady’s corner and the general circumstances, I can only imagine that she was talking about the same homeless lady that I had received the babysitting offer from. (See Previous Story here). We got a good laugh over that.

My cousin, Kate, stayed with us for a quick visit on Friday night. She is so good about taking pictures every time I see her. Sorry Kate- I lifted this and a couple others from your latest photo album online. 🙂

We got our new computer setup last night, along with a new desk. This computer is great! I think Greg is jealous of my flat-screen monitor. hehe. I am loving the fact that we can both be on a computer and online at the same time. I think my mom is too, as we spent a bit of time playing some online solitaire. (I won btw.)

The past few mornings one of our dachshunds has been doing the funniest thing. As soon as Greg gets out of bed and is out of sight (in another room), Molly instantly jumps up from wherever she is at the time and runs over to the area of the bed Greg just vacated and just rolls and rolls. While doing so, she also snorts and snuffles. She must really like his scent or something. When I told Greg about this, he wanted to see for himself. So, one morning as he walked to our bathroom and Molly ran to his side of the bed, he peaked his head back around the corner to catch a glimpse of her in action. She was too smart for him though. Every time he would peak around the corner back into our bedroom, she would stop rolling and just sit there looking at him, innocently wagging her tail. To my knowledge, she doesn’t do this to my side of the bed after I get up.

Just to put this all in a great perspective, usually the dogs roll in things they find interesting out in our yard, such as on dead birds or other unidentified smells in the dirt…

I had a great Valentines Day. To celebrate, Greg took me to lunch (on Sunday) to one of my favorite restaurants – PF Changs. I got the Mongolian Beef of course. Yesterday, Greg picked me up from work and informed me that for Valentines Day he would make me dinner. How sweet! He made me one of my favorite dishes, spaghetti, along with green beans. I had to forgo the garlic bread though. We were even able to find some spaghetti noodles in our favorite brand that contained half the carbs of normal noodles, so it didn’t hurt my blood sugar levels! Dinner was excellent. Greg even cleaned up the dining room a bit and set the table. We hardly ever sit at our table when it is just the two of us, so that made the whole dinner even more special.

I just have to say that the internet was one of the best inventions ever created by mankind. (Thank you Al Gore – hehe) Greg and I went to register for baby stuff over the weekend, but were unable to get it all accomplished due to my getting overtired and faint. (The medicine I am on for the gestational diabetes is causing my blood sugar to dive too low now at times. *sigh*) But no fear – we were able to go home and I was able to finish the rest from the comfort of my own home and at my leisure by going to Target.com and babiesrus.com. The great thing about creating our registry online is that I was able to read reviews provided by other people regarding the products. I found this to be really helpful when making decisions.

Greg and I have decided that we needed another computer. So we ordered one for me over the weekend so that we no longer have to share. I am so excited! This will also allow us to spend time together, yet still be able to do our own thing.

Happy Valentines Day!

Greg had a dream last night that our baby was already here, and that she was a great baby and didn’t fuss much. (Oh, I hope that turns out to be true!) The funny part of his dream though is that we had named the baby “Franka” and we thought that was the greatest name in the world. hehe. I don’t think Franka is going to make our real list of baby names however. 🙂

On other note, we had another Childbirth Prep class last night. The primary discussion was about what to expect the first few days after delivery, as far as what the mother can expect healthwise, and also episiotomies (which I am greatly scared of!) Scary stuff – it even had Greg feeling a little ill. *Sigh* Again I wonder, what have I gotten myself into? Yet at the same time I still cannot wait for her to get here.

I am starting to get the hang out of having to prick my fingers to test my blood sugar levels. At least, I am not having to prick them twice just for one reading nearly as often. I think the hardest part is remembering to do it an hour after each meal.

Giving up sweets and stuff with carbs is proving to be quite difficult and frustrating. Poor Greg is having to alter his diet as well when we cook a meal together. At least he can still have desserts later though!

I have gotten a quite a few questions regarding gestational diabetes, so I thought I would address them here just in case anyone else was wondering. I am learning lots!

Will the baby or I have diabetes after the baby is born?

Neither the baby or I will have diabetes once the pregnancy is over. Gestational Diabetes has something to do with hormones and the placenta, which is delivered after the baby.

What are the risks/implications this will have on the baby?

Gestational diabetes puts me at risk to have a bigger baby, so they will be sure to monitor that and won’t let me go past my due date. It also could make the baby’s lungs develop a little slower, which means they also wouldn’t want to induce too early either. It will make her have LOW blood sugar after delivery, since she is used to the high blood sugar. So they will monitor her pretty closely for awhile. But long term, it should not have any adverse effects for the baby.

What are the risks/implications this will have on me?

Having Gestational diabetes increases MY chances of developing Type II diabetes in the future by about 60%. (Which means checking my blood sugar levels will become a normal part of my doctor’s exams even when I am not pregnant.) But I learned today from my diabetes class that if I eat right, exercise, and keep my weight at a good level that my chances can then go down to 25% chance instead, so that is good news. My chances of having Gestational diabetes for future pregnancies is also increased. I also have to monitor my blood sugar levels, which means pricking my fingers 2-4 times a day and putting the blood on a monitor that I had to buy. Though my doctor says I won’t need insulin, I may need to get on medication to help keep the levels where they should be for the remainder of this pregnancy.

Downtown Denver is an interesting place, filled with even more interesting people. You have a lot of executives in fancy suits right along with a big population of homeless people. You have your punk kids in gangs and your tourists/casual shoppers. I love to watch people, and this is definitely the most interesting place to do it.

I had a class in the World Trade Center on Tuesday, so I spent a bit of time right off of the 16th Street Mall. I just had to blog about a couple of the things that I observed while I was there.

My coworker Heather and I were walking to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. We passed a homeless lady on the sidewalk who was busy yelling at passersby to make sure to “Boil the Water!” On our return trip back to class, she noticed I was pregnant. We were stopped at a traffic signal, so she began to talk to me. First, she asked if I was having twins. When I replied that “No, I am not having twins” she asked, “triplets then?” Okay, so that was a great build-up for my self-esteem at this point. She then mentioned that she had 4 daughters, so if I need a babysitter that I will “know where to come.” LOL.

While waiting for Greg to pick me up after class was over, I saw a fistfight erupt in the middle of the street in front of me. Two young men just came from out of nowhere and started punching each other right in the middle of traffic during a red light. Cars were trying to get out of the way, but there was really nowhere to go since the light was red and it is a busy intersection. Just when I began to wonder if I should head back inside the World Trade Center in case guns were pulled out, the light turned green. People finally got impatient with the fighters and started honking their horns, at which point the two men just stopped fighting and each turned and went their own way. I was distracted for a moment and looked up and they were just completely gone and traffic was moving as if nothing had happened. Just another day in downtown Denver.

Greggor got me the awesomest anniversary gift. He said I could have a shopping spree at Archiver’s (my favorite scrapbooking store), and that he would even go with me and not rush me or make sighing noises as I browsed. 🙂 He was good for his word. I figured he would sit down in the chairs provided for husbands waiting on their wives, but he even helped me carry my selections and followed me around the store. It was a great present that I very much appreciated.