The Lord's mercies are new every morning

Today Josiah returned to his former loving ways. He was happy most of the day and very loving. When he awoke, I didn't hear, "Need to eat, mommy!", but instead, I heard, "Big hug, mommy?", and it was just music to my ears. This afternoons nap was a riot. I put Josiah down at 12:30 and he usually goes right to sleep within a few minutes. Well, today, he played and played and played in his bed. I loved listening to him having a good time. After about an hour, I knew he would be really grouchy if he didn't get his nap, so I went in and loved on him for a minute and told him he had to take a nap to which he said, "Okay! Need night-night!", and he fell asleep for almost two and a half hours after that! Wow, did I get a lot of...nothing done! I sat and worked on a puzzle I have been meaning to do for years. I also did some menu planning and I watched a movie. Talk about being a bum! It was nice, though and I don't regret doing nothing all day!

On another note, I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The doctor and dietician like to tell you not to blame yourself, you've done nothing wrong, it's not your fault, and stuff like that. I do beg to differ, though, at least in my case. Here's my story: Most of you know that I am already overweight. I did lose 70 lbs before becoming pregnant with Josiah, but I was not able to get off all of my baby weight with Josiah before I became pregnant again this go around. I did do weight watchers and I did exercise on a fairly regular basis, but my eating habits have been way off. When I say my eating habits, I don't necessarily mean what I ate, but it is how I schedule my day. I HATE to eat breakfast and I always have. I noticed when I first turned to weight watchers, that was the one thing I changed that I think did the most for me. With this pregnancy, I have not wanted to eat breakfast or even think about eating until around noon or thereafter. This is a REALLY bad habit, guys. Anyone out there reading this, if you skip breakfast or wait a long time to eat after sleeping all night, you are doing your body a big disservice! So, with gestational diabetes, I have to prick my finger for blood 4 times a day and check my blood sugar levels and record them. I thought I would never be able to prick myself, but I have become an old pro. I have a really strict diet that I am to follow, consisting of 3 small meals a day and 3 small snacks in between. Did y'all know that the most important snack that you can ever have is before you go to bed at night? Haven't we been taught a little differently than that...you know, don't eat after 6pm or 8pm and things like that? Well, I have made changes mostly in my eating routines and VOILA! my blood sugar levels have been normal for the past week, without one single day of being over the recommended level. Pretty good, huh? I even ate mexican food tonight, the same dish I usually eat at the mexican restaurant, and my levels were GREAT 2 hours after my meal. So, if you are pregnant, and you want to avoid gestation diabetes, eat regular meals and snacks. Now, I know, doctors and dieticians are right to some extent...there are many factors that cause gestational diabetes, but if 75% of patients can control it with their diet, then what does that tell you? As far as other pregnancy related health problems, I did have preeclampsia with Josiah. I had high blood pressure from the end of the 1st trimester on with JoJo and so far with this pregnancy my BP has been at a borderline high. I check it about 5 times a day, get an average for the day and report it to the DR once a week. I want to avoid preeclampsia this time around, but gestational diabetes also increases the risks of preeclampsia. So, in short, please pray for me and my overall health. I feel GREAT and I am doing GREAT, I am eating well, putting my feet up several times a day and also taking a daily nap as requested by my doctor, so we will just have to see where we are when it comes time to meet our little girl. Please pray for me in the remainder of my third trimester and also for my family as they depend on a healthy wife and mommy too!