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Kesa maiasa  I tried posting some pictures from last month's baby shower on Facebook. I hope that means my LJ friends can see them too. Take a look and let me know? Kthxbai. EDIT: How about now? Does this link work better? Current mood:  calm.
Most of the weekend, I was working nonstop, either on nesting preparation, baby shower thank you notes, or on work things. I met with my prospective sub (whom we hope the district will confirm any day now) for five hours (!) and gave her a lot of information about what she is going to be doing when she takes over. But there were also fun things. Friday night we had dinner, movies, and board games with our Happy Hour friends. And Saturday night, Erik and I actually went on a date, such as we haven't officially done in a while. We got dressed up nicely and used some gift cards to Outback Steakhouse that we had received for Christmas. It was really nice.  Here is also a profile picture to document how I look now at 35 weeks pregnant. Our doula says the baby has already dropped. I wonder if she's right. 
Current mood: accomplished. My day went from bad (see previous post) to worse, to better. By the last period of the day, it was pouring outside and I was crying inside. My period 4 students were so hostile and lazy, I don't know how I survived till the bell. Then I went to the normal Tuesday after-school teacher meeting, where - to my utter surprise - the other pregnant teacher and I were presented with giant gift baskets full of baby stuff from our fellow staff members! There were also cupcakes and soda. Who knew I was going to have another baby shower sprung on me? Several of the English teachers were also cheering me up about my period 4 students, saying they're not worth my emotional upheaval, just make them do busywork till the end of the semester, which is only two and a half weeks away anyway. After that, there was supposed to be a foreign language teachers' meeting (with teachers from all 6 of the small schools), but nobody showed up except the Spanish teacher at SciTech and me. So instead of a formal meeting, I got to just sit on the couch in her classroom and drink tea with her. That was nice. I'm still exhausted, but I will get through this day. I will bake some chicken for dinner before Erik and I go to our baby-care class. And I will do some work on an assignment for my ESL students for tomorrow. Current mood:  okay.
(written as an email since I don't have access to LJ at work) I feel like the three-day weekend went by in a blur. There was so much that I wanted to do - like write baby shower thank-you notes, read a bunch more info about baby's first months, and so on. Erik and I did get a LOT done - Erik brought his cousin's used baby furniture down from San Francisco, and we set it up and filled the drawers with clothes, both hand-me-downs from his cousin and new things we had received at the baby shower. But despite all that we accomplished, I still feel like there is much more to do, and I would much rather be working on baby preparations than being at school with recalcitrant teenagers who argue back in my face. Yesterday I had multiple doctor's appointments, at the diabetes institute and then with my obstetrician and ultrasound technician. The news was not encouraging - apparently I have too much amniotic fluid (aka polyhydramnios), which could cause cord prolapse during birth and necessitate an emergency C-section. Also, the baby is getting big - five and a half pounds already - which makes it sound like the doctor will want to induce labor early. For now, I will have to come in twice a week to be hooked up to a fetal nonstress test monitor. When they actually allow the baby to be born will be determined in large part by that. Oh, and as if I didn't have enough to worry about, diet is apparently no longer sufficient to manage my blood sugar, so I'm going to be prescribed some medication (glyburide) for that, too. Still, I'm endeavoring to be grateful - I'm still having a much less at-risk pregnancy than (for example) sylversmoke did.It's still rainy in San Diego. A friend/coworker was suggesting maybe my down mood can be attributed to that. (Probably the students' bad attitude can, too.) I just know that Erik and I have more baby stuff tonight and tomorrow night (a newborn care class and a meeting with the doula), so even after work is over, we can't exactly relax at home. I won't be able to go to church choir practice, either. Three weeks. Less, actually, with yesterday having been a holiday. That's all I have to get through before I can go on leave and hand this teaching gig over to my wonderful substitute, who is finally close to being approved by the district HR office, to boot! Current mood: blah.
Although I did spend the weekend with a bit of a cold, the sneezing and coughing were not bad enough to keep me from enjoying not one, but two parties. On Saturday night, Erik and I had our "Happy Hour" friends over for board games, which was a lot of fun and needs to be repeated at some point. We played Wits and Wagers, Fluxx, and Mexican Train dominoes. There was also the ceremonial opening of a bottle of homebrew from 2008, which resulted in foam all over the kitchen counter, wall, and ceiling, as well as some broken glass and one bandaged hand. Very little of it actually ended up being drunk. Sunday afternoon was the baby shower! It was great. My work friends and SCA friends had gotten together to organize it, complete with decorations, food, and activities, so all Erik and I had to do was show up. I think the activities were the best part:
Then we did the obligatory opening of presents. People were so generous! About seven SCA friends got together and chipped in for the baby carseat on our registry. We also got a lot of other registered things, as well as some that weren't on the list and some gift cards. Themes of baby clothes and toys ran in three directions - Year of the Tiger, Baby Viking (aka Warrior Princess), and, for no discernible reason, ducks. Current mood: cheerful.
I often take leftovers to work with me for lunch. In fact, when we have a lot of leftovers, I often take the same lunch to work multiple times. So it happens that yesterday and today I had the same lunch: pork and green chile tamales (from the farmer's market), with water to drink. Nothing else, nothing sweet, no variation between the two days. However, when I measured my blood sugar an hour after yesterday's lunch, it was 119 (I'm supposed to aim for levels under 130 after meals). And when I measured it today after lunch, it was 155 (obviously above 130, which is bad). What's a girl to do? It seems no matter how much I regulate my diet, there are some factors I can't control, which influence the numbers. Current mood:  huh.
I got so used to sleeping in every day over winter break. Now we've been back at school for three days, and it's harder than ever to get out of bed in the morning. I just have to get my sub paperwork sorted out, then I can look forward to maternity leave. When I won't be sleeping anyway because the baby will be here, but - at least I can stay home then. Current mood:  exhausted.
I haven't posted in a while; though I have been thinking about things a lot and would like to write about my thoughts (on class and race and work), I don't have them quite sorted out yet. So instead, a post about what Erik and I have been doing over the Christmas holiday. Erik's parents and sister came to visit us in San Diego for about six days. His parents stayed at a hotel, and his sister stayed on our couch. We were invited to his cousin Marian's house for Christmas Day, which was very nice and filled with food, games, and lots of people - I'd say at least 13 or so (14 if you count our baby-to-be, who was much talked about). Erik and I experimented with a diabetic-safe pumpkin pie recipe, in addition to making a regular full-sugar pumpkin pie, and both turned out pretty well. That was our contribution to Christmas Dinner. ( Pictures ) Talked on the phone with family and found that they were having much smaller gatherings - mom, stepdad, and Bryan were at her house after helping serve the homeless a meal at church. My aunt and grandpa were all by themselves as the cousins were elsewhere (but planning to get together after the holiday instead). My dad stayed in Germany and spent time with his girlfriend and her kids. It's still weird to me spending Christmas away from Aunt Janet's. The rest of the time, we took Erik's family around to various tourist spots and restaurants - we went to the Wild Animal Park, Torrey Pines State Reserve, the Gaslamp and Seaport Village, and La Jolla Cove. For restaurants, Erik got to trot out his favorites, like the Bacione Cafe and Aladdin's Lebanese in Hillcrest. We also had a nice evening celebrating Erik's birthday at a restaurant in San Clemente with another of his cousins, who drove down from L.A. And every day, I carried my blood sugar meter everywhere we went, and kept track of everything I ate. I am somewhat more used to this diabetes management plan now. I will of course continue with it when school starts again on Monday, even if it does mean drawing blood in front of my students. Erik's family members have now all departed, and it's the last day of the year. We are planning to attend an "ExtravUUganza" at our Unitarian Universalist church, and then just be here at home for the rest of the evening. Current mood: calm.
Today I went to the grocery store and bought a number of things I don't usually, all because they are suggested for diabetics:
I guess I'm getting the hang of checking my blood sugar four times a day (on winter break, at least - it'll be another adjustment when school starts again). It's discouraging when I eat things that are on the approved list and my blood sugar is still way higher than it's supposed to be. It's also mind-boggling, because foods I have believed to be healthy all my life are now off-limits, and vice versa. I've always looked for natural products, but a lot of the ones I bought today have all kinds of artificial ingredients in them, which my instinct would tell me is bad. What I still don't understand is what the doctor was saying about counting carbs, and counting calories. I really don't want to know exactly how many ounces of everything I eat. I've never lived that way. I guess I'm just lucky that this will probably end when the baby is born. (Gestational diabetes is caused by pregnancy hormones messing with my body's ability to use insulin. Apparently it has nothing to do with my eating too many sweets, either before or during the pregnancy.) I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to make all these modifications for the rest of my life. Current mood: cautious.
This weekend Erik and I did more Christmas shopping and a whole bunch of grocery shopping (both at the farmer's market, Trader Joe's, and the conventional grocery store). Between the two of us, we made four recipes for cookies/gingerbread candy, which we then packed up in small packages (miso soup bowls) to give out at an SCA friends' party tonight. That way when people are done eating the goodies, they still have the decorative miso soups bowls to remember us by. This operation was successful in that we got rid of most of the cookies so they won't be around to tempt me now that I'm diabetic. Of course, it also backfired a bit in that several people at the party gave us gifts of other cookies they had made. I figure Erik can eat them, and his family members, once they get here, can help too. Finally, this afternoon, in between our party preparations (which also included a big salad with pecans, apples, pomegranate seeds, and a cranberry vinaigrette made in the blender), we went to Armstrong Garden Centers and bought a 5'6" Christmas tree. It's a Fraser Fir, which looks and smells absolutely gorgeous. We didn't have time to put ornaments on it yet, but I have plans to decorate it tomorrow, now that I am on winter break from school. Since Erik still does have to go to work, I will have help and companionship from a friend who was at the party and said she wouldn't have an opportunity to put up Christmas decorations this year otherwise. So basically the weekend was fun and productive (if maybe a little consumerism-heavy), and all this was accomplished in addition to our regular weekend activities, like doing laundry and (in my case, not Erik's) going to church and prenatal yoga. Current mood: cheerful.
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