Finally an update!

So, I do apologize for not keeping up with this blogging thing. Please excuse the overwhelming amount of information as we try to fill you in to the past few months...

First of all and most importantly, we still have a healthy, growing baby girl! Little Mollie Michelle is still very healthy and moving all over the place. I've thoroughly enjoyed feeling all her wiggles inside me and watching my belly change shape every time she moves. Her daddy likes it, too! We've discovered she knows his voice full well and definitely gets excited when she hears him. I'm really looking forward for the two of them getting to spend some time together! 

I'm now approaching the end of my pregnancy and for the most part it has been such a joy! However, we've faced one slight complication. Just before Thanksgiving, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. I was quite surprised to hear this as I had a completely normal pregnancy up to that point, and no risk factors for this disease at all. However, after a bit of investigating and asking lots of questions, I learned you don't necessarily have to have any risk factors as it's a side effect of having a placenta! For some women, it blocks their ability to regulate insulin, thus raising blood glucose levels. It was good to know it was nothing that I did or didn't do, but still frustrating. In order to prevent the high sugar levels from effecting Mollie, they put me on a strict diet, prescribed a medication for me to take 20 minutes before each meal,  and make me check my sugar levels 4 times a day. It has been quite a challenge, but I'm willing to do what I need to to keep this baby healthy! One side effect of Gestational Diabetes is having large babies...not something I'm interested in!! 

Last week we had another ultrasound and learned that Mollie is 4 pounds and 15 ounces!! That's right on track, if not slightly smaller. She's in the 37th percentile at this point and everything is functioning as it should be. The Lord is definitely taking care of us...I went to the diabetes specialist today and he said he doesn't need to see me back! I'll continue my diet and medication, but it's been managed well enough that his job is done for now. And I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but it should all just go away upon delivery. So PRAISE GOD for a potentially bad situation being ok! 

While having the ultrasound, we did learn she's already perfecting her sucking skills...since there's not much to latch on to in there she's found the umbilical cord and was sucking away! Kind of gross, but it was cute to see her doing some "real" baby things! Notice she's holding the umbilical cord right in front of her mouth...

So here's a pic of our little Mollie with her little "wooby" (as Jason calls it). She's growing so much and it's hard to believe she'll be here so soon! As evident by my growing belly, it won't be much longer! My due date is still February 19th, but because of the whole diabetes thing, the doctor did tell me they would not let me go past my due date at all because it will increase the risk for complications. They will likely induce sometime in the week before the 19th unless she decides she's ready to come sooner! Keep us in your prayers as her arrival nears...it's scary/exciting! 

On another note, her room is nearly finished! It was a huge relief to finish painting and get her furniture set up. Even though we still have a lot of final touches to do, it's mostly completed and looking good! We're excited how it's turned out and owe a HUGE thank you to Bruce and Kelly (Pop Pop and Nanny) for devoting a weekend to painting! They somehow made what was in my head actually show up on the walls. Here's a few pictures of the project...

    

I'll try to post some pictures from our showers here pretty soon as well as more Mollie updates! We have another doctor appointment tomorrow so maybe we'll have a better idea as to when she'll be joining us!