It happened. You failed your one hour glucose test and have to go in for the dreaded three hour test. Then you fail that one. You are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. It's something no woman wants to hear. You suddenly have images of not being able to eat anything with carbs or sugar ever again. Or you start worrying about how it is going to affect your baby. You get frustrated that this isn't how you expected pregnancy to be. It's hard to stop the panic. When, honestly, managing gestational … [Read more...]
When Your Perfect Pregnancy Doesn’t Go As Planned
No one ever thinks it is going to happen to them. I mean, all those scary things that can happen in pregnancy always happen to other people, not you. Then one day, it does. Maybe it is something big, maybe it is a series of small things. Whatever it is, suddenly your perfect pregnancy doesn't go as planned. Been there, done that. My first pregnancy had me on pelvic rest for 7 months and with gestational diabetes. My second pregnancy only lasted a few days before I miscarried. This, my third … [Read more...]
Frugal Pregnancy – Second and Third Trimesters
Congrats! You have made it through the sickness, bloating, exhaustion, acne, and mood swings of the first trimester. Or maybe that was just me. Second and third trimesters come with their own challenges (putting on socks, anyone?) but you are definitely in the home stretch. Unfortunately, this is also the time when all the worries about money seem to kick in. I mean, you are going to have to spend how much on diapers?!?! If you read my first frugal pregnancy post, First Frugal Things to Do After … [Read more...]
Growing Our Family and Fears of Having a Second Child
I am happy to share with you that we will be welcoming a new baby to our family in May! Abby is ecstatic to be a big sister. Matt is so happy. We had been trying to just over a year when we had the miscarriage in August. He was so thrilled that we got pregnant again right away. Me? Well, how I feel is different on any given day. That may seem odd to you since we very much wanted to expand our family. But something happened to me after the miscarriage. I started questioning so much of my life. … [Read more...]
First Frugal Things to Do After You Get Pregnant
It's so exciting! That moment you look down see that plus sign or the two pink lines or even the word, "pregnant." It's like no other moment in the world. Shortly after the excitement comes the worry. There are so many things expectant mothers worry about. What to eat, how to exercise, what labor is going to feel like, what to do after the baby is born, and how to afford the baby. It's that last one that we are going to talk about today. If you live on a tight budget, there are some frugal … [Read more...]
How to Help a Friend Going Through a Miscarriage
It was a hot, summer Wednesday. I was busy with something I had to get done for the weekend when I got a positive pregnancy test. It was faint so I pulled out the expensive digital test to check. Negative. That was one of the longest afternoons of my life as I didn't know which test was correct. The next day, Thursday, I went to the store and picked up some new tests. Positive. Tested again Friday morning. Still positive. We were ecstatic! We had been trying for over a year. We even told a few … [Read more...]