Yay! Holidays are finally here! I worked my last day of work until the second of January yesterday, and so for the next week and a half I intend to lay on the floor in my long johns with a Turkey IV drip directly into my bloodstream.

Mannie’s home stay has gone reasonably well over the last couple weeks. She’s started to suffer from a bit of cabin fever, but we’re trying to provide ample entertainment. Kieran, being the good boy that he is, has stayed right where he is, and Mannie hasn’t suffered from any contractions or further dilation of the cervix — it’s all status quo which is wicked awesome! We don’t get to see Dr. Tran again until mid-January at which point we’ll be at 30 weeks and out of the worst danger… it looks like baby-wise things are all on track.

Since Mannie’s body likes to keep us “on our toes” as it were, we found out this week that Mannie has gestational diabetes, which is, as I understand it, a type of Type 2 Diabetes that appears (usually) only during pregnancy and goes away after birth (although one remains high-risk for developing diabetes later on.) This is mainly a risk to Mannie, but there is a possibility that Kieran will get too much insulin and suffer from macrosomia, or “fat baby” which may cause health problems later on including obesity and diabetes.

As a result of this risk, we’re trying our best to get Mannie into a low-fat, low-sugar, low-carb eating pattern. It’s taking some adjustment because it’s not only what she eats, but how she eats it — regular small meals and snacking is better than a couple extremely large meals, for instance, and a lot of food in the house like pasta, white rice, etc. are suddently not very good options. Salads and stir-fries and flatbreads are quickly finding their way into our regular eating schedule, and we have been dutifully avoiding fast food. I took most of our Christmas load of cookies and treats to work, and buying lots of healthy veggies and fruit. The point, of course, is not that Mannie isn’t allowed to eat anything, it’s just about eating in small portions, getting lots of variety and mostly staying away from truly bad foods — I’m looking at you, Mr. Poutine…

Our buddy Eli came up from Vancouver to hang out with us for a few days before Christmastime and it’s great having him around. My parents come down Christmas Eve, my brother and sister-in-law are coming Boxing Day and Mannie’s sister and mom are coming down afterwards. Looks like we’re going to have a lot of company, which is pretty awesome.

Anyways, that’s the update from the Ross household. I better get going into the crowds and finish off the ol’ Christmas shopping experience. Whee? It’s gonna be a madhouse, a MADHOUSE…