Being Approved and Being Reprieved

Rob is IN. He was approved as a chaplain candidate during the June boards. He hopes to do a practicum this fall (probably beginning in mid to late October), then hopefully attend CHOBLC (CHaplain Officers' Basic Leadership Course) in January. We're not really looking forward to him being away for almost five months out of the next year, but we are incredibly excited about the opportunity for him to move one step closer to his goal: active duty Army chaplaincy. I guess the silver lining is it will allow us to emotionally prepare for the possibility of his deployment once he goes active duty. At least this time he won't be overseas, we can be in constant contact, and no one will be shooting at him or trying to blow him up! :)

I saw my doctor on Thursday, and received good news. He expressed his shock that I had developed gestational diabetes, given my reasonable weight prior to becoming pregnant, my reasonable weight gain during pregnancy, my lack of family history, and my prior uncomplicated pregnancy with Nathaniel. He said my diabetes is very mild, and he thinks we should be able to completely control it with diet. I shared what I have learned about a diabetic diet, and he said, "Looks like you saved yourself a trip to the dietician." Basically, I'm limiting my carb intake, trying to dramatically reduce my intake of refined sugar, and trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. (Basically, eating like I SHOULD, I guess...) Because I am a dessert fiend, I had to ask about "cheating" a little bit, and he assured me that I was allowed to have an occasional treat, such as a bowl of ice cream: just not every day. I don't have to check my blood sugar at home. They may check it in the office when I go in, but he didn't think home monitoring would be worthwhile: just sensible diet changes.

Because of the gestational diabetes, although it is mild, it is very likely that the baby may grow more rapidly, which could complicate delivery. During my next regular, scheduled office visit (Friday), we're going to discuss closely monitoring Benjamin's size. If he is getting too big, the doctor may induce labor before my due date. Nathaniel was born about nine days before his due date, and he was 7 pounds 10 ounces. I would love it if the second baby was about the same size. (A co-worker told me his mother had diabetes, and he was 11 pounds 4 ounces. Yikes!)

Another fun thing that happened this week was our time with Rob's sister and her kids. Rob's sister, who lives in upstate New York, has been doing some traveling with her two children while her husband is deployed. They spent the afternoon and evening with us yesterday, and Nat LOVED seeing his cousins. Our niece is 10 (I should probably say 10 1/2), and our nephew is 7 - getting close to 8. Nat wanted to ride his bike, sword fight, dance, play with trains, and climb all over both of them. He loves his aunt and cousins (and uncle, who he missed), although he doesn't get to see them very often. It was good to spend time with them and hear about how God is working in their lives during this difficult time.

We're now looking forward to one more week of work before vacation. We plan to head to Tennessee to see Rob's parents during the week of the 4th of July. Nat is excited about getting to drive Grampy's tractor, and he often mentions fireworks. When we recently attended a baseball game, they set off a couple during the national anthem, and he was a little freaked out by the noise. He didn't cry, but often told me at random times for the next couple days, "I crying - the fireworks." Hopefully we'll be a little farther away from the fireworks on the 4th of July so he can enjoy them. Maybe we'll bring some ear plugs just in case...