25 week update

The time just keeps flying by!

All is well and moving right along.  I saw the doc last week, and Baby is growing just like he needs to be.  His heartbeat was perfect, I got a prescription for heartburn meds (whew!), and another script for some really HOT compression hose.  I notice that my feet are starting to swell slightly at the end of my shifts at work and I'm going to need the hose when we fly back east in October.  Might as well make use of them now....

I also had to do my one hour glucose test.  I have a history of gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy (I'll get to THAT in a minute), so my doc does the test about 4 weeks earlier than "normal".  I was lucky enough to pass the 1 hour my second, third, and fourth pregnancies; this time not so much.  :( I "failed" it by 15 points- either because I was sick with a stomach virus when I took it, because I didn't have any protein before the test (thank you stomach virus), or because I was destined to have GDM.  Again.  Ugh.  So that meant I had to come back for the three hour test.

Fast forward to this week.  The syrupy, gross glucose drink they give you for the one hour is bad enough.  For the three hour test, you have to drink three times as much of the stuff! You have 5 minutes to get it all in, but really  it's just best to chug it all down.  You have three flavor choices: orange, lemon lime, and fruit punch.  Pretty sure the stuff could pass for sno-cone syrup....  I chose the fruit punch for my one hour (maybe THAT was the problem, I always choose orange) and I "failed", so I went with the orange for the three hour.  Gag.  Oh!  And you have to be fasting for 10-12 hours before hand.  All that sugar hitting an empty stomach.  So, I went in, had my fasting blood draw- not a finger poke, but an actual blood draw, drank my syrup and then waited. 

By the one hour draw, I had a bit of a queasy unsettled feeling in my stomach.  By two hours I was nauseous, headachy, and a little light headed.  By three hours I felt super gross and was ready to bolt out of there and get something to eat.  Luckily I had plans to meet a friend for lunch at a local Mexican place.  With a nice, carb filled tortilla wrapped burrito.  Best. Burrito. Ever.

But I passed!!!  No gestational diabetes for me. 

I did have one value that was high- my second hour, which strikes me as odd.  But one elevated value out of the four draws is allowed.  You are diagnosed with two or more abnormals.  So, back to my first pregnancy....  I am positive that I only had one abnormal with those 4 draws, too.  I was at a different clinic at the time though, and they diagnosed me and made me do all the gestational diabetes things.  I have a friend who recently delivered who sees a doc in my old clinic- she had to do her three hour test as well and had one abnormal, and her doc tried to diagnose her too!!!  She checked her (perfectly normal) blood sugars for 4 days though, and talked her doc out of the diagnosis.  Smart lady. 

In other news, the baby is big enough now that we can see him move.  And Chris and the kids have all felt him move too.  They think it's pretty cool.  And so do I.  :)

23 and counting

23 weeks today!  The time just seems to be sliding by.  I was talking to a friend earlier this week and was a little surprised to say that I only have 4 months left before Baby comes....  It's going to go by SO fast!  The kids will go back to school in a couple weeks, we'll be getting the house ready for our puppy then going to pick her up, then our trip out to DC.  After that it's holidays, and birthdays, and then the baby. I'll blink and it will be here!

Everything has been going well the last couple of weeks.  I'm feeling good, and the baby is growing.  One of my patients at work was horrified when I told her I wasn't due until December- she asked if there were "two in there".... Lol.  Lucky for me, I think those comments are pretty funny and I don't get offended.  I've always said I'd rather be obviously, roundly pregnant than one of those you have to guess about. 

We're at the very outer edges of viability, so I'm hoping these next few weeks go by rather quickly.  I generally try to NOT wish away any time during my pregnancy, but these weeks can be the scariest.  I'd pretty much be happy if I could stay home in a bubble for the next 2-3 weeks.  I don't have a history of preterm labor or delivery at all, but I think every labor nurse (or ex labor nurse) worth her salt is a little nervous around this time.  Little Mister in there needs to stay put.  Until the end of November at the earliest. 

Next up:  My one hour glucose test next week.  Fingers crossed against gestational diabetes, folks!