27 weeks | Baby #4

Third trimester, baby! (I think it's the third trimester, I can't ever remember if it's at 27 or 28 weeks).






The biggest thing I wanted to write here today is: I failed my one hour glucose test. By three points. Because they changed the standard from 140 to 130 (I was 133), but also because I probably shouldn't have eaten my lunch minutes before slamming the nasty drink. But I did. And I think I had my blood drawn at 50 minutes instead of an hour, but whatever.

The day after the one hour, I had a missed call from the OB office and the My Chart email popped up. It said I scored 133 and the 'normal range' is 70-140. Sweet! I called the nurse back anyway, since she had called and my OB said they only contacted me if it was abnormal. 'Yeah, it looks like your number is fine but it's not....they changed the standards. You failed and need to do the three hour test within the next week.'

Sad trombone. Also, My Chart should probably update their standards so it's not right there on my chart saying 'normal'. So after much consideration, I decided to get the three hour over with on Sunday morning. I didn't want to take off work for this test and plenty of my friends have had to do the three hour. They all said that it sucks really badly, so I was prepared going in to hate life a little bit. Really wanted to get it over with and move on, already!

I fasted after dinner on Saturday night. Woke up at 7 on Sunday morning and left the house by 7:30am, no coffee, no food, and already hungry. Nate was in charge of the kiddos and it was our first 70 degree sunny day, so that made me extra rage-y to miss out on family time in the sunshine.

I got to the lab that's only open on Sundays because it has an Urgent Care attached to it, and at first I thought there was a mix up and they were closed. Alas, the front desk lady came up after I stood there in the silent building for about 5 minutes. We became besties when she checked me in and she gave me the crown jewel of the medical complex: the TV remote. I mean, I think she knew I was in for the long haul and I haven't watched HGTV in way too long!

Also I brought my work laptop home with me for the weekend, to catch up on things after a crazy week at work. I really did get a TON done on the computer so I'm glad I brought it and the time spent wasn't a total waste.

The lab tech brought me back at 8:30 am and drew my fasting blood vile. Then she had me drink the 75 gram sugary disgustingness in 5 minutes. Seventy-five grams, people! I actually thought it would be 100g after reading online the day before, but I questioned her to be sure (since there is no way in hell I wanted to re-do this test) and she verified that is what they ordered. After finishing the drink, I sat back out in the waiting room for an hour. I didn't feel too bad but had a disgusting taste in my mouth and really just wanted water. Another no-no!

At 9:30am she brought me back for the 1 hour blood draw. She asked how I felt and I did feel mostly fine, just starving. Back to the waiting room for another hour. Then back to have my blood drawn at 10:30am, when I was downright RAVENOUS and had the start of a headache. Then back out to the waiting room where my butt was kind of going numb from sitting so much. Then finally, at 11:30, she took my final 3 hour blood draw. At this point I was pretty over everything and wanted to eat the largest burger anyone could produce for me. Literally, I wanted to eat an entire cow, true story.

As I got into the van, I started to feel pretty horrible. I started to sweat, but thought maybe that was because it was almost 70 degrees outside and my Wisconsin blood isn't used to such warmth. I had to crank the AC and was actually sweating drops on my forehead and back. This is a sensation I can't remember happening since I was running back in November. I also had a raging headache and noticed my hands were shaking. I know enough about diabetes from my patients to think that, "huh, this seems an awful lot like hypoglycemia. I bet my blood sugar is at the rock bottom right now and the opposite of being too high!" Never make a pregnant woman fast for so long, it's just cruel!

At 12:15 I got home and seriously felt like I might faint walking into the house. I had been fasting (besides the sugar drink) for fifteen hours. And: pregnant! Nate had the kids at the playground and I didn't even stop over to say 'hello.' I grabbed a pear and downed it in record time. Drank a full bottle of water. Made two scrambled eggs with bacon, cheese, and ham inside, plus two sausage links on the side. Then I went for a half of an English muffin with peanut butter. And made a cup of coffee. THEN I still didn't feel full, but definitely less shaky, so I had some of our baked oatmeal.

The kids and Nate came home and I was no longer sweating at least, and started to feel more normal again. Mostly I was just very glad to be done with that dreaded test. I hoped that my friend was right and the worse that I felt, the more likely that I would test normal. I just didn't think it was possible for me to have high blood sugar after feeling that wretched.

Today (Monday) I missed a call and voicemail from the OB office. Before I checked the voicemail I looked at my email and sure enough, My Chart was updated. I was nervous to open it up, but saw the numbers: fasting at 77, one hour 123, two hours 79, and three hours 46. Um, forty-six is REALLY low, like not safe to be driving. And all four of those numbers didn't come close to their cut off for gestational diabetes. It would have been nice to get those numbers right there in the lab because maybe after the first two low readings, they would have just let me go home. Or at least, it would have been nice to be offered orange juice or graham crackers after the test---but nobody knew how low I was at that point, not even me. I'm sort of surprised the nurse didn't say in her voicemail, 'I hope you drove home alright with your last reading being in the toilet!' but I guess all she noted was that I passed (easily, at that).

So that is my story of the three hour oral glucose test. I do not have Gestational Diabetes. My insulin and pancreas are kicking just fine, as is this baby. Even just worrying about this for three days was enough for me to reconsider my sweet tooth, although I really don't consume that many carbs or refined sugar---I could always be better about it, I suppose!

Other things: I wanted Nate to take his first picture of me pregnant this time around, specifically for this comparison photo. Seven years in the making, all four pregnancies, at 27 weeks. These comparisons are my fave!! I will say that my belly this time looks deceivingly small here---I really don't think I'm smaller now than I was with big boy Porter, but maybe just a little bit?? He was my 8lb 9oz overdue guy though, so perhaps this one is in the 7s like Truman and Cecelia.



Also: what does my shirt say here? I don't think I've ever had a statement tee!


Yeah, baby!


My friend in St. Louis has an adorable tee shirt business they are trying to grow. So when she asked if I would wear one of their pregnancy shirts, I said 'of course!'. Two Tired Mamas & Co is the best! My shirt is long enough for me and they even sent baby's first new onesie in the package. At least we have SOMETHING new for this boy to wear!



That's about it! Cecelia's teacher noticed my bump today (no coat needed in the morning!!) and said, 'What are you, about five months now?' I never know how to answer that question, since I can barely remember the week. But I told her, 'No, way more than that. I'm in my third trimester!' I think I'm almost seven months, now that I think about it all day long;)

Baby boy seems to be doing great in there and with lots of positive affirmations in my Hypnobabies meditation CDs, I'm feeling closer to being ready for him to be born! I mean, not YET or anything, let's not get too excited. But we can't help ourselves, this is starting to feel more real every day.

Unrelated: Cecelia also had her big dance recital on Saturday. She's been going to her weekly ballet and tap class every Wednesday evening since September, and it was time for her to shine! And also, we have a CD with her dance music at home for 'practice' but I've never actually seen any choreographed moves at home. The practices are 'drop off', too, so we weren't sure what her routines would be like this year. I will say that her ballet was set to a Prince song, and her tap was set to Phish.  The finale showcased the theme of the entire show: animals! Literally, the cutest thing you will ever see---biased opinion noted.





Her costume was perfectly simple. I had her take a bath so I could braid her hair all fresh.




Dropping her off in the back room with all of her tiny dancer friends, it hit me: my daughter, my only daughter, is growing up into such a little lady! And I freaking love the girly stuff like dance classes, just as much as Cecelia loves it;)

She spotted us in the crowd (I don't know how, we were only FRANTICALLY waving at her) but just smiled at us. Later she informed us that, 'We weren't supposed to wave at our parents but I saw you.' Porter did fair, only yelling for Cecelia's songs a few times and downing about 95 hundred snacks for the 1-2pm show. Nate surprised sis with flowers, Tony and Lois were there, and we all had a grand time. It's been awhile since we got a family picture! The kids are entirely too big, I KNOW.

Outtake:


Real deal:


I love this growing family of mine.