Can I just start by saying that I have NEVER been so excited about going to the doctor as I have been during pregnancy. It is SO FUN and the highlight of my month. :) I just love it because it means I get to hear little man's heartbeat! He is pretty fantastic!
Anyway, December 21st was my 26 week appointment. This was the "fun" appointment where I was supposed to drink the sugary orange drink and take my glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes) an hour later. I had heard horror stories about this sugary drink, so I was DREADING that part of the appointment. I was glad when I found out that Hays would get to come to this appointment with me because it was during his Christmas break from school! At least I'd have my hubby there for moral support as I choked down this drink. :)
When we arrived at the appointment (EARLY for ONCE! Hays picked me up from work earlier than usual for this appointment because it has been snowy/icy in Lexington, but we made it faster than we expected!) I signed in and received my little bottle of "orange goodness"! I had 10 minutes to drink the beverage and then I had to take the bottle back up to the registration desk so they could mark down my time. Exactly 1 hour after I finished the drink I had to have my blood drawn so they could do the test for gestational diabetes. When I sat down beside Hays with my orange drink I told him it was Fanta and he asked if he could have one! Gotta love my hubby! Honestly, the drink wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it was going to be. It actually tasted fine until that last sip- I guess it had more sugar than the rest of the bottle. Whew- I did it!
When I finished the drink I returned it to the desk and went to the bathroom to leave my urine sample. I'm sure Hays thought I FELL IN the toilet because I was gone forever! I had some issues and came back to the waiting room giggling! It was one of those days! I did finally get my urine sample completed after having dropped (and retrieved) my first of two urine cups from the toilet! Oh joy! Don't worry....I washed my hands for at least two minutes after that!
Very soon after I returned to the waiting room our name was called and I headed back to the scale. Dum.....dum.....dum!!!!! Now that I only go to the doctor every 4 weeks and I don't own a scale and I can LITERALLY SEE my belly growing every day I get a little nervous about the weigh-in part of the appointment. I stepped on the scale and saw a number that I've never seen before, but it was only 3 pounds higher than my last appointment! Bringing my grand total of pregnancy weight gain to 9 pounds. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Then again....that was BEFORE Christmas and ALL the yummy food and sweets that I have had this week, so who knows what the next appointment will have in store. :) Oh well, all this weight gain is definitely for a good cause! I LOVE YOU BRADY!
After the weigh-in, we headed into the exam room and chatted with the nurse for a bit. She took my blood pressure (which was good: 110/72), asked me the standard questions (any unusual symptoms: bleeding/cramps/etc? to which I said no to all of the above), and handed me some papers to fill out (including the REGISTRATION FORM FOR OUR STAY AT THE HOSPITAL)! How crazy is this!?!?!?!? We are really going to have this baby in a few weeks! It's already time to fill out this paperwork. WOW! She also asked me about the plans for Brady's boy parts- whether or not he would be circumcized. Again....I can't believe it's time to be making THOSE decisions! Wow! Sorry Brady, the answer is YES! I think you will thank me during your years of communal showering in sports locker rooms! ;) Then the nurse handed me a sheet of paper with information about counting kicks. Yes, we are already at that point in the pregnancy! WOW! She said usually this starts at about week 27 but I could go ahead and get started. They said that the goal is to feel 10 "kicks" in 10 hours. The reason they give SO LONG for Brady to get all his kicks in is because babies have times of day when they are resting and times of day when they are active, and to be sure that mommies don't unnecessarily worry themselves it is totally fine if it takes the full 10 hours to get all the kicks in. Well, I don't think I have much to worry about- Brady is a pretty active dude ALL DAY (except during his afternoon nap- how funny?) so he can usually get all 10 kicks in the first hour that I start counting. Lately I've noticed that I must be getting used to some of the kicks because Hays will put his hand on my belly and feel him even when I don't notice that he's kicking. I must be getting used to your little jabs, Brady man! ;)
Then the nurse asked if I had any questions....I know they dread asking first time moms this question because we always have A LOT of questions. Here is a sampling of mine:
-I feel like I'm losing my hair.....when I brush it it comes out in chunks and is all over my bathroom sink! Is this normal? Yes, this is totally normal and is due to hormonal issues. Typically pregnant women notice most of their loss of hair after the baby is born but many can notice it during pregnancy too. There are always cycles of hair growth and release and these are heightened during pregnancy.
-When will I find out about the results of my glucose test? Should I stay away from the Christmas sweetness until I know for sure if I have gestational diabetes? If I have GD, they will know in about a week and give me a call. If I do not have GD then I will not find out until my next appointment. So, no news is good news. They said I did not have to stay away from the sweets until I found out. That I should just assume that I passed! Yay- this is what I was hoping for! :) But I will still feel better once I DON'T hear from them for sure all week!
-Childbirth class- can I sign up for the January session? There are still spots available for the 1/29 class, so we signed up! The class is from 9am-3:30pm, costs $60, and we are to bring 2 pillows to sit on during the class. This should be FUN and make this even MORE real!!! :)
-Hays and EVERYONE I work with has had this head cold that is going around. If (or more likely WHEN) I get it what can I take? There are lots of pregnancy approved drugs that I can take for a cold: Tylenol Cold, Sudafed, Robutussin, Dimatap- whichever closest matches my symptoms. I haven't come down with this cold just yet, but I am so glad I have options in case I do! :)
-Can I hurt him when I move around and bend over? I feel like I might pinch his head or legs between my ribs and hips....is that possible? No, this is not possible. Our bodies are designed (thank you, God) in a way that the baby and the uterus are protected from our other body parts, so even if I bend and stretch and feel like I might be squeezing the baby, I'm not. :) Blunt force trauma (like a car wreck or being punch in the gut) is really the only thing that can hurt the baby or the uterus. Looks like I'm going to have to give up street fighting and wreckless driving......darn it! ;)
After my Q&A session the nurse left and Dr. Schell came in. She let me know that everything looked good: my urine sample, my blood pressure, my weight gain. Then she asked us if we had more questions, so I went over what I had asked the nurse and she agreed with all her answers. Then I climbed up on the exam table and we listened to Brady's heartbeat (which was perfect and beautiful at 145-153 bpm). Dr. Schell even commented at how active Brady was. It was hard to find a heartbeat at first because all we could hear was him flopping around in there. He is always an active little guy, but I guess the sugary orange drink really had him riled up! :) After the heartbeat, which she said was perfect and normal she measured my belly. I had never had this done before, but it is another way of dating a pregnancy. She measured from the top of my uterus (a few inches above my belly button- which is still an "innie" for now) all the way to the bottom of my uterus (a couple inches above my pelvic bone). I measured at exactly 26 cm which is equivalent to 26 weeks gestation. How cool is that?!?!?! Hays and I were amazed! So it looks like everything is right on track!
We are so thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far and hoping it continues until March! :) Thanks for all the prayers for our family of three!
No comments:
Post a Comment