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Monday, March 15th, 2010
This week I’m in a much less whiny mood, for several reasons:
1. My new Tempur-pedic mattress is like sleeping on a cloud of awesome. I don’t toss and turn nearly as much, and when I first stand up in the morning my hip/lower back feels only slightly twingey instead of excruciatingly painful. The only drawback so far is that it’s a few inches higher off the ground than our old mattress, and I anticipate a little trouble climbing into bed as my belly grows ever more gigantic in the coming weeks.
2. I went to our beloved chiropractor, and though I’m not cured yet, I’m going back for another session tomorrow and have high hopes.
3. My sister moved into her new house today, which is only 40 minutes away from mine instead of 4 hours and 40 minutes. This means an end to my boredom, not only because I will have someone to go to the movies with more often, but also because I’ll be training her to do the equivalent of my job for a new party supplies website we’ll be launching soon.
4. Today one of my sister’s movers asked me how far along I am – that’s now two strangers in the past week or so who have asked me about my pregnancy, so I take that as official proof that I finally look pregnant, not just extra-chubby.
5. The other day, I suddenly remembered we have a stationary bike (it hasn’t been used in years as anything other than a place to stack old video game consoles), and it occurred to me this might be the solution to my exercising woes. The treadmill makes my back ache, but a bike on which I can sit! By golly, that might just work! (It’s the kind of bike that has a chair to sit in, not one of those horrible pointy little seats.) I’ve ridden it twice now, and it isn’t a perfect solution – instead of making my back ache, it kinda makes my belly feel uncomfortable – but a few minutes afterward I feel good as new again, unlike with the pain-of-many-hours after treadmilling it. My doctor is satisfied with the amount of weight I’ve gained so far (23 pounds), but I’m eager to keep it from spiraling out of control, what with all the extra hot bean burritos with extra cheese that Ruby insists I must eat. Mostly, though, I just feel a little perkier in general when I can get off the couch and get moving a bit.
6. Only 12 weeks left until my due date! Seriously! I don’t know why, but 12 weeks sounds so much sooner than 13 weeks. And it means Ruby now would have an 80-90 percent chance of survival if she was born right now (depending on which source you read). I’m officially-officially in the third trimester (though by my calculations, it’s been a week already), and that means I have to step up from one doctor’s visit a month to one every two weeks. Little as I enjoy the doctor’s office, I think going every two weeks will make the time pass faster, as it creates more milestones to check off my list.
7. Speaking of doctor’s appointments, we’re going in just one week for our 3D/4D ultrasound! I didn’t care much about it before because I think the images from them look kinda freaky, but now it’s been seven weeks since we’ve seen the goings-on inside my uterus, and that’s a long time for people as ultrasound-spoiled as we’ve been. Especially now that the baby moves so much, I’m so curious what she’s up to in there! I have my doubts about how well this will turn out, but it’s possible we might see her face and even get a clue what she looks like! In just one week! I can hardly believe it!
But of course, not all the news is good in 1902Victorian-ville. Today at the doctor, I had the dreaded 1-hour gestational diabetes test. I already had one at 20 weeks because I’m at greater risk (40 percent of women with PCOS develop GD, as compared with 2-7 percent of women in general), and I passed it by four points.
I was thrilled at the time by my victory, but then I found out GD doesn’t usually start acting up till the third trimester and I would have to be retested at 28 weeks. I was so anxious about today’s test that I barely slept last night; I was too busy running through possible conversations with my doctor and seeing his smug face at my last appointment when he implied it would be a miracle if I didn’t develop GD.
Then this morning I fasted my two hours, and drank my cup of syrupy fruit punch, and waited another hour, and then came the moment of truth – the finger stick. The blood sugar machine blinked forever before finally settling on a number – 139. Oh, I thought, with a flicker of hope – did I pass? 130s were good, right?
Even the nurse thought I had passed for a second, and my flicker of hope tried to flare into a flame. Oh but wait – no, she was thinking of the score for the 3-hour test. My blood sugar level needed to be 135 or under. AAAAAAAAAAGH NOOOOOOOOOO. Missed it by four points!
Sigh. So now I have to go back another day for the even-more-dreaded 3-hour test, in which I, a person who is now ravenous every 2.5 hours, will not be allowed to eat for 12 hours. Should be awesome.
Extra bonus points of awesome? My iron is “a little low” also, which means I’m now required to take these little green pills every day. But I can’t take them with food, or one hour before or two hours after eating eggs, whole grain bread, milk or any number of other essential foods, and I can’t lie down for 30 minutes after taking them. So when exactly during my day am I supposed to take this pill? And what happens if you take it with an egg – do you explode or what?
I’ve also added a DHA supplement pill to my growing repertoire, because the Internet tells me if I don’t my baby won’t be smart and will have bad eyesight. Or something. Whatever – I’m just tired at this point. I’ll be glad when this baby is born, and every little thing I do won’t have some dire consequence for her existence … then again, does that ever really stop until she goes to college?
Anyway, I said I was in a less whiny mood, so I’ll stop the whinging. I still think I have a shot at passing the 3-hour GD test, because lots of people fail the first spectacularly and still manage to pass the second, and I only just barely failed the first. Right? Right? Just say, “Yes, you’re right. Surely, you will pass it. There’s no way you will have an 11-pound baby.” Indulge me. If I don’t pass, it may be the only indulgence I get for a while.
hey–my one-hour number was 283. that has to make you feel good, right?! ;-) i’m sure you’ll pass this next time…and even if you don’t, no biggie! my little one was 8lbs. :-) no sumo-baby for me!
With this last pregnancy I went through the same thing, I failed the 1-hour, passed the 3-hour. Had to take the same iron pills too. I only gained 12 pounds though and my baby girl came out 7 lbs 3 oz. She is 3 months now and everyone says she is tiny, ( compared to my other 2 who were 8 and 9 pounders ) She did have a small heart murmer, but that is going away. Im sure she will be fine and just make sure they keep checking her weight so she doesn’t get to big, My son got stuck cause he was so big and we both almost died.
I also failed the GD test 1 hour THREE times (I have five kids including one set of twins). . . and I wanted to offer you some moral support. With my first ‘fail’, I passed the 3-hour. With my second ‘fail’, I failed the 3-hour barely. . . I have always considered my GD borderline, BUT still enough that I had to go on the diet and prick my fingers 4 times a day. And my OB is actually alot stricter on the pricking and diet.
The UPSIDE of all this: I had the opportunity to be counseled by a dietician and and a nutritionist. My sessions with these ladies proved to be wonderful for me. By changing the way I ate, not only did I keep my blood sugar in check, but I really felt like I had more energy throughout the day. It made me feel BETTER, and as you know by now, feeling better while pregnant is a boon. THEN the other great thing: my weight quit escalating out of control AND after the births, I continued eating healthy (just more calories for breastfeeding), and I lost weight a lot more quickly without even exercising.
My twins are 21 months old, and I lost ALL the weight I gained (plus) with them by eating how I was counseled to eat, NO exercise, breastfeeding and just general day to day living within one year. I continue applying the counseling to my lifestyle because I am trying to avoid Type II later on in life.
I cried when I failed that first one hour test and thought it was the end the world and that I had failed. By now though, I realize it was just what it was and I did have control if I went with the diet and all. And it was worth it. My numbers were always borderline. Other OBs might not have even had me apply the diet!
I had healthy 8 lbs. 8 oz., 10 lbs., and 7 lbs. 13 oz. babies. . . My twins had TTTS (not related to the GD) and were preemies at 34 weeks – but still weighed 5 lbs. & 6 lbs. 12 oz. at 34 weeks (which is not small at all for preemies 34 weeker twins). They were in NICU for a couple of weeks but for observation due to the TTTS (not GD).
If you are even borderline, I still think the diet may change your life for the best. Don’t get down on yourself or the situation!
I think I’m so nervous about it because I was a big baby (8 lb. 15 oz.) and my mom didn’t even have GD; I just have a feeling Ruby’s going to be big, too. But we don’t know how big D would’ve been because he was born three months premature and only weighed 2 lbs. Even if you averaged our birth weights, we’d still have a little 5-pounder!
I try to eat whole wheat, veggies and other good stuff, but the sugar calls my name too often, especially since I’ve been pregnant! It’s going to be paaaaainful if I have to give up my sweets entirely!
Wait, what is the deal with the Iron pills?! I’m mildly anemic and take an Iron pill in the morning, I didn’t know there were special rules for taking the pill? Unless that is just because you’re pregnant? I’m not pregnant so maybe those rules don’t pertain to me?
Those tempurpedic mattresses really are like heaven. With everything going on though, it has to be absolutely wonderful having your sister closer. But, as always, “fun” baby tests with added stress are among the joys of pregnancy :)
Mrs Marcos, I’m not sure what the deal is with these iron pills. I had to take iron supplements before as a kid and don’t remember any crazy requirements like this. I probably would’ve just taken them in the morning with my vitamin, but I just happened to read the detailed instructions, and it said all this stuff in all caps about what I am supposed to do and not do.
The foods you are supposed to avoid near the time of taking the iron pills block the absorption of the iron. So, if you eat them too close to taking the pill, you will not get the full benefit of taking it. I know you can do what you need to do to keep yourself and Ruby healthy!
Flicker is really great when sharing photos over friends and families. I love the resize feature of Flickr.;;;
sometimes i get backaches due to long hours of working at computers.-,,
i also have backaches due to my blue collar job. stretching also helps reduce backaches*:~
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