28 Weeks and Woe is the Glucose Test

First off:

This is my 105th post! Woot!

So anyways, back to 28 weeks. Ah, 28 weeks. It's an exciting week to be pregnant, let me tell you.

First up on the list is the amazing glucose tolerance test. To finish this test, first you starve yourself overnight, skip breakfast and mosey on over to the lab at the bright hour of 7am. I was starving, tired and cranky since I don't go to bed before midnight ever and getting up at 6:30am was a distant dream from the past. I also had to sweet talk Ryan into watching the Smartie as making her sit in the lab for over an hour is horrifically terror-inducing. He agreed to stay home from work for an hour or so until I got back. She is fairly docile in the morning as she doesn't usually get up until, oh, say 10am or so.

Turns out not bringing her was the best choice. Upon arrival at the lab, the only seat available was in the corner between a older bigger grandfather-ish type and an old lady that tried to kill me with a glare. It became apparent why this seat was vacant almost instantly. The grandfather-ish type had boundary issues (as in NOT staying in his own bubble) and the old lady had a killer losing-a-lung-hack cough. Whenever her sweater would brush against my arm, she would flinch back violently like she'd been stung. I felt vaguely insulted and wished I had been there a few minutes earlier to procure a better seat.

At any rate, they handed me the glucose bottle and bottoms up, it went down the hatch. That slop reminds me of Sunny D. I can't stand either. If they wanted me to go on a sugar rush, I could have inhaled 354 jelly beans for them in record time. Sure beats the ol' glucose slurpie.

It didn't take long for the rush to kick in. Being hungry and sugar rushed can make you a tad miserable I suppose. Mr. Grandfatherish Guy kicking me and Old Lady Hacker Cough Flincher sure weren't helping me any.

I brought a book to pass the time. Actually, it was kind of peaceful to have an hour scheduled to do nothing more strenuous than to read. Soon enough the hour was up. I went up and got my blood drawn, along with another few vials to check for any other issues. I was sick and shakey feeling, but not as bad as I was with Cailin two years ago.

I drove home and refused to talk to anyone but the toaster and some whole grain bread with natural peanut butter. I didn't want anything to do with sugar until at least lunchtime. Cailin slept in til 11am so I was able to have a rest. Eventually the sugar rush went away, but I felt the sugar hangover for the rest of the day. Maybe it was all the blood they drew too.... But I'm sure I have enough to spare at the moment.

By the way, I passed my glucose test. I do not have to endure the 3hr long glucose test again! Yippee!!

So, glucose and multiple blood tests done. Groovy. Next: Rhogam injection. Simply put, I have RH negative blood and my babies most likely have RH positive blood (Cailin does). The shot is an antibody so my body doesn't do anything funky to the babies since our blood types fight and argue and stuff.

Now, needles don't bug me at all. Finding parking at the hospital (and paying for it), waiting for three hours to receive said needle in an extremely dirty public area and having to wait to see if there's a reaction does. That's what happened when I was pregnant with Cailin. Understandably, I was not looking forward to the same kinda ordeal. This time, I either had to bring Cailin or leave her home with Ryan.

I was so scared of her touching everything in the hospital and getting some awful cold or something that I asked Ryan to watch her. Unfortunately, work has been crazy busy lately and he wasn't sure when he'd be able to take the afternoon off. I phoned the hospital and got the scoop on the situation. They've changed how they do things, and the whole procedure shouldn't take more than an hour - plus they do it in the maternity ward now. I decided to try it with Cailin after all.

After breakfast the next day, I packed Cailin up with the small stroller and bravely forged ahead to the hospital. I found parking instantly, yay for little cars! and wheeled Cailin up to registration. We were next in line. Up to the maternity ward (which was impeccably neat and scoured clean) where they ordered my shot and we had about a 20 minute wait. Cailin sat patiently in her stroller and played with the straps. For a while. Then she got out, sat on the couch and ate some cereal. Pushed the stroller around. Leafed through a magazine. When she started to get antsy, the shot arrived.

The normal procedure ensued (they stuck me) and since I've had it before with no reaction, they bid me adieu. I was so proud of myself for sucking it up and taking Cailin with me. She was the poster child of well-behaved. I rewarded her with a visit to the office to see Papa and Daddy. She had a great time. That was on Wednesday.

Today I had another prenatal appointment. Which means that Cailin cried again in the doctor's office. She's sure someone is going to barge across the room and give her a needle, I'm sure. They gave her a sucker at the end, but it didn't seem to help until we got back to the car and she went to town on it.

I'm now 29 weeks along - which means 10 weeks or less to go. Jellybean is measuring big for his age. Surprise, surprise. The doctor told me sorry, no little babies for me; this one is also going to be big. I'm measuring at about 32 weeks. I'm positive he's going to be a ten pounder.

My blood pressure is perfect, baby's heartbeat is strong (he's also incredibly wiggly) and everything looks good. I have another appointment in June to schedule a consult with the surgeon. And it's looking like they will bump Jellybean's birthday up even farther - to August 1st maybe. I hope he decides to stay in there until his planned birthday.

I've gained a total of 26.5 lbs. Whew! I thought that number was going to be a lot worse. I would have had to have a cry right alongside Cailin in the doctor's office.