Miraculous Cure?

After I put G down for her nap today, I sat in my chair feeling more and more crampy and uncomfortable. It was getting to the point that I was about ready to head back to L&D to get checked out. Of course, I hadn't been able to go pick up the wicked jitter-causing medicine, so I decided to just lay down a while and see if that helped. Somewhere along the way I feel asleep (imagine that!) but only for about half an hour because J called to say hi. After I talked to him and got up to pee I realized that I was no longer in pain. My cramping and backache were completely gone! I sat in my chair a while to see if laying down was what did it but the cramps didn't come back. After I got G up I cleaned up the kitchen, made dinner, and did a load of laundry. Still no cramps! My midwife called a while after that to check on me and I told her the story of my miraculous recovery. She was as stumped as I but glad to hear it as she still hasn't received the vaginal culture results and she really wants those before she prescribes anything.

On the one hand I am oh so glad to be free of all that cramping. Even though the FFN test said it wasn't likely I'd go into labor anytime soon, it was still not comforting to be in pain and not know why.

On the other hand, I'm left with the huge question of what caused the cramping in the first place. I can't see that an infection cleared itself up that fast. Which leaves me wondering if an occasionally irritable uterus is just going to be the norm for the next 9 or 10 weeks. It's not that the feeling was unendurable. It's just that I can't imagine feeling like that for 2 months and then having to face hours of labor with that feeling intensified.

So, as with so many other things in my recent history, there are no real answers as yet. But the good news is that my kitchen is clean and the laundry is at least in the dryer!

30w2d Still Irritable

Last night was a killer in terms of sleep. As in, I didn't get any. I think it was the lingering effects of the terb. I wasn't even tired really. I guess that shouldn't be surprising considering all I did all day was sit on my bum. I woke up this morning thinking that yesterday was all just in my imagination and that I was going to be all better today. But it didn't take too long for the cramping to come back and my back aches much worse today. My friend JE called me - she is a nurse in the L&D at the local hospital - to check up on me. I told her my status and she insisted I call the midwife to check in. Unfortunately Wednesday is her day off so I felt terrible having her paged but I knew I should do it. She called right back and we talked. She still doesn't have the results in from the vaginal cultures - she said she's really thinking that's going to show up something that we can treat. In the meantime she called me in a prescription for a pill form of the terbutaline that I can do at home and isn't as strong as the shot so hopefully will be minimal in the side effects department. I'll go pick that up as soon as G gets up from her nap and hopefully it will give me some relief. She said I can go in at any time to get monitored to make sure I'm not having real contractions but she's comfortable with me not doing that if I don't want to. She doesn't really think I'm in pre-term labor right now but there's always the nagging fear that the irritable uterus will lead to that.

I will admit that part of my insomnia last night was caused by my whirlwind of thoughts as I tried to figure out how the hell I would handle bedrest with my daughter and a husband who is gone for days as a time. I know there are people in my life that I can ask to help me out and I know they would willingly pitch in. But I am such a terrible, terrible person at asking for help and I carry a tremendous load of guilt around for feeling like I'm bothering anyone. I know I shouldn't but I do; I'm just programmed that way!

So for now I'm just sitting her feeling moderately uncomfortable from the cramping and the backache. I can think of a dozen things I really need to do around my house but for now I'm limiting myself to writing them down on a list and I will try not to do any of them until we get some sort of answer as to what's causing my irritability. Hopefully I won't run out of underwear before then.

30w1d Enough Excitement for Me

Woke up this morning feeling just fine. I was somewhat hungry, although not very considering that I have eaten very little over the past few days. After breakfast I sat down to read my email and after a while noticed that I was having some lower abdominal crampiness. I tried to ignore it for a while but it didn't seem to go away. Finally I decided to lay down for a while but it still wouldn't go away. I also started feeling nauseas. Finally a little after noon I called and left a message for the midwife. She called me back about 2:30 and after listening to my symptoms she suggested I try drinking as much fluids as I could for about 2 hours and see if that helped. It didn't so I called her back about 4:30. By that time I was also feeling a little achiness in my back periodically but I really didn't feel like my uterus was contracting. She had me go straight to the hospital for monitoring and to test my urine. She said, besides pre-term labor, it could be something like a urinary tract infection.

Fortunately I was able to get my friend JE to come get G and my SIL came to take me to the hospital. I live in a smallish town and I have to say that every dealing I've had with the hospital has just been great; everyone is very nice and helpful. It doesn't hurt when your SIL is known and respected by all. So we walked in and got great prompt service.

The good news is that the baby was doing great: great heartrate and jumping all around. The monitor didn't show contractions per se but showed "irritability". After a while on the monitor, the MW came in and said she would do an internal, take a swab to test for any uterine infections like bacterial vaginosis. She also went ahead and did a Fetal fibronectin test which determines your likelihood of going into labor in the next two weeks. She said a positive doesn't mean a whole lot but a negative result is highly reliable. Mine came back negative YIPPPEEE!! She also did an internal exam and said my cervix was still pretty thick and only dilated just a "dimple" which she said is completely normal if you've already had a baby. The only worrying thing is that she said the baby is very low and her head is right down there which would be great if I was 36+ weeks but not necessarily where we want her at 30 weeks with an irritable uterus.

After the exam she put the monitor back on me to look at the contractions/irritability again. After a few minutes she said that it was picking up a lot more irritability so she wanted to give me a shot of Terbutaline. That is some wicked stuff. Not only does my arm still hurt an hour later but I still have the shakes and I feel very jittery, which is apparently a very normal side effect.

My urine was cloudy and the initial tests showed some blood in it so the midwife is hoping that more detailed tests on that will show a reason for my cramping. Until we have a better answer for it, I'm ordered to "take it easy".

So many conflicting emotions right now! On the one hand I'm relieved that the baby appears to be doing well and is not being affected by whatever is going on in my body. On the other hand I'm terrified of the great unknown of what is causing the cramping. I'm relieved that the FFP test shows I'm not at a huge risk for preterm labor at the moment but I'm stressed wondering how I'm going to take it easy with a toddler around. J of course went back to work yesterday and won't be home till late Friday. I've decided not to worry about it tonight though. I'm just doing to sit here with my feet propped up watching movies and reading. Time enough tomorrow to worry about it all.

---------------------------------------------------

Midwife just called. More tests on the urine doesn't really show anything concerning. She said it may be that I am at the very start of a UTI although this is not normally how mine tend to start. She wants to wait and see what the vaginal cultures show before she does anything. Those results won't be back until late tomorrow or Thursday morning. Of course if anything changes in how I feel I'm to go directly to the hospital for monitoring.

This day has contained plenty enough excitement for me, thank you very much.

30 Weeks

My little baby turned 3 yesterday. Where did the time go?! One year ago I had her second birthday party in the midst of miscarriage #2. Yesterday I was pregnant but feeling about as crappy. I think I contracted some sort of stomach bug. I had nausea, fever, chills, and terrible body aches. It was oddly reminiscent of my second m/c. This time I took some tylenol for the body aches and chills but I still spent the entire night getting up every half hour to hurl. Strangely enough, about 12 hours after it started, my stomach started to feel better and I actually slept for a couple of hours. Now I just feel like a train ran over me. J was so very good last night: he cleaned up after the birthday party, played with G, and put her to bed. This morning he took her out for breakfast with his parents. He always manages to rise to the occasion when the occasion demands it of him.

My varicose veins are starting to hurt if I sit in a hard chair too long or if I do anything at the Y like biking or walking.

10 more weeks to go! Only 9 if this comes a little early like G. Can't wait for the day to arrive!

29w4d

I'm sitting here filling out my "kick count" worksheet. Yesterday it took 15 minutes to get 10 movements. The midwife gave me a sheet to fill out every day to record the movements so I decided to try and be a good patient and fill it out every day. So far so good.

Two nights ago saw the return of my nemesis: the dreaded leg cramps. I read about some people who have them and describe them as uncomfortable to somewhat painful. I can only describe mine as the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced, and yes, that includes natural labor with no drugs. These things can wake me up out of deep sleep screaming in pain. The first time it happened with G my poor hubby was beside himself and I think nearly jumped out of his skin. The good thing is that he is most wonderful at helping me through them. The bad thing is that he wasn't home this time. All day Wednesday my calf muscle hurt; Thursday was a bit better. It finally worked itself out this morning. Only to be replaced by another cramp in the other leg. This is the same pattern when I was pregnant with G: I would get cramps in alternating legs every few days. I think it started later with her though. Thank goodness I've never had cramps in both legs at once as I don't think I'd be able to walk!

I started in at the swimming pool today. I don't really like to swim and I don't do it well, but I do have to admit that it's really good for the cardio. I plan to do a couple days of swimming followed by a day on the bike to hopefully keep up my muscle tone.

Only 6 minutes today to get my 10 kicks in!

29w1d

Had another midwife visit today; everything was fine. She was a little concerned that my ankles are always swollen now (as opposed to just in the evenings previously) but she said it's not a problem unless my blood pressure goes up. Today my pressure was fine but I'm supposed to get it checked right away if I notice any sudden swelling. She always suggested switching to swimming for my workouts from here on out. And she repeated the advice to lay down with my feet elevated for an hour three times a day. Having 5 kids herself, though, she was very understanding that I have somehow not been able to find the time to do that. I can definitely tell within the last week or so that the fatigue is back full-force so laying down more will become more of a priority I think.

When I got out of the shower this morning I noticed that my breasts were leaking just a little bit. With G I didn't have any leaking before she was born. It rather scares me that I may have to worry about bra pads this early. I don't know what it is about showers that causes leakage and letdown but I remember the first few months with G, before my supply regulated itself, getting in the shower was always a guarantee to get me going.

We had more trouble with the hot water heater this weekend so the plumber is coming on Thursday to replace it. J finally agreed that that was the best course of action! Today we had to go buy a new dehumidifier. Things always seem to break in threes so we're holding our breath to see what else will break!

I'll end now and go figure out how to lie down with my feet higher than my heart for an hour. Wish me luck.....

28w4d

Today I bit the bullet and bought tickets for my friend to come visit me after the birth. I knew I would break down and do it! Actually, the price dropped to just a little over $400 so if I look at it in purely financial terms, I'll be getting help for about $100/day. Plus some girlfriend company and a play-mate for G. Not the worst investment I've ever made!

I'm 6.5 months now. 2.5 months to go. Yesterday was a tough day. I got up in the morning feeling like I couldn't breath. I was also worried because the baby didn't seem to be nearly as active as usual. Finally around lunch time I got out my doppler and was reassured with a nice strong heartbeat. Later in the afternoon I tried to take a nap and the baby woke up! She started really moving around, like she was doing acrobatics in there. I noticed a while later that I was able to breath much easier. I think she must have had her head or butt up in my lungs! I also stepped on the scales this morning and I don't think I've gained any weight in the last 2 weeks! I have my next appt next Tuesday and we'll see what the official scales say.

Tomorrow my niece is baby-sitting and J and I are going out on the town. We'll probably be dull and boring and go see a movie and eat out and maybe hit the bookstore. But it will be nice to get out of the house for a while without someone yelling that they have to go potty (someone besides me that is!!!!)

Snowed In

We're under a level 3 snow emergency today which means only emergency vehicles are allowed on the road. No Y or McDs for us today! I'd like to take G to play outside but the current windchill is -7 and I'm not sure either of us can stand that for long. So we're stuck inside alternating between Fantasia and Cinderella. I talked to a friend in Texas yesterday and she was giving me a hard time about the weather. But then I reminded her that for her, hot weather will start about May and last well into October. She lives in central Texas where they can have 100+ degree temps for weeks at a time. Thank you, I'll take a few days of being snowed in to that!

I can't get ahold of J this morning so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he got the first flight out and will be at his training class soon.

New Profession

I've decided that when I have to go back to work one of these days, I'm going to become a travel agent!

My poor hubby spent almost 12 hours at the airport today and he is still in Columbus! All day long I researched flight possibilities for him and we watched as each one was canceled. Finally I decided it was not looking good for him to get out and there was no way I was going to be able to drive to get him so I called the closest airport hotel and snagged the very last room for him. At $140, it was not exactly cheap. We are accustomed to paying an airline rate of under $50 for hotel rooms. This one took my breath away but short of him sleeping in the terminal I didn't feel we really had a choice. The bad thing is that he is supposed to start a training class tomorrow to upgrade to a new position and there's no possible way he's going to make it there on time. He was so bummed out about the bust of the day. He finally got to the hotel and almost didn't get his room even though we had reserved it. But he's finally there and hopefully he will get a good night's sleep. He's going to try for a flight that leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning and I strongly suspect that tomorrow will be a repeat of today in terms of watching them cancel flights all day.

Gotta love air travel!

Snow Day

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow with more falling by the hour. I'd estimate about 5" so far. The worst part about the weather is that J had to make his way down to Memphis today for some training that starts tomorrow morning. A friend picked him up this morning about 10:30 and they made it to the airport just fine but, one by one, all his flight possibilities are being canceled. It won't be a good thing at all if he can't make it but I'm not sure what else he can do short of driving down there which is probably just as chancy at this point.

I had a 9am appointment this morning but my midwife called about 8. She lives about 20 minutes from town and she said she was just closing the office today. I talked to her briefly about the varicose veins. She said the first thing to try is laying down 3 times a day for at least an hour with my legs slightly elevated above my heart. She also recommended ice or heat packs if they get painful. She didn't seem too concerned about them beyond the fact that I would be uncomfortable or in pain for a while. So I'm trying to figure out how to lay down 3 times a day for an hour. J said I couldn't count sleeping at night! Easy for him to say!

As soon as G saw all the snow this morning she wanted to go outside. I took her out for about an hour. She threw a fit when I said it was time to go in but we were both snow-encrusted. All she did was run around in the snow and fall down and bury herself in it. I think this kid is going to be a snow-bunny! She wants to go sledding but I'm pretty sure going up and down a hill is out of the question for me!

28 Weeks

Is it April yet???!!! This morning I got up and spent about 2 hours doing some shopping. Then I came home and unloaded all the groceries and put them away. Then I sat down for a while and experienced my first Braxton-hicks. That was a first for me. I never had them with G and I always wondered what they felt like. The day progressed with having to do way more than I bargained for. Here I sit at the end of the day totally exhausted and wishing it was May. I had a few more BH throughout the day and my varicose veins are really making themselves felt.

Okay, enough complaining. J has been having a lot of fun recently feeling the baby move. Yesterday I actually think she kicked one of my ribs; it's still sore. With G, I could never really imagine a baby being the source of all the kicks and jabs. This time around it's much easier for me to imagine a real baby in there.

J and I talked for a long time last night, discussing various name possibilities. With G, there was never a question of her first name: she is named after J's twin sister. Her middle name just sort of fell into place; we never really debated it. This time around I've had the middle name picked out since before the beginning. But we're lacking a first name. It's actually rather fun to throw out possibilities and find out why J likes certain names above others. I've read lots of opinions about whether or not to announce names beforehand. Some people say that if you pick a certain name and tell people before, someone will always be putting the name down and find things not to like about it. Whereas if you keep it a secret and introduce your baby with the name, it just goes better. A couple weeks ago I told my Mom the name that I was favoring and she immediately shot it down. Lesson learned. Since we know it's a girl, we're going to keep the name a secret.

I have a midwife appointment tomorrow. J and G are going with me for the first time. I think he went to almost all my appointments with G. This poor second kid is already getting the short stick! We're supposed to get dumped on by snow tomorrow and J has to get to the airport to go to work. I'm not really looking forward to driving in what I'm sure will be a mess tomorrow.

27w5d: Education

[ Note to self: never, ever, ever decide to have lunch at the McD's playland on a Saturday. Just don't do it. Resist the temptation. ]

While cleaning up the nursery a while back I came across the Bradley birth book that I got with G. We took just a general 4 week childbirth education class with her and, while it wasn't a complete waste of time, it wasn't exactly anything to write home about. I bought the Bradley book thinking I would get some tips out of it without taking the 12 week class. I started re-reading it the other day. The first few chapters reminded me why I wasn't interested in the class in the first place. I find the tone of the book somewhat condescending. Not sure why; I just do. At any rate, this morning I started reading the chapter on the different stages of labor. Oh my gosh, if I had really read and ingested that stuff with G, my perspective of her labor and birth might have been quite different. I realize in retrospect that I went through all the stages exactly as the book describes them. Even though my labor was not in any way "textbook", I was textbook according to Dr. Bradley because I hit all the stages. If I had been familiar with the stages, I wouldn't have felt like such a failure when I reached the last stage and questioned whether I could really do a "natural" childbirth and asked for drugs. The book says that when you reach that stage where you question whether you can really do that, delivery is just around the corner. And it was - within half an hour G was born. What a thing to hold on to when you're in the thick of it!

Reading that today made me determined to really read it and take it all in for next time. I'm also going to make J read certain chapters. I'm not sure I can whole-heartedly recommend the book but I can say that it will give you a lot of insight into what's going to happen.

27w2d: The Ultimate Indignity

Pregnancy and childbirth bring about a lot of indignities, most of which are suffered and quickly forgotten. I still have a snapshot in my head of a moment just before G was born. Someone put my glasses on so I could see her crowning and I looked around the room and realized that there were an awful lot of strangers standing about staring at my privates, which weren't exactly private just then. Indignity, yes, but quickly dismissed.

There's other indignities in pregnancy that no one really ever tells you about. Let's talk varicose veins. My husband has them all over his legs; he says they don't hurt him very much but they look insufferable. I've never had varicose veins on my legs and I've been fortunate enough thus far to not have them in pregnancy. But did you know that you can get them in other places? Specifically, varicose veins in the vulvular area are not exactly uncommon.

For about a week now I sometimes have this feeling that something's going to fall out down there. I've also felt for a while now that things are very swollen down there. Today I started getting a bit of a burning sensation after I'd been standing a while. So I finally made myself check it out. Yep - I've got several rather large pockets.

Of course Dr. Google and I have been in lengthy consultation today. I've learned that this is not uncommon for pregnant women and usually goes away within a day or two of delivery. There's really nothing to be done for it. Ice packs can help relieve the pain and sitting or laying will help as well. The sensation that things are about to fall out is common and goes with the territory.

Can I start whining now? My bum hurts and I can only assume that it's going to get worse and I've got a good 12 weeks to see how bad it can get. Between that and the now-ever-present pain of stretching skin just below my left breast I'll have to admit that I'm a basket-case at the moment. G's been off the last two days and won't nap and whines enough for the two of us. I sat down and had a real good feeling-sorry-for-myself cry today but it didn't really help.

I know the product of all this will make it worth it in the end - especially when it's nothing but a bad memory. But right now I'm just about ready to crawl in bed and put myself on self-proclaimed strict bedrest for the next 12 weeks!

27 Weeks: Flying High

It's been quite a day. Here at my house just a little north of Central Ohio, we hit -5 last night! That's pretty darn cold for a girl raised on the gulf coast of Texas.

At 2:30am I was rudely awakened by my smoke alarm upstairs. It's a fancy one with a built-in light and the light came on with a loud beeping noise, but only for about 5 seconds. Of course, J is gone and we are at home alone, so it's up to me to investigate. I'm used to smoke alarms just making little chirping noises when their batteries go out so I couldn't decide if smoke had actually triggered this one or not. I walked all over the house and even stuck my head outside but found nothing. So I went back to bed. Only to be awakened an hour later by the same thing. This time I decided to just take it down and take the batteries out. While doing that I saw the note that if it did what it was doing, then the batteries needed replacing. Of course this one partially woke up G so I had to go settle her down.

Finally about 9:30 this morning I drug myself out of bed and into the bathroom to discover that the hot water pipe had frozen. It's happened several times before, ever since my kitchen remodel when they rerouted some heating ducts and cut off heat to the bathroom. The only recourse is to apply massive amounts of heat to the pipe and hope it doesn't burst. The first time it happened I had to pay $150 to a plumber to learn that lesson. This time I'm saving myself the money.

Kudos if you've read this far because now it's time for the really big news. The midwife called just a little while ago to tell me that my 3 hour glucose test results were NORMAL! Yippeeeeeeee! Who cares about smoke alarms and frozen pipes in light of that??!!! This scenario, by the way, is exactly how it played out with G. So I'm going to do this time exactly what I did with her: from here on out I'll make an effort to cut down on the carbs and especially the sugar, since obviously my body has a bit of a hard time handling too much of that. I can't convey to you the hugeness of my relief. It was really difficult not spend the last two days dwelling on the possibilities. Now I guess I can move on to dwell on everything involved in getting this kid out into the world.

I am officially in the third trimester now. Just 14 more weeks. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was looking forward to getting off of progesterone?

Dilemma

I've got a dilemma; maybe someone out there can help me with it.

I have this friend. Besides my hubby, she's my best friend in the whole world. She was my college roommate for one semester and we've stayed friends ever since. I'll call her T. I got to go visit T for a few days after Christmas. We don't see each other much but we talk on the phone at least weekly. She's got 5 kids and has been a lifesaver with parenting advice.

When I was visiting T we got to talking about how things might be after the birth and dealing with G and all that. At one point she suggested that her hubby might just let her come stay with me for a while to help out. I was ecstatic! At the time I thought I could fly her up here on J's travel benefits very cheaply and she was talking about staying a whole week.

The other day I started researching the travel benefits, only to find out that J would have to travel with her both ways in order for us to use them. Not very practical when I need him at home to help out. So I priced the flights. It was looking like it would only be about $300 to get her here.

She called me up yesterday and said that her hubby had agreed to let her go but she wanted to also bring her 4 year old daughter. That sounded reasonable. Price goes up to $600 but I've got help for an entire week and a playmate for G. I enthusiastically agreed. Then we started talking dates. Then she dropped the bombshell. Seems her hubby only agreed on the condition that she leaves on a Thursday and comes home the next Monday. Excuse me? That's like only really 3 days. All of a sudden, from a purely financial standpoint, that $600 is not sounding like a very good investment.

I really would like my friend to come. Her help would probably be invaluable to me. And I've already pretty much told her I will buy her a ticket and it's a go; we just have to decide on the dates. [ there's no way she could afford to pay herself so that's totally not an option ] So now I'm left with a dilemma. I can come up with the money for the ticket. I've got it in savings now; it'll just hurt more down the road when I'm trying to make my dollars stretch to stay home longer with the kids before going back to work. Do I just suck it up and go through with the plans and enjoy it while she's here and try not to think too much about the money? Or do I come clean with her and tell her what's bugging me and offer to fly her up here some other time when she might could stay longer and/or I could really enjoy her visit?

I feel like I'm being a schmuck and just looking at the bottom line. On the other hand, that bottom line is what's going to keep me at home as long as possible with my kids. What oh what do I do???

Always Waiting

Pulled myself out of bed this morning at a little before 7am. I am so not an early riser. Especially when it's single digit temps outside. I made it to the lab a few minutes after 7 but they didn't get to me until 7:30. The test itself wasn't too bad. I was mostly just tired from not having slept well last night. I hope it's a good sign that at the end of the test I felt mostly normal, albeit hungry. I never did get that shaky feeling or anything. My fasting level was 88 which the nurse said was perfect. I hope it's a good indicator. My first two blood draws were by the "good" nurse. The last two were by the.... let's just say the other nurse. My arms still ache, two hours later. I'm afraid to take the tape off and examine the bruises.

Thanks to everyone who pointed out that my choice of bagels, while low in sugar, was definitely not low in carbs. After reading a bit yesterday I realized that our family's diet, while consisting of a good portion of fruits and veggies, is still very high in carbs. Cutting out the sweets would be fairly easy for me. Cutting down on white bread and regular pasta would be challenging. My hat off to all you who live with diabetes and other illnesses that require close regulation of diet.

It's Official: I'm a Failure

I went in this morning to get my one hour glucose test out of the way. I had fasted 12 hours beforehand. I failed miserably. A result of 140 is the cutoff. My number was 154. Not astonishingly high but enough to fail me. I think my midwife is somewhat concerned about the number coupled with my weight gain, however, because she wants me to go ahead and do the three hour test tomorrow or Monday at the very latest. So I have an appointment to get up bright and early tomorrow morning and be at the lab at 7am. To say I am depressed at this point is putting it mildly. I should find out the results of tomorrow's test by Monday. I guess I'll go from there.

26w3d Part 2

Sometimes I write the most amazing blog posts in my head. But then when I sit down to the computer I forget 90% of it. Or so it seems.

I forgot to mention that I talked to the midwife about the pain I'm having on my left side. She probed a bit to find out if the pain went deeper than surface pain. She said the gall bladder is on that side so she would be worried if I had other symptoms to go along with the pain (like nausea or vomiting). Since I don't she said it was probably just the pain of the skin stretching. She said it could also be the baby kicking, as babies can actually give you internal bruising if they're positioned just right. Wonderful: she's not even born and she's already pushing me around!

The other thing is that I went to see a movie this afternoon: Children of Men. I'm a sucker for futuristic, apocalyptic, the world is going to hell in a handbasket type of movies. This one fit the bill nicely; wasn't a bad movie but not one to write much about. It would have been impossible to watch if I was still trying to get pregnant I think.

The funniest thing was that during some of the parts that were really loud, the baby would start kicking like crazy. I don't know if she was annoyed or excited by the sounds. But she was definitely making a contribution. You know, a contribution to an internal bruise somehwere.

26w3d

Had another midwife appointment today. I was holding my breath on my glucose urine test. Fortunately it was negative today, probably thanks to the bagel I had rather than cherrios and OJ. She gave me the paperwork for the 1 hour glucose test and I plan to do that tomorrow. I have tried to avoid sugar today and I won't eat anything for the next 12 hours.

One thing I was worried about was my weight gain. With this appointment, I have now gained 30#. The midwife didn't comment so before the appt was over I asked her if I should be concerned about it. She showed me a chart where they graph weight gain. Up until now I've been within the two lines of acceptable weight gain. This time I was above the upper limit. But she said she wasn't too concerned as many women have a "growth spurt" around this time and tend to level out. I'll be seeing her every two weeks from now on so she said she will be keeping an eye on it. A lot will hinge on the results of the glucose test as well.

Other than that, the visit was pretty routine. She was in the midst of a delivery so I had to go see her at the hospital which is right next to her office location. It was rather nice as I got to see the facility which just opened last year. I decided against taking the prenatal class there so I guess I probably won't get a formal tour of the facility. But I may see if my nurse friend that works there can get me in sometime so I'll know exactly what I'm in for.