31 Week Update

This is a little late, but I wanted to be sure that I got some information down on paper (or online!) before I forget. The days are continuing to fly by at warp speed and these days we stay busy, busy, busy! I can't believe that June is almost over. The summer always seems to go by too fast!!

Last Wednesday, when I was exactly 31 weeks, I had a pre-natal appointment with the OB. I saw Dr. Heider again and the appointment was quite uneventful. We weren't in the office very long, which is always nice when Jacob is with me. He did well, sitting quietly watching a video or looking at books on the iPad. That thing sure is a life saver when we are in appointments or on a long grocery shopping trip!

The nurse took my blood pressure (125/80) and weighed me (I was up six lbs for a total of 17 lbs). I was worried about the weight gain - but the doctor didn't mention anything about it, so I guess he is not worried. At this point, I am supposed to be gaining about a pound a week, which would have equated to four pounds at this appt. So, maybe six isn't that bad. :) I have honestly not been watching my diet and I have been craving sweets and salty foods at different times - ice cream, cookies, chocolate milk, chips, popcorn and french fries with cheese sauce are my favorites right now  - so I was not surprised to have gained that much. I have told myself that I am going to try to be better with my diet, but we will see. I have noticed lately that I cannot eat as much as I could previously, which I guess is a good thing at this point!

After I gave my urine sample, the doc came in and we chatted for a bit. He asked me if I was still planning on trying a VBAC and I said yes. I have noticed that every doctor has asked me at every appointment - I guess they are just "checking" to make sure that I haven't changed my mind. :)  He then checked for the baby's heartbeat, which was a strong 154 bpm.

He asked me how I was feeling and I told him that the usual pregnancy symptoms are getting worse, but I am working through them:

• I am wearing a brace on my right wrist at night to help with the carpal tunnel issue (although my hand/wrist still falls asleep at times during the day - usually when I am typing or holding onto something like a phone or pen).
  
• Heartburn/reflux is getting worse even though I am taking 75 mg of Zantac twice a day. The doc gave me the go-ahead to up my intake to 150 mg twice a day. I started that a few days ago so I am hoping that will help. The reflux has woken me up in the middle of the night twice for the past few nights. I usually drink some water and pop a few of the Papaya Extract pills that I have been taking and it seems to help enough for me to get back to sleep.
  
• Speaking of sleep, that is not happening very easily these days. With the heartburn and having to go pee about every two hours, my sleep is not very restful. It is also just hard to get comfortable - I have tried putting a pillow between my knees for support, but that usually only helps for a short time. I used the pregnancy pillow a bit, but that just seems to take up too much room and doesn't offer that much relief. And, when I try to roll over to get into a more comfy position, it seems like it takes a lot of effort to do so. My belly isn't that big, but getting it from one side to another takes a lot of effort, especially when I am half asleep. I am not sure that my snoring has gotten too bad yet, although Keith did have to wake me up last night because he said it was keeping him awake. Sorry, honey!
  
• Another thing that I have had an issue with lately is breathing. Yes, the basic idea of taking a deep breath is not easy these days. I know it is because I am carrying this baby super high and my lungs are being pushed aside, but I don't remember having this issue as much with Jacob (even though I think I carried him the same way). I guess maybe it is because I am moving a lot more - playing with and cleaning up after a three year old is more demanding than the desk job I had during my first pregnancy! I find that when I am bending over, I have to hold my breath because I can't breathe. Also, sometimes when I am reading a book to Jacob, I find myself getting out of breath. It seems really crazy that doing something so simple can cause this, but I guess it is all just a part of the growing baby that is taking over my body!

• The biggest issue I am dealing with right now is an issue with my left knee. The pain started on June 8th, which was a day that I had been on my feet a lot (we were at the pool in the morning and then I was up til about 1am making Jacob's tractor birthday cake). I just thought that I might have over done it a bit by standing so much, but the pain got worse over the next few days, especially when I tried to straighten or bend my knee past about 90 degrees. A few nights later, while I was trying to get off of the couch, my knee locked up on me and Keith had to come and physically straighten it for me. I saw my PCP about it and she said that I may have torn my meniscus (how? I am not really sure!). She said that there isn't much that can be done while I am pregnant, so she ordered PT for me. I started going to PT last week (2x per week) and it has helped some. The pain is actually not as bad when I am up moving around. It gets worse when I am resting it or sleeping because it gets stiff. Ice helps, as does a few stretches for my calf and hamstring that the therapist gave me. The worst thing about it is that I can't kneel on my left knee so getting up and down off of the floor (like when I am helping Jacob with a puzzle or trying to clean up the mess he has made with toys strewn all over the playroom) isn't easy or comfortable! It is just a pain and not something else that I really want to deal with!

Other than those "few" things, life is good! Like I said, time is flying by and it is hard to believe that my due date is less than two months away! We have just started to get things together here to move Jacob into the extra room and get the nursery back to where it will be ready for the baby. I just need to make time to get it done!

I am now on the "every two weeks" pre-natal appointment schedule so my next appointment is Friday, July 6th. Keith and Jacob are heading out of town that weekend to visit Keith's family in PA I am staying back to get things done around here. My mom is going to come help with organizing things that Saturday and hopefully we can get Jacob's room ready for him to move in upon his return! I am not stressing just yet, but the idea of a baby coming early (possibly in a very short 6 weeks) does make me a bit worried! We have a lot of things to do between now and then!! I hope we can get it all done!

Glucose Tolerance Test Results

Last Wednesday, I got a call from a nurse at the OB's office saying that I had failed my Glucose Screening Test. :( I was pretty sure that everything was fine since I hadn't heard anything and it had been almost a week since I had taken the test. So I was honestly kind of surprised to get the call. She said that my Blood Glucose level was not super high - it was144 - but it needed to be below 129 to be considered normal. Therefore, I needed to go to the lab for a three-hour Glucose Tolerance Test within the next few days. Fun times! I was not necessarily worried that I failed the one-hour test, since I had done the same when I was pregnant with Jacob (my level that time was 166). But, I was hopeful that, similar to that time, I would not fail the three-hour test!

Thankfully, Keith was able to take Friday off from work so I made an appointment at the lab to do the three-hour test that day. They wanted me to be there between 7-8am so it would have been tricky to get Jacob to someone's house or even have someone come here to watch him that early. It was nice that Daddy was able to stay home and spend some time with him too! I felt like I didn't need to rush and I even ran a bunch of errands (grabbed lunch and went to Sam's Club & Walmart) after I left the lab - it was nice to have a day to get some necessary things accomplished without having to take Jacob along.

The three-hour test wasn't that bad and the time seemed to go by quite quickly. I arrived at the lab around 8am, they took some blood before I drank the "sweet juice" (100 grams of glucose in the same sized bottle as the picture above, Lemon-Lime flavored this time...it was really gross and kind of hard to get down in the five minute allowed time). Then, I got registered and sat in the waiting room for the next three hours. They called me back to give a blood sample every hour (at 9:15am, 10:15am and 11:15am). The women who took my blood did a really good job and, of the four times I was pricked, only one of them didn't take the first time. My right arm seems to have the beat veins since they took blood from my right hand once and my right arm three times (it was my left arm that didn't want to cooperate - she said that my vein "rolled" so she couldn't get any blood even after poking around).

There were two other pregnant women there who were also doing the same thing I was, so we would chat every now and then while we were waiting. One of them is due Aug 20th and the other on Aug 21st. We joked that we would see each other at the hospital when we had our babies. Ironic thing is that they were both having boys too! I took my computer with me and there was free wi-fi in the main building's waiting area (but not in the lab waiting area), so I would wander out there every now and then to check my email or facebook. I even got a little (paid) work done. I also worked a bit on getting photos and videos organized on my Macbook so I can get them off the computer and onto DVDs (this is an on-going project that takes a long time so some uninterrupted time with nothing else to do was perfect for this!).

When I spoke to the nurse on the phone on Wednesday, she said that they might have the results on Friday afternoon, but they would definitely be available on Monday, so I decided to call the doctor's office yesterday morning. The nurse that answered the phone said that she was actually just getting ready to call me because she had gotten a note from the doctor regarding my results. When she said that my glucose levels were normal, I was very relieved! My specific numbers were:

Fasting - 87 mg/dl (needed to be under 95)
One hour - 174 mg/dl (needed to be under 180)
Two Hours - 145 mg/dl (needed to be under 155)
Three Hours - 100 mg/dl (needed to be under 140)

These numbers are similar, although a little different, to what they were three years ago with my last pregnancy. It is interesting to compare the numbers. I am thankful that I don't need to worry about Gestational Diabetes. So far, things seem to be going well with this pregnancy. I hope that continues for the next 11 weeks!!