31 weeks...

I had a Dr.'s appt. this past Monday. I was given some good news and bad. Let's start with the good. The baby's heartbeat is strong and I'm measuring what I'm supposed to. YIPEE!!

I was telling my doctor that I feel like the baby has dropped already. I've felt this way for about 3 weeks now. 2 weeks ago, at church a lady came up to me and said that I must be due soon because it looked to her like the baby had dropped. She was surprised to hear that I still had 11 weeks to go at that point. I agreed with her though, she has dropped. I also seem to have more than usual discharge. Sometimes it's so much that I wonder if I'm losing my mucus plug already. I also mentioned my daily headaches that I still have. However, I have found that as soon as I feel it coming on if I stop what I'm doing and eat something the headache will generally subside. It doesn't completely go away but it doesn't turn into a migraine either. I can still function. I've also been having contractions. I know most of them are Braxton Hicks, but I do get some that are starting to hurt, and I have to stop what I'm doing. I'm much too early to be having these.

I don't think she believed me when I said I felt like the baby had dropped. When she measured my belly though she said something like, "Oh wow, this baby really had dropped. She's head down and everything likes she's ready to come". Uh..... Yeah! That's what I'm saying. My doctor now agrees that baby has dropped, with the discharge and contractions to go along with this she has put me on "moderate" bed rest. I've got another appt. 3 weeks from this past Monday. I will be 2 days shy of being 34 weeks (Hunter was born at 34weeks+2days ) Anway's she plans on checking me then and if I've dilated at all she'll put me on "complete" bed rest for the rest of this pregnancy. Moderate bed rest is not doing the things that bring on the real contractions like, vacuuming, sweeping/mopping, being on my feet all day long (preschool/mutual days). I should also be laying down (not sitting down) for an hour mid-morning and another hour midafternoon.

Monday I also took the pregnancy glucose test. It came back high. The nurse told me that the "normal" scores were somewhere between 29-139. My grand score was 156. WOW!

I was told I needed to come back this week and take the 3-hour glucose test. Apparently, the 1st one is a prescreening, and the 3 hour is the actual diagnosis for gestational diabetes. The nurse told me I did have a small chance of passing the 2nd test, but she'd be surprised if I did due to my high score on the 1st one. Gestational Diabetes in most women causes their babies to grow extra big. The babies aren't developing faster there just getting fat! If I were to go the full 40 weeks the baby would most likely be too big and cause for a c-section. We want to avoid this. With extra monitoring this baby could be taken as early as 35 weeks. Most babies are taken between the 37-38 week. I would be put on a special diet. I would be given a special little machine that would check my blood at home every 3 hours. Poking myself to withdraw blood every 3 hours for the next several weeks would not be fun. If for whatever reason the diabetes wasn't being controlled with my diet, I would have to give myself insulin shots.

So today I made a trip back to Cedar for the 3-hour test. I arrived at the hospital fasting a little after 8:30am. My blood was drawn for the 1st time at 8:45. I was given another sugary drink that actually had twice as much sugar in it than the drink I took on Monday. I had 5 minutes to drink it. I started chugging it and the nurse stopped me. She said drinking this drink on an empty stomach makes most people sick. She didn't want me puking and having to start all over again so despite the nasty sugary taste I did my best taking the whole 5 minutes to drink it. My blood was then drawn at 9:50, 10:50 and 11:50. My arms are now bruised! I had to stay at the hospital the entire time.

Lucky for me my mom just happened to be working in Cedar and had a break during the time I was there. I brought a book to read but couldn't seem to concentrate on it. It was great to have my mom as a distraction and to keep me company. When my last draw was done my mom treated me to a much-needed lunch. It was great to spend some more time with here just one on one.

I was told my lab results would be in by 4pm and that my Dr's office would give me a call. At 4:45 my patience got the best of me, and I called them instead. They still hadn't received my test results, but the receptionist was able to pull them up online. She told me the "normal" range was 29-179 this time. I scored 130. Yeah! No diabetes. The doctor hadn't had a chance to look at the results yet, but I could expect a phone call sometime tomorrow with what happens next. She may want me to take the test again due to the conflicting numbers. Yuck! At 6:30 tonight my phone rang. It was the nurse from my doctor's office. I passed and I don't have to take the test again. YIPEE!! I still need to stay on moderate bed rest, but gestational diabetes is no longer a concern. I don't know why my score was so high on Monday. After drinking the liquid today, I didn't know how anyone would score a normal reading with the amount of sugar in it. I felt like I could stick my tongue out and see sugar granules stuck all over it. I had twice as much of the sugary drink today and my score was less than it was on Monday. What the heck happened? We've told the kids that my body might be sick and that was why I had to go back to Cedar again this week for a special blood test. Every prayer offered I have been mentioned. Our prayers were definitely answered today.

I feel like we have been blessed with our own little miracle.