Sorry this post is longer than usual... a lot went on at this visit.
I was supposed to have this visit at 28 weeks but we've been a week off since my anatomy scan at 21 weeks. At this appointment I was scheduled to have my gestational diabetes screening or the glucose tolerance test. I had to drink 50 grams of glucose, wait an hour and then have my blood drawn. The glucola drink tasted like the syrup they make orange Fanta from. Really, really sweet and flat. It actually made me a little light headed. Luckily I had to watch some videos so I got to put my feet up and let the spinning room stop on its own. At the birth center, if I were to have gestational diabetes I would still be able to deliver there, they would have to just take special care of me during labor. One hour after drinking the sweetest drink on earth they would like for your blood sugar to be less than 135. If it was higher than that it doesn't necessarily mean you have gestational diabetes. You would have to come back for a longer 3 hour test where they would give you 100 grams of glucose and test your blood four times in that period of time. Then if 2 of your results come back abnormal, you officially have gestational diabetes. The birth center has a "no news is good news" policy so when I hadn't heard from them in a couple of days I assumed everything was fine. I found out at my next appointment that my blood glucose level came back at 109. BOOM!
Chef wasn't with me at this visit because I had to wait an hour and I scheduled it while he was at work. I noticed a change in the theme of the videos I had been watching. This set of videos focused on the baby's care during the first six weeks of life. That means I'm nearing the end y'all. I really appreciate watching these videos because the focus is to clue you in on the differences between breast fed and formula fed baby poop and things like that, so you don't think anything is wrong with your baby for no reason. In one of the videos they did say that if you are "darker complected" your baby may come out lighter than you and your partner but, "The baby will get more pigment over time." Hilarious. There was a segment on care of a newly circumcised penis, which thankfully I don't have to worry about this time around. There was a good portion of one of the videos devoted to how draining caring for a newborn would be and that if you get really frustrated with the crying baby to put it in it's crib and walk away. You hear about so many bad things happening to babies at the hands of their parents who aren't emotionally capable of dealing with such a dramatic life change. I think it's always good to let parents-to-be know that it will be stressful, you will get frustrated, and it's okay and normal.
Kick Counts - I was also instructed to start charting fetal movement at this appointment. I have a little chart to track how long it takes the baby to move (kick, twist, or turn) 10 times. I'm not doing it. Why? Because, she kicks 10 times in like 15 seconds. They say if I don't feel her move 10 times in an hour to drink juice and lie down and she should start to move. If not, there is cause for concern. If her movement decreases I will start to keep track but right now it's not necessary. I had a student midwife for this visit and as she searched for baby's heartbeat she got kicked 3 times and said, "You shouldn't have a problem with that fetal movement chart." Baby's heartbeat came back a strong 140 beats per minute.
The receptionist realized that I was a week off with all my appointments so she decided we needed to get back on track. My next appointment would be at 30 weeks, as in the following week, and now instead of going to see my midwives every month I will get to see them every two weeks until I'm 36 weeks. From then on it will be every week.
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