30+ week Dr's appt. update

Wow, over 30 weeks already!? Time is flying by! All looks well with this little soccer player in there. Not much too exciting to report. Measuring more closely on schedule now, only 1 week ahead instead of over 2. BP 116/60. Yawn... Oh and those contractions that are happening on a daily basis? Perfectly normal, as long as they subside with some rest, which they always do. Other than that, just 10 weeks to go to meet this little one!

Ava is SO vocal lately, she tells anyone that will listen "I'm a big sister!" She also knows baby's name now too, so she talks to the belly and says hi once in a while. We're not sure how much of this she really understands though - I'm sure she has no idea what is going to happen when we actually bring this baby home with us!

All Bundled Up!

It's that time of year again in the midwest - time to get out the warm winter coats, the hats, the mittens. Luckily Ava doesn't mind getting bundled up - as long as everything is *pink*!!

School pictures.... Memories to remember!

That time of year again... fall backgrounds, long sleeves, apples and pumpkins. I know in several years I'll look back on these pictures and laugh. At Ava's pale blond hair in its awkward in-between stage (and her refusal to wear any sort of ponytail or clips in it!), the way her left arm is sticking out the wrong way of her sleeve, and of course the class picture, where it looks like my child rides the "short bus". That's my girl. But pictures preserve what time takes away... and these pictures really captured my little girl the way she is, the stubborn goofball that melts my heart daily.

a quick update...

No gestational diabetes!! YAY! My OB's nurse called me last night, at 8:30pm on a friday night, to give me my test results, and I was terrified to call her back for fear it was bad news, but it really wasn't.

The update is that I am (still) anemic. She started to say "Well, we just need you to start taking an iron supplement..." and I stopped her and said "I was anemic at the very beginning. I've been taking an iron supplement since May." She paushed, said "Oh." and all was quiet! I guess I'm just not "responding" to it. No problem, she is calling in a prescription supplement that is supposed to be better. We'll see - anything with the potential to give a girl more energy is a godsend when they're 7+ months pregnant, and chasing around a 2-year-old daily!!

28+ week Dr's Appointment Update

I had my 28-week checkup today seeing Dr. Box, my OB. On the agenda was my glucose-tolerance test to screen for gestational diabetes, and bloodwork to check for anemia.

First of all, I'm no newbie to this - I remember it when I was pregnant with Ava not too long ago. And I remembered hearing moms around me warning me about the dreaded glucose test (which, for those of you who arent familiar, involves drinking a very sugary drink pretty quickly, then getting blood drawn an hour later to check your blood glucose levels to determine your reaction to the sugar). Everyone said "Oh gawd, that stuff you have to drink was awful!" And then I had the test - and I thought "Maybe I'm crazy, or I just have one hell of a sweet tooth!" The drink really wasn't that bad... like an icy cold orange Crush soda. Yum!

But this time around... holy moly, what happened to my orange soda?? The lab tech has me sit down, and she runs to get the sugary drink and comes back and hands me a very medical-looking 10 oz. plastic bottle, which I soon discover is not-quite-cold-enough fruit punch flavored CRAP. It tastes very sweet, very medicine-y... it took all of my "I-just-fasted-for-8-hours" grit to choke it down. Blech. I miss my orange soda. Sigh...

My OB did my checkup... I gained back the few pounds I lost at my last appointment (damn Halloween candy!!) but my weight gain is still on the low side, which is great for me. My BP was on the higher side for me, 130s/80s, so she just said we will keep an eye on it. Baby is still measuring several weeks ahead, so maybe that is just how he is going to be! And I've been having contractions already, which I never had with my first pregnancy. After some quick instructions to take it easy, and stay hydrated, I got a clean bill of health and I'm free for another 2 weeks.

Oh yeah... and a blood draw. Really not bad at all, thank goodness I have decent veins! So cross your fingers for decent blood counts and NO gestational diabetes!! I should have results by early next week.