A Quick Update, a.k.a. Wednesday Ramblings

We had an appointment with our doctor last Wednesday and everything went fine. I had my glucose challenge and I lived. The drink sure is disgusting, but it's a lot better than what I had to down more than ten years ago in Croatia. That one had no flavour to it and for whatever reason wasn't even refrigerated. There was less of it, though. What they had me drink last week was a pretty big bottle of some orange... something. But like I said, I lived. I really only wanted to climb the wall and walk on the ceiling a few times, but that was it. An hour later, they drew my blood and my results came back really good: 102 in whichever American units, which equals 5.7 in those that'd be used in Croatia. That's fairly close tolerable numbers for fasting glucose, or even within those limits, according to some charts.

So - yay! No gestational diabetes here (even though I wasn't really worried about it, to be honest). My blood pressure is still very good (as in - low) and everything else looked fine, too. We had a quick scan because Derek had to be at work earlier than normal and, unfortunately, no pictures were printed. It's been a long while since we got any, really. Hmph. (I made sure to fix this, btw.)

The little guy (yup, still a guy!) is doing great. A week ago, his weight was 1044 grams or 2.3 pounds and had a heartbeat of, if I'm not mistaken, 146 bpm. He kept hiding his face behind his hands, so we didn't really get to see it. We didn't see much of anything, to be honest, because the majority of the scan was dedicated to the measurements that were important to the doctor. The kiddo's femur bone and stomach measured two days ahead of schedule, while his head was two days behind. But all of that is good. The pregnancy was once more time labeled as low risk and we have another appointment scheduled for September 20th. 

The important part was a chat we had with the doctor: I just had to ask him about things from our prenatal education (from hell). He was pretty surprised to hear some of the things and I really swear  I did not make anything up, or made it sound worse than it really had been. Either way, the doctor made both of us feel a lot better and I suppose Derek now doesn't really have to worry that I will decide to stay at home and have the raccoons and the cat help me out while I'm giving birth to the little one. The doctor said he wouldn't break my water, especially not for no reason, or if I showed up a bit too early. He did say that I should stay at home for as long as it's possible, simply because it's better for me (as in - more comfortable). He also likes working with our local doulas and supports the idea of bringing one along. As far as he is concerned, I can deliver whichever way I want and the whole hype about breaking the bed just means that he is not turning it into a regular ob/gyn table/bed with stirrups, but instead leaving it be. He wouldn't ban me from eating and drinking either, but he does advise women to lay off it because, from his experience, the majority of intake just comes back up. (Ok, that part scared me enough to really consider fasting! Haha.) To him, also, breech doesn't mean a C-section at 36 weeks, or even later. There's no reason to simply not wait and give the baby enough time to turn, or he can always attempt turning it. So that was good to hear, too. Another good thing is that he never does any routine cervical checkups, so I suppose he won't be poking around my private parts unless it becomes necessary.

So, yup, I feel a lot better now about the whole deal!

I went back to the class tonight, though and now I really feel somewhat stupid. It was, again, kind of masochistic. Tonight's topic was, for the most part, C-section, with a little bit of postpartum garnish. It was scary, even though I have to admit that this instructor was a lot better than the cheerful chipmunk we had the first three weeks. She still talked about the bad/icky/nasty things only and didn't forget to bring all the statistics up either (yup... the C-section rate for the US is still 33% and our hospital is even worse, because they rarely ever allow VBAC). I even ended up arguing with her at one point because she was, again, trying to present nasty things as facts, that are supposedly valid for any women stepping through the doors to the Mayo Clinic and then meeting any provider who works there. Oh, whatever.

As of tonight, I am officially signed up for an independent class, Preparation for Natural Childbirth, so I hope they will undo the damage this hospital trash has done! It starts mid September and I am actually looking forward to it. 

I took a picture of my watermelon-shaped self this morning. I've grown, that's for sure, but I have to admit I am pretty pleased with how I look. I've gained about 5.5 - 6 kilos, which I guess is okay for nearly 28 weeks, and it seems I've packed them only into the bump and boobs. I'm still sporting very thin ankles and small feet; probably smaller than ever in my adult life. No idea what's up with that, but it sure does feel good. Especially since I still work full time and sit 8 hours a day at a desk. 

27w5d - enjoy the view of our office bathroom, too!

As for the little boy, he finally has a name. Actually, he's had it for over a week now and we're fairly sure we'll keep it, unless, of course, he comes out screaming he is not that. I am, however, not sure what people who carry that name are supposed to look like, either. And we are nowhere near getting a middle name sorted. It might be something Croatian, since the first name isn't, but it won't be anything too local. I don't want the kiddo to have to spell every single part of his name nearly as often as I have. It grows old after a while, really.

The scans I mentioned earlier? Well, I gave in and made a phonecall the other day to some... place. I don't know what they are, to be honest. It's not a clinic; I assume it's more of a photo studio? Well, we're treating ourselves to a baby-viewing session. The whole deal feels almost a bit, uhm, extreme, but I am too curious to wait to see the little guy in person, if I can take a peak before then, okay? So next Saturday, we're going up to Minneapolis to get a 3D/4D scan of our baby. It's an actual, uhm, projection on a big screen, apparently, and we'll get a few photo prints, some black-and-white ones, as well as a DVD with the video, and a CD with the remaining pictures. Fancy, huh? LOL. Like I said, this makes me feel totally weird, but I just had to do it. Hopefully they'll be able to get some good shots; the little guy has been very, very active and I feel like he's trying to constantly mistake me for a punching bag. He goes into some fits of punching rage, I swear. Then takes a nap. 

Soon enough we might have some nice things to show when it comes to our upstairs. Most of the walls have been painted and some of the floors have been laid. Woohooo. I can't wait to get it all done and over with: I want to live in a clean house, too, and, I admit, I want to start sorting all the little person's stuff, too. (Amongst other things, I am getting very curious to find out how many doubles I've accumulated, haha.)