28 week appointment

Last week I had my 28 week appointment.  I was nervous about it since it was my glucose test.  I thought that I had to drink the stuff and then sit there for an hour and then have my appointment.  But I drank the stuff and then had my appointment during the hour wait.

So they always weigh you first thing.  I gained 11lbs this month…  ELEVEN?!?!  O.M.G.  I about died…  And then I about cried.  And THEN she took my blood pressure, which naturally was high because I was a tad bit worked up about gaining 11lbs in one month.  I hadn’t wanted to gain 11lbs the rest of my pregnancy and I gained it in one month?  Ugh.  My clothes aren’t fitting any tighter, but my belly is definitely getting bigger.  And I hadn’t been eating the best for the previous week+ since we’d been out of town and eating out every meal.  But 11lbs?  Ugh.  Not good.

My midwife and a student midwife came in for my appointment and I ended up talking with them for a good half hour.  They were mildly concerned about the weight gain and my high blood pressure, but since my bp wasn’t that high and it wasn’t consistently high, they were okay with it.

I talked to them about quite a few different things.  The weight gain, having large babies, his position, giving birth to breech babies, my appointments once I get to Italy, perineal massage, etc.  I feel like I got a bunch of good info from them and they were very reassuring.   They measured my belly again and dug around in there to determine his position, which hurt like HECK.  But he’s still measuring over 2 weeks ahead of schedule and he was head down at the time of my appointment.  We listened to his heartbeat, which was good and strong as usual.

I waited in the lobby for my hour to be up after my appointment with the midwives.  Mark actually called during that time so it was nice to talk to him for a bit.  Then they called me back to do the finger stick to check my glucose and hemoglobin counts.  They said that my glucose had to be 151 or below and the hemoglobin had to be 11 of above.  My glucose ended up being 150, and my hemoglobin was 10.5.  So I BARELY passed the glucose test and I didn’t pass the hemoglobin test.  I’m not 100% sure what that means, but they didn’t really say anything much about it besides to make sure I’m taking my prenatals.

I have another appointment next week and that is my last one while I’m still in the States.  If I’ve gained a bunch more weight, I don’t even know what I’m going to do besides stop eating all together.  I tried to make my appointments in Italy for when I get back, but they won’t let me do that until they have all my records, which I’ll take back with me.  I did find out that they don’t go to bi-weekly appointments in Italy until 36 weeks, so that kind of stinks.  I’m just hoping if I’m still measuring weeks ahead there that they’ll do an ultrasound to see exactly how big he is.

I’m getting to the point in my pregnancy where I like being pregnant.  I’ve been feeling him a lot, which is fun and its a constant reminder that our lives are going to change quite a bit pretty soon.  I can’t wait for Mark to get home so he can feel his baby boy moving around too.  Every once in a while Abbie will come up and ask to feel him.  I’m still not sure if she’s actually felt him move though because she’s never felt my belly when he’s really in there womping around.  But I love it when he’s active and I’m ultra-aware of our second baby. 

My ribs and lungs do feel a little cramped right now and I have a hard time taking a deep breath sometimes.  I have no clue where my stomach is located right now, but when I lay down, I do get pretty bad reflux.  Last night he was in there sideways and kept me up quite a bit of the night because I couldn’t get comfortable.  I could feel his head pushing out the side of my belly and it was weird to lay on my side and feel him right there and then feel him kicking my other side.  But I could breathe a little easier so that was nice.  I like to lay on my back though, but since you’re not supposed to do that when you’re this far along, I’m constantly trying to rearrange my pillows to make sure one side is higher than the other.

I’m interested and nervous to see what OB care will be like at Aviano.  It’s a little scary that I’ll only have a couple appointments there, most likely with different doctors, before we have this little guy.  Doesn’t give you much time to get to know your doctor and there is a possibility that someone I’ve never met will be delivering him.  But that was also a possibility with Abbie’s birth and things turned out fine with her!