I had a check-up this morning, and they tested me for gestational diabetes. I was told at my last appointment that I'd need to come to this one fasting, so I hadn't eaten since 9pm last night and my appointment was scheduled for 10:30am today. They called me back into a room at 11 and explained that I'd have to drink this sugary concoction before they could do the test, and I had to wait exactly an hour between drinking the orange mess and being tested. No problem. I'm starving, but okay. I drank the drink and waited for my doctor. I told her I felt pretty good, much better than last Monday when I was having sharp pain and Braxton-Hicks contractions, but that I was really hungry. And then she asked if I had eaten breakfast. I reminded her about the fasting test, and she informed me that I only had to fast between drinking the juice and having my blood drawn. What? She wasn't happy that I had been misinformed, and I almost started crying--which, really, was pretty much my whole morning. Taylor Swift's "Love Story" made me weepy. Yay, hormones! Anyway. I started feeling awful by about 11:50 and nearly freaked out. I thought I was going to have another panic attack. I think I was just hormonal, hungry, and frustrated, but I am a little concerned that my blood sugar WAS off and that contributed to the whole mess.
I discovered that I'm allergic to brethine (terbutaline), the medicine most commonly used to stop preterm contractions. The nurse at the Labor and Delivery clinic we went to last Monday told me that I have to tell everyone about my one medicine allergy, which I thought was strange since it was for asthma. Turns out, it's the same medicine! Last time I had it, they had to call a crash cart. I almost died. Which, technically, would stop the contractions, too.
I feel like none of my friends will ever, ever want to get pregnant after reading my blog. I promise that it's not all scary and strange. I love that we're having a baby. I love feeling him move. I love that Dallas reads nursery rhymes and The Chronicles of Narnia to my belly button and "dances" with our son. There are many wonderful things about this experience, but I honestly feel like I was unprepared for a lot of the symptoms I've mentioned on my blog, and I want people to know! For example, my abdomen muscles are starting to be forced apart by my growing uterus, and now when I use those muscles to sit up, I have this insane bulge that looks like a fist trying to force its way out of my insides. It's disconcerting, but normal. The nearly constant sharp pains at the bottom of my stomach? Ligaments breaking apart. Uncomfortable. Completely normal. One of my friends is a doula/midwife who knows far, far more about all of this than I do, and she said that Jenny McCarthy's book (Belly Laughs?) talks a lot about the un-discussed side effects of growing a human. There's a lot our culture doesn't talk about.
So here I am. Twenty-two days until I am officially done with the semester. Fourteen weeks until the due date. I've gained about 17 pounds, and I generally feel pretty good. I'm sleeping well, too, which is nice!
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