Christmas and Baby Countdown

Hello everyone!  I am finally feeling normal again after an off-kilter day that revolved around my glucose tolerance screening test.  If you didn't know, this is a test that is recommended for pregnant women between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy to screen for issues such as gestational diabetes.  It entails spending 2 hours in a lab and having your blood drawn several times.  First, they draw when you arrive, and then you swill a bottle of juice (juice is a loose interpretation) with ALOT of sugar in it.  75 grams of sugar.  A can of Coca-Cola has 39 grams of sugar and a cup of orange juice has around 25 grams.  I think the drink was about 12 ounces.  You have to drink it in 5 minutes.  It was OK starting out but those last swallows were just sickening.  I hate having blood drawn, especially the rubber strap that they have to use to find my veins, so the drink was the least of my worries.  I have to say I felt pretty gross during my time at the lab. 

Oh, I left out the big problem...you have to fast for 12 hours before the test.  Fasting is sooooo not my thing.  I don't do it.  I never skip meals and I am eating snacks all the time.  The lunch bag I bring to work every day is like a grocery store.  I had a regular appointment at my doctor's office after the screening so I wasn't done with everything until about 11 a.m.  On a normal morning I usually have eaten twice by 11 a.m.  I headed straight to Qdoba and destroyed a huge burrito as soon as possible after the appointment.  It was not good by that point...I was sweating and my face was feeling tingly when I was in the car on the way over there.

The good news is that I don't have gestational diabetes (approximately 1 in 10 pregnant women get it and it goes away after the pregnancy) or any other related complications.  My other appointment was fine.  At my last one 6 weeks ago I was measuring 2 weeks behind (this refers to the height of the uterus and how far it has expanded...it is called Fundal height...you can look it up if you want details).  It is measured in centimeters so I wasn't too worried.  It seems crazy to get bent out of shape about two centimeters, even in this percentile obsessed culture, but I was still slightly concerned.  The boy seems to have had a growth spurt since then because now I am measuring on schedule.  The due date is March 1 although I think I am just going to tell everyone it is February 29 because it would be sweet to have a leap year birthday!  From now on there will be appointments approximately every two weeks!  Eeeek!  It's the third trimester!

After the appointment I wrapped some presents with the help of Allan.  He behaved as he usually does...

He is such a pain...

Presents!  Wrapping Christmas gifts is so fun...I wish I had more home with me to wrap!

Here is our wreath from the Boy scouts...it looks just like the one from last year!  Those red bows never change!