Prenatal Appointment

I had yet-another prenatal appointment this morning. (Prenatal visits are strongly correlated with healthier babies, so I know it's important. On the other hand, I've also seen a research study that you don't need nearly as many prenatal visits as are standard for that benefit as long as there's a nurse to call with any questions between appointments. So I'm not kicking about prenatal visits in general, but every other week seems frequent especially since I know we don't need that many visits.) I took the 1-hour glucose challenge first thing in the morning for the last appointment, and my reading landed in the gray zone. Given morning cortisol levels, a very early glucose challenge is the most challenging. The doctor wanted to do the 3-hour challenge, but going without breakfast until lunchtime would trigger a migraine for me. So instead I came in for a fasting glucose draw, and took the 1-hour glucose challenge in the afternoon. I did not feel right for the morning glucose challenge; I felt as fine for the afternoon glucose challenge as you can after drinking something that's way too sweet when you normally drink water.

Ironically (since the point was to avoid how long I went without breakfast), I sat in the waiting room for half an hour this morning before my appointment, so I was pretty hungry when I saw the nurse for that blood draw. The nurse started with the usual routine of taking my weight. The rule of thumb is that I should gain a pound a week in the third trimester, so she started with, "You're down half a pound since two weeks ago." I gave her a withering look (sorry, but I was hungry, cranky, and bored from sitting for half an hour) and said, "I'm here for a fasting glucose draw, and I'm starved." Bless her, she skipped the rest of the routine and sent me straight to the blood draw.

This doctor is herself 14 weeks pregnant, and I heard her from down the hall saying, "What? Get that girl some food!" So I started eating the cereal bar I made last night just for this morning. Don't know if it were hunger or just that good, but that bar tasted great! The doctor apologized for her cold hands when she started to measure me. At first she was worried that Thumper was very big, but he was just getting as far under my ribs as he could for some reason. Thumper ran away from the cold touch, and then I measured normal (32 inches at almost 32 weeks, and the rule of thumb in third trimester is to measure in inches where you are in weeks). The heart rate monitor was also cold, so he kept kicking it and trying to get away from it, so the monitor never got a lock on his heart rate. However, it sounded like 150 bpm to both of us, and what with moving all around, he sure seemed healthy, so that was good enough.

Yeah, that prenatal visit got a lot better once I got some food. So let's stop the fasting tests!