Hello Third Trimester

We reached the third trimester officially on Thursday. I was allowed to celebrate by getting woken up bright (actually, the sun wasn't even up yet) and early at 6am for my gestational diabetes test. They told me the night before they would be doing it, so I didn't sleep well; I find it hard to sleep when they warn me they plan to stick needles in my arms. :(

But I woke up and they took an initial blood sample to have a a baseline reading. Then I had five minutes to drink an incredibly sugary orange drink (blech - I hate orange!). After I consumed the drink, I was given one hour before the next blood draw had to be made. An additional hour after that, they came back and drew more blood and then I was free and clear to eat breakfast -- thank goodness because I was starving.

Considering I hadn't had much sugar since I was admitted to the hospital, I was pretty concerned about the effects the sugary drink would have on my system. The few times I have splurged on a milkshake or a cherry coke, I have had dizziness and some nausea so I've learned to take it really easy on the sugar intake. Fortunately, I made it through the two-hour test without throwing up the drink or passing out, and despite some dizziness and mild nausea and heartburn throughout the day yesterday, I didn't have too many other troubles. I downed a lot of water to try to wash that stuff out of my system and I'm feeling much better today. Baby Z was really active yesterday (I presume due to the sugar drink) and was kicking and doing flips and all sorts of other fun stuff. My belly looked like something out of Alien. :)

The results came back that I DO NOT have gestational diabetes (THANK YOU, LORD) as that would have required they monitor my diet more closely and would have to prick my finger every day. Thankful to have dodged that bullet. This morning they woke me up to take more blood (this time to keep an updated file on me for the blood bank should I need it) and I have an IV change due tomorrow followed by a flu shot, but I think after that, I should get a reprieve from needles for at least a little while.

Here is a not very high quality picture of mom and Baby Z at 28w1d. Beyond grateful to have been able to carry her this far and that it seems like we should be able to continue carrying her (as we're both still stable - yippee). Thanks for continuing to pray for all of us.

28w1d

-Amber