Third trimester! I can't believe I have just over eleven weeks to go. People will tell you that the worst thing about the third tri is the heartburn, or the backaches, or the exhaustion. They lie. The worst thing about the third trimester is lying on the couch and your husband constantly sneaking up on you from around corners so he can put his hand on your stomach and try to make the baby kick by screaming "Wake up, Gloria, it's your daddy!!!" into your stomach.
This past week has been a week of failed blood tests. I failed my one-hour glucose (testing for gestational diabetes) by five points so my doctor had me take the three-hour just to be safe. The three-hour was horrible. The glucose drink tasted like pure high fructose corn syrup and I gagged on it. But I was the champion because the other pregnant woman at the lab vomited and passed out after hers.
Mike says I make everything into a competition but that's not true.
I passed the three-hour test, though. I wasn't really worried since I only failed the one-hour by five points. All four of the three-hour draws were normal, but one was on the high end of normal so my doctor has still cut me off of all simple sugars just in case.
Oh, and I'm anemic. Normal values are 38-46% and mine was 29%. Stupid body. It came up in a normal blood screen. I guess that's why I had been unable to stay awake past six p.m., had a racing heart, couldn't walk ten feet without labored breathing, and was dizzy. I thought those were just normal symptoms of pregnancy so I never mentioned anything to my doctor, but I've been on an iron supplement and I feel more alert already. Also, I can walk from the couch to the fridge without passing out.
Gloria's new favorite place to party is up beneath the right side of my rib cage. It's alarming.
Next hurdle: 32-week scan, where we'll be checking to see if her kidneys have returned to normal size, or if she'll have to see a pediatric specialist after birth.
No, scratch that. Next hurdle: trying to prevent my esophagus from coming out of my nose via horrible acid reflux. Most of the time I'm ok with it because there's an expiration date on my misery (November 14th ... ish!) and because it's a small price to pay for what's to come. But sometimes that's a difficult mindset to maintain, especially when it feels like my chicken-tender sub is going to tear through my tonsils and exit through my left nostril.
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