The 3-hour test

By kate on December 21st, 2005

I went for the gestational diabetes test today, although I don’t get the results until tomorrow.

I had to fast for 12 hours beforehand, so I arrived hungry and had to drink a small beverage (~12 oz.) containing a HUNDRED grams of sugar* within 5 minutes. It was rather sweet. I wondered if feeding me spoonfuls of sugar might have been more efficient.

Then, I got my arm poked with a needle four times (once every hour for 3 hours) to test how well my body processed the sugar. The blood draw took less than 5 minutes per time, leaving about 50 minutes to wait in between. Luckily, Steve came with me so we had fun stepping out to a different place each hour.

First, Burgermaster for Steve’s breakfast (having just consumed so much sugar, I wasn’t hungry… not that I could have eaten anyway). The second hour we spent at Tully’s, using a laptop (Steve) and reading the paper (me). During the final hour, we walked around some of the children’s stores in the area and looked at things like strollers and toys.

After the last needle poke, I dropped Steve off at home and headed to work, where I had a most welcome sandwich for lunch.

For comparison, a 12-oz can of Coke contains 39g of sugar and has 140 calories. That means the calorie content of my glucose-laden breakfast drink was 359 calories!

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A phone call from the doctor is never good news

By kate on December 16th, 2005

I got the results of my gestational diabetes screen today by phone. Because she called, I guessed right away that the test had come back positive, and it had.

Before you worry overly, let me say that this screening test generates a ton of false positives (~67% of positives are false; only one-third end up having GD). It means that I will need to go in for a three-hour glucose tolerance test, which will find out for sure if I have gestational diabetes. I’m hoping to get in for that test one morning next week. (It has to be done in the morning because you fast beforehand.)

Here are some informative links:

About Gestational Diabetes (from babycenter.com)
About the GD tests (from babycenter.com)

If I do actually have GD, Zippy is mainly at risk for being bigger than average (possbly making for a harder birth) and for having jaundice. However, they say that if the GD is controlled (either by diet or insulin, if needed), then the baby is usually fine. GD almost always goes away after birth (although it’s more likely that I would have it again during another pregnancy).

My feeling is that I don’t have GD. I say this because I don’t have any of the mentioned symptoms (although some women are symptom-free) or risk factors (such as obesity). My blood pressure has always been low and remains that way. Before the pregnancy, I was very fit. I have been eating more sweets lately than I should, because who can resist during the holidays? This has resulted in a higher sugar level in my system (contributing to the test result, I’m sure). Also, Michelle told me that Zippy is a normal size at the moment (rather than large).

We’ll just have to wait until the test to find out. As pregnancy complications go, GD is relatively common and manageable, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

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Cruising along

By steve on December 16th, 2005

[this entry by Steve]

As Kate mentioned in her entry a few days ago, we’re pretty well-adjusted to the pregnancy at this point. Kate doesn’t look significantly more pregnant on a week to week basis. Kate’s reduced wardrobe, the heating pad in the bed, and her attachment to working in her big orange recliner are all just how life is now. Although an occasional growth spurt or other minor change will catch us by surprise, even that seems to be part of the routine.

The latest take-it-in-stride change is that Kate isn’t able to wash the dishes anymore because she can’t reach the sink. This has also made her concerned that eventually she won’t be able to drive because she won’t be able to reach the steering wheel — although now that I think of it, a bigger concern might be that she’ll have to move the seat back so far that she won’t be able to reach the pedals.

We’re slowly collecting baby paraphernalia — the latest addition was a booster seat and some onesies from the shower — but Kate and I are both putting off the big baby shopping trip. I think we’re hoping to acquire as little babygear as possible, and most of that on an as-needed basis. It’s not that we’re trying to deny that there’s (going to be) a baby in our lives. Rather, I think it’s the opposite: we don’t want to replace attentive parenting with a distracting gadget.

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Midwife and Pizza

By steve on December 16th, 2005

[this entry by Steve]

We had a visit with our midwife on Wednesday. Overall it went fine — nothing exciting to report. We met with Michelle this time (our previous two meetings were with her partner, Tracy). I like both of the midwives so far, and I’d be comfortable with either one at the birth.

The appointment itself was shorter than usual. We’re booked for an hour but this one only lasted about 40 minutes, and it felt like it was stretched at that. Kate did a glucose test to check for gestational diabetes — we’ll get the results in a week or so, I think. Zippy was apparently very active on the drive to the appointment but then “floated to the bottom of the pool” (Michelle’s words) when the exam came so Michelle couldn’t really figure out her orientation or anything. Kate’s been curious as to what part of Zippy is doing the kicking when Kate feels her. But apparently at this stage of the pregancy Zippy still has plenty of room to do somersaults so her orientation could change from day to day.

We listened to the heartrate as we do every appointment. It started around 120 and then suddenly jumped up to 160 as Zippy moved around. I guess navigating the womb is good exercise.

After the appointment we went across the street to the much-anticipated pizza place. Overall we rated it so-so — the crust was good (very thin) but Kate didn’t like the toppings and I found the overall construction lacked punch. If we do get pizza on Zippy’s birth day, it’ll probably just be Pagliacci. (Hey Kate… “Pagliacci” is a good name. Kind of hard to spell and pronounce though…).

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The Not-Shower

By kate on December 15th, 2005

There was a really great baby shower last weekend, but it wasn’t for us. It was for Steve’s parents – a grandparent shower! Now, they have baby stuff that we can use when we visit, instead of having to lug it along, which is going to be fabulous.

My lovely sister-in-law, Nicole (temporarily back from Toronto), planned and executed the whole party, which went off wonderfully. The house was decorated with streamers and balloons, and we were treated to a delicious spread of food, including a cake shaped like children’s blocks. There were some kids running around, which is always fun, and I appreciated not being the sole center of attention. I’ll post some pictures from it online soon and send the link to those who are interested.

This picture, however, must be shared. It’s the result of Steve suggesting that one kid put a sticker on my tummy. As you can see, the idea caught on…

(click for a bigger version)

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Pregnancy Update

By kate on December 15th, 2005

I haven’t written much lately, because during this stretch it didn’t feel like much had changed. Now, though, as I enter the third trimester, I finally have a few things to report.

Zippy seems to have had another growth spurt lately. Not only is she bigger, but she’s moving more frequently and vigorously. Her kicks are stronger and more apparent (some are visible from outside), but luckily not painful (yet). Also, so far she’s managed to miss vital organs such as the bladder, for which I’m thankful. My belly appears to be lower now, too, which I think is a normal thing to happen at this stage.

I realized recently that, to my surprise, I’d adjusted to being pregnant. I’ve been pregnant for long enough now that it’s started to feel normal. I’m used to the limited wardrobe and the need to rest my back a lot. Even though I don’t like it a whole lot, I’m familiar with the larger version of me in the mirror. This is the main reason why I haven’t written much here… because for a while I lost touch with the specialness of it all.

For some reason, in the past week or two, I’ve been paying more attention again. With her new vigor, I can more easily imagine Zippy as a small human instead of an especially mobile organ. I had a dream the other night that she pressed her hand against my belly and from the outside I could see each finger. And, oh yeah, this whole parenthood thing is becoming more imminent (I hadn’t dwelled on that as much either). Steve and I went out to a nice dinner the other night and spent a lot of it talking about specifics and practicalities of our life after Zippy’s birth. It was fun. I’m really looking forward to bringing this new dimension to our relationship, and especially watching Steve become a dad. (Looking forward to meeting Zippy goes without saying.)

Today, we have another midwife appointment, so I’ll report any interesting news soon.