Thursday, April 27, 2017

Doctor's Appointment - 29 Weeks

Today I had my 29 week doctor's appointment.  This appointment was longer than most have been, but should be the last intense-ish appointment *fingers crossed*.    This appointment included the 1 hour test for gestational diabetes, and the discussion of VBac vs C-Section with my doctor.

First, the gestational diabetes test.  At my last appointment, they sent me home with the glucose drink for me to drink one hour before my appointment.  I spent the last month dreading that since everyone talks about how horrible it was.  It was a clear liquid that was optimistically labeled "Fruit Punch."  I knew I had to drink the entire bottle (which was actually pretty small) within 5 minutes so when the time came, I held my breath and decided to just get it over with and chug it expecting the worst. In reality, it tasted like a melted popsicle and really wasn't all that bad.  When I got to the doctor's office, I checked in with the desk and they took note of my drink time, and then sent me back to the nurse for my vitals.  She measured all the things, then took me back to the room to meet with the doctor, promising she'd be back to draw my blood at the 1 hour mark.

In preparation for the blood draw, I made sure to drink more than 8 glasses of water in the 6 hours before the appointment because last time I was told I was dehydrated and that's why the blood draw was difficult.  Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.  The nurse tried to take blood from my right arm, but couldn't get it to flow, so she then tried my left arm.  Again, no go.  The nurse was kind and very good, but my body was not cooperating.  Ultimately, she ended up finding a vein in the back of my right hand and drawing the blood from there.  That was the most painful blood draw I've ever had.  And after barely getting 1 vial I started to clot so they gave up, but my hand is still swollen and bruised  and hurts SO bad.  I can't make a fist and even just typing hurts.  It was not my favorite experience.  Then, to just get it over with, they gave me the TDaP shot as well in my right arm for whooping cough so I ended the day with 4 bandages and lots of sore spots.  Not my favorite experience.  They said that they will contact me if I fail the gestational diabetes test, but I won't hear from them otherwise, so if I get any news, I'll make sure to post that here.

This post has gotten quite long already, so I'm going to make the VBac discussion with my doctor in a separate post.

Now for the vitals:
My weight:  Actually stayed the same in the last month.
Blood Pressure: 122/68
Temperature:  Normal
Baby's heartbeat: 145
Uterus: Measuring at 31 weeks

From here on, appointments will switch to 2 weeks instead of monthly, which definitely shows that we're getting closer!

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