The dreaded test. Some people call it the Gestational Diabetes test, the blood sugar test, etc. Ultimately, regardless if it is a 1 hour, 2 hour, or 3 hour test, it is to test your tolerance to glucose and how efficiently your body’s insulin manages it. Over the years I have taken all of the tests, but this was my first time doing a 2 hour. Nobody ever directly told me why I was doing the 2 hour out the gate, but I gather it was due to my BMI. Can that system of measuring “health” go away yet? It was created to calculate mass by a mathematician for goodness sakes. Anywho, I digress.
For the 2 hour it meant that I fasted and had my blood drawn before having to chug 75 grams of a room temp fruit punch flavored glucose drink. It was like drinking the syrup that goes on a shave ice cone. Gag. Then I waited for an hour while my blood sugar started to spike. As I got close to the hour mark I felt awful. My vision was blurry, stomach felt upset, and my hands were shaking. When I was called back for the 1 hour blood draw, I almost lost my balance too. Yikes. I really try to stay away from high sugar content and I felt it.
Thankfully, to eat up some of the waiting time I had a Midwife appointment after the 1 hour blood draw. Unfortunately for me, it was Jamie, the one I had for my first visit that I really didn’t like. If only, I had looked at my appointment history while there was time to change the provider. Oh well.
By the time I got back to the little waiting room for the few of us going through GTT, I didn’t have to wait too much longer before my final blood draw.
Thankfully, my lab results were beautiful, No GD! What a blessing to have made it through 5 pregnancies without experiencing GD. There really is no guarantee that because I hadn’t had it before that this pregnancy was going to be any different, so it was relief to read the numbers.
Below are my results followed by what they had to be under in order to pass the 2 hour GTT:
I will start off by saying that I will not be mentioning the practice or technician by name for this particular visit. Partly because it was a terrible appointment and full of miscommunications afterwards, and partly because I have not yet spoken directly with their practice to straighten a few things out and formally complain about the way things were handled. I will also be refraining from posting the things that I still need to straighten out.
OK, business out of the way, on to the good part!
Before the ultrasound started, I confirmed that I was indeed allowed to take video of the viewing screen on the wall. The tech said yes, but that she had to remain quiet for liability reasons. Then, she asked if I had ever had an ultrasound before… that’s an interesting question considering the top of my page tells you this in my 5th pregnancy and 3rd surrogacy.
Baby girl was lively and hilarious through out the entire ultrasound. I was chuckling at her antics while the tech grew increasingly frustrated. She was a little rough with me and bounced the ultrasound wand against my stomach several times in an attempt to get baby to go where she wanted. Surprise surprise that made baby hide more and snuggle in with the placenta like a body pillow.
Even with the tech’s heat waves sizzling I was able to enjoy the marvels of modern ultrasound technology. All of the details of such tiny things that you are able to see so clearly and even see in color the direction of blood flow of the chambers of the little heart and the vessels of the umbilical cord… I was in rapt attention to the screen.
A little over half way through the appointment, the tech had reached her limit and had me go empty my bladder and move around to see if baby would move out from under my belly button.
When we reconvened I took a break from video because the tech had me moving back and forth so much that it was becoming uncomfortable to hold my phone correctly and get situated. I did ask if we would be able to get a 3D image and she said that if baby cooperated she would try at the very end of the appointment. Thankfully little miss did cooperate enough to the tech’s liking that we were able to get two very clear 3D images of her little face and hands. Such a cutie!!!
Thankfully this is one healthy little Mouseketeer. She was measuring as weighing 1 pound and 6 ounces and in the 53%. All organs we accounted for and looked great. She gave us some cute foot prints, high fives, blew raspberries, and did some body rolls.
I reported back to Whitney and Andrew as soon as I got to my truck with some of the important details and a few photos of the ultrasound images. Then I finished my report in person with them when I dropped off the original images for them to keep.
Upon arriving to the Doctor’s office to check in for the Anatomy Scan and Midwife prenatal check up, Whitney and I discovered that a policy had changed. Due to the small size of the exam rooms and rise in COVID-19 cases, the practice was limiting the prenatal check ups to only the patient. No support persons would be permitted at this time. We were welcome to FaceTime or put a call on speaker but it was just going to be me entering the exam room with the midwife. I tried to advocate for Whitney to still be in there but it was a hard stop kind of policy. Thankfully though she was still able to be present in the ultrasound room because they are much larger rooms and she wouldn’t be near the tech. Not what we had anticipated but if there was only one appointment to be allowed into, the Anatomy Scan would have been my choice for Whitney anyway.
Much to our delight, we had the same tech that had conducted the previous ultrasound at 10 weeks. Emily has such a cheerful demeanor and maintains it through out the entire visit. She humors all of our commentary, OK my commentary. Ha! She never gets impatient or tries to handle me roughly to get the image she’s after. Jokes are had all around while maintaining professionalism. My perfect combination.
Thankfully Whitney and Andrew decided they wanted to know if the little Mouseketeer was of the Minnie or Mickey variety, because this little one was not bashful AT ALL. I joked that it was like a frat boy with a xerox machine (I just aged myself). We had several very clear images of buns and thighs. I think I spotted the tell tale Golden Arches a moment before the tech zoomed in and started to explain to Whitney, “Do you see those three little lines there? And how they are flat? You’re having a little girl!”
Yup, a little girl.
The rest of the ultrasound proved to be just as amusing with fun poses and activities. Baby girl kept rolling away from the ultrasound wand, which meant I kept having to roll from side to side to get the images we needed of her vital organs and bone measurements. By the end of the ultrasound appointment I joked that I had made a paper machete of my belly because the gel had the thin paper stuck all over my belly. Thank goodness for wipes!
Since I had to go into the appointment with the midwife alone, at this point Whitney headed out and we agreed that I would call her once the appointment was under way.
Between the ultrasound and the midwife I did some deep calming breaths to make sure my BP was as level as possible. It was lovely! 82/73 and when I weighed in… No Change. Which means zero weight gained for the pregnancy by 20 weeks + 2 days. With the good numbers I felt really petty and like “uh huh, how you like them numbers? Boom!” Thankfully I didn’t see that same doctor or the temptation would have been really really hard to overcome. ha!
I really enjoyed the midwife’s visit. She answered all of my questions and was kind. The main thing I was hoping to gain some insight on, was lactation suppression. Unfortunately for me, there is not a good or safe method to suppress lactation and the best you can do is make yourself as comfortable as possible until the engorgement passes. Oh joy. I was afraid that would be the answer though because I had conducted very thorough research, to include medical journals and other homeopathic resources. If I find someone who would benefit from a limited milk supply, then I may reconsider pumping short term just to get through the worst of the milk coming in. Even if it was only a few weeks worth they would get over 400 oz from me based on my previous track record.
During the appointment we also discussed the Fetal Echo ultrasound a little more. It was agreed that it was still important to schedule the Fetal Echo due to Whitney’s heart condition and the fact that I am taking Zoloft (even though it is under the strict supervision of my Psychiatrist). So their office was going to fax the referral over to a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) office, and they were to call me to schedule the appointment for close to 24 weeks.
We also put the next appointment on the books to include my two hour glucose tolerance test and midwife check up shortly before 27 weeks. I am not looking forward to the glucose test because of the sugar bomb I will have to drink but it’ll be nice to have it behind me. By February 1st things will start speeding up toward the finish line. So crazy!
One thing I tell every new(er) mama is that no two pregnancies or babies will be identical. There will be come consistencies that you are prepared for but it’s more of a broad category rather than detail. This pregnancy is no exception to that rule.
This is my 5th (what the what?!) pregnancy within a timespan of roughly ten and a half years. During this pregnancy there have been so many new variables happening in the world around us. The global pandemic has affected just about everything and everyone in some way. Many of which have had me more mentally active and tired than previous pregnancies when I was much more physically active.
Since March 2020 we have remained fairly social distant and even more so once pregnancy was achieved.
I am working for the first time during a pregnancy since 2011. And it is completely different from my previous desk job life. So there have been unknowns as schedules have shifted in the work place from quarantines and closures, to my physical ability to continue doing certain tasks.
Both of my daughters have also been virtual students since March 2020. My husband and I made the decision to keep them virtual to maintain as much a consistent routine as possible for them and reduce the risk of bringing COVID-19 into the home.
I entered into this pregnancy during the height of the pandemic in the United States. Which also means there had already been months of staying at home. All of our physical routines went right out the window.
The news. Need I say more? There have been several times where I simply had to fast from the news for a while to refill my cup. I care deeply and want to help!
With all of this life going on in 2020 and into the new year, my routines that I thrive on, have been mostly nonexistent. That has also been evident in my bellow pictures. In the past I have tried to keep the same pose, location, and general style of outfit so that baby bump development was obvious. This go around it has been a little bit of everything and anything. Most of the time I think of needing to take a picture while rocking some epic bed head, oversized PJ’s and coon eyes. Not the most flattering light, but it’s reality! Every now and then those types of photos still sneak in too, but I try to keep it about baby Mouseketeer as much as possible so more of a public appropriate presentation is what I’m going for. You’ll see in the gallery below.
At the time of writing this, I am 24 weeks pregnant. This is a significant milestone because it means the Mouseketeer has reached the age of viability. Which simply means that if they were to be born any time after this point, they would have a viable chance of survival. Thankfully I tend to hang on until around the 40 week mark so it is not a big concern of mine that they could be born weeks or months early. However it is still a big comfort to reach this stage.
There are only three weeks left in this trimester and then it’s on to the count down portion, or the third trimester.
Whitney asked if I would be willing to participate in a photo session at a park to formally announce the pregnancy to their extended friends and family. Of Course! What an honor to be included in some of their special moments.
We all arrived at a lovely park near my home during sunset. At first masks were on for all, but when it came time for the actual photos I said “I’m already cross contaminated by you two…”. That got a good laugh and we proceeded through the photo shoot with just the three of us removing our masks. Behind the scenes was the talented photographer, Lauren Garrison, my husband and both of my daughters.
To say we had a good time would be a gross understatement. We all laughed so much through out all of the “what do I do with my hands?” And “you want me to do what exactly?” I even made a little meme out of an outtake shot. Ha!
Without further ado, here are the lovely photos. Enjoy!
After telling myself one too many times that I needed to sit at my keyboard, the task built itself into a mountain that my tired, pregnant, mama self procrastinated against pretty hard. I kept waiting for the “magical second trimester energy boost” to come and sweep me off my feet and amplify my productivity. So I longingly looked for the mythical energy, and I waited… and waited. It took me a full ten weeks into the second trimester (nearly the entire thing, yes) to determine that I am not getting any more than an energy nudge. *le sigh* Time to get on with it then.
All of that to say that this has been the fastest and smoothest pregnancy so far. There haven’t been any scares, illness, or health concerns for baby. Doctors appointments have been much more spread out this time and my personal schedule has had just enough inconsistency that I find myself checking the calendar to figure out what day it is and how far along we are. Deep seated exhausted, an ever growing body, and toddler/hobbit eating habits are the primary reminders that there is a very loved baby growing away within this fostering womb.
Time for a time warp!
Coming up will be several posts in order of events picking up where I left off in… *gasp* October.
Foster Womb 