29 weeks, 2 days - Appointment

Guess who doesn't have gestational diabetes? Yep. That would be me. Apparently one of my levels was slightly high, but he said that isn't diagnostic and when he heard what my fasting levels were (this morning's was 75, yesterday's was 65... usually it's around 68-70), he said, "Yeah, you don't have it." So yay!

As for the rest of the appointment, it went well. My cervix is stable. The doctor basically said I'm just going to contract. It's what I do. He's not concerned with the quantity at this point, so much as the quality and the effect on my cervix. So we're on the same page on that one, which is good. Contractions are definitely getting stronger and more uncomfortable. He assured me that if I were in labor, I'd be in enough pain that I would know it. I'm not so convinced, since kidney stones barely make me flinch, but I do think I'd recognize it. We'll see.

He was concerned that all the monitoring was more trouble than it's worth. He wanted to make sure that with all the contractions they weren't making me re-monitor so much in the evening that it was keeping me from sleeping, and I promised him that I knew enough to tell them to just call the doctor if I wanted to sleep instead of re-monitoring and he said that was fine. The important thing is that he wants to make sure that I understand that I have to be assertive about letting Matria know if there's a significant change in quality and that I'm not concerned about quantity alone. So if they're pushing me to re-monitor, and I don't want to or feel that it's unnecessary, I shouldn't feel guilty about having them call the doctor. That's fair. And, he said, if we get a little further down the line and decide that the monitoring is just a bigger pain in the ass than it needs to be, then I won't do it anymore. Mostly, he thinks I have a good enough handle on things that he thinks that I know when to call myself, but he doesn't think the extra data point from the monitoring can hurt.

They want to keep a close eye on me, because things have been a bit dicey, but mostly, I'm doing great, all things considered. I'm astounded that I don't feel crappier than I do... I'm a whale, but not as whalish as I thought I would be... I fit into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes despite the enormous pregnancy belly (that's how much weight I've lost). I'm uncomfortable, but not NEARLY as uncomfortable as I'd imagined I would be. I have trouble walking, but the bed rest probably contributes to that, and I'm not allowed to walk much anyway (I only know how difficult -and painful- walking is because I had to walk down a long hallway to get to my doctor's office today). I have difficulty breathing, but that's not shocking. There are three babies in my very, very short torso. I'm tired all the time, but DUH! I'm still throwing up, but who cares at this point? I really expected MUCH worse. Or maybe I'm just handling it gracefully. Either way, I'm in the home stretch. I'm not there yet, but bit by bit, I'm getting there.

I go back for a growth ultrasound on Wednesday. I'll be exactly 30 weeks. If you're REALLY good, I might post another whale picture that day. We'll see.