Saturday, April 11, 2009

Week Twenty-Eight

This feels like a more momentous week than it probably truly is, but now my doctor's appointments shift to every two weeks. For whatever reason, that seems like it means that 28 weeks is a bigger deal than it would otherwise be.

Feeling still much like last week. Still with the back pain, occasional crampiness and contraction, occasional nausea, and continual nosebleeds, and HEARTBURN. Wow, the heartburn.

I had my 28-week labs at my doctor's appointment too - testing my iron levels, glucose tolerance (the one-hour, non-fasting test), and CBC. And I got a shot of rhogam since I'm rh negative, so that felt like a full appointment. The glucose drink was as gross as I feared; nasty sweet orange stuff, so I'm glad that I could drink some water after it to get the taste out of my mouth.

That was all Monday. Wednesday I got my lab results back and I was a big failure. Not completely; my CBC looked good, but I'm somewhat anemic so I have to go on iron pills. And I was at 140 on the glucose tolerance test, and they consider passing to be 130 and below. Which tells me they're hard-core about passing levels. That means I had to return for the three-hour, fasting test, and in order to fit it in before my next doctor's appointment I had to do it Thursday or Friday; otherwise we'll be out of town.

So instead of Friday being a leisurely day of packing and getting ready for vacation, it became a spend-hours-at-the-doctor's-office-day. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything (besides water) after midnight, then I had to show up at the doctor's office at 8:45 where they'd draw an initial blood sample, after which I'd drink twice as much of that nasty orange drink, and then get my blood drawn again at 9:45, 10:45, and 11:45. After that I'd finally be sprung to get some food.

Of course I'm up early so I was desperately wishing my appointment could have been earlier so it would all be done earlier. I easily could have been there for a 7:45 start. Instead they're running behind so I don't get started on the test until 9:05. Another 20 minutes which at that point is just killing me.

I am so glad that I'm not phobic about needles, because 4 sticks in 3 hours would probably be a little hard to handle if I was.

After the 9:45 blood draw (actually drawn at 10:05), I decided to go back to the parking garage and sit in my car and wait until I had to show up for the 10:45 draw (which actually wouldn't be until 11:10). I used my cell phone as an alarm to make sure I started walking back in in time, but the seat in my car is much more comfortable (lumbar support!) than the waiting room seats, and it was quieter which made it easier to lose myself in a book instead of checking the time every 5 minutes. I did the same before the last blood draw (anticipated time when I arrived that morning: 11:45; actual time: 12:15).

Obviously I survived it all and immediately dashed to the nearest restaurant to get some food. I wasn't going home because 1) there wasn't anything fast to eat there as we try and empty the fridge before departure 2) it was quicker to hit a drive through than driving home even if there had been something there (and I guess pb&j would have been quick) 3) if I'd gone home I'd have crashed on the couch and I HAD to try and find some additional maternity shirts, and hopefully some shorts/capris too for our trip.

McD*nalds has never tasted so good.

I spent the next 5 hours hitting various stores in the area looking for clothes. A nearby Goodwill got me 7 tops, 2 pairs of pants and even a skirt (a SKIRT!). L mentioned that he can't remember when I last wore a skirt. Poor man, he's right. My job just isn't conducive to skirt-wearing, but for $3 I'll buy this one and if I only wear it occasionally it's still worth it.

The 7 tops is a little misleading; 2 of them are tank tops which I won't wear out of the house, but still. I think I may appreciate them this summer. One of them is a nursing top too, so I definitely think I'll appreciate that during the summer. And another one is long-sleeve so again, it won't get much use now but cool spring weather has held out long enough now that I really can use it.

I got other stuff that may or may not be kept, but I'll get his opinion on the pieces before deciding what I'll keep and what I'll return. It's harder to pay regular prices after the deals I can get at Goodwill. Best of all, there's at least two other Goodwills I can hit that are in nice suburbs near here that may have some good stuff. I'm sort of hoping to make it to one this morning.

Best of all though, I got a voicemail from the doctor's office asking me to call to discuss my lab results, but she also added that everything looked good. I assume that means I passed; the office was closed by the time I got the message so I don't know for sure, but what else would that mean?

So, yeah, my latest week. Not in a nutshell because apparently once I stop typing I can't stop.

Most likely no update next week as we'll be out of town, but I may try and write it up once I get back to my computer.

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