28 weeks today!

I’m 28 weeks along today. I just realized that I never posted an update about gender here: We found out on December 20th that this is another GIRL! I’m really excited for Eleanor to have a sister. Hopefully they’ll get along great.

So far I’m doing pretty well. If this pregnancy were going exactly like Eleanor’s then I would have lost my mucus plug a few days ago, and would be admitted for preterm labor in a week and two days. I’m hardly having any Braxton Hicks contractions right now though, so I doubt that’s going to happen. I have had a couple bad episodes of them, but have been able to get them under control. For the last few weeks I’ve only been having maybe five to ten per day, which is nothing! I think part of what is working for me this time is the baby is mostly head down, though she’s doing somersaults in there. Eleanor being breech added an extra stress to my body. She was kicking my cervix constantly, and putting a ton of pressure under my ribs.

A new problem has cropped up this pregnancy, though: It appears that I have gestational diabetes (GD). I failed the one hour GTT rather magnificently, with a value of 182. The OB I saw for that appointment (it was for a VBAC consult – otherwise I’ve been seeing midwives) said that if it weren’t for my history of hypoglycemia she would have said to skip the three hour and just go in for diabetes management. With my history she was suspicious, but both of us thought the three hour would probably kill me. Instead she had me go in and talk to the nutritionist and start monitoring, to see if I do indeed have it. So far it looks like I do, sigh. My numbers are good if I very carefully follow the GD diet, but if I go even slightly off then my numbers skyrocket. Grr!

On Thursday/Friday it’ll have been a full week of testing, so I’m supposed to email my values in and they’ll decide where to go from there. I’m hopeful that I’ll at least be able to manage this with diet alone. My fasting (first thing in the morning) numbers have been perfect, so that’s a really good sign that I may not end up needing insulin. From what I’m reading it’s almost impossible to control that number with diet. Having good fasting numbers also apparently lowers your odds a bit of eventually developing type II diabetes, though my risk is still quite a bit higher now.

Darned genetics! I’m fit and healthy and otherwise at low risk for any type of diabetes, but my sister has type I and my mom had GD in at least three of her pregnancies. There’s pretty much nothing more I could have done to prevent this. I know it’s not my fault, but it’s still hard to process that. I think just the language alone – “I failed the one hour GTT” – tends to put the blame on the mother. Maybe I should start saying “my hormones made my body fail the GTT” haha!

As for Eleanor, she’s doing great! She’ll be three in March and is getting huge. She’s shot up to the 75th percentile for height, so she definitely got daddy’s height. She’s very verbal and in my completely unbiased eyes a bright little child. She’s usually happy and seems to enjoy her little life, which is the most important thing at this age I think. She is getting bored with me being pregnant, though, since I’ve been much less active. I don’t know that she completely understand the whole concept of pregnancy, but she does at least seem somewhat excited about having a sister. We’ll see how she reacts when it becomes real!

Otherwise, everything is going well. We’re putting bamboo floors down in the house, and it’s crunch time with Eleanor’s birthday coming up. We’d like to have her new room done so that my parents can stay with us. So far John’s done the whole living room and hallway, and it looks great! I’m really excited to get the whole project done, and also looking forward to getting the girls’ rooms in order. I’m definitely nesting so living in a construction zone is difficult, but it’ll be so worth it in the end!

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