A fine way to start the first work week of the New Year.

[rivka]

I spent two hours at the hospital this morning doing my best pincushion imitation. I had to get labwork done for my 28-week midwife appointment, which is a week from Wednesday. (Gah! I'm in my third trimester!) Interestingly, in Maryland one gets tested for syphillis three times during pregnancy: once at the first prenatal visit, once at 28 weeks, and once at delivery. I complained about the overkill factor to my mother, who said, "I had a client who got syphillis twice while she was pregnant." Well, okay. I believe they also tested for anemia and for thyroid problems.

And they tested for gestational diabetes. That was fun. I had to skip my normal breakfast of Cheerios and milk (too many carbs) in favor of some cheese (no carbs, high in protein). Then, after my first blood draw of the morning, they gave me ten ounces of a repellent, sickly-sweet orange soda (50g of glucose!) and told me I had five minutes to drink the whole thing. After that, no food or water for an hour, during which time I spent much of my time focusing on not throwing up. Then four more tubes of blood.

I finished off this perfect morning with a shot in the ass to prevent my immune system from trying to kill any future Rh+ babies I might carry. And a desperately needed carton of yogurt from the hospital cafeteria - more protein to balance out all the simple sugar cascading through my bloodstream.

I got back from the bathroom just now to find my research assistant sitting with her coat on, waiting for me. Her father has been in a rehabilitation hospital for the last couple of months, and they've suddenly decided to release him a day early, regardless of whether or not the family is ready. So she's gone. I'm actually kind of looking forward to a quiet day of catching up on paperwork and writing, instead of training her and coming up with projects she can do, but I'm also irritated on her behalf.

Actually, I think I'm probably just generally cranky.

I'm a little freaked out about starting the third trimester. It suddenly seems scary that there's going to be this baby and she's going to be with us all the time and we will always have to take care of her, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Which, duh, is exactly what we want, which is why I got pregnant in the first place. I know. But it's suddenly seeming frightening and overwhelming. This is a stage, right?

Physically, the third trimester is a time of massive fetal growth, which means massive belly growth. My organs are starting to squash together, as evidenced by heartburn and shortness of breath. My belly button is starting to look weird - sort of stretched and everted around the edges. I'm still an innie, but obviously not for long. And although, so far, I've been carrying low, I'm starting to see major growth above my belly button, accompanied by fierce itching that cocoa butter doesn't really tame. I'm still not eating much more than I did before I got pregnant - the main difference is that I'm having high-protein snacks instead of sugary snacks. But I bet that, this time, I will have gained weight.

In the shower this morning, I discovered that I am now wider front-to-back than I am side-to-side. curiousangel and I showered together, and I figured out that when we switch places it's easier for me to get by if I walk straight ahead instead of sidling. Damn.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that glucose syrup stuff is the *pits*.

The irritating thing is that there's very little evidence for its usefulness during pregnancy - it's not clear that diagnosing and treating gestational diabetes (as opposed to regular diabetes that just happens to be diagnosed during pregnancy) makes a bit of difference in pregnancy outcomes.

But every pregnant woman has to drink the freaking glucose anyway.

Blert! 3 months? I better get knitting or that baby's gonna be blankieless. And we can't have that.

A nice person would reassure you that my mother is more than halfway done with a blanket for the Li'l Critter, and pagawne has already delivered one, and kalmn has promised one. But, as a person who greatly admires your knitting, instead I'm going to say "Knit! Knit! Do you want the poor l'il baby to FREEZE?!?!"

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

nuh-uh! you all are getting hats from me!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, isn't that because I had started counting up blankets by then?

Baby hats are the cutest thing in the world. Michael and I can be reduced to blithering incoherency by the mere sight of one.

(Baby penguin in a hat!)

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Heh. Of course, according to my children, hats eat your SOUL! Also, in the case of Kay, her face, which is a legitimate complaint.

But yeah, they are adorable.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

It's a stage. A recurring stage, but a stage nonetheless.

Just remember: people are nicer than you think, babies are their own tutorial, and your mother made it through and so can you.

-- the woman who is having a Day

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I suppose that next you'll try to tell me that my mother wasn't the all-knowing fount of maternal wisdom until after she started having babies.

Hang in there. *hug*

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know about that. The longer I'm a mother, the smarter my mother gets. It's very interesting.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

It's a stage.

However, I'm still going through it, and my eldest is 14. "Jesus! What made me think I'd know how to do this?"

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's a stage ;-) When I felt like that, I started looking for reliable, older (i.e. older then 18 yrs) babysitters for our weekly date nights, so that I *knew* we'd get occasional breaks and well-needed couple time.

Try plain old vasoline instead of cocoa butter, it just might do the trick.

When I got really itchy, I also took warm (NOT hot) oatmeal baths. Aveeno makes a good Oatmeal bath. Make sure someone is around if you do this, you're going to be a bit awkward in the tub :-) We use oatmeal baths for (baby) Matthew, who has ezcema and it definitely helps.

Sounds like everything's going well *smile*

[rivka.livejournal.com]

When I got really itchy, I also took warm (NOT hot) oatmeal baths. Aveeno makes a good Oatmeal bath. Make sure someone is around if you do this, you're going to be a bit awkward in the tub :-)

That sounds like a great idea. I need to figure out how to get the itchy part of my belly underwater. I really wish I had one of those Japanese soaking tubs, about now.

And yes, I am quite sure that I'd need Michael close by to haul my big ol' beached-whale self out of the water. He's already gotten used to helping me up after I tie my shoes, get something out of a low cupboard, pick something off the floor, etc. etc. etc...

I think everything is going well, or at least, will seem better once I've had some lunch. I still feel great, and I'm enjoying the belly growth and the increased fetal movement very much.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Aveeno also makes kick-ass moisturizers that contain colloidal oatmeal; their Skin Relief moisturizing lotion is the only thing that keeps me from scratching myself raw in the winter. It's thicker than most lotions but not at all greasy, and it contains the tiniest bit of menthol, which is very soothing to the itchies.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Reading about the progress is exciting. Non-itchy hugs enclosed, if you can use some right now.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Elise hugs are always, always welcome.

You do realize that you'll probably get to meet the baby on your Expotition?

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

I can't *wait* to see what you look like. Eeeee. :-)

-J

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You're not going to see me until, like, six weeks before my due date. I'll be HUGE. Much bigger than I am now.

But I'll send some new pictures anyway. :-)

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

May your pincushion results come back even better than mine (I do not have GD, but I am anemic...).

The main problem with the third trimester, as I see it, is that TIME KEEPS PASSING. My due date is.... two months from yesterday. How is that possible? And yes, we have to be ready before then, and then have to figure out everything in the universe of how to deal with baby after that point. I read something yesterday in which someone talked about getting home from the hospital, and thinking "Okay, now the *real* parents of this baby will show up and take care of everything!".

I have cocoa butter lotion that has served me pretty well, but my other discovery that's worked really well for moisturizing my dry skin in a semi-arid climate is Body Shop Sesame Body Butter. That stuff stays put and does the job until you shower again, I swear!

I have days in which my appetite is relatively normal, and other days in which it... doubles. Easily.

If the Electric Baby would just stop kicking my cervix, I'd be happy.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Mwahahaha! I just read your response in the pregnant community to the woman who was shocked by her vacuum cleaner. I restrained myself from answering that last night because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to phrase it without sounding snotty ("Um, I had a heckuva lot more electricity than *that* pass through my body....").

I was amused last night, and I'm even more so now.

Not that it's funny, actually. But I gotta laugh.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, I can just imagine how you felt, reading that post. "Oh no! A tiny, tiny electric shock passed through my finger!! What will it do to the baby?!?!"

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but my mother is so excited about your baby. I told her all about your latest ultrasound and it made her very happy, because she's been worrying about long-term effects from the accident. She asked me if galagan is going to be a good father, and I told her about the conversations he has with your belly. That convinced her. :-)

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

This is why I *lurk* in all the pregnancy communities I read, but rarely rarely post. It's too tempting to be snarky or sarcastic. (Let's see - a vacuum would be how many volts? Let's discuss kilovolts and megavolts and whatnot....)

Though this one really was a special case. :)

The truth about the whole incident is that we probably won't know for absolute sure until she's born that there were no effects - but all the medical types seem pretty certain. I'm just waiting for her to have supernatural powers or ESP or something.

[ailbhe]

That awesome responsibility fear hit me when I did the first pregnancy test, and a few times while pregnant, and the day they let me out of hospital. "You mean you just let me out? In charge of a baby? But you don't even know who I really am! How can you tell I can look after a baby? Are there no safeguards? Aiee!"

And I just used lots of wet sloppy moisturiser as well as shea butter - slopped it on morning and night, several times each. I had a bath every evening too, with Rob sitting in there with me to help me in and out. I couldn't immerse the top of my bump though.

I have two big boxes - one for "to grow into" and one for "has grown outof". These are very useful to me. That, and being willing to give gifts away with the packaging unopened. We have so much STUFF!

Maternal fount of knowledge gene appears faulty; eyes in back of head are clearly developing though.

She hands things to me now and lets go when I say "tata"!

[ailbhe]

Awesome meaning involving lots of awe, not like, y'know, WAY cool, or whatever.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

That awesome responsibility fear hit me when I did the first pregnancy test, and a few times while pregnant, and the day they let me out of hospital. "You mean you just let me out? In charge of a baby? But you don't even know who I really am! How can you tell I can look after a baby? Are there no safeguards? Aiee!"

I had the first major freakout about two days after the positive test, which also happened to be the first time I went to the library to study pregnancy guides.

It's weird, isn't it? I mean, if we were adopting these babies, we'd have to have home studies and interviews and psychological adjustment tests and classes and everything. But if the baby grows inside you, they just assume that you must know what to do.

Actually, I do figure that I'll basically know what to do. I've had a lot of infant care experience, and my mother is an excellent resource. Breastfeeding is going to be completely uncharted territory, obviously, but I know how to hold and change and bathe and dress an infant, and various ways to respond to crying. I do worry that I'll drop the baby. They're so fragile! Except that you hardly ever hear of anyone doing it, so maybe it's more difficult than it seems.

My current big worry about having a baby around 24/7 is that I won't really want her. Isn't that crazy? I've desperately wanted a baby for years and years, and now that I'm going to have one in three months or less I keep thinking that maybe it will just irritate me to have to take care of her all the time.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

It will. It's scary, but it will. And sometime you will hand the screaming child off, or maybe just put her in a crib and say, "If I don't get 15 minutes without someone touching me, I will not be answerable for the consequences."

But there will also be times when you look down at your boob-leech adorable child and fall into love like falling into a well, in unconditional ways that are nothing like anything you've ever felt for an adult. It balances.

[ailbhe]

People drop babies all the time. Then they catch them, or the baby isn't hurt at all. I've caught Linnea with an arm I thought I couldn't move - last time I'd tried I'd failed - and I've caught her with my knees, elbows, hands, entire upper body etc as well.

The only time I dropped her somewhere actually dangerous - over a concrete floor - I had two fully functioning hands, and caught her by the disposable nappy.

Maternal instincts are *incredible*. It's like super Jedi reflexes only real. I can't *believe* some of what I've done.

And, you know, she's fine.

I thought I wouldn't want Linnea about 30 hours into labour. I was wrong.

A.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

Six weeks into it, there have definitely been nights when I've wanted to put the baby out on the doorstep with a "Free to Good Home--Heck, Any Home" sign around his neck. But those are only the really bad nights. You just get used to doing nothing with your day besides feeding and changing the babe, and it's okay.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

I figured out what the eyes in the back of the head are -- it's not actually eyes, it's supertuned hearing.

Three rooms away, I will hear a particular crinkle and yell, "Baz, get away from the crackers!".

Mystery solved. Once you know whate every item in your house sounds like, you too will seem omniscient. (The week after Christmas was a bit rough on me, though -- many new noises)

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Um. I don't know Pregnant Woman Fu, so I don't know how to respond.

Part of me wants to say, in a charmingly cynical and somewhat goofy way, "You think the anxiety is bad now, wait until you've had a chance to realize you've messed up!" (because, statistically speaking, every parent will mess up something Really Big - or at least it seems Really Big at the time) To give you perspective, and all... to realize that it's all going to turn out okay and you're just having a bit of stage fright, kinda-sorta.

But I don't think charming cynicism and goofiness comes across very well in text.

Another part of me wants to say "Pfah. Like there's something on this earth that Rivka can't handle. Like, the thought that she was there wasn't part of why alien motherships were hitting the ground like over-ripe tomatoes during the story about the alien invasion near Becky's wedding!"

And part of me would like to be sympathetic and comforting and letting you know that you will handle this, no matter how scary it gets.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this on-the-job-training can be rough. Pity the little darlings don't come with explicit instruction manuals.

When my brother-in-law had his first (about the same time we had our third), he called us about six weeks afterwards and asked "When does life get back to normal?". It took us a few minutes before we could stop laughing at his question.

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

Yay for a pregnancy update!

That orange sugar drink is disgusting! *shudder*

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, did you have to drink that stuff to get your hypoglycemia diagnosed? That's crazy. If it made me feel sick, I can't imagine what it did to you.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

There's both hypoglycemia and diabetes in my family and I have to do that test routinely. It always makes me feel awful. I wish they'd figure out a better way. Mammograms too. I'll note that there are BLOOD TESTS for prostate cancer but you have to get some of the most sensitive parts of your body smashed between plates of chilly glass if you're a woman. Hmmph.

So you're due in March? Maybe I'll accompany Jordin on one of his trips to DC shortly thereafter so I can meet the little critter. I LOVE babies.

Oh, and am firmly convinced you'll be a great mom.

MKK

[rivka.livejournal.com]

There's both hypoglycemia and diabetes in my family and I have to do that test routinely.

Oh my God. You have my earnest sympathies.

So you're due in March? Maybe I'll accompany Jordin on one of his trips to DC shortly thereafter so I can meet the little critter. I LOVE babies.

I'm due April 3, and we're very convenient to DC by train. :-)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

You'll adapt to having that baby around, and it'll be OK. The adapting is harder on some than others, but all moms do it. We've a friend here who is due in early March and we've already offered to come over and hold the baby. She smiled, and clearly didn't understand how much she will want to have someone else hold the baby long about April and May.

But she'll get it, and we'll go over and exercise our baby-fu. Fun for everybody.

K.