My first trip (and fall) to L&D

Well, yesterday I was my usual graceful self and managed to trip over a computer wire in my office. Thankfully, I fell straight down on my knees, not my belly. I could feel both babies moving afterwards and I didn't have any bleeding or leaking, which is good. But it still freaked me out, so I called the OB. I was scheduled to start having non stress tests this week anyway, so they decided to have me come in for that a few hours earlier, so I left work right away. Brian met me at the hospital and we went up to the maternity ward for the first time.

Basically what a non stress test (NST) does is monitor the babies' heart rates, and checks to see if they accelerate with movement (which they should). It also measures any uterine contractions I might be having. Katie was being quite stubborn and wouldn't let the nurse get a good reading on her heart beat. This of course scared us, even though the nurse and I could both feel her move. The nurse eventually had to get an ultrasound machine to be able to see exactly where her heart was. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she found the heartbeat. Remind me to ground Katie later for being a brat :)

Danny was much more cooperative than his sister and she found heart rate right away. So there were 2 monitors strapped to my belly, then a third was placed to measure my contractions. Plus an absurdly tight blood pressure cuff that I swear was going to cut my arm off. Oh, and I was supposed to stay perfectly still through all this. That was fun. Plus, I'm supposed to go back and do this twice a week.

Overall, the wndrtwns did very well and were moving around a lot. There was no reason to believe that the fall caused any problems. That was certainly a relief. I was told to drink a lot more water - it's possible that dehydration was causing the sporadic Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having the last week or so.

Oh, and today is a bittersweet anniversary - it was exactly one year ago today I found out I was pregnant the first time.

The end is in sight

The end of working, at least. Initially, my OB was OK with me just working up until about a week before the C-section, provided there were no issues with the babies. But she was ready to pull me out right away if there were any problems. Last week I went to the perinatologist (high risk Dr.) and everything is fine with the babies, but he still wants me to stop working or at least work from home starting around 33-34 weeks (which is about 2 weeks away). His concern is not about actually working (I sit at a desk most of the day) but the 45 minute commute each way. He would rather I not be in the car for that long and be too far from a hospital in case I have contractions while driving, etc. So he's recommending I at least try working from home for a couple weeks and then stop working altogether around 35 weeks.

So now I need to have that conversation with my boss. He'll be fine with it - he has 2 kids and his wife is currently pregnant again so I know he'll understand. I was just looking forward to saving as much of my vacation and sick time as possible for after the babies get here so I could get paid in full rather than the 70% I'd get from STD. But I'll do whatever I need to. I've been having some sporadic contractions, so I don't want to take any chances. So now I guess I need to finalize my maternity leave plan!

I promise, those are not track marks

One of the things that most pregnant women have to do is take a glucose tolerance test. This is usually done around 26-28 weeks or so. Most only have to take 1 test - it takes an hour and if you pass, you're done. This glucose test will determine if you are at risk for gestational diabetes - a serious but treatable condition that rarely shows symptoms, so it's really important to get this test done. As usual, with twins I'm considered high risk for GD so I took the test seriously.

The one hour test was manageable. The worst part was drinking the nasty orange drink. I have never been able to chug anything, so it was tough trying to get it down in only 5 minutes. But I did, and I sat and waited an hour to get my blood drawn. I felt sort of queasy during the wait and then afterwards til I could eat, but it wasn't too bad. I left thinking, "Well, I'm glad that's over, and I'm sure I won't have to do it again."

Not so much. A couple days later my doctor calls and says my levels were slightly elevated and they want me to take the 3 hour test. Here's the kicker - the numbers they want to see are 135 or below. I had 136. Yes, 136. I was off by 1 freakin' point. Just my luck.

So I scheduled the 3 hr test, and decided to just take the whole day off from work in case I felt sick. I was supposed to fast for 12 hours, then drink a glucose drink twice as strong as last time and wait another 3 hours. I had a feeling that if I felt queasy after the 1 hr, this would be even worse. So I fasted, but made sure to stuff myself with high protein snacks right before the fasting started so I wouldn't be super hungry. Surprisingly, I felt pretty OK. I got the drink down and then began waiting. The blood draws were the worst part. I had to give a baseline blood sample before drinking, then another 3 every hour. I have terrible veins and phlebotomists and nurses always have issues finding a good vein from me. So trying to do this 4 times in 3 hours was not pleasant. I ended up with 2 prick marks in my right arm, one in my left, and one in my left hand. And they're nasty looking, too. I looked like a heroin addict or something with all these holes and bruises. It's been over a week now and I still have the bruises.

(Oh, and because I must be a glutton for punishment, I scheduled my Rhogam shot for the same afternoon. So that was another needle prick and another bruise - this time in my upper arm. Good times.)

So now it's over. I felt a little dizzy afterwards but was so happy to get home and be able to eat. After eating and resting for a while at home I felt good, so it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. Oh, and this time, I actually passed :) Yay!

I'm it!

I've been tagged by Erin (E_Sharp)


The Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

1. I have a severe phobia of bats - I get freaked out seeing them even for a second on TV. I don't even like to listen to people talk about bats.
2. I didn't get on an airplane til I was 24 years old.
3. When I was 10 my parents and I drove cross country in an RV. We saw the Grand Canyon and rode up the CA coast. It was awesome.
4. I hate to have food touch each other. Those disposable plates with the 3 separate areas are one of the greatest inventions ever.
5. I sometimes wonder if there will ever be something I can excel at. I feel like I am so average at everything I do. Even the things I think I'm good at - I'm really just average.
6. I despise wearing closed toed shoes. I would wear flip flops and sandals all year long if I weren't afraid of my feet falling off from the cold.


Now, who should I tag?
1. Stephanie (alpacabunny)
2. Tamara (lovelifeinthesouth)
3. Sara (Calhoun)
4. Mandie (Just Boo)
5. Jennifer (Chrysallys)
6. Mandy (mandybr)