Last month I did this for my doctor's appointment and people on facebook seemed to really enjoy the format that I chose, so I thought that I would stick with it this month.

On Friday I was at just 27 weeks and had my regular prenatal checkup, but I also got to experience the joy of my:

Glucose Screening Test: If it has been a while for you since babies or you just don't know all of this information, basically what happens is you drink what I have read called "boiled down 7 Up" with extra sugar added. Then after an hour of allowing your body to process the sugar in the drink, blood is taken to see how your body is doing at controlling the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. After my normal peeing in a cup, blood pressure and weight I got to drink the much-hyped beverage, and while it was gross, it did not make me "almost throw up" as many of the other preggos on my May mommies message board attested to. I was able to go through my regular appointment with no problem, and only felt the slightest bit sugar-buzzed as I sat for the remainder of the hour in the waiting room. I was also surprised because many of the May Mommies have said that they had to wait a day to find out the results, and they were able to tell me after just a scant minute's wait that I had passed with no issues.

If I had failed, it wouldn't mean necessarily that I was destined to have GD or need a special diet-- many women I know have failed the one hour, and then have to endure the annoyingly long 3 hour test where blood is taken for each of the hours to give your OB a better idea of how you process sugar. Most of these women pass this secondary test with no problems. I am happy that I didn't have to count the minutes for three hours in my OB's office, and that I believe this means good things for my non-pregnant ability to process sugar. This is simply my assumption, but it seems that if you are more likely to be diabetic during pregnancy and you are not, it means that you are most certainly not nearing diabetes in a non-knocked up state.

Weight: I am pleased as punch to report that I have gained 6 pounds since my last appointment! I am now up a total of 2 pounds since my first appointment at 6 weeks, but what is really important is that finally now in the third trimester I am gaining even some of the weight that I am "supposed to." I have never been told to eat more by my doctor or chastised for not gaining more, but personally I have felt that there might have been something wrong if my body has been changing as much as it has been without any additional weight.

Jim was so pleased that he told my doctor that it was all due to the Belgian Waffle Maker we received as a Christmas present from my parents. I think it may partially be the butter and syrup of this, but in general I feel more hungry and have incorporated additional snacking into my day, and am now going through an even more mammoth amount of milk than I did before. (Like the gallon in our fridge was purchased Friday at 4:30, I used 2 cups in Alfredo sauce I made, Jim drank a glass or two, we were gone nearly all day on Saturday and now there is about 2 glasses worth of milk left in it. and we managed to down a carton of light chocolate soy milk in there too.)

Fundal Height: 28 cm. Still right where I should be. My OB says that as far as she can tell from feeling the baby-- which is wonderful that she can do now because he is so large-- and from feeling me that I am right on track. Baby should be around 2 pounds and approximately 14 inches.

He has approximately doubled in weight from the last appointment and is now entering the portion of pregnancy where he will be growing by leaps and bounds-- which is what he is apparently doing in there. I have been trying to capture the wild movements of my abdomen on camera, but whenever I get up to grab our P&S he seems to halt his movements as if he knew just what I was up to. It is also funny to be lying on my side and to be able to feel him touching the "floor" or whatever I am laying on" as well as touching the other far side of my womb. Jim laughs because he purposely will put his face up to the movement and talk to Noah in hopes that he will be kicked or hit by his son. When hearing that his son had kicked Jim, Jim's friend Slicker (not particularly a baby fan) said, "I think I might like this kid after all."

Fetal Heart Rate: Dr. Ambur doesn't use the feature on the doppler which gives an actual number, but it sounds right on with last month's number of 130 bpm. Yay!

General Health: I have been really surprised that I have not had any horrible colds this winter thus far, despite working with my 2nd and 3rd grade GEMS every week. Could it possibly be because of the- gasp-- flu shot I tried to avoid, but eventually gave in on? Jim has actually been sicker than me-- poor guy, and during a week that would have been very inconvenient to miss at work.

My back has been the most annoying symptom as of late-- with spasms from sitting in the car, sewing too long, or simply being upright too long. I am hopefully getting a lovely belly support band soon, which is something I swore never to get, but am now convinced is the most wonderful invention ever made for the pregnant woman. I can really feel where I have filled in upwards under my bust, and the pressure up there also hurts my ribs at times and forces me to adjust how I am sitting. On the whole, I would take the annoyance of a sore back instead of the heartbreak and possible complications of Gestational diabetes any day, and so I consider myself fortunate.

I have also begun to think about labor as an impending reality, and am still convinced that no epidural will be the best for me and my child, and I hope that this is something that I can follow through on in the heat of the moment. My mother did it twice, and countless other women have done it over the years, and thankfully soon we will have our hospital tour and begin labor and delivery classes that will assuage some of my fears and equip me for labor when it arrives.

I have always had debilitating cramps and pain associated with "my womanly cycle" and one of the few positive symptoms of pregnancy has been the cessation of this pain. If I was not pregnant I would have had to suffer through this pain for days an additional 6 times (because of my long cycles) and with nothing to show for it except for having annoyed my husband with my PMS symptoms. Now I am looking at enduring something that will be the culmination of these un-experienced cycles of pain, all coming together in one or two days. There is one big difference between this pain and the former though-- at the end of it I will have a wonderful child, my son, to hold in my arms. For that, for him, I can endure this pain. For the idea of him I have endured all of this former pain-- with merely the hope of children at some point in the future. It is so wonderful to have that idea and that hope of him finally here to redeem the pain of all of those times.