Childbirth Classes

This weekend, Mike and I took a weekend series "Prepared Childbirth" class at OSF St. Joseph's. It was a one weekend deal, which was nice to get it done but that meant that the classes were 5 hours each yesterday and today. The class is usually 10-12 couples but it was only us and three other couples. I have to say that the first day we weren't very impressed because it was more of common knowledge stuff like anatomy and warning signs for preterm labor and the stages of labor--stuff we had already educated ourselves on prior to the class. The one highlight was touring the birth center and getting a better understanding of how the hospital stay would go. I guess that some of the other couples also felt like the first day was pointless because only half of us returned today, leaving our class with only two couples. Today was more informative with information on medical pain management and Cesearan deliveries and what to expect after the baby is born. Although we were still pretty well-informed about these things, it helped to relieve some of my anxiety to know what to expect and how to deal with it. I was getting to that "feeling bored with being pregnant" stage coming into this final stretch but now I have lots to day-dream about! And if we got nothing else out of the class, we at least got a gift certificate for a family pleaser from Monical's!!! :)

7-Month Checkup

I had my 28-week appointment this morning. An hour before my appointment, I had to drink the high-glucose stuff so they could test for gestational diabetes. It wasn't that bad--just tasted like flat orange Crush soda. I thought that they would just do a finger prick to get my blood but nope-they took 4 viles of it straight from my arm. So I did not get instant results but they gave me the ol' "No news is good news" bit--if I don't hear from them by the end of the day tomorrow, I am in good shape. As for the rest of the checkup, things continue to look great--my weight and blood pressure have all been okay and Baby's heartrate was 142. Now I get to go every two weeks so my next appointment is scheduled for September 2.

7 Months Preggo!

Well, today I officially hit the 28-week mark--and the start of the final trimester! Mike and I had a wedding to go to for one of his co-workers so I'm all dressed up in this month's pictures.

I'm still feeling pretty good overall but I've developed a few of the common pregnancy "symptoms" for this trimester. For one thing, I've been having difficulty getting comfortable making it harder for me to fall asleep (and stay asleep). This, in turn, is making me feel more irritable and less patient (God bless Mike--he's been the patient one!). My back and feet are aching more frequently now too. Luckily there is some solace in knowing that there's only three more months to go. On the other hand, there's STILL three more months to go--YIKES!!!

My 7-month checkup is Monday morning at which point I take the glucose screening test for gestational diabetes. I am kind of nervous about it only because I had problems with my blood sugar dropping at the start of my second trimester. Luckily from what I've read, there is no correlation between hypoglycemia turning into hyperglycemia. I'll be sure to share how that appointment goes on Monday.