Hook me up!

I had my 28-week appointment this morning, the main point of which was the one-hour glucose tolerance test. I arrived at the lab at 8:30 a.m. as instructed, but I wasn't taken back to register and get the drink until 9:10 a.m. I couldn't have any food or drink after midnight last night, but in reality it was around 10:30 p.m. when I last ate or drank, so I was pretty hungry this morning--but mostly thirsty. They gave me the sugary orange drink, and I had to consume it within ten minutes, but I was so thirsty that I'm pretty sure I guzzled it in less than three. It didn't taste too bad, but mostly it unsettled me for a few minutes because of it going on such an empty stomach. The icky feeling passed pretty quickly, though. I had to wait an hour before my blood could be drawn, so I proceeded downstairs for my doctor's appointment (that was supposed to be at 9 a.m., but obviously I didn't make that because the lab was so slow).

The doctor's appointment was routine at first (urine sample, blood pressure, weight, measured belly, doppler), but then he didn't like the sound of the heartbeat on the doppler; he said it was around 180 and should have been around 150. So, he took me to a different room and the nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor for a non-stress test to check the heartbeat for about 20 minutes. (At least I had some time to kill anyway.) I also had to push a button any time I felt movement. I had some of my strongest kicks during the test--and it was neat to hear the movement on the monitor just a split second before I felt it. The doctor looked at the printout and was satisfied...he said the heartbeat was generally around 150 and then would go up to 180 when there would be movement. He said if that's the reason it's around 180, then it's fine, but if it were around 180 all the time, then that'd be reason for concern. I suspected all along (and he and the nurse both agreed) that the higher heart rate was because of the glucose drink, but I'm glad he wanted to check it out anyway, just to be safe. He sent me on my way, and I now have my first NST under my belt.

After checking out, I had to return to the lab to have my blood drawn, which was pretty uneventful (not fun by any means, but nothing really of note there). I forgot to ask how long results would take, but they're not supposed to call if it's okay. I figure if I haven't heard anything by Friday, then I'll give them a call just to see.

I'm now to the point of having appointments every two weeks, so I'll return on November 27. I'm very thankful that I don't work on Mondays, so I don't have to take all this time off work since I've been able to schedule all my appointments for my day off during the week.