Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Psyche!

Had my 14 week appointment today (14w4d). When I was taken back, the nurse told me that I had to have an early GD test. I was a bit surprised, because I thought that didn't happen until 28 weeks... but whatever. She apologized for not having the drink ready for me, and went away for a couple of minutes to get it. When she returned, she told me to take my time, and let her know when I was done. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated (although this anticipation was for 14 weeks from now). It was only about 6 oz, and tasted like super-sweet coke. She then said that I'd have to hang out for an hour, and have my blood drawn at that point.

The rest of the appointment was pretty fast. Checked on the heartbeat (nice and strong!), weighed me (up 5lbs since the last appointment. I'm telling myself that at least a bit of it is because this time I was wearing clothes whereas last time I was wearing a fancy johnny :-), and took my blood pressure. The doc came in to see me after that.

I didn't have many questions for her, except to ask about whether I need to modify my weight-lifting routine at all (answer - as long as I'm not getting dizzy or light-headed, and feeling fine, I can keep up exactly what I'm doing), and about the whole lying on the back thing (answer - try not to sleep on your back if you can, but don't worry about it if you do happen to wake up that way. Also, okay for shorter periods of time (like for situps), again, as long as it's not causing any dizziness or light-headedness). And finally, is it okay for me to ride my bike out on the road? (answer - as long as I feel balanced and okay with it, totally fine for as long as I'm comfortable).

I was so happy to hear that. I stopped playing ice hockey at 12 weeks, and have moved to using a stationary bike and elliptical instead. It flipping sucks!!! I'm so used to having FUN while I exercise, either playing ice hockey, volleyball, or riding my bike to/from work (the latter is not exactly fun, but it has a purpose). The whole stationary thing is for the birds. I wasn't sure I could keep it up throughout however long this lasts, much as I want to for my health and Phred's (I highly recommend the book "Exercising through your Pregnancy" by Dr. Clapp for a scientific dissection and debunking of many of the arguments against exercising while pregnant). But if I can keep commuting on my bike, I can definitely handle it. Whew!

My last question - why exactly am I doing the early GD test? answer - psyche! I didn't actually have to do it. Apparently they normally will do the early test if you have any signs of glucose resistance (or is that insulin resistance) such as might be seen with PCOS. But since I don't, no need for it. Hahahaha. At least I didn't find the drink too bad.

On a different note, I went shopping for shoes on Saturday at some outlet stores near here. Don't go getting all hot and bothered - these weren't fun shoes. My daily brown and black shoes are over two years old, and definitely worse for the wear. Time for new ones. There also happened to be a maternity store there. I thought I would go in and get a pair of jeans - my regular ones don't really fit any more, and the larger sizes my sister had given to me were too small for my hockey thighs. I couldn't do it though. Walked in, flipped briefly through a rack of jeans, and totally freaked out. I told M "I'm not ready for this yet", turned around and walked out. I don't know exactly why I was so uncomfortable in there, but all those clothes frightened me. I guess I've never been one for shopping in the first place, and seeing all that stuff just overwhelmed me. I might have to get a personal shopper for it instead ;-)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, forget that store stuff. Shop online.

Glad things are going well and you're able to hit the road again.

Nicole said...

I am a good shopper in case you want help. Since I have no need to buy for myself, it might be nice to be able to buy for someone.

Anonymous said...

well it sounds like everything is going really really well. Glad to hear you can keep exercising.

S said...

Good to hear that everything is going well.

As for the clothes, I know what you mean. I searched for a while for slacks that wouldn't scream maternity. Thankfully, Target is close by! :)

Anonymous said...

with this pregnancy and this new doctor i had to do a GD test at around 14wks as well. i asked why and he said he likes to do the test twice...early and late in the pregnancy. in case there is GD it can be caught early in the pg and dealt with. i passed the first time but this second time take at 29wks i failed. so now i have to deal with GD the last 2mo of my pg.

Anonymous said...

I am totally in awe of all of the exercise-related questions you asked. I am fairly certain that if I ever get pregnant, my 14-week questions will be "Is it bad for the Baybee if I never leave the couch?" and "How much cheese is too much?"
I am so glad to hear that things are going well for you.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you're in that weird phase when your clothes don't really fit anymore, but you're not even close to being big enough for maternity stuff. It's definitely a drag to shop when you're in-between, because what fits you now, won't for long. Cool thing is - you're in the second trimester! Now, that's an exciting milestone. Yahoo, for the strong heartbeat, too.

Katie said...

Heartbeats are such a good thing!

I second Molly: shop online.

OvaGirl said...

Sounds great Nico. Good on you for maintaining exercise, I have become fairly blobbish I'm afraid. I have all good intentions to start yoga but...

Liz said...

Glad things are going well. I would try shopping online but Elle has a good point.

Liz said...

I hear ya on the ice hockey thing -- I stopped playing at 13 weeks and this has been the longest winter of my life. I'm 31 weeks now so my return to the ice is in sight.

Also, Old Navy has some maternity pants with an adjustable hidden waist. I started wearing those
around 13 weeks and just outgrew them last week. They don't look too different than normal pants.

Anyway, congrats!