My Husband the Brainiac

About a month ago, as DH (dear husband) and I lay in bed reading baby books, he turned to me and said, "I think you're anemic."

"Why?" I asked him, wondering if my hypochondriacal tendencies had rubbed off on him.

"Your nail beds are purple."

"Umm hmmm," I said, basically blowing him off.

From time to time he'd check my nail beds when he thought I wasn't looking. I really wasn't paying any attention to him, being diverted by more pressing issues like not sleeping, pregnesia, and worrying about getting butt grapes.

This past Saturday, I went in for my Glucose screening. It basically consists of drinking what I had heard was a nasty concoction, sitting around the waiting room for an hour and getting blood drawn at the end of the hour. The blood is then tested for diabetes, which many women develop while they are pregnant. Especially when they start out overweight, like me. My OB said results should be back within a week.

So, I go check in for this test...hand over my insurance cards and sign on the dotted line. The technician asks me what type of solution do I want.

Me: "What are my options?"
Him: "We have a orange cola-like drink and one that is a bit like Sprite."
Me (totally thinking he would be no help at all): "Well, have YOU tasted them?"
Him: "Yes, they make us try it."
Me: "Ok, what's your recommendation, then?" like he is some type of sommelier.
Him: "Personally, I like the Sprite one."

I was waiting for him to tell me it should be optimally paired with a fish or fowl selection, probably because I had been fasting for the last 12 hours and Lucy was getting cranky (aka kicking the crap out of me from the inside). He kindly served me my six ounces of liquid sugar in a dixie cup. (What? No wine glass?)

I drank the Sprite-like solution at a full gulp (remember, hadn't eaten in 12 hours). I think it tasted like Sprite, but was a little more...viscous. I proceeded to fiddle with my iPod for an hour killing time and at the end of my wait gave my required pint of blood. (Ok, I'm being a little over dramatic, it was just two vials.)What I didn't realize was what the second vial of blood was for. Didn't really care, just wanted to eat some darn breakfast already!

This afternoon my OB called with my results. Apparently, they tell you a week so you can be better blindsided when the results come back early. The good news is that I do not have Gestational Diabetes. Hooray!

The bad news is...I'm anemic. I guess I should have listened to Hubby, huh? Now I have to take iron supplements (read: constant constipation). Just when I thought I was going to avoid the butt grapes....

Drugs Are My Friend

Ok, not all drugs.

I've been suffering from serious insomnia for about 2 weeks now. Pretty much started after my last OB appointment.

I didn't go to work yesterday because I didn't sleep the night before. Falling asleep while at stop lights is not my idea of fun.

I went to my OB yesterday. Lucy's heartbeat is down to 145 from 150. I was freaking out about this til I read a friend's post about it getting closer to 120bpm as we get closer to delivering. Lucy was full-on kicking at the doppler wand.

Blood pressure holding steady at 120/80 - even though I had some salty jambalaya the night before. I thought for sure that would skew it up.

I talked to my OB about the not sleeping and she gave me a prescription for Ambien, with the caveat to use it sparingly. What the heck does that mean?? When I was filling the prescription, I didn't agree to generic (I blame the lack of sleep) and came back with a whopping bill for $130! Whoa. Generic, please. Since I am double insured (employer and military dependent) that got it down to free. Works for me.

So I took this Ambien last night. I really had reservations about it, but my god, how long can I go w/out sleeping? It didn't make me loopy or feel like I was in a coma all night, but I did get a solid night of sleep. Only woke up once to pee. I think I could have slept another couple hours, but I had to get up and come to work. It didn't leave me feeling groggy or loopy in the morning either and I actually feel like a human being again today. I think I'll take one tonight and then give it a rest a couple nights. I don't want to get hooked on it.

Funny how a good night's sleep can make you feel almost positive again.

I lost three pounds in two weeks because of this stupid insomnia. After researching Ambien on the web, I will only use it when I have to and not at all in the third trimester. Hopefully the insomnia will go away by then. I know not everyone agrees with taking drugs while pregnant. But a non-functioning zombie mommy isn't that great either.

Whew!

Night before last I couldn't sleep because I kept counting weeks and trying to figure out when week 30 was. (Kinda hard to do in the dark when you're in bed half asleep.) I thought 30 weeks was when they were going to make me go off my blood pressure medicine. I talked to my OB yesterday and she looked at me like I was nuts. She told me I wasn't going off the meds at any point. I'm going to double check with the perinatologist, but if that's the case, I'm feeling much better. I may even carry to term!