29 weeks 1 day

Hello fellow bloggers!

I'm in the 30th week... almost on the home stretch now...

GTT
Just to explain about what a GTT is. GTT stands for Glucose Tolerance Test. It's a screening test for diabetes... or in my case, gestational diabetes which is diabetes that only happens during pregnancy. I took a one hour GTT (which is the typical screening test that all pregnant women have done at around week 28). I failed that... which means that my results came back too high. That is, the glucose levels in my blood were high because my pregnancy is masking the effects of insulin which is the hormone responsible for converting glucose in the blood to energy for my muscles. As a result, too much glucose in my blood means that there is too much glucose in my baby's blood as glucose can cross over to the baby through the placenta. High glucose levels (or gestational diabetes) can result in the baby growing too big. For the mum it means that she has a 30-50% higher chance of developing diabetes later in life. If the baby grows too big I'll need to deliver early .. perhaps 2 weeks earlier. There is also a risk that the baby will be jaundice (yellow), have funny blood glucose levels for the first few days of life and have some breathing difficulties due to the baby arriving early. Nothing too major to worry about, but if it can be prevented this is important too!

So, I failed my 1 hour GTT by "just a smidge" so I have to go back and do a longer GTT for 2 hours. I did this 2 hour GTT back in september and my results were perfect... so at the moment I'm not too worried.

Tomorrow I have another ultrasound which I am super excited about. It's actually to look at a small hernia / fibroid I've developed on my upper abdomen, near my port actually. Should be interesting as I'm sure the scan will pick up where my port location is but also the tubing connecting my port to my band. They will also have a look at the baby to see how he is developing. I am going to ask the tech to check the gender of the baby again, just to be 110% sure... and also see if the tech can get a good 3D shot of his face. We're so excited just to see him again. I can't wait.

Mummy Update
I'm doing fine, other than the lack of sleep. My back is starting to get a bit achey if I am on my feet for too long. I can't wait to be able to lie on my tummy again, oh how I miss it! I probably wake every hour now, to either change positions or pee... and I've still got 11 weeks of it to go... even more difficult as I am still working full time up until 37 weeks. It's going to kill me! Never underestimate the value of a mid-afternoon nap! :)
My lap band is still giving me some restriction which I love, but I'm still getting more hungry now. I'm focusing on smaller meals and snacks... fruit and yoghurt, small bowl of cereal with some mixed raw nuts and seeds, a salad and chicken sandwhich, some pretzels etc... The heartburn is pretty crap... but managable with mylanta..
Actually we have a fair amount of chocolate from Easter in our cupboards at the moment - and I'm not really fancying it... which is great! It does give me extra heartburn so I stay away from it. I'm enjoying my strawberry milk drinks just before bed which gives me a hit of carbs and a bit of protein as well so I don't get hungry overnight. I find that if I let myself get too hungry then I start to feel nauseous..

OK, that's all from me. Thanks for reading. I'll let you know how my scan goes and may even have a piccy or two to share tomorrow :)

LBG xx