Thursday, July 9, 2009

Washington DC Trip & 28 Week Update

From July 2nd-July 7th, we visited Daniel's sister Lindsey, her husband Paul, and our new nephew Payson. They live in Virginia, just outside Washington D.C., where Paul works. We had a great time relaxing and visiting with them. Payson is adorable and I am so grateful we got a chance to spend some time with him. Living on separate coasts will be hard and we'll miss a lot of milestones. On this trip, we were there for Payson's first metro ride and first visit to downtown D.C. We had lunch with Paul at the Ronald Reagan building, saw the White House and Washington Monument. We also visited two Smithsonian museums, the Natural History and the American History museum. Paul was able to leave work early and come with us to the museums. We had a great time. Payson was such a good boy the whole trip. I also learned a lot from Lindsey's experience as a new first-time mom. It's been great having her as a resource. Alexis moved a lot during the trip and was very interactive. She moved for her Aunt Lindsey and mostly for her daddy. Daniel sang to my belly and she would kick. He would tap my belly and she kicked back. It is a real joy being pregnant and I am loving every single minute of it. She's so much fun already. Daniel and I bought some outfits for her and Lindsey bought her clothes as well. Alexis will look sooooooo cute in all of them.

Here's my 28 week update. I am in my third trimester, which means I will now start going to the doctors office every 2 weeks instead of 4. I did not pass my first gestational diabetes test, which really upset me. Anyone who knows me well knows that I HATE needles. I LOATHE, ABHOR, DETEST them. The gestational diabetes test involves two things I hate, needles and not eating. I had to fast from the night before, go early in the morning, get a blood test, then drink 50g of pure glucose, wait an hour, and then take another blood test. The whole experience was miserable. Thank goodness my best friend Anita was nice enough to come with me. Unfortunately, the lab results came back too high. That means I have to fast and take the second gestational diabetes test. This one lasts for 3-4 HOURS!!!! I am dreading this test. They say most women fail the first test and pass the second. I need all your prayers for this test. I think God is trying to get me to overcome my fear of needles. At my next doctor's appointment, Daniel and I will present our birth plan to our doctor. The birth plan is a document that expresses our wishes for the labor and delivery. It states certain things like that I do not want drugs offered to me during birth, that I would like to avoid an IV and constant monitoring as long as the baby and I are doing fine, that I do not want the baby separated from me at any point during my hospital stay, etc. Hopefully, my doctor will approve our birth plan or we'll be searching for a new doctor. Pray that he'll be ok with all of our wishes. Enjoy the pictures below of my belly and of our trip. Let me know what you think.

*My Belly at 28 Weeks*
*All of us in front of the Ronald Reagan Building where Paul works*
*In Front of the White House*
*The White House*
*Payson in the outfit we bought him*
*Payson sleeping and sticking out his middle finger*
*Payson laying on me*
*Aren't we cute?*
*Washington Monument*
*Lindsey's artistic photography*

4 comments:

  1. Don't worry about the test. You'll be fine. It should only last 3 hours. It's not so bad...but then again- I don't have a problem with needles. Happy Thoughts. Seeing your pics makes me wish that I took more. I was not fan of camera's when I was pregnant. HAHAH

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  2. Great blog post. We had a good time with you guys too! Can't wait to see you in November.

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  3. If you are serious about the glucose test, do your research. Some moms refuse it when they are confident about not being diabetic. If I had to do it again... I wouldn't. It was awful and I only had to take it once. Have you created your birth plan yet? I would be happy to dig up ours and email to you if you need a reference. There's also earth mama angel baby's website that has a great "starter" questionairre for a birth plan. (it will actually create one for you, but I don't recommend leaving it at that) Your dr may give you a hard time about the birth plan because with it you are essentially telling him/her what to do. Doctors don't generally like that. But just because they "do it every day" doesn't make YOUR body any less equipped to do it expertly because that's what you were designed to do as a woman. Anyway, what I was going to say before I got on my soapbox was that they can't go against your wishes when you're at home! I stayed home until transition and by the time I arrived at the hospital there wasn't a lot left they could mess up. Even though the dr. cut me down there and made fun of me while I was pushing. But at least I had no interventions and no drugs. So take that, Dr. Butcher.

    Are you delivering at Downey?

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  4. Hey Ann,
    I'm so glad the pregnancy is going well and that you are ENJOYING the experience! It makes me excited to one day have that experience too! You and Dan looked so natural with your nephew... he's adorable! Thanks for the anniversary wishes! It's hard to believe it's been a year already! We watched our wedding video and went out to a fancy dinner, so it was really fun. I wish I could go back and re-live the wedding day all over again... at least I can see it again on the video. Love you honey! Have a great week little Momma! :)
    Jen

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