Week 28: 28 April

I had my 28 week check up with my obstetrician this week. All is going along fine, baby’s heartbeat was good and she did a fundal height measurement and said everything was tracking well. From this point on I have fortnightly appointments with my obstetrician… eeeek it’s all happening!

During my check up I also did my glucose tolerance test (GTT), which is actually the second one I have done now. I did one at about 14 weeks as well because of my PCOS and family history of diabetes. I don’t have the results yet, but I don’t anticipate any issues. For anyone that doesn’t know, the GTT is a test for gestational diabetes where you fast overnight and then have your blood taken, then drink a very sweet sugar drink and have your blood taken again in 1 hour, then a third time in 2 hours. I’ve done these before for my PCOS and haven’t had any issues. Both times I have done these during pregnancy though I have felt very shaky and sick on the tram on the way to work afterwards. I had hoped to work from home after this test, but a full afternoon of meetings made that impossible unfortunately. Once I got some food into me I did feel a little better, but really all I wanted then was a sleep!

I also had to get my first anti-D injection because I have a negative blood type. This is a little confusing, but my basic understanding is that because I have a negative blood type and the baby is likely to be positive (which is much more common) they have to prepare me to ensure I am covered if my blood and the baby’s blood mixes and antibodies are formed. I think I get another two injections before baby is born and the last one straight after birth.

Weight: Once again I lost a little weight this week. Not much, just 200 grams (0.4 lbs) and I put this down to the usual weight fluctuations. I am obviously not trying to lose weight, just eat very healthy– mostly to assist with the reflux! I feel like baby is on a growth spurt this week, so I expect to see the scales go up next week!

This week: 87.7 kgs (192.9 lbs)
Down: 200 grams (0.4 lbs)
Total pregnancy gain: 7.7 kgs (16.9 lbs)

How far along: 28 weeks. Two women from my online pregnancy forum have given birth to healthy babies this week, so that is freaking me out a little bit that this is really happening.

How big is baby: It weighs as much as an eggplant, apparently a little over a kilo and measures 38 cm from top to toe.

Sleep: Well I am writing this at 4.00 am… so what does that tell you? 🙂

Symptoms: Oh some new ones happening this week! I’ve been getting leg and foot cramps during the night. I had one particularly bad incident where I was just screaming and had no idea how to fix it, lucky I woke AJ up and he somehow knew what was going on and stretched my foot in the right way until the cramp went away. That one hurt for about 3 days after it was so bad.

I’m also starting to struggle with walking. I walk 1.5 km each way to work, which is usually fine, but a few times I have been walking with a colleague or AJ and trying to match their pace and talk while walking has given me bad stitches and cramps. It’s quite a shock when you realise you struggle with simple things like walking!

Best moment of this week: We went to a baby show over the weekend (which was not exactly fun) but it did help us make some decisions on a couple of purchases so we finally bought our car seat and pram- yay! For anyone interested, we bought the Maxi Cosi Moda car seat and the Redsbaby Metro pram. My sister in law has a Redsbaby and I have read so many good things about them, it’s hard to go past it for the price. It’s about $1000 less than the next pram I was interested in (Joolz Day 2). Given we have had a few hiccups with the bank this week and finding out we need to cover our stamp duty upfront (not roll into our house loan) we need to be careful with money where we can.

Miss anything: Nothing comes to mind this week.

Movement: Lots of kicks and punches and wiggles, especially after I eat some dark chocolate in the evening.

Food cravings: Chocolate, donuts and hot chips… but that is normal for me.

Anything making you queasy or sick: No, just the usual heartburn and reflux. I can’t wait until this goes away and I can eat a pizza!

Gender: ??? I honestly have no idea!

How’s your mood: A bit better this week, which is mostly die to being insanely busy at work and not having a second to worry about anything else. So even though I am under a lot of pressure, it’s a bit of a blessing in disguise because it is making the weeks go quickly and doesn’t leave me any time to think about anything else.

Looking forward to: The main thing I am looking forward to is getting into my house and going on maternity leave. I can’t think of much else apart from that at the moment!

The Bump: It looks bigger some days than others, but it still isn’t a nice round little bump, definitely just filling out my already chubby frame. I tried to pull my dress tight in the photo below, which is mostly just unflattering… Most people don’t know I am pregnant, not even at work, so I guess it is going to be a surprise when I go on maternity leave in 5 weeks!