Week 27 & Glucose Tolerance Screening

It’s now week 27, the last week of month 6. Only 3 months to go! Baby Peach is now about 15″ long and around 2 pounds. And according to our book, Peach has more tastebuds than he or she will have at birth and so can taste different foods through the amniotic fluid. So Mom-to-Be isn’t crazy when she tells me that Peach kicks her when she eats certain foods!

Yesterday she went to have her glucose tolerance screening test. This is to check for signs of gestational diabetes. It involved going to the lab and drinking a quantity of glucose syrup, then sitting in the lab for an hour (you’re not allowed to do any physical activity that could affect the results) before having a blood draw. Nothing stressful (except for the punctures) but boring.

Today she got a call from the Midwife telling her that her test results were outside of normal and that she’d need another more detailed test. So I left work early and went to pick her up so we could get the test before the office closed.

Both of us were slightly concerned about this, her more than me. We spoke briefly with the Midwife about what preparations she’d have to do for the test. It’s similar to the screening test except this time she needs to fast beforehand, then drink a larger amount of glucose and stay in the lab for 3 hours. She will have 4 blood draws during this time – before the glucose, then one each hour afterwards. Ms. Pregnant does not like blood tests and is not very enthused about the prospect of 4 blood draws.

And now I’m pretty sure I can feel baby Peach’s arms and legs. It’s especially clear when I put my whole hand and forearm across her belly – I can tell when Peach is turning over and when just the legs or arms are moving. It’s really cool!

Finally a side note: my caffeine withdrawal headaches have cleared. I’m much happier.