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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Happy blood and the waddle

So I officially don't have gestational diabetes. Which is a grandiose relief. I actually was nervous about this one, because I've gained so much weight, several members of my family have diabetes and.... because it gave me something to worry about. These are my non-scientific, totally irrational reasons that I was concerned. But I'm free and clear, and then my intense hunger hit. I've had this a few times throughout pregnancy, wherein no amount of food is sufficient to quell the hunger demon. But it's as though my body (or psyche) was waiting to be given the free food pass. And.... 3 pounds in 3 days. *sigh* My doctor even told me the weight gain was acceptable this month, though I could hardly believe my ears. Looks like that will not be true next month.

I scheduled all my OB appointments. Doing that made the birth seem... imminent. A formerly pregnant friend told me in early preganancy how it had dawned on her in month 8 that this creature has to come out (though she's too motherly to use the word creature). I think it's starting to dawn on me. It didn't need to dawn on me before, because I wasn't that big, and she wasn't that big, and therefore the prospect didn't seem scary. But the bigger she gets, the more unlikely the orange-through-a-grape-hole seems.

The other development of the week is the waddle. I was so pleased, just last week, to realize that I was still walking normally. But this week I find myself waddling, clomping one foot in front of the other. And having to pee so frequently that even when I've run dry I still feel the need to pee.

I've been reading, reading, reading. The Baby Catcher, which made me more excited and empowered about all this. It also convinced me we need a doula, until I realized it would be $800. So it made me realize A will just have to learn to be a doula. That's how it's got to be. So now I'm making him read The Birth Partner, though I'm reading it with him. This one was recommended by our birth class instructor, and it is very good. Practical and helpful, though perhaps a bit dry. The one I started and just couldn't handle was Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. Absurdity. She rails against gestational diabetes testing... though the best reason she seems to list against it is inconvenience. I'm all for a certain degree of natural childbirth, but she takes it too far. Furthermore, she keeps calling herself a "physician" but never says more than that. With the frequency of the term "naturopathic physician" this leads me to question the authenticiity of her supposed training. I'm also reading Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped the World for fun (I swear, it's really good.)

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