I’ve hardly experienced any charlie horses since I mentioned it in my 16 week pregnancy update. When I first started trying out the Calcium I didn’t take it every night and I still had two or three mornings with leg cramps. For at least 10 weeks now I have been faithfully taking Calcium/Magnesium supplements every night before going to sleep. On Monday night I wasn’t feeling well (more on why later) so I was in bed early and forgot to take my Calcium. Tuesday morning I woke up to my alarm (pushed snooze thinking I’d go back to bed for a while) and slightly stretched my legs- which immediately sent me into spasms with a major charlie horse in my right calf. This got me up and out of bed as I attempted to stretch my muscles and massage the cramp until it subsided. So here’s what I learned: 1) the Calcium supplements have been working and 2) pregnancy leg cramps are way more effective than an alarm clock!
New pregnancy symptom/scare
Now back to why I wasn’t feeling well on Monday night. For most of my pregnancy I’ve been having a hard time catching my breath when I walk up the stairs or bend over to pick up something off of the floor. For a few weeks I’ve been really noticing that it seems like I can never quite get a deep enough breath. I know this is normal during pregnancy so it didn’t bother me. So Monday night we were having a few people over for a visit and I was quickly tidying up the apartment and washing a few dishes. As I was rinsing the dishes I tried to take a few deep breaths and I felt like I couldn’t get enough air. I took more deep breaths and then all of a sudden my whole body from head to toes went tingly and I thought I was going to pass out. I dropped the bowl I was rinsing in the sink and made my way to the couch to lay down. After a few minutes the tingling stopped, but I still couldn’t catch my breath and I felt extremely exhausted.
Hyperventilation during pregnancy
I went directly to bed (while my husband entertained our guests) and of course I did some internet research to find out what could have caused my near fainting episode. From what I found online it seems like I may have started hyperventilating by taking in too much oxygen and not having enough carbon dioxide in my system. One of the pregnancy sites said that during pregnancy even if you feel like you aren’t getting enough air- you are- the uterus is just putting extra pressure on the diaphragm. By sitting propped up this can alleviate some of the pressure on the diaphragm. I guess my deep breathing was unnecessary especially since no matter how deep you breath when you are pregnant you still don’t “feel” like you are getting enough air. Another lesson learned this week: 1) don’t take too many deep breaths in a row and 2) when sitting or laying down use more pillows to take the pressure off of my diaphragm.
Prayer request for Baby A
Enough about me, what I really want to write about this week is a prayer request for Baby A (Left Baby). At my appointment on Friday the MFM doctor saw what could be higher levels of fluid in one of the ventricles in Baby A’s brain. He wasn’t able to get a good measurement of both sides of the brain and the one measurement that he was able to get was still within the normal range (just on the high end- 9.8 something). Even though this is technically fine it is still something that the doctor wants to closely monitor. If the fluid does measure above a 10 then the doctor would recommend a fetal MRI. I tried to not become overly anxious about this news since the numbers are still considered to be “normal” but I also realize that this is an opportunity to ask for prayer. My mom reminded me that sometimes the Lord needs us to pray for specific things in order for Him to answer our prayers. So if you feel to mention these higher levels of fluid in Baby A’s brain to the Lord we greatly appreciate and rely on all of your prayers.
Overall babies are doing well
All of the other measurements are looking good for the babies. Baby A (Left) is measuring 2 lbs. 13 oz. and Baby B (Right) is measuring 2 lbs. 8 oz. (both measuring in the 60th percentile). Baby B is head down and he is still the presenting baby (closest to my cervix). I have felt some higher kicks on the left side so I’m wondering if Left Baby has flipped again. If so then we’ll see who’s the presenter at my next ultrasound. They really must be fighting to be the first born!
Glucose test results
I had my glucose test done on Friday as well. It was not pleasant- mainly because they decided to draw an additional 8 vials of blood for other tests that needed to be done. Not only did they take extra blood- they decided to draw it during the first baseline blood draw (fasting- no food or drink since the night before). Because of that I felt nice a queasy before I even drank the sugary, syrupy, food coloring-y drink that they gave me. Needless to say the following 2 hours went by slowly as I waited for them to draw more blood at the 1 hour and 2 hour mark. BUT- the good news is- I don’t have gestational diabetes! Yay! Especially yay that I can continue to indulge in my pregnancy cravings listed bellow- which would not have worked on a low glycemic diet. All in all I feel peaceful about how the pregnancy is going. 28 weeks is quite an accomplishment!
Week 28 pregnancy symptoms:
Round ligament pain- especially when coughing or laughing
Nerve pain in left hip- radiates down left leg through thigh, knee and ankle
Sharp pain in left side when moving around and walking
Cramping with bowel movements (mainly on left side that shoots across lower abdomen)
Hand pain/swelling (especially at night) more pain in left arm and hand after laying on left side
Sore feet and slight swelling in both feet
Shortness of breath (and some hyperventilation)
Having a very round belly (my favorite symptom)
Week 28 pregnancy cravings:
Juice! So much juice! Orange juice with pulp, sparkling apple cider, spiced hot apple cider, lemonade, limeade, plain apple juice, fruit smoothies and did I mention JUICE!
Dairy- still drinking lots of milk, kiefer, yogurt and putting lots and lots of butter on my toast.
Those are the only cravings I can think of for now, I’m sure I have more but all I can think about right now is pouring myself a nice big glass of orange juice- and that’s what I’m going to do as soon as I leave you with my bare belly shots for this week!
growing peeps 