Third Trimester, contd..

GD testing

It was about week 29 and the scary blood work was right before then -- tests for gestational diabetes and RBC/WBC count, etc. Cutting short this part of the story, Piya failed the screening test and had to fast for about 15 hours with a 100gm sugary-disgusting-drink and took a 3hr test, and she failed it by 4 points! She was scheduled to see a dietician to figure out a diet schedule, being a vegetarian. Piya couldn't believe she had GD. She was pretty good at cooking healthy food and eating herself. Jay was supportive and said it's for the best so we give her and the baby great nutrition, coming from a dietician.  Piya agreed, except she just had to spend more time figuring out the her diet every single meal of the day. Throughout the pregnancy, Piya had been writing from a book "Sai Satcharitha", praying for the wellness of the baby. When the tests were being performed, coincidentally the chapter she was writing was about the saint Sai Baba who took the sufferings of His devotee to himself and helped alleviate the issue for the devotee. Piya felt good about writing that chapter, that particular week and hoped it all went well and trusted God.
In some ways, Jay and Piya were glad she had GD (by a viscous though) because they got to see a certified dietician at the hospital to come up with a good balance meal plan which is great for the baby and herself anyway. And, the third trimester is when you need the "best" nutrition for the baby. So, it may be a blessing in disguise if the December experience looked better with a healthy baby! Let's see.

(write to me for GD veggie meal plans..)

Creamy Broccoli soup with Greek Yoghurt

Lentil soup

Ten more weeks to go

Ten more weeks to go, and Piya's mom and sister planned on celebrating the pregnancy with a baby shower (Indian style bangle ceremony) followed by a more religious ceremony (Seemandham) late November. Piya wasn't too much into it. But, once in a while she thought perhaps it would be nice to have the ceremony, so the Vedic Chanting and bangles clunking keep the baby safe and happy. But, the whole GD thing was a total bummer..and she thought it was better to celebrate it with the family alone..
With just 10 more weeks to go, Jay was starting to get more and more involved and helping Piya a great deal. Piya felt happy to have Jay in her life.

Week 30 onwards

The doctor check ups went well, and the doctor said to Piya that she was doing a great job with her blood sugar and that the numbers were really good. The doctor even asked her to take the tests a bit easy since it was all under control with her diet plan. Piya and Jay felt great about it! Piya was curious to know if the baby's position changed, especially since she could feel the pressure at the bottom and going on a continuous drive for even 30 minutes was becoming a challenge. The doctor couldn't confirm, but he did hint that the baby's head may be down. And, he added that it did not mean the baby was coming out sooner than the due date!

Week 30 onwards began the "nesting" phase. Piya would not stop cleaning the house, room-by-room, closet-by-closet. Turns out this is one of the pregnancy symptoms, called "nesting". Nesting is when the mama starts preparing for the little one to come, cleans stuff and basically makes sure the baby's nest is safe and clean. Piya was pretty excited to set up stuff for the baby, adding stuffs to the baby registry and so on, even if she felt pretty exhausted at the end of it. But, she did make sure she had snacks and took breaks while she cleaned stuff. Ofcourse, she had bought all the basic items just before third trimester kicked in so she is  kind of prepared if there was a chance for pre-mature birth. She also made sure her project planning and leave planning at work was being worked out. First things first, right?

Week 32 was when the mood swings probably kicked in more. She couldn't help it. Some days were harder than the others, she'd end up crying many a time. Perhaps, it's time for her mom and dad to arrive, so she can get some time off from cooking four meals a day. In times of all the mood swings, Jill was a savior! ..big time. The couple also met new folks, made new friends and it all felt good. Piya always loved having people home for dinner. But, towards the end of the pregnancy, even if she wanted to have more people home for dinner, she was unable to cook and felt exhausted in just a little bit. Multi-tasking was becoming an issue, yes the toast was getting burnt while she checked her work emails. She'd accidentally break plates -- guess the baby dropping kind of makes the mom to "literally" drop stuff on the kitchen floor.
At about Week 33, Jay and Piya attended an 8-hour child birthing/prenatal class. Piya was so excited to attend the class, she felt like they were both going on a picnic and looked forward to spending 8 whole hours sitting with Jay and thinking just about themselves and the baby to come. She packed yummy snacks for the whole day and they were both having a great time. Jay found the class helpful and he even learnt how to swaddle a baby and put a diaper on -- "it was indeed fun to watch him to do that", Piya thought.

Getting ready for the child birth class with healthy snacks:)

Piya and Jay were then in the countdown mode. Five more weeks to go, Piya and Jay were soo looking forward to the little one. They were training Jill alongside to prepare for the baby's arrival. It was all fun! Piya couldn't get an uninterrupted sleep, but she would somehow curl up and sleep on the side after reading several times at night. Her thigh area especially did hurt in the mornings, so sleeping on her back just for a minute or two and then moving back to the "sleep-on-side SOS" position seemed to help a bit. Sometimes, the prenatal yoga and a warm bath or those "once-in-a-blue-moon" leg massages from her hubby all helped.

Soooo looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was round the corner. Piya's parents had arrived from India. The sight of her parents at the terminal made Piya extremely joyous and she found an "instant" relief. Her parents sparkled their smile as they saw Piya, her cute baby bump and Jay. Her mom was also extra happy to see Piya keeping herself pretty active. "Piya was always the pampered kiddo in the household and to see her carrying a baby was something cute", thought Piya's mom.  Yep, she giggled seeing the pregnant tummy and was excited! Who else other than moms can understand their daughters? Who else would unconditionally long to help, in spite of all the raging hormones Piya was undergoing.
Piya's sister and her favorite niece also visited for TG. It was a great weekend with lots of good eats, little quarrels(Oh, man), baby shopping, baby shower and picture sessions. Piya's mom, while helping her wrap the saree for the religious style baby shower (Seemandham) passed a quick comment stating the baby will probably come out sooner than expected date. Piya, from the beginning of the pregnancy did have dreams as if the baby came out sooner and that they were not ready with the car seat yet :) So, the car seat was one of the first items she got much before (rather was a gift registry item her SIL got..).