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I had my glucose screening test today. Everyone told me that the stuff you drink is nauseatingly awful, but either they got the more concentrated tolerance test stuff, or my taste buds are deadened from years of Coke and Diet Pepsi addictions. It just tasted like orange pop to me.
Admittedly, sitting still in uncomfortable waiting room chairs for an hour was not fun – my legs were dancing by the end of it.
I’m curious to know what the result is, largely because I nearly fainted again last Thursday. What worries me about it was that I
a) had not been on my feet for a long period of time, but had been sitting comfortably for a little over an hour
b) was not low blood sugar, since I had just downed a bag of popcorn while sipping on some Sprite
c) was not in a stressful situation, since Perfect Husband had taken me (in celebration of my freedom from the Den of Inequity) to see Babies, which could not in any way ever be called upsetting or stressful by anyone with normal standards.
Yet, by the end of the movie (which is not long, 80 minutes or so maximum) I was extremely woozy and on the verge of passing out. Didn’t mention this to Perfect Husband, lest I ruin his saccharine boredom, until the end of the movie when the lights came up and he looked at me.
Getting up and walking around helped.
Now, maybe I was just cutting circulation off sitting for that long, but it’s not like we were sitting through frigging Avatar or Titanic or something.
I’m worried it was HIGH blood sugar.
Brings to mind that the New York Subway episode happened not twenty minutes after I’d scarfed a bag of Skittles.
OR maybe I’m a big fainty wuss and this is standard pregnancy stuff. Highly believable since my penchant for fainting goes right back to my babyhood, when my mother had me tested for epilepsy because of it (I found out about this test many years later, and it explained the bizarre memory I have of sitting in a dark room with gel and wires on my skull). I fainted when I bumped my elbow. I fainted when I had my fingers stepped on by my heavily built Jehovah’s Witness friend. I fainted when I came down with the flu (that was in a tourist trap at the Curacao Marine Aquarium while surrounded by elderly American tourists. That was fun). I fainted New Years 2009 when I sprained my ankle making up the futon for our guests.
But nearly fainting at the movies is a new one.
In other news, I’ve beginning to think about labour more. The pregnancy still has a sense of unreality to it, despite the squirming of a baby which the books tell me is very clearly a baby now – 14 inches long and making faces at me all day long. However, I know I’m going to go to the OB on Monday and they’re going to ask again if we’ve signed up for prenatal classes.
I’m not sure what it is that makes me not want to do it. When I was younger I always assumed I would. But now, the idea of paying 300 dollars so I can huff and puff in front of other couples and be forced to listen to dumbed-down pep talks explaining things I already know from grade 11 Family Studies plus the BAZILLION pregnancy books I’ve read… really sounds like a waste of money. Especially since Lamaze has been shown in studies to be no more effective than a placebo, and Perfect Husband and I don’t really value the “meet other people” angle, since we don’t really like people.
But at the same time, I would like to be able to practice breathing techniques, self-hypnosis and so on, which HAVE been proven to have an effect. I would also like it if Perfect Husband knew what to do when I started to freak out and (knowing me) pass out from the excruciating pain. I’m expecting to accept pain medication (probably an epidural) but I want to learn how to keep my anxiety down, since I know fear and tension will only make the pain worse and slow down my labour.
Are prenatal classes really worth the 300 bucks (keep in mind that we are down to a single income until my EI decided to come in, probably three weeks or more from now)? Can anyone recommend a book about staying calm during labour?
