Welcome to the THIRD Trimester!

You read that right!  We have now officially entered the THIRD trimester and as always, time is flying by!  I am just so happy and thankful that everything has been going so well and I have really been able to enjoy this pregnancy.  Apparently Baby Kuenzel's due date is about 80 days away which seems like a lot.. but it really isn't!  We have SO much going on between now and then that it is going to fly by! 

26 weeks and feeling great! 

At 25 weeks I had another OB appointment - my last appointment before I move to every 2 week appointments!  I was able to hear baby's strong heartbeat again and I talked to my OB about fetal movement.  I was kind of worried because I didn't feel her that much and I didn't know if that was normal or not.  She informed me that I had an anterior placenta (my placenta is in front of the baby) and could be absorbing some of baby's movements.  I also had to do the dreaded one hour glucose test to begin screening for gestational diabetes.  Well, to say the least, I failed.  My sister said it must be a Niemeier thing because she failed too.  Apparently 1/3 of women fail that test.  

So after failing the one hour glucose test you have to take the even more dreaded 3 hour glucose tolerance test.  Ugh.  They make you (a pregnant woman) fast for 12 hours and show up at the lab.  They draw your fasting blood and then make you drink a very sugary drink (100grams of sugar in 100mL).  To make a comparison, I was looking at a bottle of Sunkist yesterday and it had 72grams of sugar in 521mL.  Big difference.  Then they make you sit there for three hours and they check your blood glucose levels at the end of every hour for three hours.  Uff da.  I was pretty antsy and had a hard time just sitting there (I mean, when do I ever sit still?), but I made it through.  The news... I passed!  I do not have gestational diabetes!  As soon as I got into my car I ripped into my peanut butter sandwich I had saved for myself.  Ahhh. :)  

Week 27

27 weeks brought some excitement!  On Friday, the 12th we were at the BP football game and I was getting kicks and punches like I had never felt before!   On Monday night I was laying in bed holding my belly as I had been feeling some more of those strong movements and sure enough, I felt her kick me from the outside!  I couldn't believe it.  I got up and ran out to the living room to tell Ryan and headed back into bed to feel it some more.  Sure enough, she kept it up!  Since then I have been getting lots of kicks, jabs, and punches and I am absolutely loving it.  I can't even begin to explain how amazing this feeling is.  Sometimes she does it so hard and catches me so off guard that it completely startles me!  Ryan makes fun of me because it makes me jump.  I have even been able to SEE her move from the outside.  How cool is that?  A miracle, that's for sure.  As for Ryan, he has yet to feel Baby Girl.  She is playing hide and seek with him at this point.  Ryan and my brother-in-law John have a theory that it is because when they (John would try with his daughter Lainey) would put their hand on the belly it would have such a calming effect that she wouldn't kick and when they take away their hand (the calming effect), the baby gets upset and kicks.  Sure boys, keep your theory. :)  I'll take all the kicking I can get! :)

On Wednesday we had our Family Birth Center tour at Methodist Hospital.  Absolutely incredible!  They just opened their new family birth center last year and it is beautiful.  I have seen labor and delivery units before and this place takes the cake.  From the labor rooms to the recovery rooms, the waiting areas, the equipment, the available options, the security, the proximity of the operating unit on the same floor, as well as the NICU if it is needed.  Not to mention the knowledgeable nurses and staff.  I left that place in awe.  I am so thankful I have been provided the opportunity to give birth to our baby at such a wonderful facility. Ryan was pretty impressed that they have a snack area that he can dig into whenever he wants.  He is going to need it!

We've had a few people wonder why we are giving birth at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park.  Lots of "isn't that too far away?"  No.  It is not.  First of all, it is a no-brainer.  I have wonderful insurance through Park Nicollet and will pay $250 for my delivery.  I refuse to go to a different hospital and have to pay more.  Second, the likelihood that I will go into labor during rush hour is lower than other times of the day and I drive to and from work during rush hour every day of the week and it take me tops 45 minutes.  What if it is snowing?  We will cross that bridge when we come to it.  And what if it happens during the 9.5 hours of the day, 5 days of the week that I am at work?  Well, then I just need to drive down Excelsior Blvd and I will be at Methodist Hospital in 5 minutes! :)  Honestly, this is what Ryan is hoping for!  I am a little nervous that my water will break during a surgery or something.  Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it and through some way and some how.. I will get somewhere to give birth! :) 

28 weeks- third trimester!!  Don't worry, that blanket and pillows in the crib will not stay there.  They are just for show right now and will move to the rocker recliner soon enough.  

So that brings us to today!  Today we are 28 weeks, 1 day and tomorrow is our 2nd wedding anniversary!!  Ryan left about an hour ago to spend the week up in Thief River Falls at Arctic Cat school.  It will be a lonely week without him, but I got my little baby kicking me all the time to keep me company (not to mention Buttons).  I am going to stay busy with work, finish up cleaning the house, getting up to date on my pregnancy scrapbook, and working on a wedding scrapbook for my best friend.  

These next 80 days are going to FLY by!  We are going to the Wild game on Saturday night with Russell and Meghan and my mother-in-law and Ryan's aunts are throwing me my first baby shower on Sunday.  The following two Tuesday evenings we have two prenatal classes and will learn all about breastfeeding and newborn care.  On Oct. 12 we have an all day prenatal class learning about childbirth, over MEA we are going with Sam and Rachelle and the kids to the Wilderness in Wisconsin Dells, and the last Saturday in October my mom is throwing me another baby shower.  Not to mention we've got to fit in going to the apple orchard with our niece Alaina sometime in there! :)  November will bring another baby shower, hunting for Ryan, Thanksgiving, and lots of getting ready for baby!  

I am so excited, but I am getting very nervous too!  I had a little freakout moment with Ryan the other night and I just kept telling him, "somehow, someway, this baby has to come out of me!"  But for now, please stay in there and keep cooking! :)  I just keep praying it all continues to go well.  We sure have a lot to be thankful for!