Everything is going swimmingly with me and Baby McGee at 27 weeks. The belly is growing into a jolly round basketball that occasionally itches like crazy. My weight gain is still on track, though a tad alarming to hear that I gained seven pounds in the last four weeks! I'm feeling mostly fine, just a little tired from the constant sleep interruptions from my bladder and the stupid carpal tunnel hand nonsense. The "black wave" I've been all too familiar with throughout my adult life has been peeking out a little, so I have been doing my best to take care of myself with extra relaxation when I can.
Ken and I finished our childbirth classes, and overall they were pretty helpful. They covered how to spot the signs of preterm labor, details on what happens when you get to the hospital, and the various options and outcomes. The information shared regarding natural childbirth gave me more confidence on having the birth plan we want while in the hospital, so that's good. Then they gave us free Luna Bars, Preggie Pops, and showed us how to breathe. There was a graduation diploma involved, too. Ha.
At my last OB appointment, I brought my doc a little box of holiday cookies from a vegan cookie swap I went to the night before. I mentioned to him that they were dairy-free and egg-free, in case anyone in the office had allergies. He looked excited for a second, then asked me if any of them were gluten-free. Sadly, they weren't. But it turns out he has two sons that are autistic, and follow a dairy-free, gluten-free diet. This conversaion led us to a really interesting (and kinda scary) conversation on vaccines, which I've been researching a lot lately. I am pro-vaccination, but Ken and I are both very interested in following a spread out/delayed schedule. I'll write more about this when I get my thoughts together about it, but I will say that I wish my OB was a pediatrician because he did a delayed schedule with his children after his first son showed signs of development regression after receiveing the standard MMR vax at 15 months. He did stress that only children who may be genetically prone to autism may have this kind of reaction to the standard CDC vax schedule, and that his younger son still has a mild form of autism despite the delayed schedule. His daughters have no signs of autism at all. Will our kid be genetically prone to autism? Who knows? I have an older brother who is learning disabled, but who has never really been properly diagnosed. Joseph doesn't have the most common symptoms typical of austism, like unusual sensory perceptions or hyperactivity. But he does have the abnormal social interactions, such as lack of empathy and inability to relate to people or make and keep relationships. He mimics other people's speech patterns and phrases without understanding what they mean. Humor is lost on him, with the exception of fart jokes. He has low intelligence and has an extremely hard time learning anything. His disability has made his entire life very difficult. Does this mean our baby has a genetic link to autism? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. And if our kid does have a form of autism, then we will do our best to make sure he is given every opportunity to lead a fulfilling life. But still. A scary thought.
Lots of things are on my mind, and having to be in charge of a little human is going to be super weird. I've got more thinking to do.
Oh, and the diabetes test is on Christmas Eve. Yay?
