Results

The OB office called me back with my results today -- I don't have gestational diabetes. Woohoo!! My sugar intake is appropriate! My baby is not going to come out weighing 30 pounds!
But...my iron count was a little low. So I'll be taking an iron supplement on top of the prenatal vitamins.
To tell you the truth, I am not at all surprised to hear this. Back in San Francisco I used to try to give blood at least once a year. For the last four of my five years there, my iron count was always just a smidge too low. I would load up on spinach and red meat but I could never beat the test. (I could never get in the habit of just taking a supplement back then.) So now that my body has extra onus on it, I'm actually kind of pleased to hear that my iron count is just a little too low, rather than a lot.
They want to retest in 8 weeks, which will be once I'm in CT, but I'll make sure the new OB follows up on it. I'll be at 36 weeks and needing all the iron I can get if I'm going to be about to birth a baby!

28 week OB appt

Wednesday morning I went in for my penultimate OB appointment here in Denver. Everything is coming along fine. I'm measuring exactly where I'm supposed to, I'm not swelling or cramping, any contractions are blatantly related to exertion (by which I mean going for walks, which is ridiculous but what can I say) and dissipate with rest, the kid is consistently active, and I gained three pounds since last time. She said if I gain a pound a week for the next 12 weeks I'll be weighing in at the low end of perfectly normal with a total weight gain of 25 pounds; they set the range at 25-35.
The only thing I have left to hear about is the results of the gestational diabetes and anemia tests, which should happen early next week. I'm confident all is well and will update when I find out.
So far, so good.

Heat

I have never, ever been this sensitive to ambient heat, ever, at all. Whoever coined the phrase "bun in the oven" did not choose their words at random. Denver has decided to grace us with 80+ degree weather over the last few days and I find myself cowering in the underground levels of our lair, a cold wet washcloth lasting only minutes on the back of my neck, daydreaming about slurpees and swimming pools (both of which are attainable if I'm willing to brave the heat to get to them). It's also so very dry here, no matter how much water I drink the relief seems to dissipate so quickly that I'm -- dare I say it -- looking forward to the humidity in Connecticut, where at least I won't have to work quite so hard to hydrate.
In a month or so when I write an entire entry about bloating and sweating and frizzing, I'm sure I'll rue those words. But right now, with this wriggling radiator strapped around my belly, a little airborne water sounds just fine to me.

I'll tell you what doesn't suck

This morning Steve woke up before I did and decided to read a few chapters in a book a friend got us entitled " Pregnancy Sucks: For Men." Pithy title aside, it is meant to take the flowery prose out of pregnancy books and replace it with cold hard realism, in this case for dads. Each chapter describes what he can expect to be feeling, what he can expect to be dealing with by virtue of what I'm dealing with, various tips about how to prepare for the baby, and of course what the baby's up to in there month to month. One thing that I like about these books is that pretty much every single one so far has been written by someone (or by a man married to someone) whose pregnancy has been about 75% worse than my own. Such information serves the dual purpose of making me feel good and reminding my husband how easy he really does have it. :)
I don't know WHAT this book did for him -- maybe it was the sheer power of normalizing our situation or helping him feel more prepared or involved or maybe he did see how easy he has it -- but the man came downstairs an hour later and asked me if I wanted a foot rub. Then later he asked me if there was anything he needed to be buying for me, pregnancy-wise. (I did allow him to buy me a new pair of sandals.) He volunteered to go grocery shopping and the first thing he asked me is if we needed any ice cream. When I got home from that stupid walk pale and panting, he filled up a glass of water for me without being asked and then he ran right out and got me that slurpee.
If they sell a book entitled "The First 3 Years of Child-Rearing Sucks: For Men," you know I'll be the first in line to get it!

The stupidest thing I have done so far...

...was decide to walk over to DU and back to pick up a paper. Today. In 90 degree heat. With the dog. While 7 months pregnant.
I had no idea that such a mundane task -- a 20 minute walk -- would devour my body of all energy reserves, to the point where I felt woozy for the last 5 minutes of the walk. We didn't walk far. We didn't walk fast. There was a pleasantly strong breeze for the duration. The terrain was flat. I was wearing a hat. And yet by the time I got back to our block I was practically euphoric with fatigue.
I happened to catch Steve just as he was about to leave for the grocery store. And for only the second time in seven months of pregnancy I asked him to go out and buy me something -- a slurpee. A nice red non-caffeinated slurpee from the 7-11 100 feet from our house, full of ice and coldness and more ice.
He got back with it 5 minutes ago, and it is already 7/8ths gone, and tastes like manna from heaven.
Wow. Lesson learned.

Bump photo part trois

Behold the reverence which the canines bestow upon me!
Also, behold the pregnancy-jeans complete with full-sized "bump panel" (the navy blue fabric gathered at the top of the jeans) which are OH. SO. FLATTERING.
(Aw, it's not the jeans' fault, I am past the point of clothing being terribly flattering these days.)
Please note at the bottom of this post there is a tag labeled "bump." If you click on it you will see the other bump photo posts I've created and can compare and contrast. :)

More fun with gender

According to my supervisor, this chart (mouse over for link) has been accurate for all the people she's known who have been pregnant, with only one exception. It's based on mother's age at the time of birth and the month in which the baby was conceived.
My own evaluation of it has it right for me, my brother, and Pete & Allie's baby Sophia, but not right for Steve...hmmm.
In any case, its prediction (I'll be 31, and we conceived in November) is that Acorn is a girl!