Date of checkup: 25 May 2002
Although the weekly checkups will start from the 36th week onwards, Mom was made to come back this week to get the results of her blood test. Good news-the glucose level is normal and Mom hasn't developed any gestational diabetes. The doctor had to concede that I am just growing normally at this pace. And oh, my weight is now at an estimated 3.1 kg! Argh, so that's why Mom has been feeling so much heavier now! And yeah, the glorious stretchmarks are all over the place. Sorry, Mom. I'm invading your territory. But don't worry, because in about a month this will all be over! I will be worth all the stretchmarks and sleepless nights....
Ah yes, the sleepless nights, the nights when I send Mom running to the toilet four or five times a night because of the pressure my head exerts on her bladder. Mom thinks it's a cruel joke to say that this is nature's way of preparing her for the sleepless nights ahead when I am born. It's as if to say that nature's cure for no sleep is more no sleep!
Aside from the usual urine and blood checks,
Mom had her GBS* test this week.
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In the know:
*GBS-Group B streptococcus.
Why are women tested for Group B strep? Though the bacteria Group B streptococcus is usually benign when found in adults, it can cause a host of problems when passed along from mother to baby. Doctors and midwives have become much more aware of the dangers this bacteria can present over the last several years, and have reached consensus as to how it should be treated.
What is this bacteria? It is an infection carried in the vaginal or rectal areas of up to a third of all pregnant women and 10 to 35 percent of all adults. While harmless to most of those who carry it, Group B streptococcus (GBS) sickens or kills two of every 1,000 babies born in the United States; every year about 8,000 babies in this country get GBS disease, and about 6 percent of them die.
The infections it can cause are serious: It is the most common cause of meningitis and neonatal septicemia (sepsis), or bacterial bloodstream infections, among newborns. It is a frequent cause of infant pneumonia. And it can lead to urinary tract infections, womb infections, and stillbirth in women. The good news is that it can be prevented through timely testing and antibiotic treatment.
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