Winter vacation week

Survived the glucose tolerance test! It wasn't as bad as I expected because I only had to drink the sugary drink once, and then have hourly blood draws for three hours (after a baseline, so that's four blood draws in three hours; no fun). I thought I was going to have to drink it three times. If so, I would probably have been in convulsions on the waiting room floor because that stuff makes me nauseaus and gives me a headache.

During my 3.5 hours in waiting room, I got to chatting with another woman doing the same test. We commiserated and she recommended some books (it's her second pregnancy). She also mentioned that she's having a high risk pregnancy because they discovered on ultrasound that her baby's kidneys and lungs are not developing properly. Although she'll likely carry the baby to term, apparently the baby has a very poor prognosis for survival after that. I cannot imagine how scary and painful an experience it must be. She said they're not really making a big deal of her two year old becoming a big sister because they just don't know what will happen. Ach - my heart breaks as I write this. If you pray or meditate or wish or hope, please keep this family in mind.

Assume I'll get my test results middle next week unless Steve can check in the meantime. Oh, the long hours alone and his erratic schedule do pay off!

And now, no school next week! Hurray! Tonight Megan comes for a visit from Ann Arbor for the weekend. Steve is working tomorrow until late, so Megan and I have exciting, romantic Valentine's Day plans. Sleeping, shopping for maternity clothes (for her!), maybe some baking, and just catching up.

Then, next week aside from a few meetings and maybe a short visit with Ginny while she house hunts in RI, I am planning to make a big dent in my thesis, get ahead on some of my other papers and reading, and finish the first draft of a policy brief for work. I'm setting myself up for failure - if I accomplish even half of what I want to, it'll be a lot. I have no track record for doing things ahead of time, but at least baby girl's kicks are a good reminder to get it in gear. The last few MGH resident babies were more than a few days early, and I have a big fear of my water breaking during my thesis presentation!

Happy Valentine's Day!