What to Expect at 28 Weeks

Kayla and I just went in for her 28 week appointment. It was a fairly interesting one this time. 28 weeks is when our gyno does the glucose testing. Testing for glucose is used to screen for gestational diabetes. When we first arrived at the doctors they had Kayla drink this orange sugary cocktail. She said that it tasted like a mix of Tang, and orange soda. After she drank this mixture we then proceeded to see the doctor as normal. We listened to the heart beat again, and our gyno measured her belly baby bump.

Since Kayla and I are both O- blood type, she was supposed to recieve the rhogam shot. This shot is to protect your baby from HDN or hemolytic disease of the newborn. According to rhogam.com if your baby's Rh blood type enters the mothers blood stream, the mothers immune system sees the babies blood cells as foreign and produces antibodies against them. Getting a rhogam shot at 28 weeks is necessary to prevent this from happening. Studies have shown that the rhogam shot will not cause harm to the unborn baby. The only way to make certain of a babys blood type is an invasive percedure. It is best to just administer the shot to all Rh- women because it won't cause harm even if your baby is not also Rh- . This link is a great place for any questions you may have about the rhogam shot.

Since the blood type is fairly rare, and the rhogam shot expires, we had to wait until the doctors next order came in. Kayla got her shot about two days later and she said "it was a painless shot in the hip."

After an hour had passed (for the glucose test) Kayla had to get two small viles of blood drawn. This gets sent to a lab to test for glucose levels. If her glucose levels remained high after the hour, then she would have to recieve a plethora of tests and blood draws to confirm whether or not she has gestational diabetes. Also, this is a wonderful place to get more information on gestational diabetes. This is about it for what you should expect at 28 weeks.

Be ready for a longer appointment this time. From now on we meet with our gyno every other week!!

Santa Claus

An important subject that you may have never thought of yet. Will you choose to tell your child that there is a Santa Claus or not. This is a topic that has a good argument for both sides. And I am the perfect person to cover it. I was brought up believeing in Santa untill I was about 5 or 6, my wife was never really told if there is a Santa or isn't and was free to decide on their own ( wich pretty much answers the question for them).

Growing up with Santa in my heart was one of the coolest things I could of believed when I was a little guy. All of the "Christmas spirit" in the air in December and the joy I would get just thinking a jolly fat man was going to be in my house dropping off presents and drinking the milk I left for him. I remember calling the hotline to find out where Santa's sleigh was last spotted, and getting so excited. I must say that I always sort of knew that the "mall Santa" was a phony he just seemed like a stand in for the real guy. When I found out the truth I never really thought of it as my parents lying to me. I think I  saw it coming when my friend broke the news to me one day.

My wife was free to make her own descisions and she had basically told me that she would have liked to believe in Santa but when ever they asked there was not really any definitive answer either way. I understand that they didn't want their kids to think that they have been lied to, wich is an awesome thought for a parent to have. I don't think of it as lying but more of introducing an idea. An Idea that may be true or may not be true but introducing it anyways. It's not like i'm going to send my 16 year old to school still thinking there is a Santa Claus.

If nothing else Santa Claus gives your little one a reason to be reminded to behave and get on his nice list. My wife and I will bring our kids up with the idea of Santa Claus. When the day comes that they get smart to the idea I won't lie to them and the idea of Santa will be no more. If you decide to tell your child that there is no Santa then he will probably end up being the one to ruin it for all the kids in his school who want to believe :). No pressure just stating some facts here!

What do you think?