Alright thanks guys, I'll check to see exactly what the plugs were that went in. Seems odd though that this hesitation and rpm jumping only comes in under a load while in later gears though.
Edit: Forgot to mention, there are no CEL's whatsoever. May be comletely unrelated, but my TCS also doesn't seem to be functioning. Light isn't on for trac off, and the button doesn't do anything. was able to continuously spin tires after start up (warm of course ;p) and then pushed the button and still non-stop tire spin. If this is unrelated I'll make a new thread for that issue.