30 Weeks

30 Weeks

Figured I'd just jump to the chase and put the pic first, since I know that's what most of you want this week! This is taken in the nursery and the wall color is "Hush" :) Afternoon sun is coming through the windows and the room is bright and light and fresh! I love the color, and can't wait to get some pieces in there and see it come together.  This weekend we plan to pick up our furniture, get some of it painted, and then we can start bringing things in from the piles in the living room and getting them organized.  I'm sure my mom will appreciate that, too ;)   None of the major sewing projects have been tackled yet, but I wanted to get the basics of the room ready first.  Once the furniture is ready, then we can devote time to sew, organize and get the other things ready.  Very Excited! Pics to come of the actual room soon...right now it's all just paint rollers and drop cloths :) 

So, 30 weeks.  10 weeks to go! I'm now into week 2 of dealing with GDM, and things have sort of been up and down.  Namely, my blood sugar levels.  I've had a hard time predicting what will work and what won't regarding food choices and corresponding readings.  Sometimes, I'll eat the same thing for breakfast 2 days in a row, and one morning my after-breakfast level will be perfect and the next it will be high (that would have been today...).  I'd say out of all the readings I've done, probably 70% have been normal, and 30% have been slightly elevated.  We had an appointment with Holly today, and she talked to us about what to expect in the event that I do get put on an insulin regimen.  I will keep sending my numbers to the nurse and they will let me know if anything needs to change - maybe a first step would be to tweak the diet plan a little, or they might go straight to putting me on insulin.  If that happens, I will not be able to continue to be followed by the Midwife practice, and would have to transfer to the High Risk OB team.  Not that any of the OBs would be so bad, and I'm sure we will still have a lovely birth outcome (in the very least, a lovely little lady!) if that happens, but it is really disappointing to think about altering our birth plan to include a high risk team for me and for the baby, constant fetal monitoring, potentially a constant insulin drip during labor, etc.  None of that is going to happen for sure yet, but Holly wanted to put it out there in the event that it becomes a reality for us.  

The placenta previa will be rechecked in 2 weeks by ultrasound, and we are so hopeful that it has moved enough to chuck at least that risk factor out the window! It was going in the right direction, so statistically it should resolve by 32-34 weeks, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it happens for us!

Baby, on the bright side, looks to be fantastic! My weight gain and her estimated growth are right on track for 30 weeks (I'm up about 13 pounds and the fundal height of the uterus is 30 - exactly where it should be).  She should weight just about 3 lbs now, and be nearly 16 inches head to toe.  She's putting down adipose tissue now (aka gettin' her mcFatty on!). Her heartbeat was great today in clinic, and her movements have been rockin' out all the time.  She's head down with her feet under my right ribs for the most part, and her spine is towards my belly - perfect placement for a vaginal delivery! So let's hope she stays just like that and everything else works out to have that outcome too! 

That's about what is going on at 30 weeks.  I'm so looking forward to my shower next weekend with all my best lady friends - it will be a MUCH needed stress reliever and wonderful company.  I am so lucky to have such lovely ladies in my life who are here to celebrate and support me through this adventure.  

Gestational Diabetes Part II

So I had my diabetic education class today, and I'm feeling better about the situation overall.  We discussed how to moderate our food choices and came up with meal plans for appropriate amounts of carbohydrates throughout the day.  Truthfully, it's not that different in most regards from how I usually eat, so I don't think it's going to be totally hard to stick to.  I do have to test my blood glucose levels 4x/day, which is obnoxious, but so far the two readings I've had today have been well within normal levels. My fingers produce like NO blood from the stick though, and both times I've had to poke twice to get a big enough drop...nice.  And, what's really frustrating is that my 2 and 3 Hour GTT results were just barely over the cutoff for having GD at all (like 5 mg above the cutoff... seriously). But nonetheless, I feel like I can manage this with diet and adding some exercise back in as I am able - modifying what I can do at the very least. After a week of testing regularly and sticking to my meal plan, we'll reassess and make sure it looks like it's doing the job of keeping the glucose levels controlled, and if not we'll talk about insulin.  I REALLY don't want to have to take insulin, mostly on principle that I should be able to manage this myself with some minor changes to my routine.

On a somewhat separate note, people can be so rude and self-centered, and it makes me crazy! The class was scheduled to start at 8:15 am, so I checked in around 8:05.  I was the only one there. A few more rolled in by about 8:25-8:30, and we finally walked over to the classroom (which I could have just gone to since it's 2 floors below my office, but whatevs) about 8:55.  Class finally started a little after 9, and 3 people rolled in after that - some as late as like 10:50! Then, one obnoxious husband (who was of no help to anyone being there, if I do say so myself) couldn't keep his comments to himself and even though they were the last couple to arrive they were the first to get with a dietitian 1:1 since they missed most of the informational part of class.  WTH? So there were 9 in class, 3 dietitians, and those who were late got their 1:1 education first while the rest of us waited.  Needless to say, when my dietitian came around, she pretty much looked at my meal plan and said, "Oh you get this. You're all set! Let me just mark a few things on here... ok, good. Call if you have any questions!" Super :) Class ended at 12:30 (after I was told by the nurse last night it would be about a 2 hour teaching...). It was certainly an interesting example of people watching though! One lady basically cried through at least half of class, there was a Chinese couple with an interpreter talking through the whole thing, and another woman who kept asking me and the woman next to her questions because she wasn't sure she understood, while the instructor continued on to the next thing. Oy.

So that's done.  Now I faithfully check 4x/day and hope things look good. Just don't offer me any cake, ok?

Gestational Diabetes

So today was the day...the 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. Which was totally as unpleasant as I've heard, and I felt pretty much like crap all day.  Fasting for 16 hours and then having someone jack with your glucose levels and draw blood 4 times in 3 hours doesn't do much for the soul, or the body it turns out.  I was all headachy and hungry, and then had this massive crash and felt like I could barely stay awake.  I ended up sleeping for several hours this afternoon when I got home.  I figured it would be worth it when I heard in a few days that the results were normal and I could proceed with my pregnancy as planned.  That was until 4:30 or so, when the nurse called to say my results were in fact, abnormal, and I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes.  Mother Eff! They want me to be seen as soon as possible in Endocrinology for nutritional counseling, diabetic teaching, and possibly further information from the Endocrinologist. So, that's what I'm doing first thing tomorrow.

At first I was really upset and felt like I had done something wrong to make this happen - not watched my diet well enough, didn't get enough exercise, something.  But the bits I've read so far today show that about 4% of all pregnant women get GD and there really isn't always an identifiable cause. I have none of the risk factors, at least for this pregnancy, other than the initial screen which showed impaired glucose tolerance a few weeks ago.  (Info taken from http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/gestational_diabetes) I'm trying not to obsess about all the potential negatives, and just focus on what I can do to control it.  I'll learn more tomorrow, and go from there I guess. It's just what I have to do.  I want her here safely, and with as little negative impact on my own body as I can manage.

More updates when I have some...