Several thoughts I've been meaning to post about:
1. Remember when pregnant how they were concerned about Jay's femurs measuring small and started scaring me into the possibility that he might have Downs Syndrome? Well, as I mentioned when he was born, he's perfectly proportioned. They did briefly also mention that it could just be his height would be in his torso and not his legs, like me and mom rather than his daddy. Turns out, that's just what it is! Jay seems to have a long torso while his legs... he can still fit in newborn size pants while a good bit of 0-3 size ones fit a bit long on him. See though? No big deal and they me got worried over nothing.
2. Thinking it over and knowing after the fact (having been told at my 6 week post-partum appointment) that they discovered a knot in his umbilical cord when he was born... that's probably the cause for why his growth slowed and is likely the reason why we had that "failure to thrive" stuff. Somewhere between weeks 30 and 37 it got knotted up (no surprise really as he was quite the active bugger in there, which hasn't stopped since he was born!) and slowed down the amount of food he was getting. He was still getting enough to survive, but because he wasn't getting as much his stomach probably shrunk and he probably just got used to not eating as much to be full which carried over after he was born - his stomach shrunk so much and couldn't take in much and needed to be stretched (which the continuous feeding in the hospital did) in order to hold more so he could eat enough to grow! I'm almost positive that's what happened. And if that's the case, it explains a lot!
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Jay's Birth Story
Well, a lot's happened this past week, that's for sure!
Thursday I got up at 630 to be at my doctor's appointment by 8am - we had a blizzard here as I've mentioned and fortunately hubby had dug my car out for me Wednesday night. I was anxious to talk to my doctor about the results regarding the hospital ultrasound, however after driving across town, I get to my clinic only to learn that while everyone had said Thursday, they scheduled me for the 4th - Friday. Kinda annoying...
I went home and eventually got around to calling the bank lady to see if she could run hubby's credit again and see where we were at as far as that goes. She said it looked better but would call me back shortly as she wanted to see if we qualified for this 1st time home-buyers program through IHDA. She called me back that afternoon with the good news - that we qualified for that program with hubby's current credit score and that she would go ahead and email a copy of a pre-approval letter so we could start looking at houses, we just need to get in some extra paperwork for the program and she said she could probably approve us for more than she did after we get the tax stuff in.
While I was on the phone with her, I got a voicemail from my clinic saying to call them back before the close of the day (5pm). It was only a little after 3pm but I promptly called back, expecting it to be some bad news regarding my Strep-B coulture they took last week.
But nope - they said the high risk doctor at the hospital that did my ultrasound spoke with my doctor today and they were really concerned about Jay's lack of growth over the last 7 weeks, as it was showing he had gained less than a pound, and since I was already 37 weeks they wanted me to go ahead and get to the hospital to deliver him that night!
There was a bit of initial shock - sure I had been wanting to him come anytime now, but still, it was a bit of a shock as I wasn't expecting an induction THAT soon - it had sounded like it would be at least another week!
I quickly got ahold of hubby and told him both of the good news - that we finally were pre-approved for a home loan and that we were having Jay that night. He was home by 4pm as I was finishing putting a suitcase together. We stopped by McDonald's real quick so I could grab an early dinner, at the suggestion of a friend of mine, as once they started to induce me I wouldn't be allowed to eat until after delivery and who knew how long I'd be in labor!
We got to the hospital at about 5pm however we had to wait out in the waiting room til about 530 as they didn't have any available rooms open due to all the Blizzard Babies from the day before that were still popping out.
Once we got in a room, they started all the basic admission stuff and my doctor checked my cervix to see if I was dilated any - turns out, I was already 3cm dilated! Didn't really surprise me too much as I had been feeling some pressure on my cervix the past few days - we figured it was just him dropping.
They didn't start the induction via pitocin until about 1030pm as they wanted to move me into one of the bigger delivery rooms.
The first few hours were pretty boring. The contractions, while 2-3minutes apart, weren't painful at all and honestly I was bored. They said my contractions were looking fantastic though! It wasn't until about 4am did I really start feeling them and back labor kicked in, which hurt quite a bit! I requested a hit of dilauded as the back labor with the uncomfy bed with the bar that breaks the end of the bed off for delivery in my back it was just too much. Can't say it helped too much, but it did make me sleepy which helped as I could zone out easier between the contractions.
Between 6 and 7am is when it started getting bad. Hubby was asleep up until this point but woke up to help me focus on breathing. I started feeling sick at one point, like I do when my blood sugars drop - all weak, dizzy, faint, breaking into a cold sweat... mom said it was body most likely going into shock. I requested a cold compress which helped a little bit.
Just before 7am I requested to go to the bathroom, again (I had been going every few hours it seemed and since I was hooked up to IVs and a monitor I had to have someone help me get up and to the bathroom each time). While waiting for the nurse to come, my water broke... and with it I think my bladder went too. Before the nurse let me go to the bathroom she checked my cervix again to see if I had made any progress (last time she checked was around 3am and I was about 3.5cm and she commented that Jay had a ton of hair on his head). I was 7cm dilated by this point - almost there!
Going to the bathroom still was a mistake though as the contractions suddenly got A LOT worse, maybe a minute apart. As soon as I sat down on the toilet I started to freak out - with each contraction my body was telling me to push - it honestly felt like Jay was right there, about to come out and I was really scared I was going to have him on the toilet like you see some of the girls do on that "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" show! I started calling for the nurse who kept telling me just to focus and breathe and came and got me. She checked my cervix again - in the time it took to get me to the bathroom and back I had apparently dilated to 10cm and Jay was on the verge of coming out!
She went to page my doctor again, as 10 minutes prior when they called she said she would be over as soon as she dropped her daughter off at school and well, no one expected me to dilated the last 3cm THAT quickly!
I was freaking out though as the nurse had stepped out, my doctor wasn't there yet and while the contractions were horrible and every minute now I was trying NOT to push despite my body telling me to.
Fortunately the doctor got there quick (obviously she didn't end up taking her daughter to school) and they got me going - took about 4 contractions with 3-4 good pushes each time before Jay was out.
Jaydran Alexander Johnson was born on February 4, 2011 at 7:26am weighing 6lbs, 7 oz with a length of 19inches and a full head of hair! No Downs Syndrome and he seems to be perfectly proportioned!
Hubby went over to the other side of the room with the nurse that was cleaning up Jay while the doctor stitched me as Jay tore me a good 2cm. Mom said she thinks the doctor was surprised by his weigh, considering the ultrasound earlier that week claimed he was only 5lbs, 12oz at the most!
After mommy and baby were both cleaned up they moved us to the mother-baby ward where we stayed til Sunday afternoon. I spent most of the time in bed, as my stitches hurt down there a little and I didn't want to do too much anyway. We had family in and out, which was nice, although neither of us got much sleep either night - hospital beds just aren't that comfy and hubby didn't figure out that the recliner turns into a pull out bed til Saturday night. Plus that first night I had the nurses coming in to check on me and Jay every few hours, waking me up for one thing or another.
They did his circumcision late on Saturday, saying he slept through it, which was good! Our family doctor seemed a bit confused by this supposed kidney issue of Jay's, as he said he seems to be peeing just fine! They did end up doing an ultrasound on Sunday though and said our doctor will go over it with us at his first appointment next week.
Checking out of the hospital took forever! Both my OBGYN and family doctor came early in the morning and discharged Jay and I and we told the nurse we'd plan on leaving around noon. I took a nice, refreshing shower which felt great after having not done so since Thursday morning. We were just about ready to go at noon when Jay got hungry so of course we had to feed him. We no sooner get started on that when the nurse comes in saying that they found a tech to do Jay's ultrasound (they weren't sure originally if they could get one to come in on a Sunday), so they quickly wheeled him off for that. They brought him back about 20 minutes later, howling the whole way down the hall as his meal was interrupted and he was still hungry! Oops!
After annoying paperwork, after paperwork we finally got out of there around 2pm... so much for noon!
Hubby and I relaxed with Jay at home for the rest of the afternoon, going over to my family's house for the Superbowl.
Thursday I got up at 630 to be at my doctor's appointment by 8am - we had a blizzard here as I've mentioned and fortunately hubby had dug my car out for me Wednesday night. I was anxious to talk to my doctor about the results regarding the hospital ultrasound, however after driving across town, I get to my clinic only to learn that while everyone had said Thursday, they scheduled me for the 4th - Friday. Kinda annoying...
I went home and eventually got around to calling the bank lady to see if she could run hubby's credit again and see where we were at as far as that goes. She said it looked better but would call me back shortly as she wanted to see if we qualified for this 1st time home-buyers program through IHDA. She called me back that afternoon with the good news - that we qualified for that program with hubby's current credit score and that she would go ahead and email a copy of a pre-approval letter so we could start looking at houses, we just need to get in some extra paperwork for the program and she said she could probably approve us for more than she did after we get the tax stuff in.
While I was on the phone with her, I got a voicemail from my clinic saying to call them back before the close of the day (5pm). It was only a little after 3pm but I promptly called back, expecting it to be some bad news regarding my Strep-B coulture they took last week.
But nope - they said the high risk doctor at the hospital that did my ultrasound spoke with my doctor today and they were really concerned about Jay's lack of growth over the last 7 weeks, as it was showing he had gained less than a pound, and since I was already 37 weeks they wanted me to go ahead and get to the hospital to deliver him that night!
There was a bit of initial shock - sure I had been wanting to him come anytime now, but still, it was a bit of a shock as I wasn't expecting an induction THAT soon - it had sounded like it would be at least another week!I quickly got ahold of hubby and told him both of the good news - that we finally were pre-approved for a home loan and that we were having Jay that night. He was home by 4pm as I was finishing putting a suitcase together. We stopped by McDonald's real quick so I could grab an early dinner, at the suggestion of a friend of mine, as once they started to induce me I wouldn't be allowed to eat until after delivery and who knew how long I'd be in labor!
We got to the hospital at about 5pm however we had to wait out in the waiting room til about 530 as they didn't have any available rooms open due to all the Blizzard Babies from the day before that were still popping out.
Once we got in a room, they started all the basic admission stuff and my doctor checked my cervix to see if I was dilated any - turns out, I was already 3cm dilated! Didn't really surprise me too much as I had been feeling some pressure on my cervix the past few days - we figured it was just him dropping.
They didn't start the induction via pitocin until about 1030pm as they wanted to move me into one of the bigger delivery rooms.
The first few hours were pretty boring. The contractions, while 2-3minutes apart, weren't painful at all and honestly I was bored. They said my contractions were looking fantastic though! It wasn't until about 4am did I really start feeling them and back labor kicked in, which hurt quite a bit! I requested a hit of dilauded as the back labor with the uncomfy bed with the bar that breaks the end of the bed off for delivery in my back it was just too much. Can't say it helped too much, but it did make me sleepy which helped as I could zone out easier between the contractions.
Between 6 and 7am is when it started getting bad. Hubby was asleep up until this point but woke up to help me focus on breathing. I started feeling sick at one point, like I do when my blood sugars drop - all weak, dizzy, faint, breaking into a cold sweat... mom said it was body most likely going into shock. I requested a cold compress which helped a little bit.
Just before 7am I requested to go to the bathroom, again (I had been going every few hours it seemed and since I was hooked up to IVs and a monitor I had to have someone help me get up and to the bathroom each time). While waiting for the nurse to come, my water broke... and with it I think my bladder went too. Before the nurse let me go to the bathroom she checked my cervix again to see if I had made any progress (last time she checked was around 3am and I was about 3.5cm and she commented that Jay had a ton of hair on his head). I was 7cm dilated by this point - almost there!
Going to the bathroom still was a mistake though as the contractions suddenly got A LOT worse, maybe a minute apart. As soon as I sat down on the toilet I started to freak out - with each contraction my body was telling me to push - it honestly felt like Jay was right there, about to come out and I was really scared I was going to have him on the toilet like you see some of the girls do on that "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" show! I started calling for the nurse who kept telling me just to focus and breathe and came and got me. She checked my cervix again - in the time it took to get me to the bathroom and back I had apparently dilated to 10cm and Jay was on the verge of coming out!
She went to page my doctor again, as 10 minutes prior when they called she said she would be over as soon as she dropped her daughter off at school and well, no one expected me to dilated the last 3cm THAT quickly!
I was freaking out though as the nurse had stepped out, my doctor wasn't there yet and while the contractions were horrible and every minute now I was trying NOT to push despite my body telling me to.
Fortunately the doctor got there quick (obviously she didn't end up taking her daughter to school) and they got me going - took about 4 contractions with 3-4 good pushes each time before Jay was out.
Jaydran Alexander Johnson was born on February 4, 2011 at 7:26am weighing 6lbs, 7 oz with a length of 19inches and a full head of hair! No Downs Syndrome and he seems to be perfectly proportioned!
 |
| Jay and daddy - I <3 this picture of my boys |
After mommy and baby were both cleaned up they moved us to the mother-baby ward where we stayed til Sunday afternoon. I spent most of the time in bed, as my stitches hurt down there a little and I didn't want to do too much anyway. We had family in and out, which was nice, although neither of us got much sleep either night - hospital beds just aren't that comfy and hubby didn't figure out that the recliner turns into a pull out bed til Saturday night. Plus that first night I had the nurses coming in to check on me and Jay every few hours, waking me up for one thing or another.
They did his circumcision late on Saturday, saying he slept through it, which was good! Our family doctor seemed a bit confused by this supposed kidney issue of Jay's, as he said he seems to be peeing just fine! They did end up doing an ultrasound on Sunday though and said our doctor will go over it with us at his first appointment next week.
Checking out of the hospital took forever! Both my OBGYN and family doctor came early in the morning and discharged Jay and I and we told the nurse we'd plan on leaving around noon. I took a nice, refreshing shower which felt great after having not done so since Thursday morning. We were just about ready to go at noon when Jay got hungry so of course we had to feed him. We no sooner get started on that when the nurse comes in saying that they found a tech to do Jay's ultrasound (they weren't sure originally if they could get one to come in on a Sunday), so they quickly wheeled him off for that. They brought him back about 20 minutes later, howling the whole way down the hall as his meal was interrupted and he was still hungry! Oops!After annoying paperwork, after paperwork we finally got out of there around 2pm... so much for noon!
Hubby and I relaxed with Jay at home for the rest of the afternoon, going over to my family's house for the Superbowl.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
37 week appointment & hospital growth ultrasound
Today I had my 37 week check-up today and the NST stress test looked good, as did his placenta and fluid. Jay's still head down and in the correct position too, with his fundal height measuring 36cm, and heartbeat was in the mid-upper 130s. I mentioned this glob of mucus that was on the tissue when I wiped the other day and the doctor agreed with me that it was probably the mucus plug.
I got home from the clinic and the hospital called me, requesting I come in early this afternoon for the growth ultrasound, so I went before the weather got bad. Felt kinda bad as hubby couldn't get off work at such short notice or take a long enough lunch break as he just started a new position at work today, however he told me to go ahead and go since it took so long for them to get it scheduled. Kinda wished he had been able to come though, given what we found out...
I'm soooo confused though!
At the 30 week scan the hospital did, Jay was measuring a bit bigger than average overall. Then at the 35 week scan my clinic did, everything was showing right around on target, minus his femurs, give or take a week. Today he's measuring small - his gestational age is showing him to be measuring about 34weeks instead of 37 and his femur is still showing to be about 32-33 weeks! They estimated his weight as being 5lbs, 12oz - only a 7oz gain in the last 2 weeks (he was about 4lbs 13oz at 30 weeks).
They said it could be a number of things - he could just be on the shorter/smaller size as no one in my family is taller than 6ft, they said it could be that I have an infection that may be causing his growth to have slowed down that much, and then they said there is the possibility that it could be Downs Syndrome (we didn't do the additional testing for it as I'm not at high risk and it doesn't run in our families and it's not like there's anything you can really do about it anyway).
Honestly, I think it's this low-carb diet they have me on, as that's the *only* thing that's changed in the last 7 weeks, although the high risk doctor I met with for this ultrasound said it shouldn't have had *that* much of an effect on him... if it was Downs they can usually tell by the face though, right?
The doctor said I could have an amnio if I wanted, but hubby and I don't see what the point in that would be - if he has Downs, he has Downs... can't really do anything about it - even the doctor said the only point would be to confirm or deny it and help us "prepare." She also said I could get some blood testing done to see if I have any infections that could be affecting him so I think I might do that, as if I do have any infections obviously we'd want to get that cleared up anyway...
As far as his kidneys...
At first they couldn't tell if it was fluid or a double kidney, but the doctor looked in closer and said it looks like fluid and said it's not uncommon for that happening with little boys. She said there's not really much we can do about it until he's born, which then they'll check and make sure it's functioning correctly or not and go from there. She said they prefer the liquid to be 10% or less and his was at about 11% so she was going to mention to my doctor when she talked to her about maybe having me deliver next week at 38weeks, meaning they would induce me and Jay would be 2 weeks early.
Aside from the kidney and his growth having slowed down they said the rest of his vitals look good...
Can I be done already? I'm tired of all the doctor appointments and the frustrations that keep coming up =/
I got home from the clinic and the hospital called me, requesting I come in early this afternoon for the growth ultrasound, so I went before the weather got bad. Felt kinda bad as hubby couldn't get off work at such short notice or take a long enough lunch break as he just started a new position at work today, however he told me to go ahead and go since it took so long for them to get it scheduled. Kinda wished he had been able to come though, given what we found out...
I'm soooo confused though!
At the 30 week scan the hospital did, Jay was measuring a bit bigger than average overall. Then at the 35 week scan my clinic did, everything was showing right around on target, minus his femurs, give or take a week. Today he's measuring small - his gestational age is showing him to be measuring about 34weeks instead of 37 and his femur is still showing to be about 32-33 weeks! They estimated his weight as being 5lbs, 12oz - only a 7oz gain in the last 2 weeks (he was about 4lbs 13oz at 30 weeks).
They said it could be a number of things - he could just be on the shorter/smaller size as no one in my family is taller than 6ft, they said it could be that I have an infection that may be causing his growth to have slowed down that much, and then they said there is the possibility that it could be Downs Syndrome (we didn't do the additional testing for it as I'm not at high risk and it doesn't run in our families and it's not like there's anything you can really do about it anyway).
Honestly, I think it's this low-carb diet they have me on, as that's the *only* thing that's changed in the last 7 weeks, although the high risk doctor I met with for this ultrasound said it shouldn't have had *that* much of an effect on him... if it was Downs they can usually tell by the face though, right?
The doctor said I could have an amnio if I wanted, but hubby and I don't see what the point in that would be - if he has Downs, he has Downs... can't really do anything about it - even the doctor said the only point would be to confirm or deny it and help us "prepare." She also said I could get some blood testing done to see if I have any infections that could be affecting him so I think I might do that, as if I do have any infections obviously we'd want to get that cleared up anyway...
As far as his kidneys...
At first they couldn't tell if it was fluid or a double kidney, but the doctor looked in closer and said it looks like fluid and said it's not uncommon for that happening with little boys. She said there's not really much we can do about it until he's born, which then they'll check and make sure it's functioning correctly or not and go from there. She said they prefer the liquid to be 10% or less and his was at about 11% so she was going to mention to my doctor when she talked to her about maybe having me deliver next week at 38weeks, meaning they would induce me and Jay would be 2 weeks early.
Aside from the kidney and his growth having slowed down they said the rest of his vitals look good...
Can I be done already? I'm tired of all the doctor appointments and the frustrations that keep coming up =/
Nesting and Snowmaggedon!!
We're having a huge snow storm here right now - it's been dubbed Snowmaggedon.
It started snowing a little bit last night but stopped for awhile before starting up again this morning and then getting really bad this afternoon - apparently we're supposed to be getting "thunder snow" which basically means you get several inches all at once within an hour!
Hubby said that UPS shutdown the hub tonight, giving everyone the night off since planes won't be able to come in and out - he NEVER gets a snow day there! The mall closed early tonight too apparently... I have no idea if I'm supposed to work still tomorrow or not as I didn't get a call but I'm assuming not... guess we'll find out in the morning, as everything else seems to be canceled for tomorrow.
I stopped by my mom's after my ultrasound at the hospital this afternoon (see next post for details on that) and we found one of my old Cabbage Patch dolls that's just about the size of Jay that we're planning on carrying around at home so Tiger gets used to seeing us with baby. Hubby and I have been sitting on the couch for the past hour or so and he's been "holding" the baby doll while playing Playstation - it's actually pretty cute!
Not sure if it's the weather or not but I've been in full nesting mode the last 2 days now - I spent last night working on the Super Mario panels a bit, washing all of Jay's clothes, and putting together some of his stuff such as the stroller and the pack n play we got. It's killing Tiger that she's not allowed to climb in the pack n play - she keeps jumping in and dashing off as soon as she see me coming to take her out!
I also had an increase of Braxton Hicks last night too while I was doing everything - not sure if I was just pushing myself or what, but I noticed them while I was standing at the sink doing dishes, then when I was carrying laundry and stuff back and forth from the laundry room and then later while sitting at the computer. They came and went though so I know they weren't "real" contractions.
It started snowing a little bit last night but stopped for awhile before starting up again this morning and then getting really bad this afternoon - apparently we're supposed to be getting "thunder snow" which basically means you get several inches all at once within an hour!
Hubby said that UPS shutdown the hub tonight, giving everyone the night off since planes won't be able to come in and out - he NEVER gets a snow day there! The mall closed early tonight too apparently... I have no idea if I'm supposed to work still tomorrow or not as I didn't get a call but I'm assuming not... guess we'll find out in the morning, as everything else seems to be canceled for tomorrow.
I stopped by my mom's after my ultrasound at the hospital this afternoon (see next post for details on that) and we found one of my old Cabbage Patch dolls that's just about the size of Jay that we're planning on carrying around at home so Tiger gets used to seeing us with baby. Hubby and I have been sitting on the couch for the past hour or so and he's been "holding" the baby doll while playing Playstation - it's actually pretty cute!
Not sure if it's the weather or not but I've been in full nesting mode the last 2 days now - I spent last night working on the Super Mario panels a bit, washing all of Jay's clothes, and putting together some of his stuff such as the stroller and the pack n play we got. It's killing Tiger that she's not allowed to climb in the pack n play - she keeps jumping in and dashing off as soon as she see me coming to take her out!
I also had an increase of Braxton Hicks last night too while I was doing everything - not sure if I was just pushing myself or what, but I noticed them while I was standing at the sink doing dishes, then when I was carrying laundry and stuff back and forth from the laundry room and then later while sitting at the computer. They came and went though so I know they weren't "real" contractions.
Monday, January 31, 2011
37 weeks is finally here!!
Today I am 37weeks and 1 day.
And 37 weeks is technically considered to be full-term, so at this point, it's all just a waiting game, as Jay can make his arrival at anytime!
In other news, the baby shower was this past Saturday - I'll be making a separate post about that soon as I need to upload some of my photos I took.
We're also expecting a massive blizzard here in the next day or so (supposedly starting sometime tonight), giving some parts of northern Illinois up to 2 feet of snow! I hear my area is supposed to get 12-18 inches. One of the things they kept saying during our birthing classes at the hospital is that they often see a huge increase of women going into labor during bad weather and snowstorms and a few friends on Facebook have confirmed this as well, saying they went into labor during snowstorms or tornadoes and the L&D floor was PACKED with other pregnant women also going into labor! Not getting my hopes up too much, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crossing my fingers or at least keeping the thought/idea/possibility of it happening in the back of my mind! lol...
Also, I am *still* waiting on the hospital to call and schedule me for the ultrasound my clinic wants me to have to look more closely at Jay's femur and kidneys.
My clinic called early on Wednesday saying that they talked to my insurance and it was good to go and that they sent my paperwork over to the hospital and that they would be calling me soon to get it scheduled. On Thursday at my follow-up my doctor asked if I had it scheduled yet and I told her I was still waiting to hear from the hospital, so she told me if I didn't hear anything Friday to call the clinic and let them know so they could look into it. Well, Friday came and went, as did the weekend, so I called as soon as I woke up this morning. They gave me the number for the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at the hospital and I called explained the situation to them - the woman I spoke to pulled up my info and looked, as they have me on file from the last one we did at 30 weeks, and said it was showing they hadn't gotten any recent paperwork for me and requested I call my clinic and let them know so they can resend it and that they would call me shortly after they received it. So I did and spoke with the girl I talked to last Wednesday - she said that was strange as she has confirmation showing that the hospital received the paperwork they faxed over for me but said she was sending it over again and I should hear something soon.
So... I'm still waiting.
I'm starting to wonder if there's even a point now - I mean if it were earlier and we weren't at the point where we can expect him to arrive at any time I'd get it, but it seems like a waste as with my luck we'll schedule it and I'll go in labor before the appointment or we'll have the ultrasound and I'll go into labor like 2 days later. At this point too, since hubby kinda wants to be there for this one in the event that something is "wrong," the only good time this week that we could schedule for that works with both our schedules would be Thursday morning - otherwise we'd we have to wait until next week and I'll be even further along... and the further along I am the harder it's going to be to check his femur... ughhhhh
And 37 weeks is technically considered to be full-term, so at this point, it's all just a waiting game, as Jay can make his arrival at anytime!
In other news, the baby shower was this past Saturday - I'll be making a separate post about that soon as I need to upload some of my photos I took.
We're also expecting a massive blizzard here in the next day or so (supposedly starting sometime tonight), giving some parts of northern Illinois up to 2 feet of snow! I hear my area is supposed to get 12-18 inches. One of the things they kept saying during our birthing classes at the hospital is that they often see a huge increase of women going into labor during bad weather and snowstorms and a few friends on Facebook have confirmed this as well, saying they went into labor during snowstorms or tornadoes and the L&D floor was PACKED with other pregnant women also going into labor! Not getting my hopes up too much, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crossing my fingers or at least keeping the thought/idea/possibility of it happening in the back of my mind! lol...
Also, I am *still* waiting on the hospital to call and schedule me for the ultrasound my clinic wants me to have to look more closely at Jay's femur and kidneys.
My clinic called early on Wednesday saying that they talked to my insurance and it was good to go and that they sent my paperwork over to the hospital and that they would be calling me soon to get it scheduled. On Thursday at my follow-up my doctor asked if I had it scheduled yet and I told her I was still waiting to hear from the hospital, so she told me if I didn't hear anything Friday to call the clinic and let them know so they could look into it. Well, Friday came and went, as did the weekend, so I called as soon as I woke up this morning. They gave me the number for the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at the hospital and I called explained the situation to them - the woman I spoke to pulled up my info and looked, as they have me on file from the last one we did at 30 weeks, and said it was showing they hadn't gotten any recent paperwork for me and requested I call my clinic and let them know so they can resend it and that they would call me shortly after they received it. So I did and spoke with the girl I talked to last Wednesday - she said that was strange as she has confirmation showing that the hospital received the paperwork they faxed over for me but said she was sending it over again and I should hear something soon.
So... I'm still waiting.
I'm starting to wonder if there's even a point now - I mean if it were earlier and we weren't at the point where we can expect him to arrive at any time I'd get it, but it seems like a waste as with my luck we'll schedule it and I'll go in labor before the appointment or we'll have the ultrasound and I'll go into labor like 2 days later. At this point too, since hubby kinda wants to be there for this one in the event that something is "wrong," the only good time this week that we could schedule for that works with both our schedules would be Thursday morning - otherwise we'd we have to wait until next week and I'll be even further along... and the further along I am the harder it's going to be to check his femur... ughhhhh
Friday, January 28, 2011
Weekly follow-up, pampering and fun!
I had my follow-up appointment yesterday and it went pretty smooth.
Originally I was scheduled for 4pm, but they called me in the morning asking if I could come in at 2pm instead, which was fine with me as I found out the day before they didn't need me to come into work on Thursday.
The NST stress test went fine as did my brief meeting with the doctor. They also did the Strep-B Culture swab, which they said tests for a specific vaginal infection that if you have it (she said like 10% of women do) they treat it while you're in labor so that baby doesn't get the infection when he comes through. Jay's fundal height was measuring exactly 36cm which is right on target for his gestational age. She said my glucose readings looked great and congratulated me on that.
We're STILL waiting for the hospital to call me to setup the ultrasound to check out his femur and kidneys... the girl from my clinic called Wednesday morning to let me know that they got it approved with insurance and sent my paperwork and stuff over to the hospital and that I should be getting a call from them to schedule it "sometime soon" but yeah... I mentioned I hadn't heard anything from them yet at my appointment and my doctor said if I didn't hear anything by this afternoon to give my clinic a call and they would look into it, so I need to do that first thing in the morning since I think they're open til noon.
Today I went and got myself a much needed pedicure!
Hubby rubs my feet for me sometimes when we watch TV and clips my toenails for me when they get too long as I have trouble comfortably reach my feet, but it's just not the same as going to a nail salon and soaking them and getting the works done and all that... and it felt GREAT! Supposedly, there's a pressure point on your ankle that's linked somehow to your uterus and if rubbed or whatever it can cause you to have contractions - I guess we'll see if I go into labor in the next few days...
What was amusing was that the chairs for the pedicure have a built in massager - I don't think Jay knew what to make of that, with all the vibrations going on! He started kicking/squirming a good bit while it was going on! lol...
Tomorrow is my baby shower - I'm a bit excited and looking forward to it, although I can't believe it's already here as we started talking about it and set the date last fall and it seemed soooo far off!
Originally I was scheduled for 4pm, but they called me in the morning asking if I could come in at 2pm instead, which was fine with me as I found out the day before they didn't need me to come into work on Thursday.
The NST stress test went fine as did my brief meeting with the doctor. They also did the Strep-B Culture swab, which they said tests for a specific vaginal infection that if you have it (she said like 10% of women do) they treat it while you're in labor so that baby doesn't get the infection when he comes through. Jay's fundal height was measuring exactly 36cm which is right on target for his gestational age. She said my glucose readings looked great and congratulated me on that.
We're STILL waiting for the hospital to call me to setup the ultrasound to check out his femur and kidneys... the girl from my clinic called Wednesday morning to let me know that they got it approved with insurance and sent my paperwork and stuff over to the hospital and that I should be getting a call from them to schedule it "sometime soon" but yeah... I mentioned I hadn't heard anything from them yet at my appointment and my doctor said if I didn't hear anything by this afternoon to give my clinic a call and they would look into it, so I need to do that first thing in the morning since I think they're open til noon.
Today I went and got myself a much needed pedicure!
Hubby rubs my feet for me sometimes when we watch TV and clips my toenails for me when they get too long as I have trouble comfortably reach my feet, but it's just not the same as going to a nail salon and soaking them and getting the works done and all that... and it felt GREAT! Supposedly, there's a pressure point on your ankle that's linked somehow to your uterus and if rubbed or whatever it can cause you to have contractions - I guess we'll see if I go into labor in the next few days...
What was amusing was that the chairs for the pedicure have a built in massager - I don't think Jay knew what to make of that, with all the vibrations going on! He started kicking/squirming a good bit while it was going on! lol...
Tomorrow is my baby shower - I'm a bit excited and looking forward to it, although I can't believe it's already here as we started talking about it and set the date last fall and it seemed soooo far off!
Monday, January 24, 2011
36 week appointment
Today I had my week 36 exam with the stress test, ultrasound, and meeting with the doctor.
The stress test took longer than normal today - they first hooked me up and we couldn't really hear his heartbeat that well despite the fact that he was clearly moving around as we could hear that! Anyways, she let it go, despite the heartbeat being faint. Apparently it didn't pick up on the doppler well enough and after 20 minutes and showing the doctor, they kept me hooked up longer, moving the heartbeat monitor around where we found his heartbeat a lot better than before. They kept me hooked up for about 10 minutes more before sending me over to ultrasound.
Today's ultrasound was a little different as in addition to checking the placenta and fluid she was checking for various "exercises" and movements. We had to wait for him to do a breathing exercise, having me lay on my side to see if that would get him to do it - she said some babies take awhile with that one in there, fortunately it didn't take him too long once I changed positions.
I met with the doctor...
Apparently the ultrasound, while everything else we looked for today showed as being fine, one of his kidneys appeared larger than the other. The doctor said that in most cases, it could just be that he hadn't peed yet so the kidney was full, however it isn't uncommon for boy babies to have problems with their kidney's not functioning or emptying correctly. She said that since this is 2 abnormalities they've found within a week they want me to see a high risk doctor at the hospital's maternal fetal medicine ward and get my next ultrasound there so they can check on this as well as his femur which we were going to check on again next week anyway.
Honestly, I'm kind of annoyed - it seems like it's just been one thing after another... UTI's, an infection, gestational diabetes and all that annoyance... now this growth thing with his femur and possible enlarged kidney... ugh! And I'm so sick of going the doctor so much too...
YOU CAN COME OUT AT ANYTIME AFTER THIS WEEKEND, JAY!!!!
They put the request in at the hospital while I was there and was going to have my insurance approve it and then call me in the next day or so to schedule the appointment for later this week or early next week. She said if it's early next week I can call and cancel one of my appointments at the clinic next week, as we won't be needing 2 ultrasounds anyway.
I did notice this sharp, shooting pain the past few nights which felt like him literally bouncing on my cervix. It only lasts a second or so and I can feel him "bouncing" when it happens... boy does it hurt! It's a sharp, shooting pain... he kept doing it last night while I was sitting on the couch. I Googled "baby bouncing on cervix" and apparently it's a pretty common thing, feeling exactly like how I described it. I mentioned it to my doctor today too, just in case, and she gave a laugh and a grin assuring me that that's perfectly normal for this stage and in most cases it's just him trying to "drop down" a bit to get ready to come out.
The stress test took longer than normal today - they first hooked me up and we couldn't really hear his heartbeat that well despite the fact that he was clearly moving around as we could hear that! Anyways, she let it go, despite the heartbeat being faint. Apparently it didn't pick up on the doppler well enough and after 20 minutes and showing the doctor, they kept me hooked up longer, moving the heartbeat monitor around where we found his heartbeat a lot better than before. They kept me hooked up for about 10 minutes more before sending me over to ultrasound.
Today's ultrasound was a little different as in addition to checking the placenta and fluid she was checking for various "exercises" and movements. We had to wait for him to do a breathing exercise, having me lay on my side to see if that would get him to do it - she said some babies take awhile with that one in there, fortunately it didn't take him too long once I changed positions.
I met with the doctor...
Apparently the ultrasound, while everything else we looked for today showed as being fine, one of his kidneys appeared larger than the other. The doctor said that in most cases, it could just be that he hadn't peed yet so the kidney was full, however it isn't uncommon for boy babies to have problems with their kidney's not functioning or emptying correctly. She said that since this is 2 abnormalities they've found within a week they want me to see a high risk doctor at the hospital's maternal fetal medicine ward and get my next ultrasound there so they can check on this as well as his femur which we were going to check on again next week anyway.
Honestly, I'm kind of annoyed - it seems like it's just been one thing after another... UTI's, an infection, gestational diabetes and all that annoyance... now this growth thing with his femur and possible enlarged kidney... ugh! And I'm so sick of going the doctor so much too...
YOU CAN COME OUT AT ANYTIME AFTER THIS WEEKEND, JAY!!!!
They put the request in at the hospital while I was there and was going to have my insurance approve it and then call me in the next day or so to schedule the appointment for later this week or early next week. She said if it's early next week I can call and cancel one of my appointments at the clinic next week, as we won't be needing 2 ultrasounds anyway.
I did notice this sharp, shooting pain the past few nights which felt like him literally bouncing on my cervix. It only lasts a second or so and I can feel him "bouncing" when it happens... boy does it hurt! It's a sharp, shooting pain... he kept doing it last night while I was sitting on the couch. I Googled "baby bouncing on cervix" and apparently it's a pretty common thing, feeling exactly like how I described it. I mentioned it to my doctor today too, just in case, and she gave a laugh and a grin assuring me that that's perfectly normal for this stage and in most cases it's just him trying to "drop down" a bit to get ready to come out.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Weekly follow-up, morning hysterics and other thoughts
Today I had my follow-up doctor's appointment, however the morning started out with quite a bit of hysterics!
I'll admit, I didn't get much sleep last night as I napped A LOT yesterday (I went to lay down for an hour and was out for almost 4 hours!) so I was a little crabby from that. Didn't help that as I was getting ready this morning I realized I could have gotten an extra half hour of sleep as I noticed the card for my appointment said it was at 830am and not 8am like I thought. Regardless, I was ready to go at 8am and went out to clear off my car.
We had a nice little snowstorm on Monday and I hadn't driven my car since so there was some some harder snow packed onto my windshield, but it only took a moment to break it off and clear. So I get in my car and go to back out and.... my car won't move. I get out and look around, checking to see if there's a lot of snow blocked around the tires and sure enough, on the entire right side of my car there's snow packed up around the tires, including the front passenger one that has crappy tread at the moment. My car is also front-wheel drive so this doesn't help. Apparently whoever shovels our parking lot thought it would be nice to shovel walk-ways between the cars, but obviously wasn't paying attention that he was packing snow up around the car tires in the process. I knew this had to be the case as when I parked it Monday I went back and forth a few times, packing down the space around my tires to ensure I could get out!
Frustrated, I take my long snow pick and try to shovel out and break down the snow packed around my tire and get back in the car and try again. No luck - just burning rubber and my car won't go anywhere. I spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to get my car out and was really frustrated and being preggo, when I get frustrated and upset I tend to get a bit hysterical and start crying! I tried calling hubby to see if he could come push me out or at least bring me his keys so I could just take his car, but he wasn't answering either as he was asleep.
I think I scared the crap out of him when I came storming inside, all hysterical, worked up and in tears quickly stating I had to drive his car this morning because I couldn't get my car out thanks to the "dumbass that shovels our lot." Looking back later today, I had a good laugh with hubby over how hysterical I got!
I was a little more calm by the time I made it to my clinic, with 5 minutes to spare (if you're not there within 15 min of your appointment they cancel it, make you reschedule and charge you a $50 missed appointment fee).
The stress test went normal - Jay was quite active this morning, I think largely in part due to the fact I had gotten so hysterical (he started beating the crap out of me during that whole ordeal too and didn't slow down much afterwards - oops!).
I lost 1lb since Monday, which doesn't surprise me as I just haven't been all that hungry these past few days and for lunch and dinner I've been eating just enough carbs to meet my minimum quota.
They had trouble getting my blood pressure - the one girl tried 3 times and couldn't hear anything so she had another girl check it and it was a little high. They waited about 10 minutes, the 1st girl tried taking it again, realized something wasn't right with her stethoscope, fixed and could hear and my blood pressure had gone down a little bit. I still got lectured a little bit by my doctor though about my blood pressure being high the first time, saying I need to be aware of that... something having to do with headaches and things that can occur at this late in pregnancy. I told her I was a bit stressed out earlier this morning and that was probably why it was a little high but had gone down...
She did say my glucose readings still look good and Jay's fundal height is measuring 34.5cm, which is just fine.
I got my appointments set up for next week - a little annoyed that I still have to go twice a week when it's obvious we have my glucose numbers under control now...
Also, all these sites and pregnancy books that say babies tend to slow down their movements near the end and that it's common not feel so many pokes/jabs/kicks from baby as they don't have much room in there to kick and punch like they used to... yeah, starting to question their expertise! If anything, Jay's movements have gotten more aggressive as the weeks go on as he doesn't like having less space and wants to make it known! Seriously, the kid has been beating up my uterus almost non-stop for the past week, only stopping briefly to nap in there! It's to the point where half the time it's a bit painful! lol...
Today also marks 1 MONTH EXACTLY until Jay's estimated due date! Can't believe how these last 8 months have just flown by - where did they go?!
I'll admit, I didn't get much sleep last night as I napped A LOT yesterday (I went to lay down for an hour and was out for almost 4 hours!) so I was a little crabby from that. Didn't help that as I was getting ready this morning I realized I could have gotten an extra half hour of sleep as I noticed the card for my appointment said it was at 830am and not 8am like I thought. Regardless, I was ready to go at 8am and went out to clear off my car.
We had a nice little snowstorm on Monday and I hadn't driven my car since so there was some some harder snow packed onto my windshield, but it only took a moment to break it off and clear. So I get in my car and go to back out and.... my car won't move. I get out and look around, checking to see if there's a lot of snow blocked around the tires and sure enough, on the entire right side of my car there's snow packed up around the tires, including the front passenger one that has crappy tread at the moment. My car is also front-wheel drive so this doesn't help. Apparently whoever shovels our parking lot thought it would be nice to shovel walk-ways between the cars, but obviously wasn't paying attention that he was packing snow up around the car tires in the process. I knew this had to be the case as when I parked it Monday I went back and forth a few times, packing down the space around my tires to ensure I could get out!
Frustrated, I take my long snow pick and try to shovel out and break down the snow packed around my tire and get back in the car and try again. No luck - just burning rubber and my car won't go anywhere. I spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to get my car out and was really frustrated and being preggo, when I get frustrated and upset I tend to get a bit hysterical and start crying! I tried calling hubby to see if he could come push me out or at least bring me his keys so I could just take his car, but he wasn't answering either as he was asleep.
I think I scared the crap out of him when I came storming inside, all hysterical, worked up and in tears quickly stating I had to drive his car this morning because I couldn't get my car out thanks to the "dumbass that shovels our lot." Looking back later today, I had a good laugh with hubby over how hysterical I got!
I was a little more calm by the time I made it to my clinic, with 5 minutes to spare (if you're not there within 15 min of your appointment they cancel it, make you reschedule and charge you a $50 missed appointment fee).
The stress test went normal - Jay was quite active this morning, I think largely in part due to the fact I had gotten so hysterical (he started beating the crap out of me during that whole ordeal too and didn't slow down much afterwards - oops!).
I lost 1lb since Monday, which doesn't surprise me as I just haven't been all that hungry these past few days and for lunch and dinner I've been eating just enough carbs to meet my minimum quota.
They had trouble getting my blood pressure - the one girl tried 3 times and couldn't hear anything so she had another girl check it and it was a little high. They waited about 10 minutes, the 1st girl tried taking it again, realized something wasn't right with her stethoscope, fixed and could hear and my blood pressure had gone down a little bit. I still got lectured a little bit by my doctor though about my blood pressure being high the first time, saying I need to be aware of that... something having to do with headaches and things that can occur at this late in pregnancy. I told her I was a bit stressed out earlier this morning and that was probably why it was a little high but had gone down...
She did say my glucose readings still look good and Jay's fundal height is measuring 34.5cm, which is just fine.
I got my appointments set up for next week - a little annoyed that I still have to go twice a week when it's obvious we have my glucose numbers under control now...
Also, all these sites and pregnancy books that say babies tend to slow down their movements near the end and that it's common not feel so many pokes/jabs/kicks from baby as they don't have much room in there to kick and punch like they used to... yeah, starting to question their expertise! If anything, Jay's movements have gotten more aggressive as the weeks go on as he doesn't like having less space and wants to make it known! Seriously, the kid has been beating up my uterus almost non-stop for the past week, only stopping briefly to nap in there! It's to the point where half the time it's a bit painful! lol...
Today also marks 1 MONTH EXACTLY until Jay's estimated due date! Can't believe how these last 8 months have just flown by - where did they go?!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Preggo Brain Strikes Again!
So us preggo ladies get what is often referred to as "Preggo Brain" making us a bit forgetful at times.
I've been having issues with my baby shower date in regards to this!
For months, I've known that it's going to be the last Saturday in January. Sure, originally Sunday was suggested, but we decided Saturday would work best for those coming from out of city/state so they could come in Friday, be there Saturday and have time to get home on Sunday so they didn't have to worry about rushing out on Sunday to be back in time to do whatever for work on Monday.
Makes sense.
For some reason though, and I have NO IDEA why, I keep thinking the date is the 30th when really it's the 29th! I know I've mentioned to people it being on "the last Saturday in January - the 30th" and my poor mom... when I left her info to remember to include on the shower invites I even wrote down the 30th instead of the 29th and she had to go back and change them before sending them out as she caught my mistake! Oops!!
And the cherry on the cake...
I had this strange feeling late last night that on the request off sheet at work that I put down the 30th instead of the 29th! I was about 90% sure I had done that so I had to stop by on my way home today to double check that and sure enough, I was right - I had put down I couldn't work the 30th instead of the 29th... oops! How bad would that have been if the 1 day I was schedule for next week was the 29th and I had to miss my own baby shower?!?!
Fail.
I got it changed though and they haven't started the schedule for next week yet (they usually do that Tues or Wed) so I should be fine, plus no one else had requested the 29th off either so yeah... not too worried about it now, but I wish I knew why in the world I have the 30th stuck in my head as far as the date goes! lol...
I've been having issues with my baby shower date in regards to this!
For months, I've known that it's going to be the last Saturday in January. Sure, originally Sunday was suggested, but we decided Saturday would work best for those coming from out of city/state so they could come in Friday, be there Saturday and have time to get home on Sunday so they didn't have to worry about rushing out on Sunday to be back in time to do whatever for work on Monday.
Makes sense.
For some reason though, and I have NO IDEA why, I keep thinking the date is the 30th when really it's the 29th! I know I've mentioned to people it being on "the last Saturday in January - the 30th" and my poor mom... when I left her info to remember to include on the shower invites I even wrote down the 30th instead of the 29th and she had to go back and change them before sending them out as she caught my mistake! Oops!!
And the cherry on the cake...
I had this strange feeling late last night that on the request off sheet at work that I put down the 30th instead of the 29th! I was about 90% sure I had done that so I had to stop by on my way home today to double check that and sure enough, I was right - I had put down I couldn't work the 30th instead of the 29th... oops! How bad would that have been if the 1 day I was schedule for next week was the 29th and I had to miss my own baby shower?!?!
Fail.
I got it changed though and they haven't started the schedule for next week yet (they usually do that Tues or Wed) so I should be fine, plus no one else had requested the 29th off either so yeah... not too worried about it now, but I wish I knew why in the world I have the 30th stuck in my head as far as the date goes! lol...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Newborn Care Class
Tonight hubby and I attended the newborn care class that our delivering hospital offers. We signed up for it back in October and at the time it seemed so far away... and then here it was! Talk about time flying!
It was a bit of a fun class and they moved us to the room across the hall from where the previous classes we took were, which was nice as the chairs in there were a million times comfier!
They gave us a packet of info to go over like they did in the other classes and we watched some fun videos about things to know when it comes to your newborn in the first month - how to clean em, things to keep any eye out for, etc.
They gave us fake baby dolls too to practice diapering, swaddling, bathing and dressing - she had enough extras to give a doll to each of the daddy's too so they got to participate as well.
Hubby and I both got the minority dolls - mine was Asian while hubby's was black - the dads seemed to have a bit too much fun with the beanies, styling them all funny!
Some of it was kinda no-brainer stuff, while other stuff was good to know, as I guess some things have changed recently (they no longer recommend using baby powder, you no longer need to wait til the cord stump falls off to bathe baby nor do you need to clean the cord stump with alcohol). They also gave us info about their free car seat checks which they offer once a month, as well as things you get at the hospital like free diapers, cleaning care products, and all that stuff - pretty much you can take anything under your baby's bassinet that isn't the linens. They also do footprints on anything you'd like and there's a photographer that'll take your baby's first photo too if you want.
That reminds me - I need to get started on putting together a baby scrapbook for Jay. I have my follow-up doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so I'm thinking I'll try the other Target afterwards to see about a nursing bra and then stop over at Hobby Lobby or Michaels or even Walmart to check out their scrapbooking stuff!
I also started working on some Mario Bros paintings for our apartment here since we most likely won't be in a house until at least March or April. Since we're having the Pack n Play in our bedroom, I'm doing a painting of the start screen from the original Super Mario Bros to put above that, and then where the changing table/dresser is going in our walk-in closet I'm doing 4 panels each with a classic Mario item - the red magic mushroom, the star, the fire power flower, and the 1-up green mushroom - to hang above there.
When I was at the doctor on Monday they went ahead and scheduled my appointments for next week - next Thursday is the 20th of January... exactly 1 month out from Jay's due date! That realization kinda scared me! I look forward to meeting him in the flesh but at the same time... it just seems all too soon, like it was just summer/fall! Oh well, can't stop time!
It was a bit of a fun class and they moved us to the room across the hall from where the previous classes we took were, which was nice as the chairs in there were a million times comfier!
They gave us a packet of info to go over like they did in the other classes and we watched some fun videos about things to know when it comes to your newborn in the first month - how to clean em, things to keep any eye out for, etc.
They gave us fake baby dolls too to practice diapering, swaddling, bathing and dressing - she had enough extras to give a doll to each of the daddy's too so they got to participate as well.
Hubby and I both got the minority dolls - mine was Asian while hubby's was black - the dads seemed to have a bit too much fun with the beanies, styling them all funny!
Some of it was kinda no-brainer stuff, while other stuff was good to know, as I guess some things have changed recently (they no longer recommend using baby powder, you no longer need to wait til the cord stump falls off to bathe baby nor do you need to clean the cord stump with alcohol). They also gave us info about their free car seat checks which they offer once a month, as well as things you get at the hospital like free diapers, cleaning care products, and all that stuff - pretty much you can take anything under your baby's bassinet that isn't the linens. They also do footprints on anything you'd like and there's a photographer that'll take your baby's first photo too if you want.
That reminds me - I need to get started on putting together a baby scrapbook for Jay. I have my follow-up doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so I'm thinking I'll try the other Target afterwards to see about a nursing bra and then stop over at Hobby Lobby or Michaels or even Walmart to check out their scrapbooking stuff!
I also started working on some Mario Bros paintings for our apartment here since we most likely won't be in a house until at least March or April. Since we're having the Pack n Play in our bedroom, I'm doing a painting of the start screen from the original Super Mario Bros to put above that, and then where the changing table/dresser is going in our walk-in closet I'm doing 4 panels each with a classic Mario item - the red magic mushroom, the star, the fire power flower, and the 1-up green mushroom - to hang above there.
When I was at the doctor on Monday they went ahead and scheduled my appointments for next week - next Thursday is the 20th of January... exactly 1 month out from Jay's due date! That realization kinda scared me! I look forward to meeting him in the flesh but at the same time... it just seems all too soon, like it was just summer/fall! Oh well, can't stop time!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
34 Week Appointment and other news
Today I had my 34 week appointment, which seemed to take FOREVER as by 9am the my clinic was really backed up for some reason! I was there for 2 hours today when normally it doesn't take more than hour!
I was a bit scatterbrained this morning too - I was being lazy and didn't bother washing my face this morning, opting to throw on some quick mineral foundation, but in my quest to leave and be on time I realized halfway there that I forgot to brush my teeth, trim my "womanly" facial hair and I left my urine sample sitting on the bathroom counter. Honestly, I'm surprised I left the house in actual clothes and not pajamas! lol...
Anyways, we had the stress test again this morning - took us a minute to find Jay's heartbeat as we couldn't find it in the spot we had been the previous times, and they didn't have the volume up quite so loud, but regardless, he started squirming and getting all antsy/fussy like he usually does.
That took about 20 minutes and it was back to the waiting room to wait for our weekly quick ultrasound check of the placenta, fluid and his placement - that was a good 15-20 minute wait. Fortunately they had the movie Despicable Me playing in the waiting room today which was a nice change of movie, as usually they rotate between Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or one of the older musical classics like Sound of Music.
The ultrasound went quick - it seems Jay is still head down like he needs to be, but he's shifted a little bit which explains why we found his heartbeat for the stress test in a different spot. They said his fluid is measuring at 16.5, but that's still plenty and he seems to still have some space in there too. Next Monday we're doing another growth anatomy scan to see more accurately how he's doing size-wise and if we can expect him to be early or not at this point.
I met with the doctor briefly and was able to get my glyburide prescription refilled. She went over my glucose numbers with me too. A friend on Facebook who has diabetes suggested the other day that I try doing a few minutes of cardio after lunch to see if that helps my number any so I started doing 10 minutes on the exercise bike after lunch on Saturday and Sunday and sure enough, my numbers were under the cutoff. I mentioned it to my doctor and she said if I wanted to keep that up instead of increasing my dosage that that was fine with her, so we're going to try that and see if it continues to work, as the rest of my numbers look good.
I am quite surprised at just HOW MUCH of an affect 10 minutes of cardio after lunch can have on my glucose reading! For example, today I had a Jimmy John's sandwich for lunch and didn't exercise right away as I was a bit tired (more on that in a minute), I took my reading an hour later and it was 150 (remember, my cutoff is 140). I promptly dragged my butt over to the exercise bike and rode it for 10 minutes and took my reading again - 131! Talk about what a huge difference just a little exercise can make!
I've been super tired these past few days though - I practically feel like a narcoleptic I'm so tired during the day! I keep having to taking naps on and off... kinda annoying as I have other things I need to get done (like finish cleaning up our closet or work on my Mario Bros paintings). I also had my first bout of 3rd trimester insomnia as I couldn't for the life of me fall asleep last night - granted, I had Jay beating up on my uterus no matter what position I tried to sleep in, but still... I just could not fall asleep!
I worked at The Children's Place the other night, after hours. They had most of us there working on scanning and counting all the inventory. It wasn't too bad - a bit tedious, but a simple enough job to do. I spent a little time with a scanner but spent most of the night double counting clothes and rotating them.
We need to get finished on the closet in our bedroom in the next few days - I got my side of the closet cleaned out and hubby said he'd work on his tomorrow. I have a few trip-loads of stuff to take to the storage room down the hall though and I know hubby's going to have some stuff to take there of his too. Now the problem is figuring out how to get the changing table here and the couch in our bedroom to my parent's house, as my aunt has the changing table, but they're leaving for vacation on Friday and my uncle is out of town Monday through Wednesday and my dad is out of town til Friday and we need 1 other guy to help us move it. A thought occured to me though that at least 1 of my brother-in-laws is in town on Wednesday so hubby's going to see if maybe he can help... oh but I just realized, we have our Newborn Care Class on Wednesday night so that might not work as I'm sure it's going to take at least an hour to get there, carry it out of storage, drive it back and drop off the couch. Hm...
Also, I have an update on my father-in-law! They sent him today. His heart and lungs are stable, although they're still not entirely sure what the deal is with his kidneys as they're not doing a whole lot better. They are planning on having him do dialysis 3 times a week though to help with them. This is at least a lot better news that the scare we had the other day - there was some talk that he might have myeloma which is a type of cancer and they thought maybe that was causing his kidneys to not function! They tested him for it though and the results were negative, so that's good at least! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers though - they've been much appreciated!
I was a bit scatterbrained this morning too - I was being lazy and didn't bother washing my face this morning, opting to throw on some quick mineral foundation, but in my quest to leave and be on time I realized halfway there that I forgot to brush my teeth, trim my "womanly" facial hair and I left my urine sample sitting on the bathroom counter. Honestly, I'm surprised I left the house in actual clothes and not pajamas! lol...
Anyways, we had the stress test again this morning - took us a minute to find Jay's heartbeat as we couldn't find it in the spot we had been the previous times, and they didn't have the volume up quite so loud, but regardless, he started squirming and getting all antsy/fussy like he usually does.
That took about 20 minutes and it was back to the waiting room to wait for our weekly quick ultrasound check of the placenta, fluid and his placement - that was a good 15-20 minute wait. Fortunately they had the movie Despicable Me playing in the waiting room today which was a nice change of movie, as usually they rotate between Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or one of the older musical classics like Sound of Music.
The ultrasound went quick - it seems Jay is still head down like he needs to be, but he's shifted a little bit which explains why we found his heartbeat for the stress test in a different spot. They said his fluid is measuring at 16.5, but that's still plenty and he seems to still have some space in there too. Next Monday we're doing another growth anatomy scan to see more accurately how he's doing size-wise and if we can expect him to be early or not at this point.
I met with the doctor briefly and was able to get my glyburide prescription refilled. She went over my glucose numbers with me too. A friend on Facebook who has diabetes suggested the other day that I try doing a few minutes of cardio after lunch to see if that helps my number any so I started doing 10 minutes on the exercise bike after lunch on Saturday and Sunday and sure enough, my numbers were under the cutoff. I mentioned it to my doctor and she said if I wanted to keep that up instead of increasing my dosage that that was fine with her, so we're going to try that and see if it continues to work, as the rest of my numbers look good.
I am quite surprised at just HOW MUCH of an affect 10 minutes of cardio after lunch can have on my glucose reading! For example, today I had a Jimmy John's sandwich for lunch and didn't exercise right away as I was a bit tired (more on that in a minute), I took my reading an hour later and it was 150 (remember, my cutoff is 140). I promptly dragged my butt over to the exercise bike and rode it for 10 minutes and took my reading again - 131! Talk about what a huge difference just a little exercise can make!
I've been super tired these past few days though - I practically feel like a narcoleptic I'm so tired during the day! I keep having to taking naps on and off... kinda annoying as I have other things I need to get done (like finish cleaning up our closet or work on my Mario Bros paintings). I also had my first bout of 3rd trimester insomnia as I couldn't for the life of me fall asleep last night - granted, I had Jay beating up on my uterus no matter what position I tried to sleep in, but still... I just could not fall asleep!
I worked at The Children's Place the other night, after hours. They had most of us there working on scanning and counting all the inventory. It wasn't too bad - a bit tedious, but a simple enough job to do. I spent a little time with a scanner but spent most of the night double counting clothes and rotating them.
We need to get finished on the closet in our bedroom in the next few days - I got my side of the closet cleaned out and hubby said he'd work on his tomorrow. I have a few trip-loads of stuff to take to the storage room down the hall though and I know hubby's going to have some stuff to take there of his too. Now the problem is figuring out how to get the changing table here and the couch in our bedroom to my parent's house, as my aunt has the changing table, but they're leaving for vacation on Friday and my uncle is out of town Monday through Wednesday and my dad is out of town til Friday and we need 1 other guy to help us move it. A thought occured to me though that at least 1 of my brother-in-laws is in town on Wednesday so hubby's going to see if maybe he can help... oh but I just realized, we have our Newborn Care Class on Wednesday night so that might not work as I'm sure it's going to take at least an hour to get there, carry it out of storage, drive it back and drop off the couch. Hm...
Also, I have an update on my father-in-law! They sent him today. His heart and lungs are stable, although they're still not entirely sure what the deal is with his kidneys as they're not doing a whole lot better. They are planning on having him do dialysis 3 times a week though to help with them. This is at least a lot better news that the scare we had the other day - there was some talk that he might have myeloma which is a type of cancer and they thought maybe that was causing his kidneys to not function! They tested him for it though and the results were negative, so that's good at least! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers though - they've been much appreciated!
Friday, January 7, 2011
This week's follow-up and glucose frustrations
Yesterday I had my 33 week follow-up appointment, which consisted of the 20 minute Stress Test (which Jay still hates and after a few minutes into it he seems to wake up and starts beating up my uterus) and then a brief meeting with the doctor to go over stuff.
She said everything with Jay looks good and measured his fundal height as being 34cm, which is right on target as I'm starting my 34th week on Sunday.
We went over my glucose readings... I've had some abnormally high readings this week for lunch and I honestly can't figure out why which frustrates me as I'm eating the same meals I've been eating since they put me on the diet and the readings after were fine then but now they aren't. I'm just frustrated as it seems like we get one set of numbers under control (first dinner, then fasting) but then another set goes all out of whack! She told me to get my numbers for Thursday and today and if either were still high to call the nurse after my reading today and see about upping my prescription.
Well... yesterday's number was fine but today's was 16 points over so I called and waited for the nurse to call me back only for her to tell me that both doctors were out for the rest of the day and that she couldn't prescribe me anything without their go-ahead so I'd have to wait til Monday.
Since I'm almost out of the pill (glyburide) I went ahead and refilled the 2nd 2.5mg one that they had written me prior as well as refilled the prescriptions for my meter supplies. Went to pick em up at Walgreens though and they said they couldn't fill the glyburide one yet as they were waiting on my insurance. They asked if my dosage had been upped, which I confirmed, and they said that's why, as the 2.5mg was for 30 days and it hasn't been close enough to the 30 days for them to approve the refill so I need to let my doctor know that... so I'm not going to be to take it on Sunday as I only have enough for tonight and tomorrow - guess I better be prepared to explain why my fasting number might be high on Monday at my appointment. *sigh*
Someone on Facebook who has diabetes mentioned that after meals they do a little bit of exercise which seems to help get their levels down, as it burns some of the sugars. I think I'll start doing that this weekend - hop on the exercise bike for like 10-20 min after lunch and then take my reading when the hour is up and see if that helps it any.
I'm just sooooo frustrated with the stupid glucose stuff! I'm not quite ready for Jay to be here yet, but at the same time I can't wait to be done with the glucose monitoring and all that as it just frustrates me too much, especially right now with my hormones all crazy. It's frustrating how 1 bad/high reading can dampen my entire mood =(
Less than 6 weeks to go... less than 6 weeks to go....
I was able to get my meter test strips for cheaper though this time, as I had enrolled in the Freestyle program and got my membership card. Walgreens said I can use it every time I just have to have it with me and let them know when I pick it up as they have to manually enter the info in each time, so I guess that's good as it saves us nearly $50 on my meter supplies.
I did a little bit of shopping tonight which helped better my mood a little bit.
I had to pick up a few things at Walmart we were running low on or out of and I had to get a storage bin for our walk-in closet as we're going through that this weekend to make room for the changing table/dresser unit that's being brought over later this week. I also bought a knock-off of the "Shoe-Under" product you see on TV as Gordman's had a 12 pair version on sale for $3.99 before Christmas and I checked and it was still on sale. Most my shoes that are currently in our closet I can't wear right now anyway because they're high heels or they're shoes for special occasions that I don't wear all that often anyway and since we need the space, putting them in an organizer under the bed would probably be best for now - as it is, right now I'm only wearing my snow boots, my new Skecher Shape-Ups, my lower block heels, and my slippers.
I also stopped by The Children's Place to check the schedule for this upcoming week - to my surprise I'm *actually* scheduled for hours this week rather than just all call-in's! That excites me. I also bought a few things that were on the winter clearance Monster Sale (take an additional 50% off the current sale price) and with my 25% employee discount I got 4 items for $11 - can't complain about that! I got him 2 fleece hoodie zip-ups and 2 long-sleeve collared onesies.
I think I overdid it, carrying stuff in tonight though, as I didn't want to make multiple trips so I threw everything in the new storage bin and then carried that from my car, up the front steps and into the building (then I dragged it down the stairs and through the hallway). I've been having minor Braxton Hicks contractions off and on since - oops! The annoying thing is though, half the time I think it's a contraction and the other half I can't tell if it's just Jay stretching/pushing hard like he sometimes does as I always feel the contractions on the same side that he's curled up on ><
Nothing too new with my father-in-law as far as we know. Sunday he was breathing on his own without the oxygen tube and then on Tuesday night they moved him out of the ICU and to similar room on a less critical floor. Hubby went up to visit him after work on Wednesday and said his kidney's were doing slightly better, but still not up to par, as previously they were only functioning at 15%. He had a chemical stress test done on his heart on Wednesday as well (where they give you a medicine that has your heart simulate like you're running on a treadmill) but we haven't heard the results of that yet.
Anyways, that's how things are here...
She said everything with Jay looks good and measured his fundal height as being 34cm, which is right on target as I'm starting my 34th week on Sunday.
We went over my glucose readings... I've had some abnormally high readings this week for lunch and I honestly can't figure out why which frustrates me as I'm eating the same meals I've been eating since they put me on the diet and the readings after were fine then but now they aren't. I'm just frustrated as it seems like we get one set of numbers under control (first dinner, then fasting) but then another set goes all out of whack! She told me to get my numbers for Thursday and today and if either were still high to call the nurse after my reading today and see about upping my prescription.
Well... yesterday's number was fine but today's was 16 points over so I called and waited for the nurse to call me back only for her to tell me that both doctors were out for the rest of the day and that she couldn't prescribe me anything without their go-ahead so I'd have to wait til Monday.
Since I'm almost out of the pill (glyburide) I went ahead and refilled the 2nd 2.5mg one that they had written me prior as well as refilled the prescriptions for my meter supplies. Went to pick em up at Walgreens though and they said they couldn't fill the glyburide one yet as they were waiting on my insurance. They asked if my dosage had been upped, which I confirmed, and they said that's why, as the 2.5mg was for 30 days and it hasn't been close enough to the 30 days for them to approve the refill so I need to let my doctor know that... so I'm not going to be to take it on Sunday as I only have enough for tonight and tomorrow - guess I better be prepared to explain why my fasting number might be high on Monday at my appointment. *sigh*
Someone on Facebook who has diabetes mentioned that after meals they do a little bit of exercise which seems to help get their levels down, as it burns some of the sugars. I think I'll start doing that this weekend - hop on the exercise bike for like 10-20 min after lunch and then take my reading when the hour is up and see if that helps it any.
I'm just sooooo frustrated with the stupid glucose stuff! I'm not quite ready for Jay to be here yet, but at the same time I can't wait to be done with the glucose monitoring and all that as it just frustrates me too much, especially right now with my hormones all crazy. It's frustrating how 1 bad/high reading can dampen my entire mood =(
Less than 6 weeks to go... less than 6 weeks to go....
I was able to get my meter test strips for cheaper though this time, as I had enrolled in the Freestyle program and got my membership card. Walgreens said I can use it every time I just have to have it with me and let them know when I pick it up as they have to manually enter the info in each time, so I guess that's good as it saves us nearly $50 on my meter supplies.
I did a little bit of shopping tonight which helped better my mood a little bit.
I had to pick up a few things at Walmart we were running low on or out of and I had to get a storage bin for our walk-in closet as we're going through that this weekend to make room for the changing table/dresser unit that's being brought over later this week. I also bought a knock-off of the "Shoe-Under" product you see on TV as Gordman's had a 12 pair version on sale for $3.99 before Christmas and I checked and it was still on sale. Most my shoes that are currently in our closet I can't wear right now anyway because they're high heels or they're shoes for special occasions that I don't wear all that often anyway and since we need the space, putting them in an organizer under the bed would probably be best for now - as it is, right now I'm only wearing my snow boots, my new Skecher Shape-Ups, my lower block heels, and my slippers.
I also stopped by The Children's Place to check the schedule for this upcoming week - to my surprise I'm *actually* scheduled for hours this week rather than just all call-in's! That excites me. I also bought a few things that were on the winter clearance Monster Sale (take an additional 50% off the current sale price) and with my 25% employee discount I got 4 items for $11 - can't complain about that! I got him 2 fleece hoodie zip-ups and 2 long-sleeve collared onesies.
I think I overdid it, carrying stuff in tonight though, as I didn't want to make multiple trips so I threw everything in the new storage bin and then carried that from my car, up the front steps and into the building (then I dragged it down the stairs and through the hallway). I've been having minor Braxton Hicks contractions off and on since - oops! The annoying thing is though, half the time I think it's a contraction and the other half I can't tell if it's just Jay stretching/pushing hard like he sometimes does as I always feel the contractions on the same side that he's curled up on ><
Nothing too new with my father-in-law as far as we know. Sunday he was breathing on his own without the oxygen tube and then on Tuesday night they moved him out of the ICU and to similar room on a less critical floor. Hubby went up to visit him after work on Wednesday and said his kidney's were doing slightly better, but still not up to par, as previously they were only functioning at 15%. He had a chemical stress test done on his heart on Wednesday as well (where they give you a medicine that has your heart simulate like you're running on a treadmill) but we haven't heard the results of that yet.
Anyways, that's how things are here...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
33 Week Appointment
Today (Monday) I had my 33 week appointment at the doctor's office.
It's becoming quite routine - check-in at the front desk, wait for them to come get me, weigh me, go spend 20 min doing the stress test, head over to ultrasound for a quick check on the placenta and fluid, go back out to the waiting room, get called back again and meet real quick with the doctor where they measure my belly and go over my glucose readings.
Jay DOES NOT seem to like the stress test at all. He was fine for the first few minutes but then started squriming and kicking/punching up a storm several times throughout. He seems to be fussy in the sense he doesn't like anything putting pressure on my belly (aka "his space") and he doesn't seem to like constant beeping noises from machines. 2 non-doctor appointment examples of this: the other morning, hubby rolled over and put his arm across my belly to snuggle, putting a little pressure on it - Jay started kicking/punching at it, like he was telling him to move his arm off "his space" lol... also, when we went to the ER when my father-in-law was first taken to the hospital one of the machines started beeping consistantly like the stress test machines consistantly amplify Jay's heartbeat - he must have heard it as he started squirming and kicking/punching like he was trying to find the plastic monitors they put on me during the stress test to make it stop, lol...
He was pretty active during the ultrasound today - she was trying to check the pocket or whatever where he's mostly hanging out in but was having trouble getting a good measurement as he kept moving, lol...
His heartbeat was up today - 154bpm (it was 133bpm on Thursday, but he after the stress test he went back to sleep so that's probably why).
The doctor said everything with him looks great right now - his fundal height is measuring 33cm still (same as on Thursday) which makes it seem he's slowing down a little bit, growth-wise, as he was measuring 32cm at 28 weeks and there's only been a 1cm change in the last 5 weeks. 33cm is right where it should be at 33 weeks, so that's good. They said the placenta still goods and healthy and he's got plenty of fluid still. They said my weight was good too. So it seems like as far as he goes, the diet they have me on is working.
My glucose levels had a few "high" ones over the weekend - 2 of my lunches were just slightly over, however I asked the doctor if it was possible that they were high because I ate breakfast and lunch within a few hours of each other and she said it's very likely. Not sure why my fasting number this morning was quite high though... we're going to wait and see how the next few days go and decide on Thursday if they need to up my dosage or not.
So, that's that for now.
It's becoming quite routine - check-in at the front desk, wait for them to come get me, weigh me, go spend 20 min doing the stress test, head over to ultrasound for a quick check on the placenta and fluid, go back out to the waiting room, get called back again and meet real quick with the doctor where they measure my belly and go over my glucose readings.
Jay DOES NOT seem to like the stress test at all. He was fine for the first few minutes but then started squriming and kicking/punching up a storm several times throughout. He seems to be fussy in the sense he doesn't like anything putting pressure on my belly (aka "his space") and he doesn't seem to like constant beeping noises from machines. 2 non-doctor appointment examples of this: the other morning, hubby rolled over and put his arm across my belly to snuggle, putting a little pressure on it - Jay started kicking/punching at it, like he was telling him to move his arm off "his space" lol... also, when we went to the ER when my father-in-law was first taken to the hospital one of the machines started beeping consistantly like the stress test machines consistantly amplify Jay's heartbeat - he must have heard it as he started squirming and kicking/punching like he was trying to find the plastic monitors they put on me during the stress test to make it stop, lol...
He was pretty active during the ultrasound today - she was trying to check the pocket or whatever where he's mostly hanging out in but was having trouble getting a good measurement as he kept moving, lol...
His heartbeat was up today - 154bpm (it was 133bpm on Thursday, but he after the stress test he went back to sleep so that's probably why).
The doctor said everything with him looks great right now - his fundal height is measuring 33cm still (same as on Thursday) which makes it seem he's slowing down a little bit, growth-wise, as he was measuring 32cm at 28 weeks and there's only been a 1cm change in the last 5 weeks. 33cm is right where it should be at 33 weeks, so that's good. They said the placenta still goods and healthy and he's got plenty of fluid still. They said my weight was good too. So it seems like as far as he goes, the diet they have me on is working.
My glucose levels had a few "high" ones over the weekend - 2 of my lunches were just slightly over, however I asked the doctor if it was possible that they were high because I ate breakfast and lunch within a few hours of each other and she said it's very likely. Not sure why my fasting number this morning was quite high though... we're going to wait and see how the next few days go and decide on Thursday if they need to up my dosage or not.
So, that's that for now.
Monday, December 20, 2010
31 week appointment and glucose diet follow-up
So I had my 1 week follow-up appointment with the dietitian/nutritionist this morning followed by my regularly weekly check-up at my OB/GYN clinic this afternoon.
My meeting with the dietitian/nutritionist went okay... she looked over my numbers and commented that yes, some of my post-dinner levels have been a bit high lately and said my fasting numbers were a bit on the high side too. She thinks part of it might be that I'm waiting too long between lunch and dinner and dinner and breakfast and not snacking enough. She counted up my carbs too and said without the snacks I'm not getting enough as I should be closer to 175 per day. So I guess I need to make sure I'm having a bedtime snack and a maybe one between lunch and dinner for when we're eating dinner late - she thinks that might help. She said it's up to my clinic whether or not they want to put me on medication to help with my post-dinner levels. Other than that, she said I'm doing good with keeping track of my carbs. I haven't made a follow-up appointment with her yet as she said it's up to my clinic and what they want me to do for now but she recommended I keep counting and monitoring levels for at least another week and see how it goes with the changes.
At my regular appointment, the scale shows I lost weight. Last time I weighed in at 194, although I did have my snow boots on too as it was kinda icky out and I didn't want to take several minutes in the hallway putting them back on. This time I weighed in at 188.8 without my shoes on. They said it is possible that the shoes and the low-carb diabetes diet did it. They said if I keep it up a bit post-delivery in addition to breastfeeding I'll be able to shed off my pregnancy weight easily!
I met with one of the doctors I've only met with once prior today. I wasn't aware I needed to bring my glucose reading records with me but fortunately I had my meter on me. She flipped through it and I filled her in on what the dietitian/nutritionist said this morning - she said she was going to send my stuff over to the clinic today but apparently this doc hadn't seen it yet...? She said they were going to have me come in again on Thursday to see how the diet was doing after making the changes we had discussed today to see if that made any difference or not before they decide to put me on a prescription and told me to bring my sheets I've been recording my levels on in with me.
She said Jay's heartbeat sounded good - just under 150 - and measuring fundal height with the tape measure she said he was about 31cm... not sure how accurate that is though as he was measuring 32cm 3 weeks ago...?
I guess we'll see how things go!
My meeting with the dietitian/nutritionist went okay... she looked over my numbers and commented that yes, some of my post-dinner levels have been a bit high lately and said my fasting numbers were a bit on the high side too. She thinks part of it might be that I'm waiting too long between lunch and dinner and dinner and breakfast and not snacking enough. She counted up my carbs too and said without the snacks I'm not getting enough as I should be closer to 175 per day. So I guess I need to make sure I'm having a bedtime snack and a maybe one between lunch and dinner for when we're eating dinner late - she thinks that might help. She said it's up to my clinic whether or not they want to put me on medication to help with my post-dinner levels. Other than that, she said I'm doing good with keeping track of my carbs. I haven't made a follow-up appointment with her yet as she said it's up to my clinic and what they want me to do for now but she recommended I keep counting and monitoring levels for at least another week and see how it goes with the changes.
At my regular appointment, the scale shows I lost weight. Last time I weighed in at 194, although I did have my snow boots on too as it was kinda icky out and I didn't want to take several minutes in the hallway putting them back on. This time I weighed in at 188.8 without my shoes on. They said it is possible that the shoes and the low-carb diabetes diet did it. They said if I keep it up a bit post-delivery in addition to breastfeeding I'll be able to shed off my pregnancy weight easily!
I met with one of the doctors I've only met with once prior today. I wasn't aware I needed to bring my glucose reading records with me but fortunately I had my meter on me. She flipped through it and I filled her in on what the dietitian/nutritionist said this morning - she said she was going to send my stuff over to the clinic today but apparently this doc hadn't seen it yet...? She said they were going to have me come in again on Thursday to see how the diet was doing after making the changes we had discussed today to see if that made any difference or not before they decide to put me on a prescription and told me to bring my sheets I've been recording my levels on in with me.
She said Jay's heartbeat sounded good - just under 150 - and measuring fundal height with the tape measure she said he was about 31cm... not sure how accurate that is though as he was measuring 32cm 3 weeks ago...?
I guess we'll see how things go!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Braxton Hicks and other thoughts
So I think I'm finally experiencing Braxton Hicks. And seems Walmart is the place for me to get them as both days I've noticed them this week, they've started while I was in Walmart!
The first one I noticed was on Wednesday while I was shopping for lower carb food for me to eat for my diet. I had been walking around for about 45 minutes when I felt this tightening on my left side and it seemed pretty hard. At first I wasn't sure if it was Braxton Hicks or if it was just Jay stretching out and trying to make more room for himself like he often does. It lasted for a brief moment although it came and went several times while I was walking around in the store and I had to stop pushing my shopping cart and just kinda put a hand to my side and wince in slight pain for a moment til it passed.
Then yesterday (Friday) I was out there again picking up a few things I had forgotten on Wednesday and same thing - after walking around the store for a bit, I felt the tightening on the left side again and it felt hard when I put a hand to it. I stopped for a moment, winced and breathed and waited for it to pass. It came and went a few times as the night went on I noticed, making me a little irritable when hubby was deciding to be a little lazy. He was like "what's wrong with you?" and I told him and he was all "oh..."
I think I figured what we're going to do as far as Jay's furniture and stuff, since we most likely won't be moving til March at this point. While it was already decided that I would move my clothes around in our walk-in closet to make room for the dresser/changing table and we'd go through and clear out room on the floor for more space in there, this morning I came up with an idea for the Pack n Play we're hoping to get. In our bedroom we have this one wall that has a smaller couch on it. I'm thinking we see if we can store the couch at my parent's house in their basement til we move and we'll have room to put the Pack n Play up along that wall and then on our registry we also have a little 2 shelf table thing that we can set up next to it and put some of his stuff on top and then on the shelves below we can put his books and these baskets I'd like to get to put his toys away in. So it'll be like his own little area in the bedroom for now.
We're hoping to get the co-sleeper we registered for too, as we figure at nighttime we'll use that so if he wakes up in the middle of the night for feedings I can just roll over and scoop him up, but the Pack n Play we'll use for naptime so I can shut the door to the bedroom to keep the cat out and he can sleep peacefully without us having to worry about him being unattended in the co-sleeper.
While we registered for a lot of things on our registry, the things I'm really hoping we get are the Pack n Play, the co-sleeper, the 3-in-1 travel set (with stroller, carrier and carseat), a bouncy seat, a breast pump, the bathtub set, the fishbowl crib toy, and the basic necessities (ie: diapers, washing stuff, grooming kit, basic clothes, etc). Most of the other stuff like a swing and walker and exersaucer and all that stuff is just extra - we don't necessarily need it, but it would be nice to have, ya know?
The first one I noticed was on Wednesday while I was shopping for lower carb food for me to eat for my diet. I had been walking around for about 45 minutes when I felt this tightening on my left side and it seemed pretty hard. At first I wasn't sure if it was Braxton Hicks or if it was just Jay stretching out and trying to make more room for himself like he often does. It lasted for a brief moment although it came and went several times while I was walking around in the store and I had to stop pushing my shopping cart and just kinda put a hand to my side and wince in slight pain for a moment til it passed.
Then yesterday (Friday) I was out there again picking up a few things I had forgotten on Wednesday and same thing - after walking around the store for a bit, I felt the tightening on the left side again and it felt hard when I put a hand to it. I stopped for a moment, winced and breathed and waited for it to pass. It came and went a few times as the night went on I noticed, making me a little irritable when hubby was deciding to be a little lazy. He was like "what's wrong with you?" and I told him and he was all "oh..."
I think I figured what we're going to do as far as Jay's furniture and stuff, since we most likely won't be moving til March at this point. While it was already decided that I would move my clothes around in our walk-in closet to make room for the dresser/changing table and we'd go through and clear out room on the floor for more space in there, this morning I came up with an idea for the Pack n Play we're hoping to get. In our bedroom we have this one wall that has a smaller couch on it. I'm thinking we see if we can store the couch at my parent's house in their basement til we move and we'll have room to put the Pack n Play up along that wall and then on our registry we also have a little 2 shelf table thing that we can set up next to it and put some of his stuff on top and then on the shelves below we can put his books and these baskets I'd like to get to put his toys away in. So it'll be like his own little area in the bedroom for now.
We're hoping to get the co-sleeper we registered for too, as we figure at nighttime we'll use that so if he wakes up in the middle of the night for feedings I can just roll over and scoop him up, but the Pack n Play we'll use for naptime so I can shut the door to the bedroom to keep the cat out and he can sleep peacefully without us having to worry about him being unattended in the co-sleeper.
While we registered for a lot of things on our registry, the things I'm really hoping we get are the Pack n Play, the co-sleeper, the 3-in-1 travel set (with stroller, carrier and carseat), a bouncy seat, a breast pump, the bathtub set, the fishbowl crib toy, and the basic necessities (ie: diapers, washing stuff, grooming kit, basic clothes, etc). Most of the other stuff like a swing and walker and exersaucer and all that stuff is just extra - we don't necessarily need it, but it would be nice to have, ya know?
Glucose Diet: Week 1
So I'm *almost* done with my first week on this low-carb diet they put me on for my glucose monitoring and I must say - I hate it.
Here's what they have me doing:
I wake up around 10/11am and take prick my finger with the glucose thingy and have the monitor give me my fasting number. I write that down, and then I make myself something to eat for breakfast.
For breakfast I can have up to 30g of carbs, although I've been cheating slightly most mornings as the dietitian/nutritionist told me my 2 slice of wheat bread with peanut butter was fine and that puts me up to 35g. I eat and then wait an hour and prick my finger again to get my 1hr post-breakfast glucose level number and I write that down.
Then I wait around for lunch which is sometime in the afternoon - she wrote it down for 2pm but I've gone as late as 4pm. I can also have a mid-morning snack between breakfast and lunch that is supposed to be around 15g of carbs. Usually it's a granola bar.
For lunch I can eat 45-60g of carbs. Lunch isn't too much of a problem - I usually have a sandwich of some sort with some veggies and a fruit cup or if I'm out I drive thru McDonald's and get 2 grilled chicken ranch snackwraps. Then again, after lunch I wait an hour, prick my finger and get my glucose level number.
I can also have a 15-30g of carbs snack between lunch and dinner as we figured I eat dinner later (around 8/9pm). At the grocery store I found I found these yummy fruit yogurt parfaits with granola you mix in that are about 23g so I've been using that as my snack now.
For dinner, like lunch, I can have 45-60g of carbs. Here's the problem though, I'm trying to eat more protein with dinner but protein has like no carbs in it so I feel like I'm barely meeting the 45g minimum sometimes so I feel like I have to scrounge up something else to eat. Also, I'm not used to eating breakfast every morning so by the time I get to dinner I'm not usually *that* hungry either. Another problem I'm noticing is that for the last 3 times now, I prick my finger to get my glucose levels an hour after dinner and they've been *just over* my cut off of 140, which really kind of annoys me.
I can also have a post-dinner, late night snack too of 15-30g although I only do maybe 50% of the time as lately I've just been so tired after dinner that I tend to just crash and pass out and go to bed early.
That's the thing I hate - I feel like crap on this diet. I feel okay for a bit after I eat but then I start to feel all tired and weak once the effect wears off as I'm eating less carbs which means less energy for me. It really kind of sucks. Tuesday, when I wasn't eating, pricking my finger or using the bathroom I spent most of the day asleep in bed I had no energy... and the rest of the week I've felt pretty sluggish, tired and weak too. My friend that does low-carb dieting often says it's probably just my body isn't use to it yet and it's in transition to it which is why I'm so tired from it.
Still, I hate it.
If Jay wants to come out in late January, I am a-okay with that! The sooner he's out the sooner I can get off this diet. Sure, it's got me eating a little better and there's stuff I'm eating now that I'll probably continue to eat after, but I feel like I need more carbs than what I have to function properly. That and the stupid test strips, even after insurance, are kinda expensive, so the sooner he comes out the sooner I can stop monitoring and using the strips which saves us money.
Here's what they have me doing:
I wake up around 10/11am and take prick my finger with the glucose thingy and have the monitor give me my fasting number. I write that down, and then I make myself something to eat for breakfast.
For breakfast I can have up to 30g of carbs, although I've been cheating slightly most mornings as the dietitian/nutritionist told me my 2 slice of wheat bread with peanut butter was fine and that puts me up to 35g. I eat and then wait an hour and prick my finger again to get my 1hr post-breakfast glucose level number and I write that down.
Then I wait around for lunch which is sometime in the afternoon - she wrote it down for 2pm but I've gone as late as 4pm. I can also have a mid-morning snack between breakfast and lunch that is supposed to be around 15g of carbs. Usually it's a granola bar.
For lunch I can eat 45-60g of carbs. Lunch isn't too much of a problem - I usually have a sandwich of some sort with some veggies and a fruit cup or if I'm out I drive thru McDonald's and get 2 grilled chicken ranch snackwraps. Then again, after lunch I wait an hour, prick my finger and get my glucose level number.
I can also have a 15-30g of carbs snack between lunch and dinner as we figured I eat dinner later (around 8/9pm). At the grocery store I found I found these yummy fruit yogurt parfaits with granola you mix in that are about 23g so I've been using that as my snack now.
For dinner, like lunch, I can have 45-60g of carbs. Here's the problem though, I'm trying to eat more protein with dinner but protein has like no carbs in it so I feel like I'm barely meeting the 45g minimum sometimes so I feel like I have to scrounge up something else to eat. Also, I'm not used to eating breakfast every morning so by the time I get to dinner I'm not usually *that* hungry either. Another problem I'm noticing is that for the last 3 times now, I prick my finger to get my glucose levels an hour after dinner and they've been *just over* my cut off of 140, which really kind of annoys me.
I can also have a post-dinner, late night snack too of 15-30g although I only do maybe 50% of the time as lately I've just been so tired after dinner that I tend to just crash and pass out and go to bed early.
That's the thing I hate - I feel like crap on this diet. I feel okay for a bit after I eat but then I start to feel all tired and weak once the effect wears off as I'm eating less carbs which means less energy for me. It really kind of sucks. Tuesday, when I wasn't eating, pricking my finger or using the bathroom I spent most of the day asleep in bed I had no energy... and the rest of the week I've felt pretty sluggish, tired and weak too. My friend that does low-carb dieting often says it's probably just my body isn't use to it yet and it's in transition to it which is why I'm so tired from it.
Still, I hate it.
If Jay wants to come out in late January, I am a-okay with that! The sooner he's out the sooner I can get off this diet. Sure, it's got me eating a little better and there's stuff I'm eating now that I'll probably continue to eat after, but I feel like I need more carbs than what I have to function properly. That and the stupid test strips, even after insurance, are kinda expensive, so the sooner he comes out the sooner I can stop monitoring and using the strips which saves us money.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Appointments, appointments!
Today was a day of doctor's appointments!
I started off the morning early by driving across town to our hospital for my first meeting with the dietitian/nutritionist up on the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at 830am. By the time they updated all my information it was about 845 when I got to sit down with her and go over my typical daily eating habits, she went over a booklet of information with me regarding gestational diabetes and a handy pamphlet of what foods to eat and such and then we made a basic outline of what times I would be having my meals/snacks and how much carbs I can eat at each, as I am mainly counting my carbs as things high in them tend to be high in sugars as well.
Then she gave me a blood sugar glucose monitor kit so I can monitor my levels 4 times a day - my fast level when I first wake up and then an hour after each meal. Basically I prick my finger to get a drop of blood out and then hold it next to this strip that goes in the monitor and it tells me my number or whatever. There's a chart too that tells me what my level should be at different times for fasting and after meals.
Doesn't seem too bad, but man! Even after insurance the strips are still a bit expensive, as she called in a prescription to get me set up with a 30 day supply of the strips and needles and I picked them up already.
At 930am they took me down the hall for an ultrasound, which turned out to be another anatomy scan like the one we had back in October, however this time they were specifically measuring parts of him to check his growth. It appears he has a big head, as that seemed to be measuring a few weeks bigger than he is, and a few other body parts were just slightly ahead of his gestational age when it came to growth. According the ultrasound, based on his measurements it's showing him to be about 31weeks, 4-5 days while his gestational age is actually 30weeks, 1 day old - so he's measuring about a week and a half bigger than he should be. They said he's within 2 weeks though so that's fine and with me monitoring my glucose, if I'm able to work on keeping that down that should help slow down his growth some. The estimated due date the ultrasound was figuring was February 9th, so I guess that means he could be here around then if not closer to his actual due date of February 20th. He also currently weighs just under 4lbs, at 3lbs 14oz.
We did get some decent 3D shots this time around though!
He did shift positions like we thought he did the other night, as his head is now down near my bladder (which explains why I have to pee at least every 2 hours now!) with his face towards my right hip. He's kinda curved around my left side with his back facing us and his feet are curved up towards my belly button.
Speaking of feet... Jay has discovered them and seemed quite fasciniated by them during our ultrasound today as he spent a good bit of it with one hand in his mouth and his other playing with his feet! lol... at one point we even saw him kick himself in his face! lol... The ultrasound tech also caught him in the act of bumping my left pelvic bone, as I mentioned to her he seems to like hitting that quite a bit despite me finding it a little painful - right after I said that she was like "Oh look! We just caught him in the act of it too!" It was too funny!
He was quite active today but we were able to get him to quit playing with his feet just long enough to get a few quick shots of his face - he didn't like her nudging him with the ultrasound too much though at first, as he gave us a little angry scowl for interrupting playtime with his feet! lol... He has chubby little cheeks like his daddy did when he was a baby though!
I had a few hours to kill until my regular check-up at the OB/GYN office so I met up with my mom before visiting hubby as they were in the same vicinity (hubby was at Verizon but in the middle of putting away a shipment when I called and mom was on the other side of the parking lot having coffee with friends at Panera). Unfortunately, looking through Panera's nutrition guide, they had nothing that met my 15carb max allowed for a mid-morning snack (everything was AT LEAST 50g of carbs if not more) so I just had water with a lemon in it. I'm going to have to search online and look up nutrition facts for all the places we regularly go so I know ahead of time what I can eat, etc.
After visiting with both mom and hubby, I swung home for a quick lunch before heading across town for our regular check-up at 145pm (it was originally at 11am but I had them push it back a bit just so I wasn't cutting it too close with my appointments at the hospital this morning). By then the hospital had sent over all my information from this morning and we briefly went over that. They did say Jay is still measuring big but reiterated that if I'm monitoring my glucose now that should help get him to slow down his growth a little bit. They also are starting me on weekly appointments now to monitor his growth and then starting at 34weeks they'll be having me come in twice a week since with the gestational diabetes I'm technically classified as high risk.
Also, the scale at my clinic and the scale in the dietitian/nutritionist's office have about a 10lb difference as the dietitian/nutritionist weighed me being 5lbs less than I was at my check-up at the clinic 2 weeks ago, while the clinic's scale had me 5lbs heavier than I was 2 weeks prior! I didn't think a few hours and lunch would make THAT big of a difference... regardless though, at my clinic they said my weight was fine and everything pregnancy-wise seems to be in the normal range (despite Jay's slightly bigger size right now).
Until next week!
I started off the morning early by driving across town to our hospital for my first meeting with the dietitian/nutritionist up on the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at 830am. By the time they updated all my information it was about 845 when I got to sit down with her and go over my typical daily eating habits, she went over a booklet of information with me regarding gestational diabetes and a handy pamphlet of what foods to eat and such and then we made a basic outline of what times I would be having my meals/snacks and how much carbs I can eat at each, as I am mainly counting my carbs as things high in them tend to be high in sugars as well.
Then she gave me a blood sugar glucose monitor kit so I can monitor my levels 4 times a day - my fast level when I first wake up and then an hour after each meal. Basically I prick my finger to get a drop of blood out and then hold it next to this strip that goes in the monitor and it tells me my number or whatever. There's a chart too that tells me what my level should be at different times for fasting and after meals.Doesn't seem too bad, but man! Even after insurance the strips are still a bit expensive, as she called in a prescription to get me set up with a 30 day supply of the strips and needles and I picked them up already.
At 930am they took me down the hall for an ultrasound, which turned out to be another anatomy scan like the one we had back in October, however this time they were specifically measuring parts of him to check his growth. It appears he has a big head, as that seemed to be measuring a few weeks bigger than he is, and a few other body parts were just slightly ahead of his gestational age when it came to growth. According the ultrasound, based on his measurements it's showing him to be about 31weeks, 4-5 days while his gestational age is actually 30weeks, 1 day old - so he's measuring about a week and a half bigger than he should be. They said he's within 2 weeks though so that's fine and with me monitoring my glucose, if I'm able to work on keeping that down that should help slow down his growth some. The estimated due date the ultrasound was figuring was February 9th, so I guess that means he could be here around then if not closer to his actual due date of February 20th. He also currently weighs just under 4lbs, at 3lbs 14oz.
We did get some decent 3D shots this time around though!
He did shift positions like we thought he did the other night, as his head is now down near my bladder (which explains why I have to pee at least every 2 hours now!) with his face towards my right hip. He's kinda curved around my left side with his back facing us and his feet are curved up towards my belly button.
 |
| Face with hand in mouth and foot/leg coming towards face. |
He was quite active today but we were able to get him to quit playing with his feet just long enough to get a few quick shots of his face - he didn't like her nudging him with the ultrasound too much though at first, as he gave us a little angry scowl for interrupting playtime with his feet! lol... He has chubby little cheeks like his daddy did when he was a baby though!
 |
| "No more pictures, please!" |
After visiting with both mom and hubby, I swung home for a quick lunch before heading across town for our regular check-up at 145pm (it was originally at 11am but I had them push it back a bit just so I wasn't cutting it too close with my appointments at the hospital this morning). By then the hospital had sent over all my information from this morning and we briefly went over that. They did say Jay is still measuring big but reiterated that if I'm monitoring my glucose now that should help get him to slow down his growth a little bit. They also are starting me on weekly appointments now to monitor his growth and then starting at 34weeks they'll be having me come in twice a week since with the gestational diabetes I'm technically classified as high risk.
Also, the scale at my clinic and the scale in the dietitian/nutritionist's office have about a 10lb difference as the dietitian/nutritionist weighed me being 5lbs less than I was at my check-up at the clinic 2 weeks ago, while the clinic's scale had me 5lbs heavier than I was 2 weeks prior! I didn't think a few hours and lunch would make THAT big of a difference... regardless though, at my clinic they said my weight was fine and everything pregnancy-wise seems to be in the normal range (despite Jay's slightly bigger size right now).
Until next week!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Appointment scheduled
So I got a call today from the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at our hospital to set up an appointment for next week to meet with a dietitian/nutritionist and schedule an ultrasound so we can get my gestational diabetes under control.
They want me to come in at 8am Monday for registration while my appointment with the dietitian/nutritionist is at 830 and then we have an ultrasound there at 930. The point of the ultrasound is to see how the GD is affecting Jay - if he's just growing big or if it has something to do with the GD and placenta. I'm hoping maybe we'll get a good 3D of him this time too, as last time he didn't want to cooperate with us. Hubby's trying to see if he can find someone to open for him on Monday so he can go too as he likes to go to the ultrasounds and see Jay on the monitor.
I ended up pushing my regularly scheduled appointment back a few hours, as that was originally at 11am - the lady on the phone from the hospital said we should be done by 1030am, but there's the possibility of them running late and then getting stuck in traffic trying to get across town... I figured we might be cutting it kind of close so I called my clinic and they rescheduled me over there for 145pm. Hubby was going to try and make this one, but since we're having an ultrasound at the hospital that morning, I doubt they'll do a 2nd one at the clinic that day.
I've started watching what I eat even more than I was and I've been going off outlines for what to eat if you have GD that I found online just to kind of start with it since I didn't know how soon I'd be able to get in with the Maternal Fetal Medicine people. I also started keeping a food log too so they can go over with me what I've been eating and what I shouldn't be eating.
In hubby news... he got a mini-promotion/pay-raise at Verizon - he's now an assistant to the executive administrative of their company, although really he's not doing much more than he already was, he's just getting paid for the extra stuff he's been doing. He also found out this week that he got the 2 week Christmas overtime shift at UPS he was hoping to get. Sadly though, we learned tonight that one the dogs at his parent's house (they have multiple dogs and cats - it's like a mini zoo out there! lol...) suddenly died - it was their smaller dog named Boy and he was only 7. When we've talked about getting a dog of our own in the future, hubby always says he wants one that's a lapdog about the size of Boy.
They want me to come in at 8am Monday for registration while my appointment with the dietitian/nutritionist is at 830 and then we have an ultrasound there at 930. The point of the ultrasound is to see how the GD is affecting Jay - if he's just growing big or if it has something to do with the GD and placenta. I'm hoping maybe we'll get a good 3D of him this time too, as last time he didn't want to cooperate with us. Hubby's trying to see if he can find someone to open for him on Monday so he can go too as he likes to go to the ultrasounds and see Jay on the monitor.
I ended up pushing my regularly scheduled appointment back a few hours, as that was originally at 11am - the lady on the phone from the hospital said we should be done by 1030am, but there's the possibility of them running late and then getting stuck in traffic trying to get across town... I figured we might be cutting it kind of close so I called my clinic and they rescheduled me over there for 145pm. Hubby was going to try and make this one, but since we're having an ultrasound at the hospital that morning, I doubt they'll do a 2nd one at the clinic that day.
I've started watching what I eat even more than I was and I've been going off outlines for what to eat if you have GD that I found online just to kind of start with it since I didn't know how soon I'd be able to get in with the Maternal Fetal Medicine people. I also started keeping a food log too so they can go over with me what I've been eating and what I shouldn't be eating.
In hubby news... he got a mini-promotion/pay-raise at Verizon - he's now an assistant to the executive administrative of their company, although really he's not doing much more than he already was, he's just getting paid for the extra stuff he's been doing. He also found out this week that he got the 2 week Christmas overtime shift at UPS he was hoping to get. Sadly though, we learned tonight that one the dogs at his parent's house (they have multiple dogs and cats - it's like a mini zoo out there! lol...) suddenly died - it was their smaller dog named Boy and he was only 7. When we've talked about getting a dog of our own in the future, hubby always says he wants one that's a lapdog about the size of Boy.
Monday, December 6, 2010
The results are in!
I got a call this morning from my clinic letting me know my labwork was back from my 3hour glucose screening I did on Friday.
Here's my results:
Fasting blood draw - 83 (cutoff is 100, so that was normal)
1st blood draw post-glucose drink - 158 (cutoff is 180, so this was normal)
2nd blood draw post-glucose drink - 168 (cutoff is 150, so this was high)
3rd blood draw post-glucose drink - 163 (cutoff is 139, so again, high).
Apparently you need 3 out 4 of your draws to be "normal" to not have the gestational diabetes - only 2 of mine were, so turns out, I do have the gestational diabetes (as we kind of figured I would).
The lady from the lab said that a girl from Maternal Fetal Monitoring would be contacting me in the next few days, after clearing everything with our insurance, to set up an appointment for me to come in and go over diet and nutrition, as well as how to monitor my glucose levels. They also said that since Jay is measuring big, they'll do an ultrasound there as well as I guess their ultrasound machine is more elaborate, thorough, and high tech than the one at my clinic - they want to be able to see if he's just big or if it's the amniotic fluid due to the gestational diabetes causing him to measure bigger than he should be at this point, as GD can play a part in that.
I'm not too thrilled - especially since Christmas is right around the corner and there's soooo many sweets. I'm a bit bummed I can't really eat Christmas cookies this year (and I refuse to make them since I can't eat em as I'll be too tempted to eat too many, having them around here). Also, the diet doesn't sound too nice (from what I've read) but I guess it's doable.
I keep telling myself, I'm already 29 weeks along, full-term is 37-40 weeks, so we figure I only have to suffer through this for another 8-11 weeks (and probably closer to 8 weeks, as hubby and I both have this strong, strange feeling he's going to be early) as GD tends to go away after delivery.
Today was also a bummer of a day for me - I had a "call in" shift at work, which I was hoping they'd let me come in and work it as they canceled both my shifts last week and I really want to work or at least do something. I need an excuse to get out of the house, but I can't always afford to go out or visit my friend across town as we're tight on money right now and watching our expenses and it takes gas to go places.
I tried to call my mom and let her know about my results, but as it's been the past few weeks, I can never seem to get ahold of her. I know, she's been busy with the costuming up at church for the Christmas program this weekend, but it's just frustrating when I call every number I have to reach her at, multiple times, leave messages for her to call me back, and I never hear anything. Hopefully after next week she'll be more accessible, but yeah... I'm a bit worried that if I go into early labor, my family's going to be the last to know as it seems like no one in that house can answer their phones =(
What really threw me over the edge today was when I was looking for a top I could have sworn I put in the laundry to be washed but couldn't find it in there no matter how hard I looked, and on top of that I noticed I broke another nail.
I started crying, hubby came home soon after, and we snuggled for a bit as I was just really frustrated with everything so far today and hormones were making me all sad panda over stupid little stuff.
Jay's being a bit of a butt today too - like he's purposely trying to stretch out as much as possible, throwing painful punches and kicks in the process! He's been pushing on my uterus it seems, and then once he's pushes with all his might in there, he gives it a good kick or punch! Neither the strong pushing or the kicks/punches are very comfortable to me though! lol...
Here's my results:
Fasting blood draw - 83 (cutoff is 100, so that was normal)
1st blood draw post-glucose drink - 158 (cutoff is 180, so this was normal)
2nd blood draw post-glucose drink - 168 (cutoff is 150, so this was high)
3rd blood draw post-glucose drink - 163 (cutoff is 139, so again, high).
Apparently you need 3 out 4 of your draws to be "normal" to not have the gestational diabetes - only 2 of mine were, so turns out, I do have the gestational diabetes (as we kind of figured I would).
The lady from the lab said that a girl from Maternal Fetal Monitoring would be contacting me in the next few days, after clearing everything with our insurance, to set up an appointment for me to come in and go over diet and nutrition, as well as how to monitor my glucose levels. They also said that since Jay is measuring big, they'll do an ultrasound there as well as I guess their ultrasound machine is more elaborate, thorough, and high tech than the one at my clinic - they want to be able to see if he's just big or if it's the amniotic fluid due to the gestational diabetes causing him to measure bigger than he should be at this point, as GD can play a part in that.
I'm not too thrilled - especially since Christmas is right around the corner and there's soooo many sweets. I'm a bit bummed I can't really eat Christmas cookies this year (and I refuse to make them since I can't eat em as I'll be too tempted to eat too many, having them around here). Also, the diet doesn't sound too nice (from what I've read) but I guess it's doable.
I keep telling myself, I'm already 29 weeks along, full-term is 37-40 weeks, so we figure I only have to suffer through this for another 8-11 weeks (and probably closer to 8 weeks, as hubby and I both have this strong, strange feeling he's going to be early) as GD tends to go away after delivery.
Today was also a bummer of a day for me - I had a "call in" shift at work, which I was hoping they'd let me come in and work it as they canceled both my shifts last week and I really want to work or at least do something. I need an excuse to get out of the house, but I can't always afford to go out or visit my friend across town as we're tight on money right now and watching our expenses and it takes gas to go places.
I tried to call my mom and let her know about my results, but as it's been the past few weeks, I can never seem to get ahold of her. I know, she's been busy with the costuming up at church for the Christmas program this weekend, but it's just frustrating when I call every number I have to reach her at, multiple times, leave messages for her to call me back, and I never hear anything. Hopefully after next week she'll be more accessible, but yeah... I'm a bit worried that if I go into early labor, my family's going to be the last to know as it seems like no one in that house can answer their phones =(
What really threw me over the edge today was when I was looking for a top I could have sworn I put in the laundry to be washed but couldn't find it in there no matter how hard I looked, and on top of that I noticed I broke another nail.
I started crying, hubby came home soon after, and we snuggled for a bit as I was just really frustrated with everything so far today and hormones were making me all sad panda over stupid little stuff.
Jay's being a bit of a butt today too - like he's purposely trying to stretch out as much as possible, throwing painful punches and kicks in the process! He's been pushing on my uterus it seems, and then once he's pushes with all his might in there, he gives it a good kick or punch! Neither the strong pushing or the kicks/punches are very comfortable to me though! lol...
Friday, December 3, 2010
The 3 Hour Glucose Test
Well today was the grueling 3 hour glucose test.
I had to fast starting at midnight. Poor Jay though - he didn't like the lack of food one bit and was letting me know by throwing fits in there every so often. Poor little guy!
My appointment was at 8am, but they didn't take me back til about 20 after as there was a bunch of people coming in at 8. The girl drew my blood before giving me the drink. For the 3 hour test they only had the drink in lemon lime and orange. I opted for the lemon line. Compared to the 1 hour drink, this one tasted extra syrupy - like a Sprite or Sierra Mist with extra syrup in it!
She said I might feel a little sick or queasy the first hour - I could feel it in my stomach but it more just a form of gas.
The first passed by sort of quick, I read some of my book, they took me back to draw more blood and then we started the 2nd hour. The 2nd hour seemed longer. I tried to get comfortable enough to nap, but it was a little cold in the waiting room and the chair just wasn't comfy enough. Eventually that hour was up and they took me back to draw more blood and the 3rd hour began and came and went.
The 3rd time they drew blood it was starting to hurt from getting pricked so many times in the same spot and my arm started to sting. Same with the last time they drew blood before sending me off.
While waiting in the waiting room, there was a guy that came in, acting like he was running late for an appointment. The girl at the desk was a little confused and flat out asked what kind of appointment he had at an OB/GYN office. The guy looked confused and she clarified they only see females here. The guy was a little embarrassed and realized he was at the wrong clinic! It was a bit funny though!
I was soooo hungry and tired by the time we got done. Hubby dropped me off but had to go to work so my mom picked me up and took me out to lunch (I don't feel comfortable driving when my blood sugar is low or after I've had blood draw as I can feel a little dizzy and weak). I came home and slept for most of the afternoon too.
They said my results will be back Monday and they'll give me a call to let me know and figure where to go from there. Hopefully if I do have the gestational diabetes it's only borderline...
I had to fast starting at midnight. Poor Jay though - he didn't like the lack of food one bit and was letting me know by throwing fits in there every so often. Poor little guy!
My appointment was at 8am, but they didn't take me back til about 20 after as there was a bunch of people coming in at 8. The girl drew my blood before giving me the drink. For the 3 hour test they only had the drink in lemon lime and orange. I opted for the lemon line. Compared to the 1 hour drink, this one tasted extra syrupy - like a Sprite or Sierra Mist with extra syrup in it!
She said I might feel a little sick or queasy the first hour - I could feel it in my stomach but it more just a form of gas.
The first passed by sort of quick, I read some of my book, they took me back to draw more blood and then we started the 2nd hour. The 2nd hour seemed longer. I tried to get comfortable enough to nap, but it was a little cold in the waiting room and the chair just wasn't comfy enough. Eventually that hour was up and they took me back to draw more blood and the 3rd hour began and came and went.
The 3rd time they drew blood it was starting to hurt from getting pricked so many times in the same spot and my arm started to sting. Same with the last time they drew blood before sending me off.
While waiting in the waiting room, there was a guy that came in, acting like he was running late for an appointment. The girl at the desk was a little confused and flat out asked what kind of appointment he had at an OB/GYN office. The guy looked confused and she clarified they only see females here. The guy was a little embarrassed and realized he was at the wrong clinic! It was a bit funny though!
I was soooo hungry and tired by the time we got done. Hubby dropped me off but had to go to work so my mom picked me up and took me out to lunch (I don't feel comfortable driving when my blood sugar is low or after I've had blood draw as I can feel a little dizzy and weak). I came home and slept for most of the afternoon too.
They said my results will be back Monday and they'll give me a call to let me know and figure where to go from there. Hopefully if I do have the gestational diabetes it's only borderline...
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