OF COURSE I'm super excited to meet the occupant of my womb in several weeks! (According to the doctor, no later than February 21 for c-section.) I can't wait to find out that he's healthy, or to find out if he looks like his dad or what part of whose personality he inherits and what things are unique to him. That being said, this has been a very trying time for me. My faith has frayed, then strengthened, frayed and strengthened again. It has been a trial of what I am willing to do to keep this little guy healthy.
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| I think he has Daddy's mouth--hopefully only in looks! :) |
Here are some of the goings-on:
- finally made it out of the high blood pressure! (BIG relief; the odds: 6-8 in 100)
- 2 chamber umbilical cord instead of the normal 3 chambers (the odds: 1 in 100)
- placenta previa (the odds: 1 in 250)
- gestational diabetes (the odds: 3-10 in 100)
The high blood pressure finally resolved itself. I don't know yet if it was anything I did by trying relaxing breathing, listening to music I enjoy (which apparently is different than just listening to any music), getting out of the house and stressful situations. Visiting with friends seemed to make a big difference. It has been a huge comfort visiting with moms who have had some of the same experiences as me, and moms who are able to tell me everything will fall into place and that following my instincts is one of the best things for me and baby.
The umbilical cord has 2 chambers (1 vein, 1 artery; also called "single umbilical artery") instead of 3 (1 vein, 2 arteries). The highest risk here is low birth-weight. It can also be a marker for some severe birth defects and conditions if other signs are found. Thankfully, when we saw the specialist he cleared all the other signs so we opted to not have an amniocentesis.
Placenta-previa means the placenta is lower than it should be. I will have to have a c-section since the placenta is blocking the exit route and during normal birth the placenta comes out last. If it comes out before the baby, he won't make it. It also means "complete pelvic rest." I don't want to explain that one because it's probably more than you want to know about me so if you're still curious about what that means, click here.
The gestational diabetes was hard for me to handle. The four days led to a daily breakdown/crying jag. My constant prayer was that Heavenly Father would just hold my hand through this, I thought of the "Footprints" poem where the one set of footprints was Christ carrying the person through trials. On the fifth day I woke up and knew I would be alright. I have to follow a strict diet where I count my carbohydrate grams at every meal, I have 3 meals and 3 snacks at least two hours apart, I test my glucose first thing in the morning and two hours after each meal. My biggest frustration has come from the times when I have to use the lancet more than once to draw enough blood to do the testing. NOT a pleasant sensation. The other problem I have had is following the diet but still having occasional spikes in my sugar. The dietician and doctor seem pretty satisfied so for now I don't have to take medicines or insulin shots and although the biggest risk is a hefty baby, I think the diabetes is balancing the low-weight risk from the umbilical cord and he's measuring pretty much on target.
Here's a tip if you ever have to do daily glucose testing. When you test on your fingertip, test off to the side and not on the center of the pad of your finger. Feel the last bone in your finger and test where the bone dips down between the knuckle and finger tip. It feels more like a flick than a prick, almost always painless! Like this:
Here's hoping the rest of the pregnancy goes as well as can be expected. I hope I didn't gross anyone out, sorry if I did but pregnancy isn't pretty sometimes and changes your sense of modesty!
