Baby blog....Turned Journal

I have had many people in the last few weeks ask me if i was writing down everything about this pregnancy. Keeping track for posterity and what have you.  I thought i was.  "I have a blog" I tell people.  Sad truth of the matter is, I have a blog that is lucky to see a monthly entry. 

While i try to explain away my slackerness, I will just start writing. And keep writing until this little bambina decides to grace the world with her presence.  

I turned 30 weeks pregnant last week, and promptly spent the rest of the week at home on bed rest.... Yet again.  It started last week on Wednesday when shortly after lunch time I realized that I hadn't felt her moving much at all. After much prodding and prying from the loving nurses I work with, I finally called in to my Dr's office.  I was asked to come right over and be seen. So that's what I did thinking the whole way there that it would just be a simple check for heart beat and back to work I would go. 

I was put on the NST monitor, or Non- Stress Test machine where they watch babies heart beat and the uterus for any activity like contractions.  In a normal test in someone 30+ weeks along, the strip should show baby's heart rate increase a small amount 3-4 times in a 20-30 minute time period.  Bambina failed this test miserably.  Her heart rate remained low and steady the whole time.  I was ushered into and Ultrasound room for a scan of baby that would look at her Biophysical Profile.  Basically watching her gross muscle movement, muscle tone, amniotic fluid level and her diaphragm for breathing movement practice.  she gets 2 points a piece for each of these things, and she has to show them to the US tech in a 30 minute time period.  she narrowly passed this test.   Her fluid level should be between 10-20 at this time, and we were rockin it right at 9.7.  The very low end of normal,  I was told. And on top of the low fluid thing, it took baby the whole half hour and some vibration stimulator thing to make her do the breathing movement. 

SO needless to say, I was stressed out, and then told by my lovely DR. that I was being sent home with strict instructions to lay low and drink PLENTY of fluids.  that's the only way to build up amniotic fluid.  Great, two more days off work that I don't need and a whole lot of time on my hands to sit and stew about baby and what could or could not be wrong with her. 

I was allowed back to work on Monday after a restful weekend laying on my couch drinking more water than the lake can hold.  Baby was nice and active all weekend and I wasn't to worried about her by the time i went back to work Monday.  By Tuesday at 11am, I facing Deja Vu!  Baby was again not moving at all!  I hadn't felt her move since going to bed on Monday night. 

Doing what the Dr.'s and nurses had told me last week at my impromptu appointment I call them again to tell them, she was MIA in movement.  Back to the office I went. more NST's and another US after she failed the test yet again.  On the bright side this time, her fluid level was up a little bit just over 10.  so the rest and hydration was doing its job slowly but surely. 

Its so very frustrating to worry about something that A- you have absolutely no control over in the long run, B- you can't see to check on or have any sort of reassurance, and C- that the Dr.'s seem to think all will be fine when you feel like your little world is falling apart. 

So, here I am, wishing there was a window into the womb.... 37 weeks can't come soon enough

Headaches + Pregnancy = MISERABLE mama

I always knew that being Diabetic would add challenges to being pregnant. I accepted this with the first positive test and I have become accustomed to the twice daily injections and all the finger sticks to check my sugar. I've even gotten used to missing out on dessert and staying away from the carbs I so dearly love.  What I was not prepared for, however, is the ever growing list of things that have made this pregnancy more than memorable and not for the best reasons. 

Having to been seen emergent-ly at 15 weeks for bleeding, never a good thing.  Being sent home from work for a week on bed rest at 23 weeks because of high blood pressure, never a good thing.  And then there has been this week.  27 weeks pregnant and I have been fighting a Migraine headache so bad I'm going cross-eyed.  I have a list of medications and home remedies to try, as headaches can be a common symptom of pregnancy.  However, after the first 5 or 6 that make you nauseous and cause blurry vision you start asking for something a little stronger from the Dr.  At first we assumed that the headaches were related to the Diabetes and I would get less headaches if the blood sugar was in better control.  Then it was bad headaches because the blood pressure was to high.  Now both of those two oppositions are well controlled I have no excuse for the headache that its rapidly approaching the end of day 2 with me. 

After fighting through blurry vision and dizzy spells at work for a day, i finally got up the nerve to call the doctor.  Nothing is ever and easy phone call with them, so half an hour later, I was sitting in an exam room waiting to see the big man.  Hearing the nurse tell you that you have gained almost 5 lbs in a week when I've gone almost 28 weeks and only gained 9 total is shocking and disturbing.  That's about the same amount of fluid an average IV fluid bag holds.  Swelling in my lower legs and feet was starting to show, to the point of being able to push on my calf and have your finger print stick around a while.  I was given two options. Go to Labor and Delivery at the hospital and get started on IV fluids and IV pain medication to get on top of the headache, or get sent home with Narcotic's and strict instructions to rest, as well as being started on blood pressure medication.  I choose option #2 and went home, or rather straight to the pharmacy to drop off the new list of medications to be filled. 

Somewhere, I'm sure, there is a breaking point in me. Luckily I haven't found it.  I'm ready for baby to make this easy for mama. I'm having a very hard time this week imagining why women would ever want to go through this more than once.  If you have any idea's, or words of encouragement to help me realize my lot is not that bad, and I'm sailing through pregnancy more easily than other women, I'm all ears!