Sunday, September 25, 2011

Wiggle Worm

While I do love feeling my little one move around, there are times when I just want to jab my stomach to make it stop.

They're few and far between, but they still happen. One such time was yesterday. I was trying to get a nap in (thanks to lower back pain that's not able to be ignored in the morning I don't get enough sleep) and it was going pretty well. The day before I'd tried to take a nap but the pain in my lower back started as soon as I laid down and wouldn't quit. So yesterday's nap was nice. I woke up a little because I'd rolled over and this caused the baby to wake up, too. So while I was drifting back into sleep, the baby was busy moving around. The moving around makes me smile and so I was nicely dozing back off while feeling little thumps and rolls in my tummy.

Then, just as I was slipping into a dream, baby decides it wants to stretch quickly. So it pushes against the front of my stomach, causing me so much pain my eyes snap open and I gasp. It was all over in a matter of seconds and it felt like just a dream after that but it happened and it freaking hurt!

After that, the next time I wanted to poke the baby so it would quit was last night as I was laying down for bed. I was in the middle of saying my nightly prayers and being on my side always wakes the baby up after I've been sitting for a while, so it began wiggling away.

At some point during the day the baby managed to change to my left side. Most of the time it loves being on my right, with its hands and feet on my left. But as I was lying there I could feel a big mass as the bed pushed against my tummy on my left side so I knew the baby had moved.

Well while the baby was moving around, I guess it wanted to go back to my right side because it began pushing with its feet against my right side and its back would push and slide against my left causing a very weird feeling that almost hurt. It was super uncomfortable.

I had to stop my prayers to rub my stomach, hoping that would get the baby to stop for a bit, but it didn't. As soon as I was back to saying my prayers the little one started trying to make its way back to my right side. Luckily I was almost done and when I finished the baby decided to try one more time to get over and I couldn't help myself I had to laugh. It was funny and annoying all at the same time.

I rolled over to fall asleep on my right side (normally I start on my left until I'm relaxed enough and then I roll over and sleep) so that gravity would help my baby get to where it wanted to be. It didn't take long and it didn't hurt. So now the baby's happily back on it's favorite side, sticking it's little butt into my ribs, haha.

I love it when my baby moves around. It's so much fun!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

An Update

Well I haven't been told anything about taking the 3-hour GTT. That's okay now, though, it's pretty obvious I've got gestational diabetes. One morning I checked my sugars and then my mom wanted to check hers. We were both in the mid-80s.

I had 1/3c cooked cream of wheat and I think 8oz of milk, she had 2 pancakes with syrup, a sunnyside up egg, and a cup of coffee with splenda.

After an hour, my sugars were 135 (give or take 1 or 2 points) and hers were 79. I've had cream of wheat again since then and my body just can't handle it. Really, my body can't handle carbs when I first get up, so there are no carbs for breakfast, unless I get something super small. I had two pieces of french toast and 12 almonds one morning and that had my sugars under 120, which was weird.

I did figure out a yummy banana chocolate smoothie that I could have for breakfast and my sugars were under 110. But I guess my body is now used to it or something and my sugars have been rising with each time I have it. I had it yesterday morning and my sugars were 135! It made absolutely no sense. The recipe wasn't changed in the least. So I can't have that for breakfast anymore, which sucks because it was quick, easy, and delicious!

This morning I ate two pieces of ham and 2 egg whites. It was extremely hard getting all that down. I don't like yolks, which is why I eat the whites, but I've have had to have eggs so much lately that they're about to make me sick when I eat them. And ham is nice, but I prefer it on biscuits, not by itself. Sugars were 94, though, so protein for breakfast it is. My midwife said I should just do dinner for breakfast instead of going for the regular breakfast foods.

I used to be so angry about having GD. So much so that all I could fantasize about was punching my nurse midwife in the face, like it was somehow his fault. I wanted to cry each time I thought about how I had to give birth in the hospital. And it's not the fact that I don't get a water birth. It's the thought that people may not listen to me as well as they may get carried away and become frenzied. And if they get that way, I'm sure as hell going to start freaking out, which will make them most likely sit there and talk to me like I'm a two-year-old, telling me to calm down and whatnot. If that happens, all hell is going to break loose. The word loathe doesn't even begin to describe how much I hate being told to calm down. I could probably go on a murderous rampage one day if someone says that to me. I can only imagine how I'd be while in pain from labor and someone telling me to calm down.

So yeah, the thought of a hospital birth isn't a fun one. I just want it calm and I want things to be done my way unless something happens and for the safety of me and/or the baby things need to be done differently. I was getting angry because I thought the nurses and my nurse midwife were going to do things their way. But the other week I was talking to my oldest sister and she was telling me about having a doula. She had one with her daughter.

She said a doula is great! And, really, that's all I hear from people. My sister said that the doula would speak for her because though she could think straight, she couldn't seem to vocalize stuff. So the doula spoke for her, making sure things were done the way my sister wanted.

That right there has got me looking into getting a doula. I wasn't going to get one while I was thinking I was going to be giving birth at the birthing center. Everything I wanted, they did. And so when I knew I'd be giving birth in the hospital it didn't cross my mind and so I became stressed. But now, I'm not angry anymore. I'm not panicking about a hospital birth. If I can have a doula, then I will have someone who will be firm for me. I'm not sure if I could be firm. I don't like confrontation so I usually just let people have what they want. I might could be firm but if I'm in intense pain I'll probably be focusing on keeping my mouth shut because I can be a real bitch. I imagine I would be yelling at people.

Other than that, the little one has found my ribs with its butt, if I haven't already mentioned that. It's not too bad throughout the day. Only every once in a while does the baby managed to wedge itself under my ribs while I'm just doing whatever. It's when I go to the bathroom that the baby gets up under there every single time. Makes it really hard to clean up because I bend from my actual waist, which only pushes it further into my ribs and then it hurts.

And with the decreased amount of sugar and carbs I get in a day, I've noticed more movement. When I do get more than I should, the baby moves around for about a minute or two and then just falls asleep for a good long while. But, if I eat right, it's moving a lot throughout the day.

Also, the way I have to eat for dealing with the GD is frustrating. It was annoying at first but now that I've gotten to where I get hungry about every hour, it's gotten me so annoyed I could scream. It's hard to split your meals into every two hours so you can keep good track of your blood sugars when barely an hour after you've eaten, your stomach is growling for more.

And after talking to the midwife about how annoying the diet is, she's having me try out what she does to keep her sugars in check. She doesn't have diabetes but she's got it on both sides of her family (like I do) and she doesn't want to have it when she gets older. So she wrote down the guidelines and gave them to me.

Pretty much, though, if you've got GD you need to go on the Atkins Diet. The less carbs and sugar you have and the more protein, the better. So this means lots of meat for me. That's not an easy thing. I'm not big on meat. Give me seafood to eat pretty much every day and I'll be happy. I love fish, crab, lobster, scallops, shrimp, etc. I'm an ocean kind of girl. I love how light but flavorful everything is. It doesn't weigh on my stomach. And seafood has loads of protein in it. Other than that I'll eat a bit of chicken, but I'm not that good with beef. I'll also happily eat pork or turkey, but those are things I don't get much.

Oh and I'm starting to think even more that my nurse midwife is a bit of an idiot. Sorry to him but I don't like some of the things he says and does.

He never brings my chart in when I have an appointment. He never tells me what to expect in the coming week or at the next appointment. And at my last appointment, the ultrasound machine estimated the weight of my baby at 4 1/2lbs. He said that's pretty big. That my baby should be around 3 1/2lbs. When I got home, I looked it up and everything I've read says that around 32 weeks my baby should be between 4 and 4 1/2lbs. Even the stuff the midwives have tells them the same thing. And I know that the machines can be off by as much as 2lbs but still, the nurse midwife thinks 4 1/2lbs is huge for 32 weeks (I'm 33 weeks now). Where did he get his info from?

Besides, all the ultrasounds I've had said the baby's measuring a bit ahead (in terms of length of body). So if that's the case, then a little extra weight doesn't seem that bad, if my baby had that, which he doesn't seem to.

It's no wonder my middle sister's preceptor doesn't like this guy.

Not to mention, the man hasn't said anything about giving me another rhogam shot. It's been 12 weeks since I had it and that's as long as they last. I have to get it again so it will work during my delivery. So it's up to me to tell him to give that to me. Not even sure if I'll get it at the next appointment because I think something happened and he's got too many patients that day or he'll be out of the office, but I'll be seeing another person who works there. This one is a woman and I wonder if she'll be better than him. If she is, I wonder if I could switch to her.

I'm not comfortable with the nurse midwife. With the midwives at the birthing center I was comfortable and could ask questions if I had them and talk about things, but with this guy...I'm too afraid to ask about stuff. I was amazed I had the courage to ask him about doulas. I wanted to see if any of his previous patients had doulas and if so, was there one in common that was said to be really good. I think he was a bit offended. He said that the few of his patients who had doulas, most of them worked with this one woman and he said she was really good. But I'm thinking I'll go with someone else because I don't want a doula who may be good friends with this guy.

Anyways, not much else. Baby's doing fine, moving a bunch and all. Got 7 weeks to go and I can't believe my belly is going to get bigger. Sleep is going to get even worse, too. I don't sleep well now because the hip that touches the bed will hurt after a bit so I have to constantly roll over to the other side. But now my lower back has begun to hurt as well and then there's some pain under my belly and it doesn't go away no matter what position I switch to .

Friday, September 2, 2011

Gestational Diabetes

I've been crap at keeping the big things on here. So at 28 weeks (close to 3 weeks ago) I have my 1 hour glucose test. I had to get up the morning of it and eat a breakfast high in protein, low in carb. I had two eggs, a slice of 12 grain bread with some peanut butter spread over it.

Then, 45 minutes before my appointment I had to drink this stuff called glucola. Sadly, it was the unflavored stuff so it just tasted like sugar water, blegch. I've heard the flavored stuff is nasty but I was kind of disappointed it was plain, haha! The stuff is chock full of sugar, way more than I ever have in one sitting.

Well got the call last week that I failed it and would have to have an appointment with my nurse midwife to go over what was to happen next and talk about taking the 3 hour test. So I got to my appointment with the guy (yes, my nurse midwife is a man), and he tells me my sugars were 212. The range is 130-200. If you're over 130 you fail the 1 hour and have to take the 3 hour. Well he said that because I'm over 200 the 3 hour test is out the window and he's just going to assume I have gestational diabetes (here on out called GD). This meant that I could no longer deliver at the birthing center and would have to do that at the hospital. I would stop seeing the midwives and my option of a water birth was snatched away from me. It also meant I have to go on a special diet and check my blood sugars 4 times a day.

So I've met with the dietician and have been on the diet since Tuesday (August 30). Supposedly my diet is supposed to have 2,000 calories in it, but I can tell you there is no way it does. Each meal is small and healthy so there's few calories. Which does not sit well with me because I'm wondering if my baby is getting everything it needs.

It's a lot of label reading. High protein, low carb. And it's crazy what has carbs in it. Milk and fruit. Like, I can have HALF a banana for 1 carb choice (I get around 2 to 3 carb choices, which include milk and fruit as well as starch, per meal) because it's got 15grams of carbs in it! So fruit is kept to a minimum.

I've got to look at the amount of carbs, protein, and fat in each thing I eat. It's tedious but it's necessary. I could never do this diet if it was just for me. But it's for my baby, and anyone that knows me knows I'm better at doing things that affect me if they're for other people. Or like when I lost a bunch of weight back in 2004, I did that because I had to exercise at least 5 days a week for school.

The hardest part about this diet is trying to put together a meal. Even snacks are annoying. Meat is the easiest way to get protein but you really don't think of having that for breakfast and if you're like me, even for lunch. But then, I can only have 3oz. It's small. I'm hungry about every 2 hours because the meals are so small and insubstantial.

I've been trying to find some sites that give a bunch of different meal ideas but so far I've found nothing. So I'm hoping to change that by blogging about what I do during these last 9 weeks of my pregnancy. I hope to put up some great meal ideas and some recipes so that others looking for help can find it here.

On the good news side of this mess, I went to what I thought was my last midwife appointment at the birthing center yesterday (Thursday, Sept. 1). The midwife I met with was not one of my usual ones because they were all out of town. But she was very nice, I really liked her. She was like a mix between my main midwife (who's a bit more business than the others) and the really happy, sweet midwife. When I mentioned my GD she said, "Oh! I know who you are now." Then went on to tell me how my main midwife was talking to all the others about my predicament.

The consensus there was that my sugars weren't through the roof and they would like for me to take the 3 hour test. I was only supposed to get a consult from the nurse midwife. And this midwife, she said my main midwife, we'll call her V, was NOT happy when she heard the guy had just taken me on.

The guy told me that it's regular procedure to just take the 3 hour test off the table but I think it's more because he gets money if I see him. I don't like him as much as I did when I first met with him.

But the midwife yesterday said that my regular midwives will talk to the nurse midwife about letting me take the 3 hour. The woman said she'd make a note in my records that I WANT the 3 hour. It's not just in hope that I can pass it, it's more to see how bad my GD might be if I've got it.

So I think the midwives will schedule me for one and if I pass it I'll get to go back to them ^_^ I was on cloud 9 yesterday because of that news. But I will still remain on the GD diet and I'm thinking of alternating appointments between the birthing center and the OB clinic, that way I can get more comfy with the nurse midwife and make sure he knows what I want for my delivery should I have to go to the hospital.

Here's hoping I get to take the test and I pass it! I so badly want the calm, homey atmosphere of the birthing center.