So I know Patrick is almost 7 months old now, but I haven’t done his 6 month update, so since he is still 6 months, I’m going to go ahead and do it now. :)
He is just the most adorable little thing. His smile just makes me giddy with love. I love the way he looks at me when I get home from work, his face just lights up and he starts flailing his arms like he’s a bird trying to take off. He started eating solids this month. He didn’t really care for peaches but he loved the apples and green beans. I find it hilarious that his favorite is green beans since Cary absolutely hates them. His first foods were avocado, some rice cereal I made from brown rice and banana. He has also had pears, squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, carrots, and peas.
He is rolling all over the place now, but he still only rolls to the left. He is attempting to crawl but still can’t seem to figure out how to make his legs work. He tends to “army” crawl clockwise or counterclockwise or shimmy backwards. He sits up pretty well for short periods of time until he goes crashing to the side like someone just yelled “Timber!”. I love that I can actually put him the child seat in the shopping cart now. It’s so fun and he loves looking at everything and everyone. At his 6 month checkup he weighed 16 lbs, 7oz and was 25 ¾ inches long. I think he may have gained quite a bit in the last few weeks, he seems so heavy!
We got his 6 month pics done a day after he turned 6 months. We love them so much! Here is a link if you want to check them out.
http://www.holliecolwick.com/p512479369
Couldn’t be happier with them.
As for my diabetes, I have been taking better care of myself. I started wearing my continuous glucose monitor again about 2 or 3 weeks ago. So glad I finally got it back on. My numbers have been so much better already. I know I was definitely missing a lot of highs without it. My management is still nowhere near what it was when I was pregnant but it’s headed in the right direction. Maybe I’ll actually make an endocrinologist appointment soon! We’ll see. :)
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Five
My little baby boy is 5 months old! He is growing up too quickly and getting so big. I am just in love with this little guy. He has really started to show some personality now. He started rolling over from back to front July 13th and the following weekend we caught a very “real” laugh, not just a little snicker but a full blown “ha ha.” It was so adorable. Of course we tried to recreate it and video tape it after it happened, but no luck. It’s hard to get a picture of Patrick smiling because anytime he sees the camera or my phone he immediately stops smiling and goes into this trance-like state staring at the camera or phone. It’s funny but also frustrating because I am sick of all these pics with his eyes bugged out and his mouth slightly open. :)
Since I haven’t been posting monthly updates on Patrick, I will give you his growth charts from the last few months….
Birth weight: 6 lbs, 12 oz./ 19 inches long
1 month: 9 lbs, 2 oz./21 inches long
2 month: 10 lbs, 12 oz./ 22 ½ inches long
3 month: 12 lbs, 12 oz./ 24 inches long
4 month: 14 lbs, 9 oz./ 24 ½ inches long
5 month: 15 lbs, 11 oz./25 inches long
I love seeing how much he’s grown but it also makes me a little sad at how fast it’s all going by.
Managing my diabetes has been really tough. It seems like I am either low or high or on my up or down. I never stay steady. I am still breastfeeding and I know that has a lot to do with it. It seems like I can never find patterns with how the breastfeeding will affect my blood sugar. So annoying and at times scary. I seem to have some hypoglycemia unawareness. I don’t feel most lows lately until I am in the 30s. But then sometimes I have really bad low symptoms in the 60s, I guess it just depends on how fast I am dropping.
I had a really scary moment this morning and it was my own stupid fault. I had woken up at 5 this morning with a horrible blood sugar of 344. I had changed my pump before bed and forgot to give myself a bolus or higher temp basal to get things going. I gave myself an injection and stayed up about an hour to make sure I was headed down. I went back to sleep and woke up to hear Patrick ready to get up. I got up, went and got him out of his crib and walked downstairs to get let the dogs out. It wasn’t until I closed the door to wait for the dogs that I felt a rush of weak knees and shaky hands. I am standing at the back door holding my baby. I immediately should have put him down and taken care of myself but instead I called the dogs back in and hurried to the glider (grabbing some gummy worms on the way) to start breastfeeding Patrick. Once I had him latched on I checked my blood sugar, a 63 popped up. Lovely. I could feel it dropping quickly. I immediately stuffed the gummies in my mouth.
I really need to get back on board with the incredible diabetes management I had when I was pregnant but it’s so hard. I feel like I am constantly running. Trying to keep the house clean, work, and take care of everyone else and everything else. I need to remember I have to take care of myself first or there won’t be anyone there to take care of everything else. (as morbid as that sounds, it’s true.) Gotta go back to the old story of making sure I put my oxygen mask on first. :)
Since I haven’t been posting monthly updates on Patrick, I will give you his growth charts from the last few months….
Birth weight: 6 lbs, 12 oz./ 19 inches long
1 month: 9 lbs, 2 oz./21 inches long
2 month: 10 lbs, 12 oz./ 22 ½ inches long
3 month: 12 lbs, 12 oz./ 24 inches long
4 month: 14 lbs, 9 oz./ 24 ½ inches long
5 month: 15 lbs, 11 oz./25 inches long
I love seeing how much he’s grown but it also makes me a little sad at how fast it’s all going by.
Managing my diabetes has been really tough. It seems like I am either low or high or on my up or down. I never stay steady. I am still breastfeeding and I know that has a lot to do with it. It seems like I can never find patterns with how the breastfeeding will affect my blood sugar. So annoying and at times scary. I seem to have some hypoglycemia unawareness. I don’t feel most lows lately until I am in the 30s. But then sometimes I have really bad low symptoms in the 60s, I guess it just depends on how fast I am dropping.
I had a really scary moment this morning and it was my own stupid fault. I had woken up at 5 this morning with a horrible blood sugar of 344. I had changed my pump before bed and forgot to give myself a bolus or higher temp basal to get things going. I gave myself an injection and stayed up about an hour to make sure I was headed down. I went back to sleep and woke up to hear Patrick ready to get up. I got up, went and got him out of his crib and walked downstairs to get let the dogs out. It wasn’t until I closed the door to wait for the dogs that I felt a rush of weak knees and shaky hands. I am standing at the back door holding my baby. I immediately should have put him down and taken care of myself but instead I called the dogs back in and hurried to the glider (grabbing some gummy worms on the way) to start breastfeeding Patrick. Once I had him latched on I checked my blood sugar, a 63 popped up. Lovely. I could feel it dropping quickly. I immediately stuffed the gummies in my mouth.
I really need to get back on board with the incredible diabetes management I had when I was pregnant but it’s so hard. I feel like I am constantly running. Trying to keep the house clean, work, and take care of everyone else and everything else. I need to remember I have to take care of myself first or there won’t be anyone there to take care of everything else. (as morbid as that sounds, it’s true.) Gotta go back to the old story of making sure I put my oxygen mask on first. :)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Patrick's 3 Month Pictures
We had Patrick's 3 month pictures done on June 4th. They are absolutely adorable! I was so excited to receive them today! If you would like to view them go to http://www.holliecolwick.com/ and click "Photo Galleries" then click "Patrick 3 Month". If you live in the Louisville, KY area, I would highly recommend Hollie! She is fantastic! Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Patrick's Birth Story
Patrick’s birth story started February 14th. I left my house that morning thinking I was going to a doctor’s appointment then going to work. (To see that story, see my post for 37 weeks.) Who knew that when I left that morning, I would return home 9 DAYS later! So crazy! Which means nothing was ready. I had no bag packed, the house was a mess, the bathroom renovation was not complete, and Patrick’s room wasn’t ready. So fun!
So, to pick up where we left off….It was Thursday, February 17th…I sat in the hospital day after day, bored out of my mind. I missed my puppies terribly and I just wanted to go home. I realized I shouldn’t be complaining when the girl in the room next to me had been there since she was 13 weeks pregnant and had been there a total of 15 weeks! I would be a crazy person! (I have no idea why or what her condition was.) My blood pressure continued to stay elevated and my urine collection continued to climb. The doctor wanted to change the plan and shoot for an induction on Tuesday. Then that changed to Sunday when my blood pressure continued to climb. But all those plans changed again when my parents came in on Friday night.
My parents came Friday night and Cary had just gotten off work. We were all chatting and I guess the stress (even though good stress) made my blood pressure sky rocket. The nurse came in to take my blood pressure and it was 191/100!!! Yeah, great huh?! So I started stressing out about that which I’m sure made it even worse. I was thinking I was going to have to have an emergency C-section that night if it didn’t come down (the doctor never said that, but my hypochondriac mind did).
Saturday, the doctor came in to check me out and said we were going to try the induction on Sunday. My blood pressure was not looking good and it seemed like I was just getting worse more quickly than they would like. So, we would give the induction a go Sunday afternoon around 5pm. Patrick, however, had other plans.
I got up Sunday morning and took a shower, changed clothes, blow dried my hair and suddenly I had to pee. I went into the bathroom and there wasn’t any toilet paper. I went out into the hallway to get some toilet paper and suddenly I couldn’t hold my pee anymore. I ran back in my room the bathroom and I just started gushing. I yelled to Cary, “I think my water just broke, or either I just peed in my pants!” He went to get the nurse and she came in with some kind of strip to test to see if the fluid was indeed amniotic fluid. The strip turned blue or green or some color I can’t remember, which was a positive that my water had indeed broken! So immediately the plans began to get my down to labor and delivery. This was about 10:15am.
At labor and delivery they hooked up the IVs and started the Pitocin. They put the catheter in, which was horribly uncomfortable. Apparently I have a very tiny urethra, the nurse attempted it twice and then another nurse finally got it in using a pediatric catheter. The insertion was so awful. I progressed to about 3 cm in a couple hours. That was when I asked for the epidural. The epidural was a piece of cake, I’ve honestly had finger sticks and pod insertions that hurt worse than that thing. A few hours later, I was at 6cm, then 9 and by about 8pm, I was ready to push.
The pushing began and now in retrospect, I see I was not pushing correctly. I really couldn’t feel anything. I was pushing from my face. I had too much epidural. I couldn’t even feel the pressure from the contraction because I was too numb. That was a bummer. During the pushing I got really nauseous and puked a few times, though it was just water. They had to put oxygen on me at one point because I don’t think Patrick was getting enough. I pushed for 2 hours before Cary told the doctor, “This isn’t working, we need to try something else.” The baby’s head kept ‘turtling’(coming out when I pushed, but immediately retracting when I relaxed). The doctor suggested an episiotomy and forceps. We discussed and decided we would go for it. I was so exhausted by this point and was hoping I wouldn’t have to have a C-section. They brought the giant salad tongs in, um I mean, the forceps. (Yeah, that’s exactly what they looked like. Cary was completely freaked out.) I pushed a few more times and we had a beautiful baby boy!
It was so amazing! They didn’t hand him to me immediately. They took him to the little incubator thing to the side and got him cleaned up and checked him out. His lungs didn’t sound exactly right when he cried (it sounded like he couldn’t clear something out) and they wanted to take him to the NICU to make sure he was OK. I got to hold him for maybe 5 minutes and then he was gone. I was sad of course but I just wanted him to be OK. The neonatologist came in and started rambling through a list of things that could possibly be wrong with my baby. He went on, and on, and on….only to end the speech with “but with all that said, your baby will be fine.” REALLY!? You couldn’t have started with that piece of information? Geez!
I wore my pump the entire labor and delivery. My blood sugar had started to climb while I was pushing but I was terrified to take a bolus since I thought I would crash from all the work of pushing, so I didn’t bolus. Big MISTAKE. Of course I couldn’t have known that my body would react the way it did, but I felt so horrible a few hours after delivery. I had to stay in the delivery room for 24 hours after the birth on a Magnesium drip for my blood pressure. It was awful. They would come check me every few hours and everytime I had to move at all, I would dry heave. I was so sick to my stomach and my blood sugar was in the high 300s. I hadn't had a blood sugar above 200 in about 7 months so this was quite a bad feeling. I kept bolusing with my pump but nothing was happening. I just kept climbing. I was so scared. I told the nurse and she called my endo. He ordered 10 units of Humalog. She gave me a shot and we waited an hour. It still hadn’t budged. The endo ordered another 10 units. We waited another hour. It finally started coming down and I was relieved. I still couldn’t have any water at this point and I have NEVER been so thirsty in my entire life. I could have ice chips, but for some reason that just wasn’t the same. I needed to swallow, I needed water. The Magnesium kept me feeling very “drugged up.” I was like a zombie. In between my zombie-ness, Cary would come in with videos he had taken from the NICU of our baby. He was yet to be named at this point since I didn’t want to name him until I could see him again.
I finally got out of Labor and Delivery at about 11pm Monday night. They took me over to the Postpartum unit and I finally got all transferred by about 1am. We immediately went up to the NICU so I could see the baby. It was awesome. He was so precious. I was actually kind of nervous about seeing him since it had been so long since I had seen him. The NICU nurse asked if I wanted to breast feed. I said “sure, but I have no idea what I’m doing.” (I was supposed to take a breastfeeding class that week, ha!) She just stuck him on me and he immediately started sucking. It was the weirdest and coolest thing ever! I was so in love. We then decided that we would name him Patrick Murdock. Patrick after my dad and Murdock after Cary’s dad.
I didn’t get discharged from the hospital until Wednesday night (February 23rd). Yep, I spent 9 days in the hospital. My blood pressure stayed high the entire time I was in the hospital. I couldn’t sleep. I seriously slept 1 hour between Monday and Wednesday. That was so awful. I felt so weak and terrible. When we got home, my mom and dad were there and my grandparents (my dad’s parents). They had done an amazing job getting the house ready for us to come home. My parents had called in my Uncle Ricky to finish up the bathroom. I was thrilled. The house looked so great. What a relief. My family rocks!
So I’m a mom now and my baby boy is beyond amazing. It is so true that you really can’t fathom how much you can love someone until you have a child. I love this kid to pieces. It is such a blessing. I would do it all again in a second. In fact, I really want to do it all again at some point. I would love to have another baby. It is also so true that you don’t remember any of the bad stuff from the pregnancy or delivery. I mean do remember the bad stuff but I now realize it really wasn’t that bad. It was all worth it in the end, it was all worth it because I got the most precious gift from God at the end.
Patrick Murdock was born February 20, 2011 at 10:32pm. He weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long.
So, to pick up where we left off….It was Thursday, February 17th…I sat in the hospital day after day, bored out of my mind. I missed my puppies terribly and I just wanted to go home. I realized I shouldn’t be complaining when the girl in the room next to me had been there since she was 13 weeks pregnant and had been there a total of 15 weeks! I would be a crazy person! (I have no idea why or what her condition was.) My blood pressure continued to stay elevated and my urine collection continued to climb. The doctor wanted to change the plan and shoot for an induction on Tuesday. Then that changed to Sunday when my blood pressure continued to climb. But all those plans changed again when my parents came in on Friday night.
My parents came Friday night and Cary had just gotten off work. We were all chatting and I guess the stress (even though good stress) made my blood pressure sky rocket. The nurse came in to take my blood pressure and it was 191/100!!! Yeah, great huh?! So I started stressing out about that which I’m sure made it even worse. I was thinking I was going to have to have an emergency C-section that night if it didn’t come down (the doctor never said that, but my hypochondriac mind did).
Saturday, the doctor came in to check me out and said we were going to try the induction on Sunday. My blood pressure was not looking good and it seemed like I was just getting worse more quickly than they would like. So, we would give the induction a go Sunday afternoon around 5pm. Patrick, however, had other plans.
I got up Sunday morning and took a shower, changed clothes, blow dried my hair and suddenly I had to pee. I went into the bathroom and there wasn’t any toilet paper. I went out into the hallway to get some toilet paper and suddenly I couldn’t hold my pee anymore. I ran back in my room the bathroom and I just started gushing. I yelled to Cary, “I think my water just broke, or either I just peed in my pants!” He went to get the nurse and she came in with some kind of strip to test to see if the fluid was indeed amniotic fluid. The strip turned blue or green or some color I can’t remember, which was a positive that my water had indeed broken! So immediately the plans began to get my down to labor and delivery. This was about 10:15am.
At labor and delivery they hooked up the IVs and started the Pitocin. They put the catheter in, which was horribly uncomfortable. Apparently I have a very tiny urethra, the nurse attempted it twice and then another nurse finally got it in using a pediatric catheter. The insertion was so awful. I progressed to about 3 cm in a couple hours. That was when I asked for the epidural. The epidural was a piece of cake, I’ve honestly had finger sticks and pod insertions that hurt worse than that thing. A few hours later, I was at 6cm, then 9 and by about 8pm, I was ready to push.
The pushing began and now in retrospect, I see I was not pushing correctly. I really couldn’t feel anything. I was pushing from my face. I had too much epidural. I couldn’t even feel the pressure from the contraction because I was too numb. That was a bummer. During the pushing I got really nauseous and puked a few times, though it was just water. They had to put oxygen on me at one point because I don’t think Patrick was getting enough. I pushed for 2 hours before Cary told the doctor, “This isn’t working, we need to try something else.” The baby’s head kept ‘turtling’(coming out when I pushed, but immediately retracting when I relaxed). The doctor suggested an episiotomy and forceps. We discussed and decided we would go for it. I was so exhausted by this point and was hoping I wouldn’t have to have a C-section. They brought the giant salad tongs in, um I mean, the forceps. (Yeah, that’s exactly what they looked like. Cary was completely freaked out.) I pushed a few more times and we had a beautiful baby boy!
It was so amazing! They didn’t hand him to me immediately. They took him to the little incubator thing to the side and got him cleaned up and checked him out. His lungs didn’t sound exactly right when he cried (it sounded like he couldn’t clear something out) and they wanted to take him to the NICU to make sure he was OK. I got to hold him for maybe 5 minutes and then he was gone. I was sad of course but I just wanted him to be OK. The neonatologist came in and started rambling through a list of things that could possibly be wrong with my baby. He went on, and on, and on….only to end the speech with “but with all that said, your baby will be fine.” REALLY!? You couldn’t have started with that piece of information? Geez!
I wore my pump the entire labor and delivery. My blood sugar had started to climb while I was pushing but I was terrified to take a bolus since I thought I would crash from all the work of pushing, so I didn’t bolus. Big MISTAKE. Of course I couldn’t have known that my body would react the way it did, but I felt so horrible a few hours after delivery. I had to stay in the delivery room for 24 hours after the birth on a Magnesium drip for my blood pressure. It was awful. They would come check me every few hours and everytime I had to move at all, I would dry heave. I was so sick to my stomach and my blood sugar was in the high 300s. I hadn't had a blood sugar above 200 in about 7 months so this was quite a bad feeling. I kept bolusing with my pump but nothing was happening. I just kept climbing. I was so scared. I told the nurse and she called my endo. He ordered 10 units of Humalog. She gave me a shot and we waited an hour. It still hadn’t budged. The endo ordered another 10 units. We waited another hour. It finally started coming down and I was relieved. I still couldn’t have any water at this point and I have NEVER been so thirsty in my entire life. I could have ice chips, but for some reason that just wasn’t the same. I needed to swallow, I needed water. The Magnesium kept me feeling very “drugged up.” I was like a zombie. In between my zombie-ness, Cary would come in with videos he had taken from the NICU of our baby. He was yet to be named at this point since I didn’t want to name him until I could see him again.
I finally got out of Labor and Delivery at about 11pm Monday night. They took me over to the Postpartum unit and I finally got all transferred by about 1am. We immediately went up to the NICU so I could see the baby. It was awesome. He was so precious. I was actually kind of nervous about seeing him since it had been so long since I had seen him. The NICU nurse asked if I wanted to breast feed. I said “sure, but I have no idea what I’m doing.” (I was supposed to take a breastfeeding class that week, ha!) She just stuck him on me and he immediately started sucking. It was the weirdest and coolest thing ever! I was so in love. We then decided that we would name him Patrick Murdock. Patrick after my dad and Murdock after Cary’s dad.
I didn’t get discharged from the hospital until Wednesday night (February 23rd). Yep, I spent 9 days in the hospital. My blood pressure stayed high the entire time I was in the hospital. I couldn’t sleep. I seriously slept 1 hour between Monday and Wednesday. That was so awful. I felt so weak and terrible. When we got home, my mom and dad were there and my grandparents (my dad’s parents). They had done an amazing job getting the house ready for us to come home. My parents had called in my Uncle Ricky to finish up the bathroom. I was thrilled. The house looked so great. What a relief. My family rocks!
So I’m a mom now and my baby boy is beyond amazing. It is so true that you really can’t fathom how much you can love someone until you have a child. I love this kid to pieces. It is such a blessing. I would do it all again in a second. In fact, I really want to do it all again at some point. I would love to have another baby. It is also so true that you don’t remember any of the bad stuff from the pregnancy or delivery. I mean do remember the bad stuff but I now realize it really wasn’t that bad. It was all worth it in the end, it was all worth it because I got the most precious gift from God at the end.
Patrick Murdock was born February 20, 2011 at 10:32pm. He weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long.
Pictures of Patrick
Here are a few pictures of my baby boy....
That's all I've got for now. All my recent pictures are on my phone or still on my camera. I'll post more soon!
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| These were taken in the hospital, he was 3 days old. |
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| Another pic from his newborn session |
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| Patrick and Daddy. He's about 1 month old here. |
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| Family pic. He's about 6 weeks old. |
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Back at Work
So it’s been quite a while since I have blogged. I’ll start by saying motherhood is way harder than I expected, but it’s also more wonderful than I ever expected too! :) So I’ve been back at work since May 9th and it sucks. I hate being at work because I miss my little guy. I took 12 weeks (only half of which were paid) but it still wasn’t enough. Man how I wish we had enough money and health insurance so I could stay at home. Once again my stupid diabetes means that without my job I couldn’t get health insurance for a reasonable price (read: over $900 a month for a family plan that includes me and that’s just the premium cost, nevermind actually using the plan!). Since my husband is self-employed it just isn’t feasible for us to get affordable insurance without my job. I hate that!
Working and being a mom with diabetes is pretty hard. I am a breastfeeding mama which I have found to be pretty difficult with the unpredictable effects it has on my blood sugar numbers. I cannot seem to find a pattern with how it will (or won’t) affect my numbers. I’m just trying to take it day by day and adjust when I can. I am pumping (milk) while back at work, twice a day during the work day. I nurse in the mornings and usually twice at night. I used to be annoyed by actually nursing because it took so long but now I just love sitting in the glider with my little boy and nursing him. Amazing how absence makes the heart grow fonder.
We still haven’t figured out the day care situation for the little guy. We have had some friends and my WONDERFUL Granny to help out. I think we have found someone through our church to watch him at her house but we still have to meet her face to face and make sure we feel comfortable with where he will be (she also can’t start until the 2nd week of June so we have been scrambling). It’s totally my fault we don’t have day care, I just kept putting it off thinking I wouldn’t have to go back to work. STUPID! I wish we could just win the lottery so I could quit my job and be the stay at home mom I’ve always dreamed of being! I’ll keep dreaming….and praying. :)
***I’ll post Patrick’s birth story soon! :)
Working and being a mom with diabetes is pretty hard. I am a breastfeeding mama which I have found to be pretty difficult with the unpredictable effects it has on my blood sugar numbers. I cannot seem to find a pattern with how it will (or won’t) affect my numbers. I’m just trying to take it day by day and adjust when I can. I am pumping (milk) while back at work, twice a day during the work day. I nurse in the mornings and usually twice at night. I used to be annoyed by actually nursing because it took so long but now I just love sitting in the glider with my little boy and nursing him. Amazing how absence makes the heart grow fonder.
We still haven’t figured out the day care situation for the little guy. We have had some friends and my WONDERFUL Granny to help out. I think we have found someone through our church to watch him at her house but we still have to meet her face to face and make sure we feel comfortable with where he will be (she also can’t start until the 2nd week of June so we have been scrambling). It’s totally my fault we don’t have day care, I just kept putting it off thinking I wouldn’t have to go back to work. STUPID! I wish we could just win the lottery so I could quit my job and be the stay at home mom I’ve always dreamed of being! I’ll keep dreaming….and praying. :)
***I’ll post Patrick’s birth story soon! :)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
37 Weeks
This post was written February 17th....
Monday I had my regular doctor's appointment for an NST only at 9:30am. I got to my appointment and they checked my urine and blood pressure like they always do. They found protein in my urine and when they took my blood pressure it was a little high (both signs of preeclampsia). I'm thinking, oh great, here we go....I haven't had any protein in my urine before now and my blood pressure hasn't even been borderline high, in fact it's been really low throughout the pregnancy. They went ahead and hooked me up to the monitor for the NST. I thought everything seemed normal but when the nurse came back with the results, they said the test wasn't showing accelerations like she wanted it to and I would have to go down to Labor and Delivery for further monitoring. At this point, I pretty much started to lose it and began bawling. I was so scared and upset. The nurse was very comforting and assured me everything would be fine, they just had to figure out what was going on.
I headed down to Labor and Delivery still crying uncontrollably. I called Cary Cary
I checked into L&D and they put me back on the monitor for the baby. They took my blood pressure and got another urine sample. They also drew blood work for my labs. Cary
So I checked into the hospital and began a 24 hour urine collection. They also did another round of monitoring the baby’s movements and scheduled a BPP for further evaluation and measurements of the baby. Everything with the baby looked good (baby’s estimated weight is 7 lbs, 5 oz.) and I would have to wait for the results of the urine collection before they made any further decisions.
I saw my doctor the next morning and he seemed positive that everything was looking good and I would be able to at least go home and be on bed rest. But all that changed when the urine came back and showed 3 times the normal amount of protein. He said I am staying put until the baby comes. BOO!!!! My blood pressure has still been running higher than normal but not crazy high. They are continuing to monitor my blood pressure, blood, and urine and we are in “wait and see” mode right now. Waiting to see how long we can wait until the baby HAS to come out or if we can hold off and let this little biscuit keep baking.
I am full term as of today but since I am diabetic, they are concerned that the lungs may not be fully developed so they want to keep the little guy inside as long as possible and as long as it’s safe for me and baby. They are shooting for getting me to 38 ½ weeks which would be around the 27th or 28th.
So, that’s what has been going on since Monday… it’s been a scary, crazy week of what had been a normal and uneventful pregnancy. I guess now I understand why they do all this monitoring, things changed so rapidly from last Thursday to the following Monday, it made my head spin. Just happy and very thankful that I made it as far as I did with no complications. As of today, my platelets went back up a little bit (which is good) and once we get my second round of 24 urine collection back tomorrow, we will know more. I’ll keep you updated!
OH, and did I mention Cary and I are supposed to see Brad Paisley Saturday night? I know this isn’t as important as my health and my baby’s health, but man I really wanted to go that concert on Saturday! Ah well, guess this is just preparing me for parenthood!
***Update: I had a healthy baby boy on February 20th at 10:32pm (I was 37 weeks and 3 days). His name is Patrick and he weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long. It has been a crazy few weeks trying to recover and take care of a newborn, but we are healthy and happy. I will try to update again soon! :)
Friday, February 11, 2011
36 weeks
I am 36 weeks or 9 months pregnant as of yesterday. I cannot believe that in less than a month, I will be a mommy. How crazy is that?! I had another doctor’s appointment yesterday. I had my 12th NST and my 8th ultrasound and also saw the doctor. Everything is still looking good. My blood pressure has stayed low, no problems with protein in the urine, and my weight is creeping up a little faster than in the past, but nothing crazy - I have gained 31 pounds total now, and I kind of freaked when I gained about 2 pounds a week the last two weeks, but not because of the weight just worrying it was water weight which meant too much swelling which meant high blood pressure which meant preeclampsia….see how my mind wanders/worries?! :)
Anyway, everything looks good and I haven’t started dilating yet. He checked me at the last two appointments. I’ve had Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy since week 30 and they have been even more frequent the last two weeks. I really started to swell up this week. My hands are swollen to the point I finally took my wedding ring off because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get it off pretty soon. My legs, ankles and feet are very swollen…I definitely have CANKLES! YUCK! I asked the doctor about the swelling and he said it was normal.
The doctor said I most likely will not go until my due date and he may induce me a little early (like week 39) if he’s (the baby) ready to go. They don’t want to risk anything going wrong by unnecessarily waiting until my due date. So we’ll see. We will know more next week when they do the measurements. This will also let them know whether a c-section seems more likely or if I will be able to be induced. My doctor said they will not let me go longer than 24 hours once I am induced since I won’t be able to eat and will be hooked up to insulin and IVs for blood sugar regulation. If I don’t have the baby by then, then they will do a c-section.
My blood sugars have still been very good. I am amazed at how my insulin needs have not changed at all even as the baby (and I) have been getting bigger and bigger. My insulin needs went up early in my first trimester (including before I even was sure I was pregnant), they went down dramatically at the end of the first trimester, then went up again in the second trimester, then I had that scare when they dropped again and now I have stayed pretty stable and I am still not even taking as much insulin as I did before I was pregnant. So crazy how every diabetic (and diabetic pregnancy) is different and unpredictable. I do remember reading somewhere that the body can sometimes produce insulin while pregnant and I really kind of think that may be what has happened during my pregnancy (I mean obviously not enough to cure me, but hey I can use all the help I can get.).
I am very excited and nervous about this baby boy arriving in what could be about 3 or 4 weeks! I can’t believe I am going to become a mother. It still all seems so surreal. I love this kid so much and I can’t wait to meet him! As for a name, we are just going to wait and name him when we see him since we have come this far without a name, no need in rushing it now.:)
Anyway, everything looks good and I haven’t started dilating yet. He checked me at the last two appointments. I’ve had Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy since week 30 and they have been even more frequent the last two weeks. I really started to swell up this week. My hands are swollen to the point I finally took my wedding ring off because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get it off pretty soon. My legs, ankles and feet are very swollen…I definitely have CANKLES! YUCK! I asked the doctor about the swelling and he said it was normal.
The doctor said I most likely will not go until my due date and he may induce me a little early (like week 39) if he’s (the baby) ready to go. They don’t want to risk anything going wrong by unnecessarily waiting until my due date. So we’ll see. We will know more next week when they do the measurements. This will also let them know whether a c-section seems more likely or if I will be able to be induced. My doctor said they will not let me go longer than 24 hours once I am induced since I won’t be able to eat and will be hooked up to insulin and IVs for blood sugar regulation. If I don’t have the baby by then, then they will do a c-section.
My blood sugars have still been very good. I am amazed at how my insulin needs have not changed at all even as the baby (and I) have been getting bigger and bigger. My insulin needs went up early in my first trimester (including before I even was sure I was pregnant), they went down dramatically at the end of the first trimester, then went up again in the second trimester, then I had that scare when they dropped again and now I have stayed pretty stable and I am still not even taking as much insulin as I did before I was pregnant. So crazy how every diabetic (and diabetic pregnancy) is different and unpredictable. I do remember reading somewhere that the body can sometimes produce insulin while pregnant and I really kind of think that may be what has happened during my pregnancy (I mean obviously not enough to cure me, but hey I can use all the help I can get.).
I am very excited and nervous about this baby boy arriving in what could be about 3 or 4 weeks! I can’t believe I am going to become a mother. It still all seems so surreal. I love this kid so much and I can’t wait to meet him! As for a name, we are just going to wait and name him when we see him since we have come this far without a name, no need in rushing it now.:)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Florida Baby Shower 11/29/2010
When posting the pictures in the previous post I realized I never posted pics from my first baby shower in FL. As you can see, I was much smaller here. :)
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| The mommy and daddy to be. |
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| My mom, me, and Mema |
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| The food spread...YUM! |
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| Decor |
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| More decor... |
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| Diaper Wreath |
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| A cute present |
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| Ashlee, me and Mendi...two of the hostesses and life long friends. |
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Pictures Post
I haven't posted any pics in a while, so here are some updated pics of the bathroom renovation, Louisville shower pics, and belly pics. I just realized I never posted any pics from my shower in FL. I will post some soon!
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| New toilet and tub |
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| Other end of the tub (where the cave shower was) and some framing and insulation |
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| This is the diaper cake from my Louisville Shower this past weekend. |
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| Pregnant picture at the shower..Erica @ 27 weeks, me @ 33 weeks, and Katie @ 26 weeks. |
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| My latest belly pic @ 34 weeks. |
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
33 weeks and 5 days
Today I had my 7th NST and 4th BPP, but who's counting? :) This is my 4th week having doctor's visits twice a week. As much as I complain about having to constantly be at the OB office, I have to say it is nice they are monitoring me so closely. It's nice to know that everything is OK and to keep getting good reports every few days. I just wish they would give me some kind of preferred parking and a pass to the front of the line (like at a theme park) since I am there so often. I think I at least deserve that since I have been such a steller patient. :)
Today baby boy was very active for the NST. He was all over the place and I even had a pretty powerful Braxton Hicks contraction while on the monitor. The doctor said my NST looked great. By the time I had my BPP, baby boy had gone to sleep. The tech nudged him gently and he happily performed with a few kicks. When she woke him up, he got the hiccups, but he was back to sleep within a few mintues. He wouldn't show his face at all today so I didn't receive any pictures for the first time in over a month. They measure him every month so today I got to find out how big he is. He is 5 lbs, 3 oz and is in the 56th percentile. Last time he was in the 72nd percentile, so it was nice to find out he is not getting GIGANTOR.
I've gained 24 lbs total and I am pretty pleased with that. It's weird seeing that number continue to climb but it really doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. My blood pressure has stayed low throughout the pregnancy so no signs so far that I may develop preeclampsia. They continue to monitor to my urine for sugars and it is always negative.
As for the bathroom remodel update, we now have a toilet installed! Woo hoo! Cary got it installed before we went to bed last night. It was awesome to not have to go downstairs to use the restroom in the middle of the night. :) He is making good progress and I will post some pictures soon.
Our nursery is stil not finished but at least our furniture is put together. Our WONDERFUL friends from our small group came over and helped Cary assemble it all. The nursery is right next to the bathroom that is being remodeled so the overflow mess is all over the baby's room. Still hoping we can get everything finished before baby arrives. Fingers crossed he keeps baking until my due date and the remodel continues to go smoothly! :)
Today baby boy was very active for the NST. He was all over the place and I even had a pretty powerful Braxton Hicks contraction while on the monitor. The doctor said my NST looked great. By the time I had my BPP, baby boy had gone to sleep. The tech nudged him gently and he happily performed with a few kicks. When she woke him up, he got the hiccups, but he was back to sleep within a few mintues. He wouldn't show his face at all today so I didn't receive any pictures for the first time in over a month. They measure him every month so today I got to find out how big he is. He is 5 lbs, 3 oz and is in the 56th percentile. Last time he was in the 72nd percentile, so it was nice to find out he is not getting GIGANTOR.
I've gained 24 lbs total and I am pretty pleased with that. It's weird seeing that number continue to climb but it really doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. My blood pressure has stayed low throughout the pregnancy so no signs so far that I may develop preeclampsia. They continue to monitor to my urine for sugars and it is always negative.
As for the bathroom remodel update, we now have a toilet installed! Woo hoo! Cary got it installed before we went to bed last night. It was awesome to not have to go downstairs to use the restroom in the middle of the night. :) He is making good progress and I will post some pictures soon.
Our nursery is stil not finished but at least our furniture is put together. Our WONDERFUL friends from our small group came over and helped Cary assemble it all. The nursery is right next to the bathroom that is being remodeled so the overflow mess is all over the baby's room. Still hoping we can get everything finished before baby arrives. Fingers crossed he keeps baking until my due date and the remodel continues to go smoothly! :)
Friday, January 21, 2011
Update about my update
I had an NST and doctor's appointment yesterday. Everything is fine. I have decreased my basal rates to .60 at night and .65 during the day, how crazy is that?! I also decreased my Insulin to Carb ratios to 1:8 in the mornings and 1:9 the rest of the day. I also had to decrease my correction factor.
It still makes me nervous that my insulin needs decreased so dramatically this week. Everything I read talks about how not to freak out when your insulin needs continue to increase and can even triple. I was prepared for that! My insulin needs are less than they have been for the past 4 months! This freaks me out but they are monitoring me very closely and the baby's movements haven't decreased so I guess everything is fine. Just makes me nervous.
It still makes me nervous that my insulin needs decreased so dramatically this week. Everything I read talks about how not to freak out when your insulin needs continue to increase and can even triple. I was prepared for that! My insulin needs are less than they have been for the past 4 months! This freaks me out but they are monitoring me very closely and the baby's movements haven't decreased so I guess everything is fine. Just makes me nervous.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Update
In reference to my previous post...I called my OB office and talked to the OB nurse. She said to monitor the baby's movements and as long as they are normal and no less than 4 an hour, I should be fine. She wants me to call the doctor oncall if anything changes. She wanted to schedule me for an NST tomorrow, but as luck would have it, I already have an NST and doctor appointment scheduled tomorrow. So as of right now, all is well. I'll let you know how my appointment goes tomorrow. :)
What a week....
And it’s only Wednesday! It all started Saturday, (I know Saturday is not really the start of the week, but bear with me here.) my husband volunteered at Habitat for Humanity and stepped on a framing nail that almost went all the way through his foot. We spent the better part of Saturday night at the immediate care center. His foot is very swollen and he is in a lot of pain, he actually chipped a bone in his foot.
On Sunday, I went to church (without the hubby) and taught our precious 3 and 4 year old class. I then went to our Sunday school class and then to BabysRUs. When I got out of the car at BabysRUs, I threw away an armful of trash from the car. I didn’t happen to notice that I was also carrying my cell phone in my hands when I threw away the trash. I went into BabysRUs, came out and started to drive out of the parking lot while looking for my cell. I couldn’t find it and immediately thought “I threw it in the trash.” I tried to put this thought out of my head and went through my purse, the car and all the pockets I had, but no luck. I turned around to go back to BabysRUs. As I pulled up, the girl was removing the trash bag. I got out of the car and started to look through it. She looked at me. I said, “I think I threw away my cell phone, I’m going crazy.” She said, “Is it pink?” I said, “Yes!” She said, “Yep, I just saw it.” She then helped me look through the bag of trash and found it. It was disgusting, dripping with who knows what. I luckily had a sanitizing wipe in the car from Chick-fil-a (just another reason to love that place!). I disinfected it and was on my way. I can’t believe I did that. :)
I had my Endocrinologist appointment on Monday. I hate going to the Endo, I actually haven’t been in 5 months. (I know that’s terrible, especially since I am pregnant.) I just find it completely pointless. I know what my blood sugars are, I know what to do, I know everything he’s going to tell me. The only reason I go is to get my A1C, blood work and refills on my prescriptions. It always takes forever. My appointment was at 2:45pm and I didn’t get out of there until almost 5pm (and that was actually pretty quick for them)! I don’t know the results of my blood work yet but my A1C was 5.3%! YAY ME!
Tuesday, I had my first OB appointment of the week. My OB office is usually pretty “on time” and if I have to wait, it’s usually not long. Today was an exception. I had an NST and BPP. My appointment was at 11:30am. I waited until 12:30pm then went up to the desk and they said they were running way behind. I finally got called for the NST at 12:45pm. The baby cooperated at least and I was out of there in 30 minutes. I went across the hall for my BPP and I usually don’t have to wait. I sat and waited for another 30 minutes! In the meantime of all this waiting and appointments, I was fighting some really bad lows. I had orange juice with me and I drank it before my NST as I felt the low coming on. I came up to about 75 and then started to drop again. I went through the stash of candy in my purse and waited about 20 mintues. I was at 49! And I still felt like I was dropping! I then suspended my pump and waited another 5 minutes. I still felt like I was dropping. I went to the receptionist and asked for some juice or candy or if there was anywhere I could buy some. She offered me some Hershey kisses and I sat and scarfed down about 7 or 8 of them. I kept my pump suspended for 30 minutes and I finally started coming back up before I left the office. It was awful!
I don’t know what’s going on with my sugars. I started having lows yesterday afternoon and I bumped my basal rate down from .80 to .75. I was up twice Tuesday night with numbers in the 50s. After today’s incident, I bumped it down again to .70. I have now bumped my I:C ratios down as well. Hopefully all this will help. I am a little worried, as it is common for your insulin needs to increase in the 3rd trimester, not decrease. The decrease can be a sign of placenta disentigration, which as you might imagine, is a very bad thing. It doesn’t mean that’s what’s happening, but it could be. I should have mentioned it at the appointment but I just wanted to get out of there. Besides, my NST and BPP (where they look the placenta and measure fluids) were perfect and the baby has been just as active today as usual. So I’m not worried, but well, I guess I am a little.
I had my nursing course this morning and it was exhausting. My blood sugars started dropping again during class. I ate an entire snack bag of cookies from the vending machine (50 carbs!) without insulin. I topped out on my CGM at 147, hovered between 110-120 and then came back down to 74 after about 2 hours. How crazy is that?! I have since lowered my I:C ratios again.
I guess I should call my doctor. I have another appointment to see him tomorrow, so I really don’t want to. I’m scared he might freak out on me and send me to Labor and Delivery. But then again, I guess that is all the more reason to call. Ok, ok, I’ll call him. I’ll let you know how it goes. It’s been quite a week and I am so tired!
On Sunday, I went to church (without the hubby) and taught our precious 3 and 4 year old class. I then went to our Sunday school class and then to BabysRUs. When I got out of the car at BabysRUs, I threw away an armful of trash from the car. I didn’t happen to notice that I was also carrying my cell phone in my hands when I threw away the trash. I went into BabysRUs, came out and started to drive out of the parking lot while looking for my cell. I couldn’t find it and immediately thought “I threw it in the trash.” I tried to put this thought out of my head and went through my purse, the car and all the pockets I had, but no luck. I turned around to go back to BabysRUs. As I pulled up, the girl was removing the trash bag. I got out of the car and started to look through it. She looked at me. I said, “I think I threw away my cell phone, I’m going crazy.” She said, “Is it pink?” I said, “Yes!” She said, “Yep, I just saw it.” She then helped me look through the bag of trash and found it. It was disgusting, dripping with who knows what. I luckily had a sanitizing wipe in the car from Chick-fil-a (just another reason to love that place!). I disinfected it and was on my way. I can’t believe I did that. :)
I had my Endocrinologist appointment on Monday. I hate going to the Endo, I actually haven’t been in 5 months. (I know that’s terrible, especially since I am pregnant.) I just find it completely pointless. I know what my blood sugars are, I know what to do, I know everything he’s going to tell me. The only reason I go is to get my A1C, blood work and refills on my prescriptions. It always takes forever. My appointment was at 2:45pm and I didn’t get out of there until almost 5pm (and that was actually pretty quick for them)! I don’t know the results of my blood work yet but my A1C was 5.3%! YAY ME!
Tuesday, I had my first OB appointment of the week. My OB office is usually pretty “on time” and if I have to wait, it’s usually not long. Today was an exception. I had an NST and BPP. My appointment was at 11:30am. I waited until 12:30pm then went up to the desk and they said they were running way behind. I finally got called for the NST at 12:45pm. The baby cooperated at least and I was out of there in 30 minutes. I went across the hall for my BPP and I usually don’t have to wait. I sat and waited for another 30 minutes! In the meantime of all this waiting and appointments, I was fighting some really bad lows. I had orange juice with me and I drank it before my NST as I felt the low coming on. I came up to about 75 and then started to drop again. I went through the stash of candy in my purse and waited about 20 mintues. I was at 49! And I still felt like I was dropping! I then suspended my pump and waited another 5 minutes. I still felt like I was dropping. I went to the receptionist and asked for some juice or candy or if there was anywhere I could buy some. She offered me some Hershey kisses and I sat and scarfed down about 7 or 8 of them. I kept my pump suspended for 30 minutes and I finally started coming back up before I left the office. It was awful!
I don’t know what’s going on with my sugars. I started having lows yesterday afternoon and I bumped my basal rate down from .80 to .75. I was up twice Tuesday night with numbers in the 50s. After today’s incident, I bumped it down again to .70. I have now bumped my I:C ratios down as well. Hopefully all this will help. I am a little worried, as it is common for your insulin needs to increase in the 3rd trimester, not decrease. The decrease can be a sign of placenta disentigration, which as you might imagine, is a very bad thing. It doesn’t mean that’s what’s happening, but it could be. I should have mentioned it at the appointment but I just wanted to get out of there. Besides, my NST and BPP (where they look the placenta and measure fluids) were perfect and the baby has been just as active today as usual. So I’m not worried, but well, I guess I am a little.
I had my nursing course this morning and it was exhausting. My blood sugars started dropping again during class. I ate an entire snack bag of cookies from the vending machine (50 carbs!) without insulin. I topped out on my CGM at 147, hovered between 110-120 and then came back down to 74 after about 2 hours. How crazy is that?! I have since lowered my I:C ratios again.
I guess I should call my doctor. I have another appointment to see him tomorrow, so I really don’t want to. I’m scared he might freak out on me and send me to Labor and Delivery. But then again, I guess that is all the more reason to call. Ok, ok, I’ll call him. I’ll let you know how it goes. It’s been quite a week and I am so tired!
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Bathroom Remodel
My husband is in the middle of renovating our bathroom. The bathroom was so horrible....take a look for yourself...
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| This is immediately to your left when you come in the bathroom. You cannot sit straight on that toilet because the shower is too close. You have to sit sideways. AWFUL! |
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| This is the lovely cave shower. |
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| Bottom of the cave shower with some different tile. |
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| Inside of the cave shower. |
So now, Cary has completely demolished the bathroom down to the studs. Quite a few of the wood beams had to be replaced. This is where we are now...
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| This is where the sink and toilet were. |
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| This is where the shower was. |
The toilet, vanity and tub have been ordered. I can't wait for the toilet to go in. I am 8 months pregnant and this is the bathroom next to our bedroom upstairs. I have to make the trip downstairs to go to the bathroom about 4 times a night now. It's exhausting! We have a ways to go, but I can't wait for it to be done!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
32 Weeks
Today I am 32 weeks pregnant. WOW?! Only 8 weeks to go, so crazy! This is the second week of biweekly OB trips. I am already sick of it. I have an NST and a BPP every Tuesday and then on Fridays I have an NST and see the doctor. I’ve had 3 NSTs and 2 BPPs and I go to the doctor again tomorrow. I can at least say the NSTs haven’t been as bad as the first one. I’ve had a different girl perform the test every time and I have concluded that the first girl didn’t really know what she was doing. The other two girls have been much better (more friendly and comforting).
The tests have been the same each time, once I get hooked up to the machine, the baby goes to sleep. (Maybe hearing that loud heartbeat sound puts him to sleep? Who knows?) They always leave me for the first time, come back to check on me and he hasn’t moved at all. He then gets “buzzed” by this loud buzzer to wake him up. I think next time I will just ask them to buzz him before they leave me the first time, just to save some time. :)
I think I have discovered when he really likes to move, it’s when my bladder is completely full. I guess it encroaches on his space and he starts kicking it to try to get more room. I had to go to the bathroom so bad for those last few minutes of the NST but he was moving so well, there was no way I was going to interrupt. I was thrilled to have him move when he was supposed to. He was also active for the BPP afterwards and I even got to see his eye completely open. It was kind of creepy looking but also very cool. Oh, and I don’t think I mentioned it before but on an ultrasound a few weeks ago, they showed us his boy parts again and while they were focused there, he peed! It may seem kind of weird, but Cary and I thought it was very cool. It was so crazy. You could see the little stream.
I am getting bigger and bigger and my weight gain is right about 20 pounds. Everything seems to be harder to do with all this extra weight and I am getting much more tired again. When I get really tired, I find I am starting to get that pregnant woman’s waddle. I feel like a penguin.
My diabetes has been pretty good. (It seems like every time I say this, it starts acting up, but oh well.) My insulin needs have slowly been increasing and I am currently taking a little over 50 units of Humalog a day. My highest basal rate is .85, which I use for most of the day but then I am still dropping it to .75 at night and still getting some lows on some nights. My insulin to carb ratios are 1:6 in the mornings and 1:7 the rest of the day. I am changing my pump site every two days and that has definitely helped with my numbers. I was having to correct way too much on the third day if I tried to wait 3 days between pump changes. It is a pain because it seems I am always changing it, but also nice not to see those higher numbers.
I am very excited about this little boy but I hope he stays put for the full 40 weeks because our house is nowhere near ready for him. The bathroom is still a work in progress (more on that later). We did finally order the baby furniture (a crib, mattress, and dresser) but it is still in boxes in the dining room. I have been having those Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy which make me pretty nervous when I get a particularly powerful one, but hopefully then don’t turn into real contractions or early labor! 8 months pregnant today and hopefully 2 more to go! :)
The tests have been the same each time, once I get hooked up to the machine, the baby goes to sleep. (Maybe hearing that loud heartbeat sound puts him to sleep? Who knows?) They always leave me for the first time, come back to check on me and he hasn’t moved at all. He then gets “buzzed” by this loud buzzer to wake him up. I think next time I will just ask them to buzz him before they leave me the first time, just to save some time. :)
I think I have discovered when he really likes to move, it’s when my bladder is completely full. I guess it encroaches on his space and he starts kicking it to try to get more room. I had to go to the bathroom so bad for those last few minutes of the NST but he was moving so well, there was no way I was going to interrupt. I was thrilled to have him move when he was supposed to. He was also active for the BPP afterwards and I even got to see his eye completely open. It was kind of creepy looking but also very cool. Oh, and I don’t think I mentioned it before but on an ultrasound a few weeks ago, they showed us his boy parts again and while they were focused there, he peed! It may seem kind of weird, but Cary and I thought it was very cool. It was so crazy. You could see the little stream.
I am getting bigger and bigger and my weight gain is right about 20 pounds. Everything seems to be harder to do with all this extra weight and I am getting much more tired again. When I get really tired, I find I am starting to get that pregnant woman’s waddle. I feel like a penguin.
My diabetes has been pretty good. (It seems like every time I say this, it starts acting up, but oh well.) My insulin needs have slowly been increasing and I am currently taking a little over 50 units of Humalog a day. My highest basal rate is .85, which I use for most of the day but then I am still dropping it to .75 at night and still getting some lows on some nights. My insulin to carb ratios are 1:6 in the mornings and 1:7 the rest of the day. I am changing my pump site every two days and that has definitely helped with my numbers. I was having to correct way too much on the third day if I tried to wait 3 days between pump changes. It is a pain because it seems I am always changing it, but also nice not to see those higher numbers.
I am very excited about this little boy but I hope he stays put for the full 40 weeks because our house is nowhere near ready for him. The bathroom is still a work in progress (more on that later). We did finally order the baby furniture (a crib, mattress, and dresser) but it is still in boxes in the dining room. I have been having those Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy which make me pretty nervous when I get a particularly powerful one, but hopefully then don’t turn into real contractions or early labor! 8 months pregnant today and hopefully 2 more to go! :)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
NST (stands for Nasty Stupid Test)
So I started seeing the doctor this week for my twice a week appointments. I have NSTs (Nonstress Test) twice a week and BPPs (Biophysical Profile) once a week. This is standard practice for high risk pregnancies. Well, I kind of knew what was going to happen in the tests from what I had heard from others and researching online. An NST is basically where they hook you up to a machine and monitor the baby’s movements. The heart rate should increase when the baby moves. The BPP measures the health of your baby and is done by ultrasound.
I started with my NST at 9am. They put a strap around the top of my belly with a round monitor attached to it to monitor movement and another strap down lower with another round monitor to monitor heart rate. I was given a “clicker” to click when I felt movement. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, I figured “this kid moves all the time, this will be a breeze.” Boy was I wrong. They hooked my up and the heart rate monitor was so crappy that I had to actually push it into my belly and hold it to get a good reading….for 20 minutes…my hand was cramping. It was awful. She came back to check on me and looked at the results. She said “oh, looks like baby is sleeping.” “We’ll have to do another 5 mintues,” then proceeded to “buzz” my baby to wake him up. She left the room for another 20 minutes. She came back, looked at the test results and left the room. When she returned, she said “you’ll have to see Dr. Koontz after your BPP.” For some reason, I didn’t even ask any questions, I just sat there in stunned, scared silence. She said “we’ll have to monitor you another 10 minutes.” So we continued the fun. She returned and released me to go to my BPP.
The BPP was OK, it was basically just an ultrasound. She did try to poke at the baby to get him to move and he reluctantly kicked, but she said he was asleep. (Obviously he’s not a morning person, just like his mother). I commented that he’s really active from about 11:30pm -1am and tried to laugh it off, all the while feeling like something was wrong. She told me that everything looked fine, but I was scared she was hiding something from me and didn’t want me to freak out. I was seeing the doctor next and she would let him discuss the results with me.
I went to the waiting room to see the doctor, by this point, it was about 10:30am. I checked in and sat down. The nurse called me immediately and then said that Dr. Koontz doesn’t get in until 11am, so I would have to wait. They called me back a little after 11am and there was one appointment ahead of me. I waited in the room, trying not to freak out. He came in and said “everything is fine, they worried you for nothing.” (I love how “chill” my doctor is, it is quite comforting.) He said the BPP was perfect and the NST was fine. “No need to worry.” And that was that.
I checked out and got to the car to call Cary. When I started telling him what happened, I lost it. I started bawling. He was very supportive and said he would never miss an appointment again. I told him that was completely unrealistic as I have to go to the doctor twice a week for at least 2 hours at a time, but I did appreciate the support. :)
I have another NST on Friday, hopefully it will go better, but I doubt it. I read that the baby already has natural sleeping and waking patterns and I think those morning times are his sleep time, so this may be a problem. We’ll see. All I know is that “nonstress test” was one of the most stressFUL tests I have had…Nasty Stupid Test!
I started with my NST at 9am. They put a strap around the top of my belly with a round monitor attached to it to monitor movement and another strap down lower with another round monitor to monitor heart rate. I was given a “clicker” to click when I felt movement. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, I figured “this kid moves all the time, this will be a breeze.” Boy was I wrong. They hooked my up and the heart rate monitor was so crappy that I had to actually push it into my belly and hold it to get a good reading….for 20 minutes…my hand was cramping. It was awful. She came back to check on me and looked at the results. She said “oh, looks like baby is sleeping.” “We’ll have to do another 5 mintues,” then proceeded to “buzz” my baby to wake him up. She left the room for another 20 minutes. She came back, looked at the test results and left the room. When she returned, she said “you’ll have to see Dr. Koontz after your BPP.” For some reason, I didn’t even ask any questions, I just sat there in stunned, scared silence. She said “we’ll have to monitor you another 10 minutes.” So we continued the fun. She returned and released me to go to my BPP.
The BPP was OK, it was basically just an ultrasound. She did try to poke at the baby to get him to move and he reluctantly kicked, but she said he was asleep. (Obviously he’s not a morning person, just like his mother). I commented that he’s really active from about 11:30pm -1am and tried to laugh it off, all the while feeling like something was wrong. She told me that everything looked fine, but I was scared she was hiding something from me and didn’t want me to freak out. I was seeing the doctor next and she would let him discuss the results with me.
I went to the waiting room to see the doctor, by this point, it was about 10:30am. I checked in and sat down. The nurse called me immediately and then said that Dr. Koontz doesn’t get in until 11am, so I would have to wait. They called me back a little after 11am and there was one appointment ahead of me. I waited in the room, trying not to freak out. He came in and said “everything is fine, they worried you for nothing.” (I love how “chill” my doctor is, it is quite comforting.) He said the BPP was perfect and the NST was fine. “No need to worry.” And that was that.
I checked out and got to the car to call Cary. When I started telling him what happened, I lost it. I started bawling. He was very supportive and said he would never miss an appointment again. I told him that was completely unrealistic as I have to go to the doctor twice a week for at least 2 hours at a time, but I did appreciate the support. :)
I have another NST on Friday, hopefully it will go better, but I doubt it. I read that the baby already has natural sleeping and waking patterns and I think those morning times are his sleep time, so this may be a problem. We’ll see. All I know is that “nonstress test” was one of the most stressFUL tests I have had…Nasty Stupid Test!
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