Today I had my first fetal monitoring and I learned to give myself my insulin injections. I also had about a billion questions answered and we even identified the baby's pediatrician. Whew! A busy and productive day!
Fetal monitoring is a breeze. They let me sit in a big, comfy recliner with a couple of monitors hooked to my belly. They keep track of the baby's heartbeat and movement for 20 minutes. They said they were looking for at least two periods of activity from the baby and, during that activity, his heartbeat should speed up. During the session, our little one moved 10 times and his heart rate was perfect. Look at me, already the proud mommy.
Learning to inject insulin into my belly was less breezy. Yes, in the belly. I stupidly asked how I was going to avoid jabbing the baby. I didn't think about how much other "stuff" is between the outside of me and the outside of the baby. I mean, there's fat and muscle and the uterus....plenty of padding so he's in no danger. I felt very silly until they told me that almost all mommies ask this same question.
I knew that they would talk me through how to do the injections but I was wondering how they would really be able to teach me to do it if I wasn't supposed to have the insulin until before I go to bed. It seemed logical that I would have to give myself a shot right there. The answer is that they made me inject saline. I have to say that I am still creeped out by the entire process and I'm not looking forward to doing it again. But it will be fine. I'm sure I'll get used to it. (This is me convincing myself that this is no big deal. Humor me here, people.)
The baby's pediatrician is known as "Dr. P" because her last name is virtually unpronounceable. I was super happy to find out that my insurance does cover her. So that's one more thing to check off of our "to do before the baby is born" list.
The ultrasound we had scheduled next week needed to be rescheduled. Marion said next week was too soon. So now it is scheduled for the 16th. Cat and I still plan to tour the birthing suite on the 4th.
In other news, my last day of work is tomorrow! YAY! Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to do with a whole month before the baby is born. Between the 80 zillion appointments and the nesting instinct that is starting to kick in, I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself busy.
Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to regulate my blood sugar with diet and exercise. The problem is my morning, fasting glucose levels which are far too high. Because my fasting level is high, the two hours after breakfast level is usually high. My afternoon levels are good.
So the bad news is that I have to start insulin injections. The good news is that I only have to do ONE at night before I go to bed. So it could be much worse. Because I have to go on insulin, I will require fetal monitoring. I'll be going to the doctor's office twice weekly rather than once weekly.
My next appointment is Thursday. I'll be going to a class to learn how to give myself injections, then I'll go to my first fetal monitoring session, then I have my appointment with Marion.
I'm sooooo glad that Friday is my last day of work.
Saturday marked week 35 for our little one. Baby Center says, "Your baby's getting big." To which I say, "DUH!" I swear that he's going to walk out of there, fully dressed and wearing shoes, ready for the first grade spelling bee. According to Baby Center, the baby weighs a tad over 5 pounds and is just over 18 inches long. That's average, anyway.
We are very close to being ready for this baby to arrive. We are waiting for the changing table we ordered to arrive. Once it is here, we'll get the shelves and artwork hung in the nursery. We also spent a ton of money (thanks to many generous gift certificates) at Babies R Us this weekend and I think the only thing left to buy that we really MUST have is diapers.
In other exciting news, this is my last week of work before going on maternity leave. Woohoo!!!!
Baby Center says, "Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is probably almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which he'll need to regulate his body temperature once he's born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His central nervous system is still maturing and his lungs are well developed by now. If you've been nervous about going into preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that 99 percent of babies this age can survive outside the womb — and most have no major long-term problems related to prematurity."
They also say that I may be feeling fatigued. Boy, ain't that the truth. I haven't been this tired since...well, since the first trimester. Fortunately, I've only got two weeks left of work before beginning my maternity leave. That should help.
I went to the Gestational Diabetes clinic on Wednesday and learned how to test my blood glucose. I also met with a dietician to see what I should be eating. The biggest challenge has been how frequently I need to eat. Well, that and actually planning the meals ahead of time. Testing my blood glucose is simple and doesn't hurt as bad as I had expected. My fingers are definitely sore but, for some reason, I thought it would be worse. Still, I absolutely HATE this and I will be glad when it goes away.
The baby seems to be doing well. His kick counts are still good. He typically moves 10 times in about as many minutes. He's a very active little guy. We'll have another ultrasound at 38 weeks to see how big he has grown. I'll be going to weekly appointments from here on out.
By the way, did I mention that I'm supposed to get my braces off? I have an appointment scheduled for August 11th to get them off. The big joke around the office is that getting the braces removed will probably send me into labor. I really hope not! Although that would be a funny story to tell him later.
Baby Center says, " Your baby now weighs about 4 1/4 pounds and is approximately 17 inches long. Your baby should already be getting ready for delivery by turning upside-down."
I also read somewhere that his pupils will dilate now if light was shined in his eye. That's this week's "odd fact" as I don't know how (or why) you'd do that.
I had my second baby shower today hosted by my friend Michele. Again, we struck the mother load. We got a TON of clothes and some fabulous toys. We also got some of the things we needed that we registered for (like the Pack and Play and the baby bathtub). We are not totally ready for our little one's arrival but we are getting close.
I think Cat's favorite gift for the baby is probably the little San Francisco Giants outfit complete with baseball cap. We also got a lot more gift cards so we'll be doing some serious shopping at some point.
I'm still feeling pretty good. I've noticed that past few nights that getting in and out of bed and rolling over from one side to another has become a challenge of the grandest scale. It may be time to bring in the crane.
Well, I failed my glucose test. I'm extraordinarily bummed out about this. As Marion said, "This is going to make your pregnancy a giant pain in the ass." I love Marion.
So the next thing to happen will be that I will go to a gestational diabetes class next week. There they will teach me how to use my blood sugar monitor. I'm not looking forward to that at all because it apprently involves several sharp and painful jabs to my fingers every day.
My fasting glucose was ok which leads Marion to believe that I will likely be successful at managing this with diet and excercise. If not, I'll have to give myself insulin shots. I'm told that those don't hurt as bad as the testing does.
My eating habits will need to change. Not so much in what I've been eating (because I've been eating pretty healthy stuff) but in that I will need to make sure that I eat at regular intervals. This can be tough to do at work but because I don't fancy giving myself insulin shots, I will make it happen.
The baby is not in danger as long as my blood sugar levels are under control. Babies born to moms with uncontrolled gestational diabetes tend to be very large. That can cause all sorts of difficulties for both mom and baby during the birth.
When I first got my results, I felt horribly guilty and asked Marion what I had done wrong. She assured me that there was nothing I could have done or not done to change the outcome. It just means that my pancreas can't keep up with the added stress of supporting a pregnancy.
Stupid pancreas.
Everything else checked out great. The baby's kick counts are very good. Marion declared my belly "all baby" today which made me happy. I mean, she could have said it was "part baby and part what-the-heck-have-you-been-eating".
According to my Baby Center update, Embry is nearly 4 pounds and 17 inches (or somewhere around there).
On Tuesday I go back in to repeat my glucose test. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go to the lab this time. I am totally dreading it. I don't know why. I mean, what's more fun than twitchy phlebotomists with giant horse needles?Then on Wednesday I have another follow up appointment and I'll find out then how I did on my test.
I've already started to get my paperwork in order for my maternity leave. My last day will be somewhere between July 30th and August 13th depending on how I am doing.
I'm stunned by how quickly the baby is growing. It seems like I wake up with one belly and go to bed with an entirely different (much larger) one. I've been a little tired, I have horrible heartburn, and I think it must be at least 200 degrees in this house. Still, I feel much better than I had expected to feel at this point.
I'll post again after my appointment on Wednesday to give everyone an update.