24 week appointment

Well I had my 24 week + 3 day appointment on Monday. I know 24 weeks is not the magic number everyone who has picture perfect pregnancies thinks it is. Your baby is not suddenly "viable" and "going to be just fine" if you hit 24 weeks. HOWEVER, this is 2 weeks farther than I made it last time so it was a milestone for me. Of course I plan on keeping him in longer, but it is the first milestone as they will actually now try to treat him as well as me.

The appointment started off with an u/s. It is funny that I confessed to the hubby after the u/s that I am still worried every ultrasound we go to. Right when the overhead monitor comes on I check for a heartbeat. Then, they give me a hard copy of the report on my way out. I LOVE that. I don't need to wait until I see the doctor to see how he is measuring, how the blood flow from the placenta is all that good stuff! Of course when it is not good, like last pregnancy, it really sucks to go and hand the report to your doctor yourself- but when things are good it is a great reassurance. Baby boy is huge! Weight guestimate was 1 lb 14 ounces , with the error range was 1 lb 10 ounces - 2 lbs 2 ounces. He is in the 94th percentile. Placenta is working properly right now and is providing proper blood flow to the baby (impaired blood flow can be a HUGE problem in pre-eclampsia). So Yippee!

The doctor did tell me during the appointment I can have another 2 weeks off before coming back in - but he thinks at 26 weeks we will be increasing my medication. My blood pressure is slowly starting to rise along with the amount of protein in my urine - nothing to worry about yet - but something to watch.

For the first time ever, I had to do the gestation diabetes screening. I was actually a little excited I was far enough in my pregnancy to do the horrid test! I warned my hubby I would probably fail the 1 hour and need to do the 3 hour. I figured that out because I have had slightly above normal fasting blood sugar readings a couple times in the past- no where near diabetic level - but I still figured I would need to do the more in depth test. The orange flavored drink was not as bad as I was warned - thank goodness! It did leave a nasty after-taste but at least I wasn't gagging.

We left the hospital and I decided to be bad. We went and got coffee and doughnuts - and I had caffeinated coffee and a very sugary doughnut.... O.K. TWO very sugary doughnuts :) They were delicious. We got home and I crashed from a combined INSANE sugar high from the glucose drink and doughnut combo and the slight caffeine buzz. It was bad! I woke up 2 hours later, actually in a drool puddle, with a pounding headache :/

Then hubby and I went food shopping and when we got home he sent me right back to bed rest. My ankles had tripled in size and he made me look at them and remember them so the next time I ask if I should go back to work he is going to make me remember my giant ankles and legs (pitting edema is loosely associated in pre-eclampsia and was my first major indicator something was wrong last time. I have pretty bad pitting now - if you press lightly against my shins with an index finger it leaves a deep "dent" that lasts for about 10 minutes).

At this time I realized my phone was vibrating and that I missed a phone call from my doctor's office at noon. Noon? - I just left there at 10:20! Turns out I did fail the one hour blood glucose test -and instead of needing the 3-hour for a gestational diabetes diagnosis - my failure was so bad I was diagnosed right then :( Normal readings are a blood glucose level below 140. 140-199 requires the 3- hour glucose tolerance test. Above 200 is diagnostic. Mine was a 208!!!

I met with the gestational diabetes team yesterday - conveniently they are located in the same main office as my MFM. I met with a dr. who told me it is very likely I will need insulin at night to lower my blood sugars when I sleep. I am trying the diet for a week first - and hopefully I will avoid needing insulin before every meal. I'll still need to follow the diet if I need insulin - so I hope I can JUST do the diet to keep things under control. I met with a nurse who showed me how to do the finger sticks and get my blood glucose levels - which I do 4 times a day now. One right when I wake up, and 1 hour after each main meal. Then I met with a dietician who gave me my "carb allotment" for the day. It's not too bad - and of course I will stick to it 100% - but I really didn't need another complication.

Exercise can usually lower blood glucose - but when I am on my feet for too long the swelling comes back. I have been trying to walk around the house and do housework for the 20 minutes after eating meals. It is taking some playing around to figure what I can eat and when - but so far my morning numbers are terrible. Fasting should be <90.>

Because of this I am now adding my complication box a.k.a. Road with Sprout - on my page. There has been so many of them. Now this GD diagnosis makes it so it will take longer for baby to have mature lungs , but he is still likely to be pre-mature due to pre-eclampsia striking again.

Well - we WILL BOTH survive these complications and working this hard for the little boy - we will certainly appreciate him that much more!