Ultrasound results

The ultrasound went well. My little one is currently about 4lbs 3oz and in the 71st percentile. Allthough the midwife will not change my due date since it is only a guess anyway the u/s machine puts me due on 1/10/07 rather than 1/19/07. He is looking good an healthy and will probably have long legs like his daddy. We got to see his cute chubby little face for a second too - I can't wait to meet him for real! His living space is starting to get cramped (as is to be expected) but he is head down already so that is one less thing we have to worry about (i.e. gee I hope this kid ain't breech). All in all he is measuring just over a week ahead. Some of his measurements are more than that (like his legs) but most are about the 1 week mark (none less than one week ahead). I won't post the pics because they are pretty hard to decipher and not really all that exciting but we got a couple profiles that were 'squished' because of the angle he was lying and because he is head down and we got one of his foot and one more just to make sure it really is a a boy (and uh, yeah, nothing has changed there).
So, things are starting to look a bit better. We meet with Donna, our midwife today to have our bi-weekly appt. and go over everything since our last visit (diabetes, utlrasound, etc.).

Now Boarding the Glucose Testing Train

The meeting with Andrea at my midwife's office went well. She taught me the basics of what diabetes is and how to manage it with diet and exercise. I will have to test my glucose levels four times a day - once in the morning and one hour after breakfast lunch and dinner. Not fun but since I've been pierced and tattoed it's not that big of a deal, plus if I can't handle this I've got a REAL surprise in store for childbirth! It sounds fairly simple. I figure it will take a couple of days for my levels to get to where they should be as I learn what does and does not work for me diet-wise. Hopefully that's all there will be to it.
If I can't get my levels under control with diet I will have to take an oral form of insulin to help. Then we adjust the dose and if that does not work we add insulin via injection. Hopefully it will never get that far!
So, here's to hoping for some nice low readings!

But I KNOW my own veins...

Sooo here is a little update on how things have been going. Little drama here and there but so far all is well.

On Monday the 6th I was driving home from the video store...at a stop light (thank god) I started to get lightheaded and dizzy, then my arms went numb and my vision started to close in. I took a deep breath and things were ok. I drove home still feeling a little lightheaded (only a few blocks). After dinner when the feeling did not subside we decided to call our nurse hotline provided by my insurance company. As predicted they told us to go to the emergency room (they tell you to do this with anything more complicated than a hangnail). I thought it was a bit extream so I decided to call the on-call midwife and see what she had to say...she also said to go to the ER since she couldn't diagonse anything specifically pregnancy related and preggo's get sick just like everyone else, basically better safe than sorry.
So off to the ER we went with books in hand because we have done this before...we only had to wait 3 hours to be seen (right around 11pm). They put me in a bed and gave me a gown...Oh yes it was 29degrees outside at the time...none too warm...I got the room that everyone who works there said 'it's always so cold in this room' - just what I wanted to hear since I had been given my nice thick plush warm gown HA! Anyway they took some blood and urine to be checked and then hooked me up to the bloodpressure/pulse dealy. They got a doppler and checked Jake's heart rate which looked fabulous. And I told them no less than 4 times that no I am not cramping/leaking/or having any sort of 'vaginal complaints.' Then they ran some more fun blood pressure tests (laying, sitting, standing) and determined that my bloodpressure kept dropping when I changed positions and that I was 'a little dehydrated' -basically not enough for concern but because I'm pregnant so they decided to do something about it...which was to give me an IV. That would have been fine, except the nurse totally brushed me off when I told her that I have small, rolling veins. I understand that she does this day in and day out and is probably really good at it most of the time, but damnit I know my own body and have given up enough blood to know how my veins react to the proceedure. So she stuck me, missed the vein, pushed the needle in, pulled it back swung it around under the skin and finally decided that the crook of my arm just wasn't a good spot. So we got to get stuck again in the wrist area with only mild pushing/pulling/digging. She got the vein but I don't think it was in right because the damn thing hurt and I am pretty sure they are not supposed to hurt. Then they hooked me up to the fluid bag and let 'er rip - that stuff was FREEZING cold...it actually started to burn it was so cold on the spot where the tube was against my arm. I started to shiver pretty badly and eventually someone brought me a blanket. The best part was when the blood pressure cuff turned on and started to take my bp...it squeezed so dang hard that I was able to see the blood back out of my vein and climb up the IV tube several feet (I understand physics and that this was expected to some extent but it was a LOT and VERY painful). Once I was done with fluids I got to get unplugged and use the bathroom (I was dying because they loaded the whole bag into me in just under 40 minutes). Then they finally unhooked me and sent me home telling me to follow up with my midwife as there was nothing abnormal in my blood or urine....We got home about 3:30AM so we took Tuesday off for some much needed rest.
Wednedsay I got a call around 9am from the midwife to see if I could meet with her at 11 (I had tried to get in on Tuesday when I was already off work but wouldn't ya know it, life just ain't that convienent). So I took off from work and we headed over there. The results of the meeting were that I am no longer allowed to work overtime, I need to eat more protein, and I got to take my GD test and other bloodwork that day. She measured me and decided to order another ultrasound because I think I am measuring large. We talked about maybe needing to induce 2 weeks early - if the induction doesn't 'take' we may have to schedule a c-section. yipee. Soooo over to the lab we go and I get to have some really really orange syrup to drink (oh yea, can't wait to do THAT again), wait an hour and have my blood drawn.
I got my results from that test that evening and my numbers were high, so I had to do the 3hr glucose challenge...I spoke with the nurse on Friday and asked here if there was anything I needed to do in order to take the test...she said I could just walk right into the outpatient lab and they would do it and I would have to fast beforehand. So I had dinner on Friday night and nothing afterward. We got up Saturday morning and my husband had the foresight to see if they had called in the lab orders or not (of course they had not). So we called the midwife's office to see if they were open but they were not...we has the on/call paged and fortunately it was my midwife who was on call. I told her I could do it another day but wanted to try to do it since I had already been fasting and the test takes a lot of time out of the workday. She was kind and called in the order and we headed on down to the lab...Another blood draw and some waiting for the results. Then they gave me another one of those YUMMY orange drinks (looks like I didn't have to wait to long after all - and have I mentioned my stomach does not do orange when it's empty? So we got to sit and ride the nice waves o' nausea). We waited an hour and had blood drawn again. Then we waited another hour and had a 3rd blood draw and then one hour later had our last blood draw. I requested they call me with the results (I think I only had to tell her 3 times that yes, I understand you can only give me the numbers, not what they mean...) and went and got food.
Later that evening they called me with the numbers...of course I had no clue but after some internet research it looks like I may have failed that test too...JOY.
I called them on Monday and they said I had in fact failed the 3hr test and that I am a gestational diabetic. She said she'd call in my perscription for my testing equipment to the pharmacy and we set up and appt. for me to learn how to use it all.
Of course by the time I had gotten to the pharmacy that evening they had not yet called in the perscription so I get to make a seperate trip. But I only sorta look like a heroine addict now with all of the needle marks in my arms...thankfully it's sweater season...

Lots of fun...up for this weekend and next week: Saturday I have my baby shower - YAY! This shoudl be fun and a nice bright part of the week. Then all week my boss is on vacation so I am running the call center by myself wich should be totally do-able if not a little hectic. I have to leave early of course because I am limited to no more than eight hours a day. I'll leave a little earlier on Tuesday to meet with the nurse to teach me about the diabetes. On Wednesday we'll have an ultrasound (I can't wait to see him again)! Thursday I have my office baby shower (another highpoint in the week) and then I leave early again to meet with my midwife to go over everything. It's going to be busy!