I haven't been real great about updating this blog with actual family happenings lately so here goes. I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes at around 28 wks. I never thought it was a big deal--just don't eat sweets and that sort of thing. Not the case.
I had to go down to the hospital and take a class on what foods I am allowed to eat and what I'm not. Shocking! to say the least. And depressing. I am very bored with my diet at this stage. To sum it up quickly I'm allowed 2 servings of carbs per meal and snack (15 grams each). I get 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, 2-3 hours apart. Here's some examples of 1 serving: 1/2 a medium apple, 1/2 an english muffin, less than one slice of sandwich bread (they are usually between 17-20 g.), 1/2 c. yogurt or less. I'm not supposed to have any cereal or milk, rice, almost any sauce is a no-no, juice, chips, crackers, pretzels. The liquids I can have are water and diet soda. The only good news is that I don't have to monitor fats or proteins, so I have a lot of cheese, butter and peanut butter on things (although P.B. does have carbs in it).
I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to eat, reading labels and measuring food. I do the needle prick and check my blood sugar 4 times a day (fasting-right when I wake up, and 1 hour after each meal). I'm supposed to be below 90 at fasting and below 120 after meals. I log these numbers and then fax them to the clinic once a week. After 2 weeks of this I was put on a pill form of Insulin called Glyburide. Even with all the monitoring my body still wasn't producing enough Insulin to keep my numbers down in the normal range.
So now that I've been on the medicine it seems to be keeping me normal. But anytime a GD patient gets medicated they have to start doing non-stress tests (NST's) on the baby. So every Tuesday and Friday I check in to Labor and Delivery and go hang out in my room for an hour or two. They hook me up to a heart rate monitor and contraction monitor. The baby is supposed to have 5-6 accelerations in heartbeat within a 1/2 hour. The accelerations have to be 15 beats above resting HR for at least 15 seconds. So far this has never happened. In the last 3 weeks that I've been doing these I've only made it out of there twice in an hour. All the other times have been close to 2 hrs. This doesn't necessarily mean he's stressed, he's just kind of a mellow baby and doesn't really move too much.
Now that I'm 35 weeks I also start having regular OB check-ups once a week, and I've had other Dr.'s appts. for GD as well. I feel like I'm at some check-up or other all the time (over 4 1/2 hrs today alone). I went in for an ultrasound today to check on baby's kidneys and size. The doctor was concerned that with all the extra fluid I have it might be an indication that baby's kidneys are struggling to keep up. At the ultrasound she measured both and I am on the high end of amniotic fluid but the kidneys look perfectly healthy. The doctor warned me that if he is measuring between 5-6 lbs at this stage it is likely I'll need a C-section at full term. Apparently GD babies carry the majority of their weight in the shoulders. Often mom's go through labor, deliver the head and then get stuck, resulting in a scary, emergency section. My baby is approximately 7.8 lbs already and I have 5 wks to go!!! But I guess I'm a tricky case because I've already delivered three 9 lb. babies just fine. The ultrasound tech today said this baby looks like a football player with his broad shoulders and big hands. Perfect! Just what I wanted to hear. After my ultrasound I went to the hospital for an NST. Two hours later they called the doctor in because baby wasn't responding like he should (they have a buzzer that they put up next to baby's head and try to get him to react. They did this about 12 times to poor baby today). Doctor watched baby and said he's fine. We talked about the results of the ultrasound and she said she'll put me on the schedule for a C-section on June 25th (due date). If I go into labor on my own before then (as in dilated past 5 and fully effaced, with major contractions. Anything less is not going to get me anywhere.) I can try to deliver naturally. If I don't go into labor before 39 1/2 weeks I'm going to have a C-section. Even if I go into labor 3 days before due date it'll be too close and she'll suggest a C-section.
These past 6 wks have been very frustrating and stressful, for lots of reasons. I am grateful, however that we live close to family and have such wonderful friends too. I feel completely loved and looked after by all the friends and family who check up on me all the time and offer their help. I feel very confident in my doctor this time around (which I didn't with Stetson's doctor), and I trust that she'll choose whatever is safest for me and the baby. I'm SO grateful I have not had to deal with medical/health issues in past pregnancies, or anytime really. I have never realized how frustrating it is to do everything your doctor tells you to and have your body not keep up. And I would consider my case fairly mild!
I was thinking during the ultrasound today how amazing it is that I get to peak at what this little guy looks like. I love seeing babies in ultrasounds. I love that he has the same profile as all my other kids-- round cheeks and perfect lips. We are all getting so excited to see him soon and have another sweet baby to love on. A month or two ago I didn't know whether we'd have another baby or not, but now I'm fairly certain this is the last one for us so I try not to complain too much and just enjoy each stage because its probably my last. Hopefully everything will go as smooth as we hope for and before you know it I'll have another hefty little boy to brag all about :-)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Baby Kemery
Here's a sneak peak at Kemery's photo shoot. I picked some of my favorites to edit first so Lea could have some for a birth announcement. Half of these were when Kemery was just 3 or 4 days old (a teeny 6 lb baby!!!) and the other half she was a couple weeks old (still teeny tiny!).
Little Owen
I had been looking for a nice green field with wild flowers (preferable Poppy's)
for quite a while and I finally found one. I took these pics of Owen (who just turned 1)
a few weeks ago and went back to the same spot to take my kids pictures there too.
I just love the feel of them. Owen's big sis was eager to be my
light control subject. I've taken these kids pictures before and Ellie always looks
darling, even if she has messy hair and a normal outfit. It totally fit
with the background.
If these were my kids I think this picture would be my favorite!
This was on an old train and he was quite a bit higher than his mom and me.
It made him a little nervous:)
He's a very happy baby and had no trouble smiling at all. That's always so nice.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Easter and Spring break
Over Spring break we couldn't make it back to Utah with the rest of the family and our
kids were TICKED!!! So we hopped in the truck with Dad and went
to Pismo Beach instead. Let me just say this . . . free does not always equal worth it.
Sure we had fun, but we are all too big to squeeze into a truck for anything
more than around town. The 6+ hr. trip was torture for everyone.
Next time we're taking my car where everyone has more leg-room and their
own headset so that all I have to hear is "Movie's over!"
Pismo Pier was RIDICULOUSLY windy! The kind that makes your ears hurt
Sketty was NOT going to step on a crack, no matter what!
When we got home from Pismo we had a few hours to recover and then early Saturday morning we started a super long day. First off - the annual Fire Dept. hunt.
This little chum wanted nothing to do with the eggs. I could not convince him to even pick one up or open it or anything. He did like the fire truck though.
Pretty sure these boys would've spent most of the day on the truck as well
He was hilarious with the Easter Bunny. Wouldn't look at it. Wouldn't cry--but didn't want anything to do with it. He just about climbed out of Tanner's arms when he tried to get too close.
After the first egg hunt we went home to dye eggs of our own. Best idea I ever had was doing them in the garage. Don't know why I haven't done that in the past but it was much less stressful.
I probably don't need to explain this one. He's almost 2, there's a bunch of things within reach that he can spill and/or break, he has nothing else to do . . . . I think you can figure out what that look is:-)
She has a little bit of her mom in her, she takes decorating things quite seriously:)
After dyeing our own eggs we headed out to Coloma and had another hunt. We just found out about this one and it was really fun for all the kids. But which ones aren't fun?
He was talking to Hudson like "What are we doing here Huddy?"
Oh, Look who the cheaters are....Bryson, Cole, Claire, Brynn .... all over the line with egg in hand before the whistle went off:)
He started off running and then the hill started...
... and now we're walking ... and huffing and puffing ....
After the egg hunt we walked all over Coloma and did a bunch of Geocaching with Scott and Sueanne's family. It was hot and tiring but everyone had a great time. Then we went to Grandma Connie's house for an early dinner and ANOTHER hunt. I didn't get any pictures of that because Mike and Nancy were down from Spokane and I was inside getting adjusted most of the time. Oh how I love when Uncle Mike comes to visit :)
Sunday after church we went to Grandma Meinzer's house for dinner and yet another hunt. The kids like doing real eggs over here but we still couldn't get Sketty interested in them.
I love Brynn and Sketty's faces in this picture. Makes me smile.
I think Pismo and all our egg hunts made up for not going to Utah. The kids had two weeks off and it seemed to go pretty quickly. I can't really remember what we did but it was nice to sleep in, that I know! I'm actually excited that they have less than a month of school left until summer. Then its lots of sleeping in and no making lunches. Can't wait for that.
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