Baby Update

Well, I went in for my 5th "full" ultrasound today. I've had many other ultrasounds checking my fluid twice a week as well when I go in for non stress tests on the baby. Anyway, the baby is measuring at 6 lbs. 11 oz. already and they told me to expect her to keep gaining about 1/2 lb per week which will put the baby at 8-9 lbs. if I keep my scheduled induction date for Feb. 26th. The doctor said that weight was fine since the baby would still be one of my smallest and I seem to have no problem delivering them big.

I really liked the maternal fetal medicine doctor I saw today, whom I hadn't seen yet. She actually explained to me some things I hadn't previously been told. She mentioned that they don't want me going past 39 weeks because gestational diabetic babies risk being stillborn, which freaked me out. Also, she told me that if my sugar levels get all crazy like they did with Emery then I also may still have to get an amnio done and deliver the baby even earlier. She said that they would rather risk delivering the baby early without fully developed lungs than have a stillborn. She said, they can fix undeveloped lungs in the NICU. She also said there is a risk that after the baby is born the baby starts producing her own insulin in addition to what she got from me and her sugar levels could bottom out and she could go into a seizure. So, I'm a little paranoid now, if I wasn't before. I kind of wish I didn't know all this new information. I appreciated the doctor being up front with me, she was very personable and informative, even though it was scary to hear. She also basically told me I was made to have "little fatties" I guess, which lightened the mood a little.

After my ultrasound and NST I met with the nurse from the diabetic clinic and she said my sugar levels were great and that they wouldn't be changing anything I did this week. This was a miracle, because every week I have had to change my meal plan, or up my insulin, or something. I expressed concern though because I would eat basically the exact same meal all week long and be fine except for the last two days I spiked way high after eating. Then, before lunch, my sugars would drop way low and would physically affect me. They said not to worry about it and that as long as I was averaging 150 for the day and not consecutively getting high readings that I should be ok. It has been frustrating to be doing what they tell me and still get weird results. They told me that it's normal and that sometimes the placenta will just produce more, or I could be stressed, or not feel good, or exercise too much and that would create my weird readings. So, basically I sometimes have no control over my sugar levels. They told me that is why I have to see them so much in the last trimester because gestational diabetes is the worst then. I'm hoping to keep things as normal as I can and hopefully make it 4 more weeks and that everything is ok with the baby.

Hope I did not bore you to tears with stuff you didn't understand or didn't want to know. This blog is also my journal, so sometimes you may have to suffer through a post now and then like this one.