13-1-2009 - Third Trimester with Darwin - Part 1

My mood while writing this blog: same

March 18th, 2008

01:03 pm: 27 weeks, 2 days
There's some controversy over when the third trimester officially starts. Some say 27 weeks, some say 28. Fuck those that say 28. I'm in my third trimester! :)

03:51 pm: 27 weeks, 2 days
My one hour glucose test came back at a whopping 275. Anything over 130 is considered abnormal. I go in Friday for the fasting 3 hour insulin resistance test. The nurse told me to prepare myself because with the incredibly high number I got on the one hour test, I probably do have gestational diabetes. If I do, I will have to see a diabetic counselor that will set me up with a diet and teach me how and when to test my sugar. They have insulin pills I can take to control my sugar if need be, so I shouldn't have to do injections even if it is severe. I'm really bummed.

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March 23rd, 2008

09:29 pm: 28 weeks
I took the 3 hour glucose test on Friday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it still sucked. I had a fasting glucose taken (nothing, not even water after midnight, SO THIRSTY!) and then drank the sugar solution. The nurse was nice enough to set me up with a bed and pillow so I napped between blood draws. I had a blood draw after drinking the glucose drink at 1 hour, 2 hours, and 3 hours. I will find out tomorrow if I passed. Staci is with my nurse and isn't very optimistic that I passed considering how high my 1 hr glucose test level was. I am really REALLY hoping they are wrong!

Afterwards, I was pretty hungry and weak. My stomach wasn't really right all day. I finally felt better in the evening.

Dad spent the weekend. We had a really good time, but I had to let him know that he wouldn't be able to stay again for quite a while. I have plans every weekend in April and I don't want company overnight in May or June because I don't want to have to worry about somebody being here if I go into labor. I want it to be just Richard and I at home if it happens when I am home. This is because I want to labor at home as long as I can handle it, so I don't want anyone around that hasn't seen me at my absolute worst. Richard has. He's about it.

I want to mail the baby shower invitations by Tuesday. I still need some addresses, but I am going to call my aunt Mary tomorrow to get them.

I am also starting to really work on my birth plan. I'm really hoping that I will be able to get this fleshed out within the next two or three weeks. I'm starting to feel so stressed out. There is so much to do!

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March 26th, 2008

01:22 pm: 28 weeks, 3 days
OK, so a lot has transpired in the three days since I last posted.

I found out yesterday that I definitely DO have gestational diabetes. At some point I am going to meet with a dietitian to learn how to manage it.

I got the baby shower invitations in the mail yesterday. It took a lot of work, but I got it done and hopefully the shower will be a success...

Richard and I started looking idly at houses in Lafayette and found one we really like. We are going to view it tomorrow after work. We had a big talk last night as to what it would mean for us if we did decide to move to Lafayette. Richard would continue to work in Indy and I would also until Darwin was born. At that point, I would stay home with Darwin during the day and get a part time evening job to supplement Richard's income. I don't love that idea, but it would be worth it in the long run to be able to take care of Darwin myself. I doubt any of this will happen, but we thought we should discuss it just in case.

That's about all. Isn't that enough? I've been really feeling stressed this week. Gee, I wonder why? :)

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March 27th, 2008

03:49 pm: 28 weeks, 4 days

I had my checkup this morning. Here is what I found out...

* Darwin is healthy. He's the right size (at least from what they can tell just measuring my belly) and his heart rate is perfect at 140bpm.

* If my gestational diabetes is able to be controlled by my diet alone, I will be treated as though my pregnancy is totally normal. If I end up having to take medication, they will have me deliver at 38 weeks. They will do an ultrasound at 36 weeks either way to determine if he is too big to deliver vaginally. If he is too big, I will have a scheduled c-section.

* My incredible itching could be due to dry skin. To rule that out, I am supposed to use a humidifier while I sleep and slather myself in lotion at least twice a day. If I'm still itching in two weeks, they are going to check my bile acid levels for a rare condition that causes severe itching.

* My blood pressure is borderline. So far, it is still in the normal range, but my OB warned me that it will probably be high before Darwin is born. She is going to keep a close eye on that.

I went to the maternal-fetal medicine doctor's office to see if I could schedule my diabetes appointment and they said they have to review my chart with a dietitian before they can schedule me. They are supposed to call today or tomorrow to schedule an appointment. They will have a dietitian meet with me and teach me the diet and show me how to test my blood. I will track my sugar levels for two weeks and fax them my results. After two weeks, I will meet with the maternal-fetal medicine doctor to discuss whether they feel that my diabetes can be controlled by diet alone or if I need medication. They will also do an ultrasound to see if the baby is growing and progressing normally. That is all I know so far.

10:30 pm: 28 weeks, 4 days
Richard and I went to look at a house in Lafayette tonight. It is a beautiful house. I love it. We have another we are looking at on Saturday, but I'm really very excited about the one we saw tonight. Excited enough to begin the process of getting pre-approved for a mortgage. If we moved to Lafayette, it would change everything in our lives. Richard would be commuting back and forth to Indy and I would probably find a different job in Lafayette. I am nervous about all the changes, but we could probably afford for me to work part time in Lafayette so that I would be able to spend more time with Darwin. That is so important to me that I would give up anything to make it work.

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March 28th, 2008

03:34 pm: 28 weeks, 5 days
The maternal-fetal medicine people finally contacted me. I have to attend a diabetes education class on Wednesday, April 2nd from 12:30pm to 2:30pm. They will teach me how to eat and how to test my sugar. Then I have an ultrasound with the maternal-fetal specialist on April 17th at 9am to see how big Darwin is. I am really nervous. I hope it all goes well!

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March 30th, 2008

06:42 pm: Week 29
Another week done! Now I'm only 11 weeks from my due date and possibly only 9 weeks from delivery if they induce me early. I have the hospital bag almost packed and the diaper bag is really close too. I am getting so excited!

We are still working on the house hunt process. We are going to try to get pre-approved for a loan tomorrow and we go to Lafayette on Tuesday night to look at the two houses we are trying to decide between. Our realtor says that we should get the answer about whether or not we are approved for a loan the same day we initiate the process, so by the end of the day tomorrow we should know if we are about to purchase a home or if we are doing some serious wishful thinking. I really hope that it works out. I would hate to leave my job, but I would love to be closer to friends and family with little Darwin.

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April 1st, 2008

02:28 am: 29 weeks, 2 days
I'm wide awake in the middle of the night yet again. This has become a common occurrence for me. Where I used to wake up in a sleep-induced coma and go potty, stumble back to bed and fall right to sleep, now I itch. So I scratch. And after 15 minutes of scratching, I usually need to get up for something else, be it tissues or going potty yet again or taking Tums. Then I start the trying to sleep process over again. Itch. Itch. Itch. Ahhhh! And then I start realizing I'm hungry. I try to ignore it, but within 10 minutes it goes from being a little hungry to absolutely starving. So I get up again and while I'm eating I may as well go online and look around... So that's how I end up here night after night.

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April 3rd, 2008

07:07 am: 29 weeks, 4 days
I had my diabetes education class yesterday. It was mostly stuff I already knew, but they actually taught me how to test my sugar and the dietitian part was very useful. Testing my sugar is way easier than I thought it would be. I hardly even feel the finger prick. So far, my glucose levels have been pretty good. I can eat as much meat and non-starchy veggies as I want, so I don't have to be afraid that I will starve. I don't think this will be as difficult as I originally thought. Oh, and the dietitian says I CAN have diet soda! YAY!

I am supposed to start testing my ketones too, which basically equates to peeing on a test strip every morning. I haven't been to the pharmacy to pick up my strips yet, so I didn't do it this morning.

I am faxing over our loan paperwork this morning. I can't believe we are so close to owning a house!

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April 4th, 2008

02:08 am: 29 weeks, 5 days
I was tired and not feeling very well when I got home from work, so I made a colossal mistake and decided to lay down. I slept from 8 to 11 and then got up and visited with Richard until 12:30. I tried to sleep and couldn't, so here I at at 2am wide awake. I can't get my mind to shut off. I've been worrying about work once I have Darwin. I don't want to leave him in daycare 10 hours a day while I commute back and forth to Indy. I really don't want to leave him in daycare at all. So I'm weighing my options. I have to work. I can't afford not to. So then the issue becomes, how will I make it happen on my own terms? I thought about asking Mark to watch Darwin for hopefully not too much money while I commute to Indy until I find something local. The other option is that Staci has mentioned creating our own daycare. The idea is appealing to me, but I don't know how practical it is. I guess we would need to do some serious research. The third idea was to get a job in the evenings so I could stay home with Darwin during the day and Richard could be with him in the evening. I don't mind the idea of getting an evening job in theory, but nothing I could get would pay anywhere near what I make now and I wouldn't want to do it full-time, so that makes the income even less. I'm stressing over this more than I should. I need to talk to Staci about the daycare idea to see if she was serious. If not, then I need to talk to Mark and Staci about working out a deal with Mark for taking care of Darwin, if he's even willing. I'm hoping that it will all work out...

04:11 pm: 29 weeks, 5 days
I called my nurse this morning about the itching. She called me back and left me a message telling me to come in as soon as I got the message. So Richard and I head to the doctor. I go in, thinking they will just draw blood. Instead, they take me back to an exam room. I realize that my OB has rearranged her schedule to see me. So at this point I'm getting worried. The OB comes in and talks to me about the itching and explains that she had me come in just as a precaution to make sure Darwin wasn't in distress. She measured my belly and listened to the heartbeat and Darwin is totally fine. She explained to me that she wants to check my bile acid levels just to make sure I don't have ICP (intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy). It will take a week or more for the results to come back, but in the meantime they want to monitor Darwin weekly to make sure he's okay. So I am supposed to keep my appointment for next Friday. I am worried about Darwin. I really want him to be okay.

A few weeks ago I had a dream that I had to have a c-section and I started hemorraging so badly that they had to remove my uterus. At first I was like, oh well, no more periods. Then it occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to have any more children and I was totally devastated. I hope that this isn't all leading in that direction. I love Darwin and want him to be okay more than anything, but I also really want to be able to have one or two more after Darwin. I hope that whatever power there is running this crazy world will see it fit to make this all work out for Richard and me.

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April 6th, 2008

06:59 pm: 30 WEEKS!
I'm 3/4 of the way there! I'm so incredibly excited to meet my little guy!

Richard and I went to our first half of the child birthing class yesterday. I'm glad we went because if we hadn't, I'd be wondering if there were something important that was discussed that I missed. There really wasn't anything important. I knew just about everything they talked about. I still think it was a good idea to go, though and I still plan on going to the second half next Saturday.

The itching is getting worse all the time. I can't wait to get my bile acid results back to find out if that is an issue. If so, I really want to get treated. Even if it doesn't make the itch much better, I would like to know that Darwin is being protected if something is wrong.

I bought a dress today for my baby shower. I had to order it because they only had up to a large size in the store and I needed an XL. At least they are shipping it to me for free!

Ronnie says that she has gotten 25 RSVP's for the shower. That's as of Friday and that is half of the total number of invites! Richard found out today that his mom, grandma, and aunt still haven't RSVP'ed either, so that's three more that are definitely coming. I can't wait! I just want to see everyone and visit and hopefully have a fun, stress-free day!

Stay put, little Darwin! We're almost there!

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April 7th, 2008

08:55 pm: 30 weeks, 1 day
I can't wait to get the results of my bloodwork. I'm itching so badly and it is interfering with my ability to rest at night. It keeps getting worse. I'm getting concerned for Darwin. I really want the results so it can be treated and Darwin can be monitored. I'm worried for him.

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April 9th, 2008

07:05 am: 30 weeks, 3 days
I am so exhausted. I haven't slept so badly in my life. That's all.

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April 10th, 2008

08:43 pm: 30 weeks, 5 days
Please, please, PLEASE let the doctor have my test results back tomorrow!

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April 11th, 2008

02:01 pm: 30 weeks, 5 days
I do have ICP. Dr. Weiss hooked me up to a fetal monitor to see how Darwin is doing and I found out I was having contractions pretty close together. So I went to labor and delivery where they hooked me up to more monitors and gave me a shot of turbutilene. The shot slowed the contractions, but didn't stop them so I got another shot. That stopped them. They sent me home with no restrictions, but if I have 4 Braxton Hicks contractions in an hour, I'm supposed to call the doctor.

My fetal fibronectin test was positive, which means that I have a possibility of going into labor in the next 2 weeks. I have checkups every week now and they will monitor Darwin with a fetal monitor for every checkup going forward.

I have a prescription for the ICP that I am to take twice a day. I was also told that they will definitely deliver my by 37 weeks, so it looks like Darwin will be a May baby.

I also lost 4 pounds since last week.

In other words, everything is not going so well, except Darwin is happy and healthy and that is the important thing.

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April 12th, 2008

06:02 pm: 30 weeks, 6 days
I was having some contractions while in child birthing class this morning, but with plenty of water and making sure my bladder was empty I was able to get them to stop. I've been pretty lazy the rest of the day. I feel bad being so lazy when I should be packing for the big move to our new house, but I also need to put Darwin's well-being first.

My birthing bag is officially packed and I am going to put it in the trunk before the weekend is over. We cleaned out the trunk so there is room for everything. So now if I do go into labor early, I will have all of my supplies I need with me.

Richard and I had the ingenious idea this weekend of only getting tables for the food and gifts at the shower and not worrying about tables for guests. This way, guests can sit or stand as they please and can move their chairs to wherever they want to and sit with whomever they want to sit with. This will save us money in rentals, so I'm happy with the decision.

I'm officially on medication for ICP and although I am still itching, it hasn't been as severe and I'm hoping that time on the meds will make it much better. More than anything else I hope that the meds will balance out my acid levels and encourage Darwin to stay in me a little longer until he can safely be born. And, naturally, I hope that he will be born safely.