I thought I would take a break from my attempt to catch up on my summer posts to give a little update on me. Pregnancy number 2 has turned out to be a bit different than pregnancy number 1. It all started pretty much the same - no morning sickness (don't hate me), major meat cravings and a rush on pregnancy stretchy pants.
Recently though, there have been some unfortunate developments. It started with
gestational diabetes. That started quite randomly - my sister-in-law, who is pregnant and due 2 days ahead of me, was diagnosed with it. My mom always suspected that I had it last time because Blaise was so big (over 9lbs). Seeing as she is diabetic and I have (had?)
PCOS (which often comes with insulin resistance) I seemed like a likely candidate. Because of my Mom's suspicions she brought me a blood sugar measuring device which I didn't use until one evening when my sister-in-law was here for dinner and she was monitoring her sugar. Mine sky-rocketed after pizza then again after cereal and again after oatmeal. I mentioned it to my doctor and he sent me to the diabetes doctor right away. I passed the 2 hour glucose test with flying colors, but my sugar will only stay stable (they don't want it over 140 one hour after beginning to eat) if I am very careful with what I eat. The
diabetes doctor said to keep watching what I eat and come back in 3 weeks. No sweets, no white bread/flour and small portions of carbs. My
A1C was 5.1 which was good news. So, basically, I'm in the clear here as long as I can control my sugar with diet - so far so good.
Also, the baby is a little over two weeks behind in growth. Since Blaise was over 9lbs there is cause for concern as to why this baby is so small. It is only in about the 26%, which wouldn't be bad in and of itself, but it seems every time I go back to the doctor the developmental due date has been pushed back even further. If this continues then we'll be forced to deliver the baby early. The concern is that the placenta has become/will become insufficient to take care of the baby. I am at 32 weeks and 3 days today, and even though the survival rate at this stage of pregnancy is very high for our part of the world, it still would not be welcomed. Our goal is to make it to at least 36 weeks (40 weeks being full gestation). In order to help facilitate this, I have been instructed to lay as much as possible which is good for the circulation of blood to the uterus and drink a lot of non-carbonated water. I am being checked every week - every two weeks at my doctor's and on the off weeks at the
hospital.
In addition to all this, the baby hasn't turned yet. I have (sort-of) tried to maintain a positive attitude that the baby will still turn, but it seems I'm not capable of that right now. Worst case scenario the doctors decide the baby needs to come and if s/he hasn't turned they will take the baby by c-section. Which surely isn't the end of the world, just a longer recovery time and with a 20+ month old and a newborn possibly in the NICU that seems daunting. Of course priority is the health of the baby no matter what - I haven't lost sight of that.
Adding to the pressure is that we are still searching for a girl name and time is ticking faster than expected.
If you can spare any good thoughts or prayers for us and Baby S.2 we would surely appreciate it. In five years this will all be behind us and it will all be fine.
