This morning, he had a follow-up with Dr. Smith to make sure that he is all healed from his surgery--everything is looking great, it was a quick appointment, and Mike came out significantly more optimistic.
At 10 we met with the director of the HeadStart program for Emerald to apply for this upcoming fall. Unfortunately, I remembered as we were getting ready to leave that there was some paperwork that we would need to bring with us...and some of it is in Michael's office, in the opposite direction of the appointment.
Luckily, we make it without rushing or stressing too, too much. The interviewer--Kenna--was incredibly nice and helpful, and she all but guaranteed Emerald a spot next year. We got extra points because Emerald was in ECI so long and because I am pregnant (which makes us a "transitional" family). What stinks is that there was a HeadStart moments from our house (freaking 19th and Frankford!!) but that branch is getting closed down, so we have a bit more of a drive ahead of us now. As we were leaving, Kenna commented that she has never had better behaved children in her office before. It kind of made my day--cheered me right up.
This afternoon, I had a OB appointment; just a routine check-up for little Benjamin.
Since we did not have anyone to keep an eye on the kids, Andrew drove me to my appointment while Michael stayed at home with Emerald and Gabriel.
Unfortunately, the doctor's appointment did not really go as well as we would have liked.
They were running behind because of some emergencies that had cropped up, but that never really bothers me unless we have someone else watching the kids, which we didn't. It kind of stinks for Michael because it takes up more of his day off, but I try to not get worked up over the little stuff.
When I did finally get taken back, my blood pressure came back surprisingly low, even for me. I am confused as to exactly why it's taken a dip, especially after the stress-fraught month we have had, but I am not going to obsess about it excessively.
The other vital that they take was more concerning. I am 29 weeks pregnant, and I have only gained a total of 4 pounds.
In general, a pregnant woman is supposed to gain 25-35 pounds during the course of her pregnancy: 2-4 for the first trimester, and a pound a week for the remainder of the pregnancy. Which means that I should have, by this point, put on about 20 pounds; I have gained 1/5 of my objective.
Most people would say, "so what? Start eating like a piglet!" They would be forgetting about the incessantly annoying gestational diabetes.
Since I had it with my last two, the doctors are being cautious to keep an eye on my blood sugar. Which means that if I pork out and start packing on the pounds, Benjamin will suffer--it could affect the development of his lungs, cause too much fatty build up on the northern extremities of his body, or give him hypoglycemia. It could have much more serious consequences as well, so it is more advisable to keep a close reign on what I eat.
Though I passed my three-hour glucose (there was an earlier post about that--I muddled the results by walking around excessively), there are obvious signs that I am diabetic again. My eyesight has been blurry, my skin has discoloration, excessive craving of ice, and sluggish fetal movement. The rest of the concerns are minor, but if I can't start getting Benjamin to be more active, they will move me into a very high risk pregnancy classification and we will have to start doing Non-Stress Tests (NST's) twice a week from here on out, a total of three months.
Our plan as of right now:
I have to start eating six meals a day, with a more heavy emphasis on protein. Peanut butter should become my best friend because it will help bump up my weight without compromising the health of the baby.
They gave me a nifty little blood-sugar tester and I need to start doing 7-8 finger pricks a day. Fasting should be around 95, and after meals should be no higher than 130.
Another bloody freaking I-hate-my-life three-hour glucose test with that cup of horrible and nasty evil. I don't know if you are picking up on this, but I could not be more freaking thrilled to be doing this test again. :-/
Drinking full-sugared Gatorade to give Ben a little jump start before counting kicks twice a day now. There is a possibility that I am just falling way short of my sugar intake goals, which would affect Benjamin just as negatively.
After all that worry and stress, I finally got to see my little boy. =) We absolutely know without a doubt that it is a boy--when the nurse came in, she saw the screen and stepped back saying "woah. Never actually seen an erection in utero before", lol.
All four pounds that I have managed to gain thus far can be attributed to little Benji though--he is just shy of 4 lbs, which means that my body is taking care of his needs. It could also mean that uncontrolled blood sugar is causing macrosomia, but I am going to try and be more positive and assume that my body is really taking good care of the little fella.
All in all, they gave me a lot to think about and to keep an eye on--next week we will do the 3-hour and hopefully everything will start going the way it is supposed to so that we don't have to increase the doctor's visits.
I'll let you know how everything goes as it comes up.
~Andie~
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