Prego Mego at 31 WEEKS!!! Oh boy is she one beautiful gal!!! She just looks so vibrant and healthy and amazing!!! She is going to be a wonderful parent and in nine weeks or less!!!
Megan has gestational diabetes. ;( This was pretty shocking to us both and disappointing and frightening all at the same time. We had heard about gestational diabetes quite frequently and knew that it was fairly common now days, it was more or less just an emotional shock for us both. Everything has (and is) going wonderfully and then we found this out - it just scared us both mainly because we were unsure of what the effects on baby Baird and Megan could be. After doing a hefty amount of research we came to the conclusion that it is a very manageable condition and common as well. So after a meeting with our dietitian/nurse practitioner, Glenna, we are now basically vegetarians! Not completely but for the most part Meg's diet, which I follow religiously, consists of vegetables, vegetables, and water. No it's not really that bad, it essentially is a diet system in which the dieter must balance their carbs and protein according to a fairly strict guideline. There is no room for miscounting one carb, as we have found out can dramatically raise ones blood glucose level. So a strict carb diet, a no sugar diet, and a watch the fat as well diet... So Megan can't really indulge as a pregnant woman might want to do every so often (daily). As far as the glucose monitoring goes Megan must take her BS (blood sugar) four times a day, once immediately when she wakes up, and then two hours after every meal she eats. Typically in the morning it should be between 60-90 mg/dL (milligrams glucose per deciLiter blood) and during the day it should rise no greater than 120 mg/dL. This has proved to be fairly hard to achieve as it seems many foods whether carb or protein tend to raise her blood sugar an arbitrary amount. That being said, after about three days on our version of the "South Beach Diet" we could not manage to tame Megan's glucose levels to the liking of her physicians and she was put on a medication called Glyburide. From what we've read Glyburide is a drug that stimulates the pancreas into synthesizing more insulin and also allows the body to use that insulin more efficiently. It is a drug common among people who have type two diabetes. If we still cannot manage to get Meg's BS under control, she will have to start using an insulin shot - Obviously we are trying hard to get the BS under control because I couldn't bear watching Meg tear up after a shot(she, like many, absolutely hates needles). So along with the gestational diabetes comes the new diet (which in actuality will be good for both of us), the medicines, and the new routine of blood sugar monitoring.
On top of that Megan is having to go to the doctor's office twice a week now for NSTs(Non Stress Tests) and we will be getting sonograms once every few weeks as well to monitor baby Baird and make sure he is safe and sound. The NSTs sounds scary - but they're rather relaxing(for me at least). Megan has to sit in a comfy La-Z-Boy and then the nurse straps two harnesses around her belly with two sensors attached to them that monitor the baby's heart rate and movement. I get a kick out of this process because the machine she's hooked up to prints a readout that looks ironically similar to a polygraph! It's like a baby Law & Order scene! For the most part, we are managing her BS levels well, but they are still a little bit high. The major concerns to baby Baird is a condition known as Macrosomia - this is a baby that has taken on and absorbed too much sugar, along with the excess sugar excess insulin is produced which turns the sugar into fat making for a large baby that may require a c-section. Aside from macrosomia, the effects on a baby with a mother that has a known and treated case of gestational diabetes are of no great concern or worry.
Fun facts of the week:
refer to picture of baby Baird for fun facts!
Here is the latest and greatest picture of baby Baird to date!!! He is sooooo big now that you can barely see him on the screen! He is in the 85% percentile for children his age, meaning he is larger than 85% of babies at his developmental stage. The doc estimated that he weighs about 4 lbs 3 oz already - so there is a good chance that even with the maintenance of Megan's BS levels that she may have to be induced a week or so early. According to our books he is almost a pound larger than the typical baby. We were lucky enough to see our child taking practice breaths!!! It was the most amazing moment in our lives to see our little man preparing for the real world by using his little tummy muscles to practice taking breaths while still in the womb!
