Living Large

I had my 30 week (ahh!) check up and a growth scan today. We were so excited to see Baby B. because it’s been a while! The ultrasound itself was sort of disappointing. Since it was a growth scan, they zoom in on specific body parts (head, abdomen, leg bones, etc.), so you can’t really see the whole baby which was what we were hoping to see. The tech seemed to be in a big rush and also got the gel stuff all over me, so we weren’t a fan of hers. Then, to top it off, the sonogram she printed out was almost totally black because the printer settings weren’t right. I should have asked for another one, but I was busy trying to clean myself up.

During the scan, she said that the baby was measuring a little big. This was my biggest fear. Apparently the baby is measuring in the 73rd percentile, which my doctor said was nothing to be concerned about now (they start to worry if we get into the 90th percentile range), but it is trending on the high/average side as opposed to just the average/average side and since I've been battling some highs (more on that later), I wasn't happy to hear it. Since I haven’t gained much weight, and my A1C’s have been low, I was disappointed by this, but my doc said that often in Type 1’s they worry about the baby being too small because of damage to the mother’s blood vessels from long term diabetes. Apparently, however, this is not a problem for me—my blood vessels seem to be doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I actually hadn’t heard that before and was left wondering how that tidbit of information had escaped me until now.

During the scan, the baby's head was down—when my husband heard this he got nervous because he thought that meant the baby was in a "ready, set, go!" position, but that is not the case. Hopefully, however, Baby B. will stay head down until delivery. No wonder I’ve been feeling kicks up by my ribs!

Also, my blood pressure was great today, which I was really excited about since I’ve been worried since my last appointment about developing preeclampsia. Phew!

My doc also said we need to start thinking about pediatricians. Luckily, there is an office right in her same building, which we love, so we’re going to start there.

I have my second fetal echo cardiogram scheduled for later this week, and then back to the OB two weeks from today. After that, they want me in once a week at least for an ultrasound to make sure the baby is doing OK. While I know it will be a lot, it will also be reassuring to be able to peek in on the baby that often :)

I hope everyone had a great New Years – I know we can’t wait to see what 2011 brings!

3rd Trimester!

Now that I’m officially in my third trimester, I beginning to really look and feel pregnant. I’m walking around like the stereotypical pregnant woman with her back arched and stomach sticking out, rolling out of bed in the morning instead of sitting up first, and rubbing my belly all the time. I’ve also taken to talking to/singing to Baby B. all the time, and I love feeling the baby move more and more all the time. I sometimes have to pray that the baby won’t kick when I’m on a crowded subway car for fear of the person I’m pushed up against thinking it’s me doing the kicking/pushing.

While it’s all very fun and exciting, I am beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable as my bump gets bigger. I’ve started to feel really uncomfortable for a couple of days, and then I guess when my belly has stretched a bit, I go back to being comfortable. Speaking of stretching, I don’t yet have any real pronounced stretch marks, but I fear their arrival every day. I just don’t see how all this stretching won’t result in marks, but so far, I haven’t put on too much weight too quickly, so I think that is helping. I’m going to try to be really careful about my eating over the holidays, which will be hard, but I think ultimately will be worth it (both for weight gain and for blood sugar control).

My blood sugars are doing OK, not great. I’ve still been running higher than I like sometimes, and then I go overboard with the bolusing and end up low. I’m trying to find the happy medium, and again, better eating will help with this. I’m going through insulin much more quickly now that I’m taking more both for my basal rates and my insulin to carb ratio. I can only imagine how much I’ll be taking by the end of the pregnancy.

We have our next ultra scan scheduled for January 3rd and I really can’t wait for that. They’ll measure the baby’s growth, so I’m a little nervous to see how that goes, but I’m excited to see Baby B. again because it feels like it’s been forever since our last scan in October. The ultrasounds are by far my favorite pregnancy experience. I’m hoping that my higher numbers, even though my A1C is still fairly low, won’t result in the baby being bigger than it should be at this point.

We’re off to California later this week to visit with my in-laws and will be there for a week. I'm worried about the eating situation since we'll be bouncing around to and from various family members' holiday celebrations, but I'll just have to do the best I can.