So yesterday was my last 4 week OB appointment before bumping me up to every 2 weeks. I had already been to the eye doctor (the Ophthalmologist, not optometrist) and got the “all clear†from him that my eyes look wonderful and that my eye health should not inhibit me from having a “normal†(sorry, can’t bring myself to say the “v†word) delivery if all else is ok. In other words, my eyes won’t be the reason for a c-section. YEY!
We were on time…. well, actually, very early, for my OB appointment, which I didn’t mind because I’m staying so tired these days, I didn’t mind the wait. We did my labs, my weight gain is right on target (gained 3.8 pounds in 4 weeks!) and my blood pressure was an awesome 105/58. Blood sugar… umm… well, not so astounding, but not terrible. No breakfast, 11:00am, and still hovering at the 130 I had woken up with and even bolused to bring down. It hadn’t budged a smidge. Oh, you darn insulin resistance… how I loathe you. Then I got to gear up for the Rhogam shot for my rh-factor being negative. No biggie… What’s another shot? Other than the needle being twice as long, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I guess that’s one advantage of poking yourself all the time… some things just don’t bother you as much, though I know some of you would beg to differ with me on that point.
After waiting a while, I finally got to see the OB for that week (there’s a few doctors in that practice, so they schedule you to see whoever is on call that week). I hadn’t met him yet, but I like him. He was nicer, not so rushed, straight to the point in answering my questions, but not in a rude or “talking down†way. I loved the fact he could see that I was stressed about my numbers and even made mention that they can see that I’m doing the best I can, and that I’m doing very well, but diabetes with pregnancy is just a whole other ball game. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. It was sort of a relief to me. I am doing well. I am taking care of myself… THEY CAN SEE IT…. it’s just diabetes is being a bully. “Some diabetics just can’t handle pregnancy.â€, referring to the stress of it. To which, when he turned around, I did cry a bit, but sucked it up. If there’s anything I hate most is being told I can’t handle something, even more so when it’s diabetes-related. I like to think I’m the owner of my diabetes, it doesn’t own me. But that’s a story for another day.
Then came the signing paperwork to let me go. He did bump me up to every two weeks, but then also said he wanted me to start fetal NST (non-stress testing to monitor the baby’s heart rate, stress level, and my contractions) yesterday as well and for it to be biweekly and sent me over to the hospital. The NST person set up my appointments and told me I could come either Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays because they had to be done twice per week..
Wait…. what?
Somehow my mind blanked out when the doctor told me how often I’d be going for this. I think…maybe he told me twice per week and maybe I just said “okay†or maybe he did tell me biweekly and I was thinking it would be along with my two-week appointments. I was confused. Little did I know, biweekly can mean both every two weeks as well as twice per week. (Google it! I’m not kidding you! And, yes, after confirmation this morning, it is twice per week, not every two weeks, that I am supposed to go. So, that means more time for reading! YEY! So be ready for some #dblog retweets on twitter from me in the mornings on those days.)
So, I got all hooked up for the testing and everything went just fine. BabyK kept kicking around and hitting the monitors causing loud noises above his heartbeat, which stayed in the normal range. To be honest, it was kind of nice to be in a quiet room just watching him move.
So, bring on the doctor appointments. Nothing new to me…. just the frequency of them.
Maybe I should just pack a pillow in the car for naps if there’s a break in between.
No? Okay.
