Friday, August 9, 2013

30 Weeks, The Vitruvian Man, and Waxing Philosophical

Well, I've officially made it 30 weeks, carrying a fetus in my uterus.  If there's one word to describe how I feel, it's this:

CROWDED

The end is approaching, and while it seems like it's coming to an end quickly, it also feels like it can't come soon enough.  I really just want the space in my thoracic cavity back.  I used to like being short, but it seems that being pregnant and short is a little more uncomfortable because there's just not as much room for the baby to spread out.  Even though she spreads out anyway.  I'm pretty sure she's constantly got herself in a spread-eagle/arms and legs splayed out like the DaVinci Vitruvian Man stance (see below).


(the Vitruvian Man)


But, things could be much, much worse.  One of the quirks I've developed with diabetes (and I think a lot of people who've had a chronic condition for most of their life feel this way) is the feeling that I'm always waiting for my body to somehow fail me.  I'm waiting on the next medical problem, the next complication, that day when a doctor finally tells me that in spite of all my hard work and expended effort, the disease has finally caught up with me and now something bad is happening.  I don't express this feeling very often, because I've worked really hard as a teenager and an adult to overcome my tendency to have "Worst-Case-Scenario-Thinking" about everything. It doesn't do you any good to think that way, and nobody wants to talk to you about anything, because you'll jump to the worst possible conclusion, so I've worked hard to get my brain to quit that kind of thinking. But with diabetes, those thoughts are always there, quietly in the back of my mind, taunting me.  I am actually FLOORED that up until this point, I have had no problems with this pregnancy and that this little life forming on the inside of me is doing so well.  Let's face it, if we didn't have insulin and synthroid and all sorts of other medical interventions, my genetics would NOT be being passed on to the next generation, and natural selection would've had its way about 20 years ago. But, MY BODY IS ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!!!! It's a miracle.

So, deep thoughts aside, here is the latest on how things are going.  I've had two appointments today, with my endo and OB.
  • Endo-My blood sugars are still great.  I am continuing to have increasing insulin resistance (totally normal in a D-pregnancy), but we just keep dialing up the insulin to match my needs. I still can't believe how much insulin I'm taking on a daily basis! And I am SO grateful that Apidra just happens to be running their "no-copay" promotion this year, the same year that I'm having a baby. Tender mercies, indeed! My thyroid function has remained stable, and my A1C has been so freaking good, that they didn't even bother to test it today.  I've had to start changing my infusion sites daily in order to get proper absorption, but apparently that's pretty normal, too.  So the tl;dr: everything is normal.
  • OB- We had an ultrasound just to check on how the baby is growing.  The baby looks great! We got to see her wave "hello" at us, we saw her using her hands to play around with the umbilical cord, and we also saw her give me a swift kick in the gut! (she can pack a punch/kick these days!) The doctor took all kids of measurements, and said she is measuring exactly where they want her to be. She's in the 45th percentile, which means she's just a teensy smaller than average, which he was really happy with. With uncontrolled diabetes, there is the possibility that the baby will get too big, so they always worry about that and want to measure her to make sure she's growing appropriately. But, I am an extremely well-controlled diabetic momma, and the baby's measurements are reflecting that. She's weighing in at approximately 3.5 lbs! (Isn't it sad, that people are already obsessed with women's weight from the time they are in utero?--just kidding, it's an important measure at that point in a women's life).  Anyway, it was lots of good news.  I will start having non-stress tests twice a week starting at 32 weeks, and at that point, we'll just be marking time until this kid arrives!  Tl;dr: The baby is fine, everything is normal.
Well, that's about all so far. I'm sure I'll keep having more to say as we get closer to my due date! 


1 comment:

  1. So glad everything is going well! I totally feel you on the "waiting for your body to fail you thing."

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