Update on my change in diet

I have been very badly neglecting this blog. I have been so tired and felt like I've had next to no energy. I am slowly getting better though.

I've had to dramatically adjust my diet to keep my blood sugars low. I ended up with lots of ketones in my water which according to my diabetic midwife was from my body going into starvation mode so I have to eat a little more whilst still keeping my blood sugars within my limits. Its hard and I have had the odd spike in them once or twice every couple of days but this is the best diet I have ever been on as I can't cheat as I know it is not just me who will be affected by the results of my overeating.

I spent the first week getting really stressed out when I got a high blood sugar reading but am starting to relax a bit now as the stress is no good for baby either. I am keeping a food diary which is helping as then if I get a high I can look at what I've eaten and try and figure out where I went wrong. Normally means I had too many carbs. I don't even pretend to understand all of it though so have stopped stressing as I'm eating a million times more healthily than I was and am doing the best I can for myself and our baby girl.

I have been spending lots of time this week worrying about labour. I had 2 really good labours with my other 2 and they were big babies too (10lb 7 and 9lb 7) but I just don't know what's going to happen this time round. I am almost certain I will be induced at 38 weeks (7.5 weeks to go!!) but am worried I will end up with a caesarean if she's bigger than Josh was. I am petrified of the thought of one but on the other hand I will do whatever is necessary to make sure our baby is ok so if that means a caesarean then so be it.

I have another appointment with the obstetric consultant tomorrow and am also seeing my diabetic midwife and diabetic nurse. I have loads of appointments lined up for every week between now and having the baby which is reassuring that I'm being monitored so closely. I have my next scan in 2 weeks which will be interesting to see how she's grown.

Also, can't remember if I've mentioned it before but we have finally come up with baby's name - Gabrielle Victoria K____(our surname)

An update from my appointments today

I had my growth scan this morning and Gabrielle is already one large baby weighing 3lb 12oz at 28+4. (I thought they were wrong at the 4d scan when they said she'd be around 8lb at birth lol!!) Thankfully everything is ok with her and the fluid around her is normal (apparantly you can sometimes end up with excess fluid around her because of gestational diabetes)

We had a busy appointment afterwards and I am being looked after by a diabetic midwife, diabetic nurse, diabetic consultant, obstetric consultant and a dietician so was at the hospital over 3 hours getting sorted out.

I feel better about it all now. I have to try and keep my blood sugars between 4 and 6 when fasting and less than 7.8 2 hours after eating. I have to test 4 times a day with a little pen thing that pricks my finger then I squeeze some blood out onto the end of a tab connected to the meter. After lunch my sugars were 7.2 and after tea they were 5.9!! I am so pleased that my blood sugars were both under the limit, especially the one after my tea which was lovely and consisted of half plate of salad, small jacket potato spread with bertolli spread, small portion of chicken breast) so I can have that again another day.

I am not allowed to snack between meals which I know is my biggest weakness and I will find that hardest. I can have a yogurt or fruit straight after a meal as a desert but not as a snack midway through the afternoon/evening which I find very strange. I surprised myself though by feeling very satisfied after my tea and still am so have skipped the yogurt.

I have to test my sugars 4 times a day sometimes before eating and other times 2 hours after eating and they have to stay within set limits so hopefully I can control it through diet alone.

I will be induced no later than 38 weeks due to Gabrielle's size and at the moment there is no reason why I have to have a caesarean which was really worrying me but if they try to induce me and it doesn't work or she gets distressed then I would end up with one. Hopefully it will work being induced first time as it did with dd and I will be doing all the old wives tales to try and get her out without being induced if possible.

I have another scan in 4 weeks and then will have fortnightly scans to keep an eye on her. I also have to go in for her heartbeat monitoring regularly from 34 weeks and they will check my kidney function then too.

I feel happy now that I know we will be monitored closely and I have appointments practically every week to keep an eye on things.

Hopefully everything will be ok and the gestational diabetes should disappear as soon as I give birth and Gabrielle will have her blood sugars tested within 3-4 hours after being born to make sure her sugars aren't too low. It means I'm now more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future but this has given me a kick up the bum to take care of my diet and lose the weight and get myself in better shape.

Gestational Diabetes

28+4

I've had a phone call yesterday afternoon from the Diabetic Midwife. I had my Glucose Tolerance Test yesterday morning and it turns out my results are raised. I have to go this morning to the diabetic clinic at the hospital to see diabetic midwife, dietician and my consultant. They have also arranged a growth scan for this morning too.

I am completely in shock about it. I had no inkling that it would come back positive as I've had no glucose in my urine or anything. I have had 2 previous large babies but after having the gtt test with Ellie and that being negative I assumed I just naturally had larger babies. My bmi is high but I am just completely shocked by it.

The diabetic midwife sounds lovely though and everything will be explained to me today and I will have to do fingerprick test to test my blood sugars I presume everyday or even a few times a day, not sure yet.

I will be induced at 38 weeks and baby will have to have her blood sugars monitored. I am worried that she'll have to go to special care and I won't be able to be with her. Not sure if this will be the case or not.

I've been looking in the cupboard at what we have in. I have no idea what sort of things I can eat. I suppose that will all get sorted today and we'll have to go to Asda on the way back from the hospital.

I'll try and update again when I get back later and try and take it all in.

Back from my scan!!

I went for my scan this morning and baby decided that it was the perfect time to curl into a ball and play hide and seek!!

I had to go for a walk to encourage baby to move (definitely not easy with a bursting full bladder!) and wriggled my bump about a bit.

Went back in and baby had moved slightly but was still playing games so I had to turn onto 1 side then the other and the sonographer eventually got all the measurements and everything looks ok.

She *thinks* we are having a baby girl. She said she wouldn't put money on it but dh and I think we saw the hamburger. I will keep hold of the boy's clothes I've bought just in case though lol!!

We have a 4d scan at the beginning of November so hopefully that will confirm it if our little cheeky minx plays ball!!

So glad that everything was ok though. I think this baby has a cheeky character already lol!!

Dh felt baby kick!!

This morning at 2.30am Vic felt baby kick for the first time and they did quite a few nice big kicks.

I'd been getting a bit worried about not feeling many kicks and not feeling them everyday but I was reassured by the nice kicks I got in the early hours.

I have another scan at 11.20am this morning and am feeling much better about it that everything will be ok with himher. Hopefully they will be in a good position and we will find out if we have a him or a her lol!!

Right had better go and start drinking my water and will update again later this afternoon after my scan.

23 Weeks Pregnant!!

You are now 23 weeks pregnant (or in your 24th week if that's how you prefer to count it).

Your baby now weighs a little more than 500g and measures about 28.9cm from crown to heel. His hearing is well established and he can make out a distorted version of your voice, the beating of your heart and your stomach rumblings. Loud noises your baby has often heard in the uterus (womb), such as the barking of a dog or the roar of a vacuum cleaner, probably won't bother him when he is born.

Some studies seem to indicate that unborn babies prefer classical music, so put on a CD of relaxing music by Bach or Mozart for his enjoyment – and yours!

In addition to advances in your baby's hearing, his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing. He's swallowing but he normally won't pass his first stool (called meconium) until after birth.

If your baby were to be born now, he would have a small chance of survival (about 16 per cent) with the right care. Every day in the uterus makes a difference at this stage. If he was born at 24 weeks his chance of survival would rise to 44 per cent.

As for you, you may feel clumsy now that your centre of gravity has shifted. Your gums may bleed when you brush your teeth and your belly button, once an "innie", may now stick out. Don't worry. It'll revert to its pre-baby state soon after you give birth.

You may notice some bleeding when you brush your teeth - a common pregnancy complaint (along with nosebleeds). Pregnancy hormones can make your gums swell and become inflamed, which leads to frequent bleeding, especially when you clean your teeth. What to do? Brush and floss regularly but gently and follow our other self help suggestions. Although you may want to avoid disturbing your gums, it's crucial to practise good dental hygiene during pregnancy to avoid gum disease.

Most women don't have many antenatal appointments, so see if your partner can spare the time to come along when one is scheduled. Not only will he be able to hear first-hand how things are going, he can get his own questions answered too.

Feeling more movement

22+1

I'm feeling much less tired now than my last entry and also more positive about everything as I've suddenly started feeling more movement and bigger kicks.

Ellie felt himher kick for the first time last night and the look on her face was a picture, one of shock followed by excitement. We were upstairs in our bed so ran downstairs to dh and of course baby stopped right away lol.

Hopefully dh and Josh will feel himher this week too. I'm getting some nice kicks now as I type but I can guarantee that by the time I got upstairs and back into bed with dh they would have stopped lol.

I'm off to the Next 2 day sale to have a look once I've took dh to work. I was really hoping that I would know what we were having by now so I could buy something for himher but we don't. I am about 80% certain now that we're having a boy and will be quite shocked I think if at the scan it turns out we are having a girl. I'll still be over the moon though as I don't mind what we have I would just quite like to find out so I can call himher by their proper name which at the moment stand at Poppy or Toby. I really like Suzy for a girl too but no one else does and I know I would hate it if people shortened it to Sue (no offence to any Sue's).

Had a bit of a nightmare day yesterday. Josh has had a cough and a cold for the last few days and it went to his chest setting his asthma off so I took him off to the Walk In Centre hoping to avoid the need to go to hospital. They gave him a nebulizer which helped a little but his Oxygen Sats were still very low so we ended up being sent off to hospital in an ambulance. We had to wait ages to see a doctor who eventually just prescribed him some steroids and told me to give him 10 puffs of his puffer.

He was still quite wheezy when we came home but seemed a bit better when he sat still. Had better go and wake him soon to give him his steroid drink before I drop him off with my dad whilst I take dh to work and me, my mum and Ellie go to Next.

I really hope this baby doesn't have asthma as I hate watching Josh struggling for breath. I think I will make an appointment to have his inhalers reviewed as once he gets a bad do his inhalers are useless and it ends up with him on a nebulizer.

Right better go and see how he is and wake the others up.