One final update before the big day

We’re down to just a weekend before the big amnio. If all goes as planned, this might be my last post for a little while. I’ll do my best to at least post a couple of pictures once Baby NoName finally makes his big debut, though.

In the meantime, here is an update on my and baby’s health over the course of the last couple of weeks.

As has been the case throughout this pregnancy, Baby NoName and I are healthy. Neither of us has an diabetic complications to speak of, although I continue to struggle with “real people” pregnancy symptoms like swelling, heartburn, and round ligament pain. These have mostly improved now that I am on my “staycation” and resting more.

For the last three weeks, though, I have really struggled with my BGs. I’ve averaged about 100 throughout the entire pregnancy until these last couple of weeks. Now my average is up to 120. I’m seeing an alarming number of post-prandial readings in the 170-180 range and an occasional number in the 200s. Of course, I do my best to bring these numbers right back down, but they are alarming after all of the great numbers I saw up until this point. I have no idea how much of an effect this new development will have on baby’s BG when he is born, but you can be sure I am worrying about it. Hopefully all of the good numbers I’ve managed to accumulate throughout the pregnancy will offset some of these higher ones.

It seems that my basal and bolus rates are increasing every two to three days. And the needs are not consistent. One day this week, I used a 140% temp basal all day, and the next day, my numbers dropped back down into the normal range.

My average daily insulin intake is up to 82 units, up from 35 units pre-pregnancy and up from 75 units a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve gained about 17 pounds over the course of this whole journey. Given that I came into this at a less than ideal weight, I was hoping to keep my weight gain to about 20 pounds or so, so I am pretty happy with this number. Still, I am not exactly thrilled with my new, flabby and water-logged figure. I do my best to avoid seeing my rear end. It has widened considerably. And my arms and legs look increasingly like stuffed sausages. Yikes.

Psychologically, I am a bit of a mixed bag. I am so excited to finally meet this little guy. But I am scared and nervous, too. Can I actually do this? Childbirth? Breastfeeding? Childcare? What if it turns out that I am not “mom material?” I’m sure we’ll figure it all out as we go along, but that doesn’t mean that these thoughts don’t keep running through my head.

Spending the last couple of days at home has not helped. When I was always running to work and appointments, I didn’t really have time to think about what was coming up next. But now that I’ve had a chance to relax and regroup, it’s given me time to think about these types of things.

Tip of the week: Avoid the TLC channel and the shows Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby during the last couple of weeks of your pregnancy. I’ve seen all sorts of births on TV this week: c-sections, at-home births, natural births, medicated births. In one episode, the mom was in so much distress that the doctor asked the camera crew to turn off the cameras so that they could deliver the baby. My mind made up all kinds of scenarios for what happened while the cameras were off.

My life is about to change in ways I can’t even begin to imagine. And this is something that I’ve always dreamed about. The journey has been long and stressful but oh so worth it. But I realize now more than ever that this journey is not even close to over. In fact, you might say that it’s just beginning.

Highs are Kicking my Butt

Wednesday night was a long, sleepless night. It started out innocently enough, with a typical low blood sugar around 8:00pm. I treated, then ate a carb-free dinner and went to bed. That’s when the “fun” began.

By 11:00 pm I was at 184. I bolused in a generous correction and went back to sleep.

At 1:30, I struggled out of a deep sleep because I had to pee. Bad. And then I felt it — the dry, cottony mouth, the throbbing headache, and the general sense of sluggishness. My sugar was 271. Angry, I quickly bolused the 3.5 units my pump suggested, made a quick trip to the bathroom and fell back into bed.

By 4:00 am I had to pee again. And the number was even worse: 304. Holy crap. This time I ignored the pump’s suggestion and instead dialed in 5 units. For good measure, I set a temp basal for 150%.

I tossed and turned until 6:00 when it was time to get up for work. Again, I needed to pee, and I felt even worse. The meter did not mince words; 281 blinked back at me in big, bold, black letters. A quick trip to the bathroom gave me even more cause for concern: Dark purple “extra-large” ketones. Well, at least I knew why I felt so bad.

I pulled out my trusty supply of syringes and injected a whopping 10 units. Then I changed my site (thankfully, it was time to change it anyway,) adjusted my temp basal rate to 200%, and forced down a big glass of water.

Getting ready for work was pure torture. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually spilled that many ketones before. Boy, does it take a lot out of you. I was exhausted, sweating, and nauseated. Every movement made me ache.

By 8:00, I was down to 190, but still spilling those dark purple ketones. I called the doctor’s office on the way to work and left a message with the nurse.

The doctor called back with less concern than I had hoped for. He is pretty convinced that the problem was a faulty infusion site, but I am not so sure. This site had been a “good one”, and I was reluctant to pull it this morning. But he insisted that the insulin resistance that comes with pregnancy comes on gradually, not all at once. I mentioned that I had struggled with 160’s and low 200’s the night before, and he knows about my recent struggles to reign in the spikes, but he did not seem convinced. He did kick my overnight basal up by .1, but that may have been just to pacify me.

On Thursday, things were better, but not awesome. The ketones subsided around 10:00 am, but after a lunch that I over-bolused for, I jumped up to 292. I quickly bolused ANOTHER correction, and luckily the high dropped quickly, but I am still not anywhere near that magic 90 number.

I was still exhausted, cranky, and sluggish. My mouth was still dry and my head was still pounding. The good news is that Baby Boy was still kicking around in there, so I can only assume he was taking this all in stride. I sure hope I can figure this out soon, though. I don’t imagine he can take much more of this. And neither can I.

He’s Perfect

Today was the 20 week ultrasound, and our little baby was not bashful. He showed us multiple times that, indeed, he is a boy. A boy!

The technician took her time to inspect all of his miniature organs and limbs and everything is in tip-top shape. Baby has all of his arms and legs, all four chambers in his heart, a perfectly sized brain, a perfectly formed spine, and a beautiful mouth (no cleft palate.) What more could we ask for?

I would love to include a picture here, but my new doctor’s office does not do digital ultrasound photos. So all I have is hard copies. But I can tell you that they are just adorable. Of course, I might be just a little biased, but I doubt it 🙂

After the technician did her thing, we talked to the doctor, who says I am doing great. I asked about a couple of meds my other doctors have prescribed, and he said they were all fine. We also talked a little about my appointment with the dietitian. He warned me that the dietitians sometimes go a little heavy on the carbs in the diet plans, and that makes sense to me. She suggested 13 carb exchanges and 3 fruit exchanges, which is around 6-8 exchanges more than I normally eat. He suggested sticking with my normal carb count given my insulin resistance.

Now that my appetite is improving (maybe improving too much!), Things like proteins and veggies are starting to sound good again, so I am going to make an effort to shift back toward my pre-pregnancy diet. It is going to be hard to go back to being disciplined … these last couple of months were sort of like a diet vacation!

Speaking of insulin resistance, I’m pretty sure it is rearing its ugly head today. I have struggled to keep my sugar under 150 all day, even with extremely large correction boluses. I am sitting at 232 right now, likely a spike brought on by my lunch nearly three hours ago. I just shot in a rage bolus which should inevitably result in a rebound low sometime this evening. But what else am I supposed to do?

I usually send my BGs to my Endo every Friday, but I might send them tomorrow this week, especially if this keeps up. I’ve never seen anything like this before. And it came on so fast! Just two weeks ago I was still struggling with those continuous, crazy lows.

I’m sure this is just the beginning of my struggles with highs, but try as I might, I can’t squash that unnerving thought that keeps rolling around in the back of my mind … what if I’m hurting my baby?

And so the journey continues. I am trying to roll with the BG issues and just focus on the good news from the ultrasound today. It’s a boy and he’s healthy!