Today's prenatal visit was fantastic. There was a med student with the resident doctor that saw me today. We started out by going over my sugars. They've been higher the last two weeks than I had been having, but I did point out that I was sick and those struggles. The doctors seemed unconcerned with what highs I did have, and mentioned that they really weren't that high so my insulin would remain unchanged again. This time I didn't stress about it and took it in stride and found that I'm much happier doing just that.
She asked about the symptoms I'd had in the first trimester and I was able to honestly say that they are pretty much gone, except that headaches have been added to the mix. She said that was normal, which is something I already knew, and said that if I found that Tylenol wasn't helping them, to let them know and they would be able to prescribe something safe for me and baby that was stronger to help. Hopefully it won't come to that. I've only had one headache so far that didn't get better with a dose of Tylenol and it was awful. Haha.
My weight is more or less unchanged still. I was .8 lbs heavier than the last visit, but then again I did eat lunch going out the door to my appointment. Even if that is a real gain from last time, it's a healthy one, considering they don't want me to gain more than 15 lbs over the course of my entire pregnancy because I'm already obese to start with.
My bloodwork from two months ago at the health department FINALLY got transferred over. My blood type is B+, which means I won't need the rhogam shot. Matt's blood type is O+. If the mother has a negative blood type, and there is any sort of prenatal bleeding, there's a chance that the mother's body will start to reject the fetus, so mothers with negative blood types get a shot at 28 weeks and then again at birth to help protect against this. I'm quite happy to find out that I don't need to have a shot in my ass. Ha ha. Even though it is lusciously padded.
I was able to ask some questions about when a hospital tour would happen, and when plans for closer to the birth might also happen. She admitted that even though we're almost to the halfway point, it is still a little early for this, but she told me that VCU has a longstanding history and policy of using a variety of techniques for birth and pain management for the mother. That means that if I go in and say "I want as natural of a birth as possible." then there is going to be a supportive atmosphere with a lot of account into informed consent before anything happens. I was very happy to hear that.
I also mentioned that I had come across information about placental problems in diabetics and that I read that a diabetic was most likely to be induced because of this, and if the doctors were planning on inducing me on principle. Again a reassuring answer. She said that there was no way that a plan to induce me at x amount of weeks was going on right now. She said that yes, most diabetics were induced between 37-39 weeks because of the heightened risk of placental degradation if they hadn't gone into labor by then, but that the doctor wouldn't be making that decision until I was very close to that time, and we could see how the baby was doing, the placenta was doing, how my blood sugars had been maintained, etc.
She also told me that I should plan for a vaginal delivery because that was going to be the priority and that C-sections were reserved for an as necessary basis. I was so happy to hear that. Based on my research, I had already seen that VCU has a lower C-section rate than the local or national average, but I really want a vaginal delivery. The idea of major abdominal surgery scares me, especially considering my body's tendency to heal so slowly. A scrape on my toe took over a month to heal and the scab to fall off. I can only imagine how long it would take of recovery for that kind of surgery, and it's not exactly the best time to have that long recovery when I'm caring for a newborn and Matt's working hard both at his job and also at home adjusting to life as a father.
This visit the baby finally decided to cooperate and not be a little asshole. We got to hear the heartbeat, and it clocked in at 160. The medical student tried to find it first, and she was having a difficult time but the doctor was patient and at one point when the doppler passed over where the baby was we heard a thump where the baby kicked at it. Ha ha. That's my stubborn little monster. <3
I don't go back for another checkup for a month, which worries me and makes me anxious but from what I've overheard in the lobby, it's normal. You get seen every two weeks the first trimester, when the risk for miscarriage is high, then it backs off to monthly visits in the second trimester as long as there are no complications, and then in the third tri your checkups become more frequent as you start getting closer to labor. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but I have to admit that the anxiety is there, simmering under the surface even after such a fantastic checkup.
Either way, I go in November 8 for my first meeting of the Centering Pregnancy group. I'll be meeting with this group once every two weeks or so through the end of my 2nd trimester and 3rd trimester up until just after the baby is born. The social worker seemed to think I'd be perfect for the group and I'm looking forward to connecting with other women that are due at the same time as me and get even more information.
November 9 is both my next prenatal visit and my big anatomy ultrasound. That's when we'll hopefully be finding out the sex of the baby, as long as the baby decides not to play it coy. I'm highly excited and anticipating this, and desperately want to see a hearth with four chambers, a good looking brain, and as an extra treat on top, a weight that's measuring where it should be.
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