Mom and Baby Update

So, things here are as interesting as ever. We've had a few doctors appointments, and now I have more. The last time I posted was almost a month ago. See the previous post for that information. :)

Bloodwork
This month I had my 24 hr. urine test on the 5th. As usual a pain inthe butt, but it is good to keep an eye one me, even if I am doing excatly what my nephrologist said I would: leak protein like a sieve. This isn't a big surprise to any of us, except, it seems, my local ob. It always freaks her out. And for a normal pregnancy, the numbers should freak her out, but I am not a Normal pregnant woman. So, the numbers on that bothered her, but there is nothing they can do about it (they do have me on a blood pressure medication to prevent more kidney damage), and the baby is actually growing quite well.

On the 19th I had the 1 hr. glucose screen in the morning. I felt very crappy after and during that test. I didn't have a good feeling about it. But we waited for the results, which came a hell of a lot quicker than expected: Friday morning at 9 am. As usual, when doctors call you the same day (or close to) of the test, the result was not great. I had failed it. At 1 hr. I had a number of 157 mg/dl, and I had needed a number under 130 mg/dl to pass. This means I had the joy of taking the 3 hr. glucose screening.

The 3 hr. glucose screening was scheduled for the 23rd at 8 am (this after much hassel of calling the hospital to schedule it; they won't do it without having an order in their files or your hand. I tried for hours on Friday morning, after the nurse called me, to schedule, but it didn't happen until Friday after noon late. They finally had received the fax from the office). Paul couldn't come with, so my mom did. We arrived at the hospital outpatient pavillion early like we were supposed to only to have the receptionist lady say there wasn't a diagnosis on the order for the test, and she wasn't sure if they could do the test because there wasn't a diagnosis....Well, she told us to go sit down, and took it back to the lab people. One actually told her there was a diagnosis on it. The receptionist just didn't know how to read it. So, we were late for our scheduled test by fifteen minutes.

So, first they stick you witout drinking the liquid. If you pass that, they have you drink a liquid containing 100 mg of glucose. Mine was orange flavored (I had a choice of that or cola). It tasted like flat, watered-down orange soda with a slight edge to it (the glucose, I'm sure), and it was cold. Then I got to sit for a total of 3 hours. They drew blood at 1 hr., 2 hrs., and 3 hrs. after drinking the liquid. I did not feel as sick this time, but between the second and third stick, I did feel really tired.

The results for that test came back even quicker than the 1 hr. results. By 2 pm on the 23 rd, a nurse called me to tell me I had failed this test too. So, now I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I had the feeling I had failed, but really didn't expect the news so quickly. The nurse asked me how I had known, she wondered if I had had this before. I told her I just had a feeling. This means more appointments, and self checking myself for sugar levels. I'll write more on the diabetes after I talk about doctors' appointments.

Doctors' Appointments

Local Ob
24 weeks 2 days

I had an appointment with the local ob on the 19th. She did not have the results from t he 1 hr. glucose screening from that morning yet, so we did not go over them. We did talk about the 24 hr. urine test and other bloodwork numbers that she had. I had gained weight, my blood pressure was fine, and the baby's heart beat was at 160. She said to schedule another appointment forr 4 weeks, and after that I would probably be seen every 2 weeks. All in all a pretty good visit really (Yes, she was concerned about the protein number, as usual. That is the only number that is rising. Creatinine is stable.)

Perinatalogist
25 weeks 1 day

Yesterday, the 25th, we had an appointment with the perinatalogist. First, we had the doppler scan and ultrasound. The tech was not as friendly as the one we had last month. She barely gave us any information, and I couldn't see the screen until she turned it at the end when she was done getting her measurines. I did not get to see the doppler flow part at all (it literally looks like the weather channel). She did tell us he looks fine, and weighs about 2 and a half pounds. Paul pulled the heart rate number out of her: 151. Baby is doing well. He is in the 77th percentile for weight. Everything seems to be functioning normally. The tech said he was active that morning.

We saw an assoiciate of the doctor we had seen at our appointment last month. While he was more upbeat than the other guy, we didn't get any straight answers out of him. After looking at my blood pressures, he did say they might lower my dosage on my blood pressure medication. He said that many more women are diagosed with gestational diabetes now because they keep lowering the numbers you have to be under to pass the tests. The 1980s numbers are higher than the current numbers. He also said now that I have this, I will continue to have it...this is not what any other doctor, website or book I have says. I think what he meant to say was that I have an elevated risk of getting diabetes after having gestational diabetes. This was the quickest office vist we had so far. I felt rushed through and wasn't incredibly happy feeling that way. It didn't help that he tried to talk to me like I didn't know anything about my kidney disease or body. Hello? I've been living with this disease for years now. I do know something about it.

More on the Gestational Diabetes (The Plan So Far)
I mentioned having more appointments now than I had before. That starts tomorrow with an appointment at the hospital with a dietitian. She is going to talk baout excersize and diet. I also have an appointment next Wednesday with a diabetes educator at the hospital; she is going to teach me how to stick myself to test my blood sugars.

The nurse that called me on the 23rd mentioned that I would need to see both of these people. She also told me I would be checking my sugar levels in the moring and 2 hrs. after each meal (this is not to be done until after I meet with the diabetes educator). After a week of doing that, I have a schedule appointment with my local ob to go over then numbers. She sent me perscriptions for all the supplies I need: lancets, test strips, and alcohol wipes. It turns out that just by calling my insurance company, they send me a glucose monitor of my choice, and as long as I use one of their prefered providers, they send it for free. My monitor arrived Tuesday afternoon: One Touch Ultra II. Insurance also covers the testing supplies as long as I fill it through a pharmacy.

We dropped off the perscription yesterday for the supplies yesterday. We had to talk the girl behind the counter into checking to see if our insurance covered the supplies, she said usually they don't and tried to tell us just to buy them retail. We pushed, and she checked, and lo-and-behold I was right. Our insurance does indeed cover the supplies (which I knew), all of them and the brand name ones to boot. This surprised the pharmcist. She had tried to talk us into the generic. But the copay is the same for both generic and brand name, so we are going with the brand name.

So, that's what I have so far in news. Life is always interesting here. So, the things to note are: baby is good, and I am too. If I had to fail any test during my pregnancy, I am glad it was the gestational diabetes one. At least they can control it.