Bjay's (Diabetic Mommy's)
Pregnancy and Birth Story

Part 7

More Frequent Fetal Surveillance Begins

On March 8, 2001, at 31 weeks of pregnancy, we started more aggressive fetal surveillance. I had started to do kick counts at home already. I went to the OB's office twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays for non-stress tests, fetal monitoring, and biophysical profiling.

What this means is that at each visit they would do a little sonogram just to check on the baby and measure the amount of amniotic fluid around him. Then I'd go into a quiet room and sit in a big lazy boy chair and have two strips with monitors on them wrapped around my belly. One would monitor any contractions I might be having. The other would give the doctors an idea of the state of the baby and placenta. I could hear the baby's heartbeat and other swooshy noises around him. I was given a wire with a button on the end. Kind of like the buttons the contestants hold and push on Jeopardy. When I felt the baby kick, I had to push the button. My input would show up on a printout, which graphically represented the baby's heart rate. They wanted to check how the baby's heart rate accelerated after activity. From what I understood, acceleration = good.

The nurse said I could spend an hour or two waiting for movements, but on average, I was out of there in 20 minutes or less. He was very active - and still is to this day.

Here is a sonogram picture from around 32 weeks. I can't remember exactly what the top picture was, maybe they were looking at his brain. The next two are foot pics.

I was REALLY uncomfortable now. I was not getting any sleep. I could not find good positions, and I was having problems with sleep apnea-like symptoms. I could not wait for pregnancy to be over. I think I was really unbearable to others - a great big grump. Looking back, I feel really sorry for my husband. What a good guy he was at that time (and still is).

I was told I was doing good. My blood pressure was still below normal, but was high compared to my normal blood pressure. I was also having a lot of edema in my legs. My shoes were getting tight and I could only wear my clogs around. My feet had swollen up and to this day are a half-size bigger than before pregnancy.

Here's another sonogram from a couple days later. The top and middle pics are face shots. The last pic is actually from earlier in the week and is the baby playing with the umbilical cord. He's in profile on his back.

For the most part, the doctors were happy with my results and felt that I could wait until my due date or even go past my due date if I wanted. I've found that some doctors won't do this or will make induction or C-sections a mandatory thing. However, my OB group liked to monitor closely and if you were doing well, they left it up to you. Around 34 weeks the plan was to let the baby come when he wanted, even if it was up to a week after my due date.

The time was getting closer now and we were excited. On March 28, 2001, we interviewed and chose a pediatrician, Dr. Neil Russakoff. He's a GREAT doctor. Picking and knowing our baby's doctor made the day seem so much closer when we would be bringing him in for his first doctor's office visit. On that same day I went in for an Ophthalmologic exam. It was my first one and everything was fine. Sometimes you can be asked to see an ophthalmologist more than once during pregnancy, but he seemed to think that once was enough. Since my pregnancy, I've had to have routine follow-ups every year.

At the beginning of April, around 35 weeks, I started to have problems with edema and swelling all over. It really concerned my OB team. They wanted to do an amniocentesis on May 2nd to assess lung function. I protested a little. I'm a scaredy cat, yellow-bellied, kind of a girl - I admit that. I started to hear murmurs that they might want to induce sooner, perhaps on the 2nd. I was bummed. I wanted the baby to decide.

Two days later after drinking about 34,001 jugs of water (kidding), I was better and the swelling was down. The plan was changed - we could wait again.

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Index:

Part 1 - We Decide to Have a Baby
Part 2 - Meeting Dr. Wrong and Getting Pregnant
Part 3 - Finally Finding the Right Team Members
Part 4 - Going to the Hospital to Stabilize Glucose Levels
Part 5 - Let the Appointments Begin
Part 6 - Stomach Flu - Go Back 2 Spaces, Go Back to the Hospital
Part 7 - More Frequent Fetal Surveillance Begins
Part 8 - Go Back to the Hospital - To Have the Baby!
Part 9 - The Baby Comes!
Part 10 - Since the Birth

Diabetes and
Pregnancy:
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