But then looking at my calendar, not so free actually.
May 9, NST.
May 12, endocrinologist appointment.
May 13, NST.
May 14, my last childbirth preparation class (and my husband's birthday!)
May 16, NST.
May 20, NST.
May 23, NST.
May 27, NST.
May 30, NST.
Diabetes sure has a way of clogging your calendar. Those NSTs are happening twice a week until I give birth...NSTs are my LIFE. Oh yeah, and that birth thing? That's got a date, too -- June 10. I'm kind of hoping the baby decides to come on his own around 38 weeks or so. My biggest birth-related fear right now is that I will go in for a 39 week induction and my body will not be ready at all, and I'll end up with a c-section. My perinatologists did not do much to assuage this fear; I just got a staunch "You can not go past 39 weeks" reply. (Am not impressed with bedside manner of 3/4 of these docs, by the way.) If I'm already at the hospital twice a week for NSTs, why not bump those up in frequency and give my body some more time?
I'm hoping I'm worrying for nothing, and I am appreciative of the close monitoring, no matter how much unfun it is to lug my 8 months pregnant self all over the hospital campus twice a week. I still have to say though that as time goes on I am not impressed with this high risk practice. Yes, I have diabetes, but that doesn't mean I should be be treated as "one size fits all" -- as if I have had diabetes for 30 years and my A1C is 15 and my pregnancy has been difficult and horrible and the baby is on the verge of death at any minute.
I've had lots of confusing conversations like this:
Doctor, glancing at my chart for .2 seconds: "Oh, you're only a class B diabetic. That's great, you really have no complications! Everything is fine, see you next week!"
Me: "Wait, wait. So if I'm doing great, is there a possibility you'll let me go into labor on my own if everything looks fine with the baby and myself?"
Doctor: "NO WAY!!!!!111 PLACENTAL AGING!!111 FETAL DEATH!!111eleventy"
Me: "What about in the hospital? Can I get up and walk around some during the induction...?"
Doctor: "NO WAY, MUST LAY IN BED WHOLE TIME ON MONITORS!!11 FETAL DEATH!1111"
Holy crap. Maybe I should be more of a nervous wreck about this? I'd really rather not be, though. My endo seems very chill and has given me a lot of confidence.
Maybe it's not so much the high risk practice in particular as it is me getting tired of dealing with medical providers who aren't very well versed in diabetes, and therefore the care I receive is very rote, or totally over the top. They reads the book and they dos what the book says and that's all folks.
Bonus uplifting part of post --> BABY PICTURE!
2 comments:
You have me laughing out loud at the doctors comments. They certainly have a way of terrifying us!
FWIW I was able to walk around after induction, they just hooked me up every so often to run the beepy tests. After I had the epidural though the walking part was all over, and I was FINE with that. I went to 39 weeks and 5 days and baby still did not want to come out. I think she would have stayed all tucked up in there for another week or two at least. You just never know.
And the only medical person I talked to with ANY clue about diabetes was my own doc. All the nurses were clueless. They even sent in a clueless nutritionist to tell me how to eat. WTH?????
Thanks for letting me know how your experience was, Ruby :) I hope I'm not going to be constantly monitored...seems like such overkill.
Don't get me started on nutritionists and dietitians. You have even more things to think about in the food arena so I'm sure you're as well versed as they could ever hope to be.
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