These past two weeks have been low for me. Last week I was working with my trainer and I felt....big. I felt bigger than big, actually, and after seeing a couple friends who are also pregnant and further along than me and I felt gargantuan next to them, I was concerned. Rationally, I know that everyone carries babies differently, person to person and pregnancy to pregnancy, so it's useless comparing tummy size during pregnancies because truly, we're all different. But something was nagging at the back of my mind so I decided to call my midwife to voice my concerns.
Leading up to my phone call, I had also been feeling out of breath. Not just "winded" in an out-of-shape kind of way, but winded when I was reading books with the boys. Winded from reading a book? Come on, body, I've done a lot more strenuous things in my life and reading a book is far from the worst I've done. I had also been feeling really crummy. Not just "crummy" in a left-of-center-maybe-I-need-more-caffeine kind of way, but crummy enough to want to crawl into a hole and just sit there. Alone. A cold hole, hopefully somewhere in the Arctic Circle because I'm so tired of being hot. Between feeling heavy and big and out of breath, I decided I had to talk to my midwife about all this to see what she thought.
The first question she asked me was, "are you taking your blood sugar?" Backstory: I did not have diagnosed gestational diabetes with either child however everyone in my family is diabetic so my potential to develop diabetes during pregnancy is higher than people without a family history. Julian was a larger baby (8 lbs 13 oz) and with the difficulties I had with him during childirth, I knew the key to my vaginal birth after cesarean was to have a smaller baby. With Daschel I did not have gestational diabetes despite having "failed" my two glucose tests because my blood sugar was completely controllable by diet. With Daschel I took my blood sugar fasting as well as an hour after each meal, kept a food journal to see what spiked my blood sugar, cut out all carbs and refined sugars, as well as took chromium to improve my insulin action. In the end, Daschel ended up being two pounds smaller than Julian (6 lbs 11 oz) and recovery was a million times easier after Daschel than it was with Julian on so many levels. With this history, I know that I have to take care of my diet, resist the doughy carbs and ice cream, and be keenly aware of my blood sugar levels.
Me and the boys posing for an after-dinner picture
I wasn't surprised that Marilee asked me about my blood sugar. Truth be told, I hadn't taken it as much as I should have and I was a bit too lax with my diet than I should have been. After I told her my symptoms, she told me to do two things. One, take chlorophyll supplementation to help possible anemia. Being at about 25 weeks my blood volume is almost at its maximum for pregnancy (almost 50% more than a normal woman's) so this is the point at which women start to show symptoms of anemia. In case you're wondering about the chlorophyll, it has very similar molecular structure to red blood cells so this can support blood oxygen levels as well as iron, if I'm not mistaken. (Someone please check me on that). Two, Marilee told me to take my blood sugar after every meal, keep a journal again, and take random fasting reads to make sure my fasting number is still in a safe range.
Wouldn't you know it, within a week of doing all these things, as well as increasing my protein intake and removing the carbs and refined sugars, I am feeling AMAZING. I feel like I can breathe again (well, as best as I can with a baby riding high in my belly), I feel more energetic, and best of all that weird crummy haze that has been over me has lifted.
What is empowering about everything that has happened over the past week or so is to know that I am in complete control over SOMETHING. I may not have control over what color this baby's hair is, or when he'll actually be born, but I have complete control over how I care for my body. Sure, it sucks not to be able to eat pizza or ice cream, but truthfully, I have the rest of my life to eat the bad stuff and only one shot to grow a healthy baby. What makes me angry is when women are told that they have gestational diabetes and then doctors start scaring them with stories of large babies and c-sections. If you have ever wondered about what you can do to take care of your diabetes and avoid possible interventions, ASK SOMEONE. Ask your doctor if there is something you can do to take better care of yourself because the power may lie with YOU, not them.
True, if you've had gestational diabetes before the likelihood of you getting it with subsequent pregnancies is high. But what is a few weeks of being hyper-vigilant about your care and diet if it means having a successful and happy birth resulting in a healthy baby? I haven't even taken my official glucose intolerance test yet but I'm not as worried about it anymore because I know what I have to do to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy me.
I'll worry about baby positioning next week.....
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Pregnancy Great Expectations