bouncing sugar levels & big heads (long SORRY!!)

Hi )

I had my normal doc appt. last Thursday. About a week maybe two
before that I had that three hour glucose test & that determined I had
the gestational diabetes. Because of my age & my family history with
diabetes I knew it was a possibility, so I thought I was prepared for
it. WRONG!!!!! At my normal appt. Thursday I saw the nurse
practitioner who in turn showed my fasting morning levels to the doc.
Doc came in & said I needed to go to admitting because she was sending
orders over to the hospital which is just across the street. Okay I
get there & realize how absolutely I am NOT prepared to deal with this
nor am I prepared to go to the hospital. I have nothing but my purse
& nothing packed at home. Lovely day this is gonna be. They had
given me a week to get used to my accu check machine & there was no
problem I got a copy of the glycemic index & talked to a dietician.
What a wide variety of views there are about numbers & what's
acceptable. In the mornings they want me under 90. A week before
that they said anything under 110 was acceptable. I'm supposed to
check my level one hour after eating & a 30 minute walk. The level
then should be under 140, They had said before anything under 120 &
since I have such bad hip & pelvic pain to just walk as much as I
could but it wasn't really necessary. Also the stick was every 2
hours after eating. They consulted perinatologist who is also my
ultrasound doc & he finally set everyone straight on the numbers,
exercise & everything else. He also has the same birthday as I do, so
that was kinda cool! ) I was in from Thursday morning until this
afternoon around four when my doc showed up to talk to me & said I
might do better at home as long as I could stay on the diet & see her
every few days. Cool. No problem. I can do this. Problem? During
the ultrasound the Ki looks fine. Wigglin' around, heart is great.
All measurements are pretty much right on give or take a day or two.
His head however is measuring 37 weeks which is five weeks ahead of
where I am as far as the doc is concerned. Amnio gets mentioned for
around 36 weeks in case it gets any better to determine how mature his
lungs are. C-section keeps getting mentioned if it gets any bigger.
Now I will do ANYTHING it takes to keep Ki healthy & happy, but these
two things i'm having a problem with. I'll even poke myself three
times a day in the stomach with the insulin if I have to & i've been
known to pass out at the sight of a needle. My little brothers both
weighed almost ten pounds & big heads run in my family. Both of them,
plus CJ my teenaged boy had 14 inch/centimeter? heads. I"m fairly
short & have no hips to speak of so needless to say CJ was a cone head
baby with a huge blood blister. Please, does anyone know the average
inch/centimeter a baby's head is at 37 weeks? If I only go to 36
weeks like she said could be a possibility the average at 41 weeks?
He's not overly big. The diabetes has been caught in enough time & is
under enough control for now, although it's a real battle because
stuff that shouldn't push my levels over the top DO put them over.
Doc is at a loss why. I'd rather try to push him out on my own & have
an episiotomy like I had to have with CJ than just have them not give
us a chance & send us straight to the O.R. Sorry this is so long &
rambling. I forgot how much resting in the hospital can really wear
you down. Any advice or knowledge would be a great help if anyone has
anything similar regarding the measurements & such. Back to reading
all the messages I missed in almost three days. ) Thanks!!

Jinxie

No advice, just sympathy. I'm also trying to balance the sugar thing,
with often inexplicable results on the glucose monitor. FWIW, my
recommended numbers are 60-100 fasting, then 120 2 hours after meals.
I'm actually rather pleased to know from you that these number are not
set in stone across the medical profession. It makes the whole thing
even more frustrating, but it does demonstrate that this is not a
problem with hard-and-fast danger levels that I need to stress over.

Good luck,
Valerie

Jinxie wrote:

Hi )

I had my normal doc appt. last Thursday. About a week maybe two
before that I had that three hour glucose test & that determined I had
the gestational diabetes. Because of my age & my family history with
diabetes I knew it was a possibility, so I thought I was prepared for
it. WRONG!!!!! At my normal appt. Thursday I saw the nurse
practitioner who in turn showed my fasting morning levels to the doc.
Doc came in & said I needed to go to admitting because she was sending
orders over to the hospital which is just across the street. Okay I
get there & realize how absolutely I am NOT prepared to deal with this
nor am I prepared to go to the hospital. I have nothing but my purse
& nothing packed at home. Lovely day this is gonna be. They had
given me a week to get used to my accu check machine & there was no
problem I got a copy of the glycemic index & talked to a dietician.
What a wide variety of views there are about numbers & what's
acceptable. In the mornings they want me under 90. A week before
that they said anything under 110 was acceptable. I'm supposed to
check my level one hour after eating & a 30 minute walk. The level
then should be under 140, They had said before anything under 120 &
since I have such bad hip & pelvic pain to just walk as much as I
could but it wasn't really necessary. Also the stick was every 2
hours after eating. They consulted perinatologist who is also my
ultrasound doc & he finally set everyone straight on the numbers,
exercise & everything else. He also has the same birthday as I do, so
that was kinda cool! ) I was in from Thursday morning until this
afternoon around four when my doc showed up to talk to me & said I
might do better at home as long as I could stay on the diet & see her
every few days. Cool. No problem. I can do this. Problem? During
the ultrasound the Ki looks fine. Wigglin' around, heart is great.
All measurements are pretty much right on give or take a day or two.
His head however is measuring 37 weeks which is five weeks ahead of
where I am as far as the doc is concerned. Amnio gets mentioned for
around 36 weeks in case it gets any better to determine how mature his
lungs are. C-section keeps getting mentioned if it gets any bigger.
Now I will do ANYTHING it takes to keep Ki healthy & happy, but these
two things i'm having a problem with. I'll even poke myself three
times a day in the stomach with the insulin if I have to & i've been
known to pass out at the sight of a needle. My little brothers both
weighed almost ten pounds & big heads run in my family. Both of them,
plus CJ my teenaged boy had 14 inch/centimeter? heads. I"m fairly
short & have no hips to speak of so needless to say CJ was a cone head
baby with a huge blood blister. Please, does anyone know the average
inch/centimeter a baby's head is at 37 weeks? If I only go to 36
weeks like she said could be a possibility the average at 41 weeks?
He's not overly big. The diabetes has been caught in enough time & is
under enough control for now, although it's a real battle because
stuff that shouldn't push my levels over the top DO put them over.
Doc is at a loss why. I'd rather try to push him out on my own & have
an episiotomy like I had to have with CJ than just have them not give
us a chance & send us straight to the O.R. Sorry this is so long &
rambling. I forgot how much resting in the hospital can really wear
you down. Any advice or knowledge would be a great help if anyone has
anything similar regarding the measurements & such. Back to reading
all the messages I missed in almost three days. ) Thanks!!

Jinxie

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 13:17:12 -0400, Valerie Rake
wrote:

*-*No advice, just sympathy. I'm also trying to balance the sugar
thing,
*-*with often inexplicable results on the glucose monitor. FWIW, my
*-*recommended numbers are 60-100 fasting, then 120 2 hours after
meals.
*-*I'm actually rather pleased to know from you that these number are
not
*-*set in stone across the medical profession. It makes the whole
thing
*-*even more frustrating, but it does demonstrate that this is not a
*-*problem with hard-and-fast danger levels that I need to stress
over.
*-*
*-*Good luck,
*-*Valerie
*-*
Naw I wouldn't stress over it any. Although I did big time when they
said they were admitting me. Doc explained that stress can up your
sugar levels too, so I stopped that & just put myself in the frame of
mind that what happens happens & my body will take care of what it
needs to in its own way. Walking! Lots & lots of walking is helping
me tremendously! Just thirty minutes even at my snails place, I got
lapped by an elder with a walker this morning. lol I wait about ten
minutes after eating, so my tummy doesn't get upset then off I go in
my squooshy shoes. My fasting this morning was 95. I had two
scrambled eggs with ham & cheese & a cup of coffee. One hour after
eating it was 115. YAY! Now I just have to get my fasting down under
90 in the mornings then they can't squawk at me anymore. Dunno if it
was the walking last night or what, but I had cramps in my back pretty
bad that were only alleviated by squatting next to the bed or getting
on all fours on the bed. With my other two I had major back labor,
but it's been so long i've forgotten most of what went on. I've also
just in the last two days started having a cup of RRLT once a day. I
have a pretty fast reaction to most things, so i'm staying with once a
day until it's closer to my date.

Good luck to you too!
Jinxie

snipped

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 14:22:28 -0400, Ericka Kammerer
wrote:

*-*Jinxie wrote:
snipped
*-* I certainly commend your willingness to do whatever it
*-*takes to do the best for your baby, but there's certainly
*-*room to question precisely what that is! If you know you
*-*are not diabetic normally, there's precious little evidence
*-*that insulin will improve outcomes and not as much research
*-*on possible side effects as one might like. If they start
*-*pushing for insulin, I'd do a lot more looking if I were
*-*you before I agreed to it. If you are normally diabetic
*-*(or if you haven't been tested and there's a possibility
*-*you might be), then perhaps it might be a good idea.
*-* In addition, there is little evidence to support
*-*the idea of c-sections or inductions for suspected large
*-*baby, or for gestational diabetes.
*-*

Oh i'm doing everything I can to stay off that insulin even though
they say it wont hurt Ki. There's diabetes in my family, plus my age
so there's a greater risk of me actually having it normally when i'm
not pregnant. Going by some of the symptoms i'd not be surprised if I
had it in some mild form before I got pregnant.
snipped
*-* The average head circ. for a boy at birth is about 14 1/8
*-*inches. However, all babies with X inch heads are not equal.
*-*How they're presenting and how you handle the labor are *huge*
*-*factors. A baby with a small head can be difficult to birth
*-*if the head isn't presenting properly or if you adopt a
*-*position that doesn't give you maximum space. Exercises
*-*that encourage better fetal positioning and retaining
*-*mobility so that you can adopt different positions during
*-*labor, particularly positions like side-lying or hands and
*-*knees that allow your pelvis to open *significantly* wider
*-*and make it easier to birth a large baby. My second had
*-*a large head (15 inches) and I was on hands and knees to
*-*deliver him and didn't even have any tearing (and I'm short
*-*too). Position makes a *real* difference.

Glad you know that! Even my doc wasn't sure what the average was. Is
there a book or a reference guide somewhere that can tell me what the
positions for obtaining maximum space?, moving Ki's position to head
down etc..??? I have a short torso & no hips to speak of. This makes
for squooshed babies. Even my daughter who was fairly small in the
head area was a cone head. I''m not sure what the doctor or hospital
policy is on a lot of stuff, but we have an orientation on the first
of October, so i'll be asking a lot of questions. Especially about
the positioning. I do seem to be much more comfortable when i'm
squatting or on my hands & knees even at this point. I wish they'd
get my dates right though. I'm supposed to be 32 weeks as of
yesterday, but on my discharge papers from Saturday it says antepartum
33 weeks. Wish they'd make up my mind, so I know when to start
looking for signs i'm in labor. Like I said before.......it's been so
long since i've done this i've forgotten everything. My mother knows
more about my birth than I do about my own kids. I was never one for
talking about the pregnancies or labors afterwards. If I had maybe
i'd remember more. lol

Thank you for the input. I always like reading your posts.
*-*

*-*Best wishes,
*-*Ericka

Jinxie

Jinxie wrote:


Glad you know that! Even my doc wasn't sure what the average was.


You can look up the growth charts for the US at
http://www.cdc.gov.

Is
there a book or a reference guide somewhere that can tell me what the
positions for obtaining maximum space?,


Getting maximum space is pretty simple--just stay
off your tailbone. When there's pressure on your tailbone,
it can't flex back out of the way of the baby's head. That
means you don't want to be lying on your back or semi-sitting.
You're free and clear if your tailbone isn't touching
anything ;-)

moving Ki's position to head

down etc..??? I have a short torso & no hips to speak of. This makes
for squooshed babies. Even my daughter who was fairly small in the
head area was a cone head. I''m not sure what the doctor or hospital
policy is on a lot of stuff, but we have an orientation on the first
of October, so i'll be asking a lot of questions. Especially about
the positioning. I do seem to be much more comfortable when i'm
squatting or on my hands & knees even at this point.


Is there an issue getting Ki head down? If so, here's
a website that talks about ways to deal with a breech baby:

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/breech.html

Here's a website on optimum fetal positioning:

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/ofp.htm

Hope this helps,
Ericka