My Full-Time Summer Job

I have made no secret of the fact that this summer my full-time job has included doctor appointments, baby classes, organizing the baby room, appointments at the diabetes center and managing my diabetes and blood pressure. I am so incredibly glad that I decided not to work at the school district this summer. I really don't know how I would have managed to do everything I not only wanted to do, but NEEDED to do.

Today happened to be a pretty busy day for us. I had two doctor appointments. My first one was with my OB-GYN. She informed me that because of my gestational diabetes, she will not let me get to 40 weeks gestation, so unless he decides to come earlier, she will induce labor at 39 weeks. This means that I will be induced on either August 17th or 18th. Of course, if he decides to come before 39 weeks, that would be okay, too. I will be 35 weeks on Wednesday and I'm far enough along now that there isn't a whole lot that we would need to worry about as far as his development is concerned. With gestational diabetes, the biggest risk is that the baby will become too large for delivery, which is why they won't let me get that far along. Lance and I were absolutely thrilled to hear that we'll get to meet our little guy at least a week before his actual due date! For many reasons, this will definitely work out to everyone's advantage.

We also talked to my doctor about getting vaccinated for Whooping Cough (Pertussis). This has started to become a real problem and cases of it have really increased in California. She said that I will be vaccinated before I am discharged from the hospital and the baby will be vaccinated when he is a few months old. Lance is going to get vaccinated this week and I have already sent information to my parents and sister about clinics in our area that are offering free vaccinations. I would really encourage everyone to please get vaccinated. There are many clinics that offer it free of charge and it is good for 10 years. Getting poked in the arm is so worth not spreading this horrible disease to a little one. Okay...enough of my lecturing...

My second appointment was at the perinatology office. I've been going there twice a week for the last few weeks to do non-stress tests. Once a week they also do an ultrasound, which is always fun. Today, for the first time, the ultrasound tech actually got a pretty good shot of his face and we were able to see him sticking his tongue out and moving his mouth. We even got to watch him stick his fingers in his mouth and start sucking on them. I almost died! It was such a cool moment to see him do that. The non-stress test took longer than usual today because he was being a little bit hyperactive. They waited until his heart rate came down a bit before letting me out of the chair. At one of my appointments next week, they will measure his growth again. At my first appointment today, I learned that I am now right at my prepregnancy weight and after measuring my belly, he seemed to be right on track for growth. It was also confirmed today that he was still head down and in the exact position he's supposed to be in. He has been in that position for a while now. I am anxious to find out what his growth measures to be next week!

Anyway, we are really, really happy with the way everything is going right now. My glucose numbers have been excellent, my blood pressure has been pretty stable and he seems to be growing and developing exactly the way he is supposed to. Lets just hope that this continues for the next 4 weeks!