Friday, January 26, 2007

Week 27 Update:
Heart, Furniture, Hiring Help

We had a follow-up fetal echo earlier this week, since the kid was flipping around so much at the last heart appointment. While the doctor told me this was the longest appointment he'd ever had when everything looked good, the key thing is EVERYTHING LOOKED GOOD. No signs of thickening or heart defects which are more common in uncontrolled diabetes. They saw just about everything they needed to see. All is well, at least this week.

I keep adjusting my own overnight basals, because frankly, it's easier to do that than to do the rigamarole of manually writing down blood sugars, boluses, basals, and carb counts and faxing them off to my doctor. For the past few days, my overnights have been pretty stable, which pleases me.

Baby L kicks regularly now. So much that I've wondered if perhaps the kicking is a sign of distress. But then I stop torturing myself and go back to just enjoying the feeling.

Ankles larger, but not freakishly so.

Stomach getting larger every day, but the scale, thankfully, isn't increasing exponentially. I'm maybe only two pounds heavier since my last doc visit a few weeks ago.

Oh, we ordered baby furniture last weekend, after debating the virtues of getting most of it secondhand (cribs, apparently, are not recommended for this, because of SIDS concerns), or going to a number of baby furniture stores in our area. Despite the fact that we buy ourselves secondhand furniture on Craigslist all the time, and that my husband has become something of a CL addict (more on this in a later post), we ended up buying pretty pricey new furniture that we expect this kid to use until it trots off to college. Except for the crib.

And yesterday, rather than do actual work and meet actual deadlines (um, I have a writing assignment due in 12 hours I haven't begun writing yet. Only 125 words, though), I spent the day calling potential pediatrician offices to schedule "get to know you" appointments and researched the differences between a baby nurse, a postpartum doula, and general newborn home care. I realize the majority of new mothers get it together enough to take their own kid home from the hospital and figure out what to do that first week on their own, but friends have said if we can afford to hire help that first week, particularly after recovering from a c-section, it's totally worth it. Family members have also generously offered to cover the costs, so now I need to find someone.

The first place I called, recommended from a friend, is already booked in April. Another place, also recommended, doesn't have a website (!) and is mailing me information. I also read new parent bulletin boards which debated the pros and cons of hiring someone, and the differences between a baby nurse (takes care of the baby, may be less likely to encourage breast feeding, according to one comment I read) and a postpartum doula (takes care of the mother, seems more into the idea of natural births and such, so how will one work with me, who is having a scheduled, likely to be highly-assisted, c-section and owes most of her existence to intense Western medical care?). Have any of you out there hired help for the week after you gave birth, and if so, what'd you think of the experience?

(And yes, while our families live nearby, I honestly think it's better to hire non-family who can help us on either a 24-hour or overnight basis, and I think that's a lot to ask of approaching-elderly parents, some of whom have a number of their own health/personal needs. Plus, one of them is a chain smoker and that's NOT what I want to deal with the week I get home from having a kid.)

This weekend, we have to analyze the three day care contenders we liked best (we've looked at about five or six over the past few weeks), figure out if we're actually going to use them (Mr. L. would love for me to stay home full time with the baby for a year, but knowing how much I love to work, I think it might drive me insane. Then again, I've never raised a child, so how do I know what I'm going to do? Maybe I'll end up wanting to stay home for a year.) We are also doing a bunch of painting and I still need to clean out the future baby's room of all my books and papers and stuff. To that extent, I've made about $80 selling used books to local bookstores recently, and while I thought twice yesterday about selling a few titles (my seventh grade copy of Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story in one volume, for example, or a gift of Stephen Crane's collected works from a now-deceased relative that I never cracked open), I think I'll be OK with letting those titles go to someone who will appreciate them.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dtails, details, details!!! But then, we pwd's as masters of details. Have a good weekend.

Anonymous said...

Glad everything is looking good! Amazing how much work is entailed with the details. Luckily, this is #2 for us, so some of this stuff is already set.
I would definitely leave the door open to staying home at least for 6 months. Newborns are so tiny and helpless that it is actually physically painful to leave them (even with spouse) before then - in my experience. The physical bond is utterly amazing, and I really didn't think it would happen to me at 41, but it did.

Flmgodog said...

Gosh everytime I read your updates I am amazed at how far along you are. In no time flat Baby L will be here.
Mazal Tov on getting the baby furniture figured out. Good luck with the other stuff. We are slowly cleaning out the room we will use as well.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for the furniture! We got H a crib that converts to a toddler bed and then is a headboard/footboard for a double bed - so these girls WILL use it until college... or else!

Even though PP doulas do end up working with people who are more at the natural end of the spectrum - I think that is only because they are more talked up by the midwifery/natural birth circles. It would just not really occur to the majority of OBs I've heard of to recommend one or to know much about them.

IMHO, a pp doula is a FABULOUS idea - especially if you are going to be recovering from surgery. They are not going to look down on you for having a MEDICALLY NECESSARY C-section, elective or not. If you just decided to have a c for cosmetic reasons or to save your vag like Britney Spears, a pp doula might have a problem with that. But they are to help the whole family, for both you AND baby whether it be with cooking a meal or giving baby a bath.

Also, if you are planning to breastfeed either the pp doula can be so reassuring and helpful or will know of great community resources where you can seek help. It has been my experience that many nurses don’t encourage mom’s to stick out the rough spots – I’ve had many a nurse suggest supplementing with formula to get over the humps and that is the worst thing you can do to solve a lot of bfing problems.

As for the staying home thing - that is a tough decision... You are smart to lay the foundation for either scenario.

Anonymous said...

Sounds you have plenty to keep you busy (and that you are very on top of things)!

I am all for hiring non-family assistance, just because of all the history family will inevitably cart in with them!

Anonymous said...

Lyrehca, I really am happy that all is running along fine. I have been meaning to ask yo something for so long.... When pregnant, bg values really have to be in tight control. What is considered tight control for a pregnant diabetic now-a-days? What HbA1c do they want? Can the HbA1c be too low? What standard of deviation are they looking for? What postparandial bg value do they want? Is the postparandial bg 160 just not acceptable; must it be under 140? How do they look at hypos under 60, 50 or 40? I am asking these auestions b/c although I am certainly not pregnant again and have no such intentions, Per would faint, I think that my doctor is too easy on his requirements - he wants me to have a HbA1c between 6 and7. He does not like my 5.2%. I aim for an 80, he aims for 100mg/dl. I reason that the goals for pregnant women have got to be the best goals for all diabetics. So what are your goals - that is my question! I tend to be such a perfectionist, so maybe I am overdoing things.... I would be very happy if you would send me an email, which is listed at my blog. I would really love to correspond more with you!

About nannies - I definitely would NOT go for family even if they are near by. Things get just so tricky when they are helping you and yet you do not necessarily see eye to eye on all issues! Once my Mom moved all our furniture around, while I was at work one day! I had a c-section both times. I took care of my kids myself until I went back work.

It must be so fun planning everything. You will do just fine! I will send you some good luck anyhow!

Anonymous said...

sounds like everything is going great! i love reading all the updates! good luck <3

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for your encouraging comment. It is totally irrational but I do feel that news of an easily conceived pregnancy for some reason reduces my chances so I really liked your statement about happiness not being limited.

It sounds like you are doing such a great job, keeping your blood sugars stable and organising the house and looking for help for the first few weeks. I often tweak my insulin and if everything goes fine, my doctor seems to be fine with it. That's a great achievement having stable nights, well done. And such wonderful news that everything went well at your last scan, must be such a relief. I remember how happy I was when the heart was checked and everything was fine.

Hope you're still sleeping ok and that these weeks go fine, will be reading regularly.

Anonymous said...

You're doing a good job, Momma :)

Watson said...

Wow, so many exciting developments!

I have no personal experience, but I love the idea of a PP doula, especially if you're recovering from major surgery.

And to answer your question, yes, we are moving forward, full steam ahead with IVF.

Wish me luck, I hope one day I'm in your shoes thinking of cribs and midwife/doula options

:-)

Anonymous said...

Okay my dear, you have been tagged. Your next entry has to be about 6 weird things about yourself. :)