Week Thirteen Brain Dump

Some updates:

Baby L/Hod

1. Mr. Lyrehca and I went to see High Risk Ob today to have another ultrasound and bloodwork to see if Hod appears to be at risk for having Down Syndrome and a few other chromosomal problems.

2. This test measured the back of Hod's neck for something called nuchal translucency, or the thickness in the area behind the neck.

3. Hod's measurement was 1.4, and all I remember is that a reading more than 2.5 is more worrisome.

4. The test is done in conjunction with blood fingersticks to determine the rate of having chromosomal problems.

5. On either Friday night or Monday evening, the doc will call with the risk assessment.

6. It's measured in terms of chances, as in 1 baby out of a certain number, based on the nuchal reading, my bloodwork, and my age, will be born with Down Syndrome or one of these other chromosomal problems called Trisomy.

7. During the ultrasound, Hod had her/his hand up by her/his head.

8. "Look, the kid looks like it's on the phone," I pointed out.

9. High Risk Ob thought this was funny.

10. Hod definitely looks more like a human being this week: we saw a spine, the skull, and a black dot in the middle of the torso.

11. "That's the stomach sac," High Risk Ob told us.

12. "Does the poor kid have gas?" I asked. "Why's the stomach black?"

13. Black on an ultrasound means fluid, which in this case, is normal.

All good for today, we left High Risk Ob. After lunch, Mr. L. returned to work. I had a nutritionist appointment scheduled for an hour later in the same office, so I went to the maternity ward to visit a friend who happened to have a scheduled c-section yesterday in this same hospital.

Other Baby News

As it turns out, this friend is a type 1 and sees the same Endo and High Risk Doc I do. In fact, I ran into her in the office around week 10, and blurted out that I was pregnant, but swore her to secrecy.

Today, visiting her, her husband, and her cute one-day-old daughter, her husband looked at me and apologized for asking, then asked if I was pregnant.

I came out of the closet.

I swore him to secrecy for another week, until we find out the results of today's tests.

However, it was awfully refreshing to be able to talk about being diabetic and pregnant, to dish about our doctors, and to be honest about what I've been thinking about for so long: the hassles of testing all day long and of obsessing about what I eat all the time, to what it's like to be pregnant, to having to skip out of work so frequently for doctor's appointments. I didn't mention the infertility stuff in detail, but I did say once or twice that it took Mr. L. and I a long time to get to this point, so maybe the couple could read between the lines.

Then again, as my female friend pointed out, she's got a newborn to take care of and a c-section to heal from. My issues are likely long out of her head already.

In other baby news, my sister in law (Mr. L's sister) is scheduled to have her second child tomorrow.

1. She was scheduled to have a c-section next week, but instead has been having contractions, so she went to the hospital yesterday.

2. She was monitored for pre-eclampsia, and was sent home, but told to return to the hospital tonight.

3. The latest is that she's spilling a bit of protein, which is a sign of pre-e, and is now scheduled to have the baby by c-section tomorrow.

4. My sister in law had gestational diabetes with her first son, who is now two and healthy, and had an unexplained full-term stillborn daughter before her son. That experience was truly awful, and I do hope everything goes smoothly and healthily tomorrow with my future neice-phew. (They aren't divulging the baby's gender until after its born).

Nutritionist Visit

I dragged my feet to the nutritionist visit, thinking that my Endo skedded me to see her because Endo thought I was a willful (i.e., non-compliant) diabetic who didn't know how to eat.

Happily, I learned this wasn't the case: all pregnant patients meet with the nutritionist just to stay posted. Once I took the chip off my shoulder, I was able to talk about my new love of Whole Foods' clam chowder for lunch, my fear of eating too many LifeSavers to treat reactions, and whether I should really skip diet Coke for the entire pregnancy.

Nutritionist said it was OK to eat clam chowder for lunch (although excessive weight gain may keep that new habit in check), that the LifeSavers I'm eating aren't negatively affecting the fetus, and that if I really wanted to, I should find Splenda-sweetened non-caffeinated diet Coke to drink. (I'm not sure this combo exists, though. Anyone know?)

Other odds and ends

1. My arms, neck, back and hands all ache in various stages. Specifically, my arms and hands sometimes feel as if I did a big weight training session the day before and now my muscles are sore and recovering. But I haven't lifted weights in months now. Tylenol sometimes helps, and when I first noticed the arm pain, my Endo had me take a stress test to make sure my heart was working fine, which it was. So what could this arm/hand muscle pain be? Anyone?

2. Neck and back also go through aches and soreness every so often. It's like they lock up and twice now, I haven't been able to turn my head left because my neck was so sore. Again, any ideas? Am I having some kind of horrible problem and I just don't know it?

3. Totally unrelated topic, but my blog had its 10,000th visitor recently. I am super excited by this. Thanks to everyone for reading!