What is a Non stress test during pregnancy?

A non stress test is a monitoring test that is used sometimes during pregnancy. Usually used in the later part of pregnancy,or if there is a complication such a Gestational Diabetes, the test is used to monitor who the baby is doing inside the mothers uterus.

The test involves putting a monitor on the outside of the woman and measuring the heart rate and movement of the baby. Below is a small write up on what the test involves.

"If your baby's heart beats faster (at least 15 beats per minute over his resting rate) while he's moving for at least 15 seconds on two separate occasions during a 20-minute span, the result is normal, or "reactive." A normal result means that your baby is probably doing fine for now. Your practitioner may want to repeat the test every week (or more often) until your baby's born." Taken from babycenter.com

Who's up for a trip to the Doctors?

So MW went for her OB appointment today and got a line up of all the times she will have to go to the Doctors for the next month, man does having Gestational Diabetes bump up your doctors vists.

1 visit a week with the OB/GYN until birth

1 visit a week with the Endocrinologist for the Gestational Diabetes until birth

2 vists a week for a non stress test (more to follow)

and 1 more follow up visit with the nutritionalist

All added up that is 18 doctors appointments in the next month and a half. A little overwhelming! That being said everything is going well with the little guy so thats a plus.

For those of you who end up having a schedule like this don't get overwhelmed. Take a minute, take a breath and then push forward. Do something that is relaxing for you and for your partner and just remember that it helps the baby and you can get through it

Are you serious? Hospital Bureaucracy

MW had her A1C test today. The A1C is a 3 month average of blood sugar. She had to get below a 6, any guess on what she got?....that's right a 6.

Unfortunately for her she is allergic to some sulfur based medications so that means she is now forced to take 4 units of insulin at night. Not horrible and it will keep the baby safe, but this post is more about hospital bureaucracy.

MW now has to go to the endocrinologist every week as well as going to the OB every two weeks. Ok fine I understand that, but I do not understand why they cannot be scheduled on the same day and around the same time. You work for the same hospital and you are going to make an 8 month pregnant woman drive around all week to different appointments? You are the same practice and it should be your thought process to reduce the amount of travel time.

I am very disapointed with the customer service at the moment. Care is great, but come one people.

Gestational Diabetes the next step

So MW has been testing for about 2 weeks now and is doing ok. She has scored below the limit after every meal, but is still scoring high on her morning scores. She is going in tomorrow to figure out what the next step is. She may end up on insulin or sugar control pills before bed. I guess the way the body works is that insulin is naturally suppressed over the night and into the morning. Because MW is already having issues controlling her blood sugar that extra suppression is pushing her over the limit. I will update again after her appointment tomorrow

Damn you Carbohydrates...damn you

MW and I went for our appointment with both the endocrinologist and the nutritionist yesterday.

First of what does this mean?

Endocrinology is the study of the biosynthesis, storage, chemistry and physiological function of hormones with the cells of the endocrine glands and tissues. In essence the endocrinologist deals with the way your hormones act.

A nutritionist is well versed in the ways that food works. This is not only whats a carbohydrate versus whats a fat, but more into the actual way your body interacts with different kinds of food.

Anywho MW got her glucose meter and is now required to test her blood four times a day for the sugar levels. Once right before breakfast and then once two hours after every major meal. All of this information is recorded on a sheet of paper that we will then review with MW's OB/GYN

The nutritionist went over the different ways carb's work and then gave us carb levels to meet at each meal (more so at lunch and dinner, less so for snacks.) This diet is designed to help keep MW's GD under control. Its defiantly a hard transition to no cookies or ice cream. But we will make it!

Glucose Results

MW and I spend all of Saturday morning in the Beverly Hospital lab fasting and getting blood drawn to do our second glucose test. Because MW got 1 pt above the max on the first test this tset was to further check on the possibility of Gestational Diabetes.

The lab called this morning and told us that MW was above the glucose levels on her first two blood tests during the 3 hr test. What does this mean? Before we go into what it means lets go into how the body works.

Insulin is the hormone central to the metabolization of carbohydrates and fast in the body. In the simplest term Insulin is what metabolizes sugar. Insulin is made in the Pancreas and moved throughout the body to metabolize sugars (glucose) into a storable/usable energy source (glycogen). When pregnant the Pancreas has to produce around 3X the normal amount of insulin due to the other hormones in the body.

MW is just on the borderline of keeping up with her insulin needs. So technically that means she has Gestational Diabetes. So what does this mean?

First off is a trip to the doctors/dietitian. Because her levels are so borderline MW's GD (I am going to shorten it as its a pain to type Gestational Diabetes) can be controlled by diet and exercise. Working with her doctor and dietitian we will be able to put together a diest and exercise program that will keep her sugar at an acceptable level.

GD is not the end of the world! It affects 1-3% of all pregnant woman. This is why the hospital does tests such as this. Now they will be able to keep an eye on MW and make sure that everything goes wonderfully with JW's birth. For those of you who want a little more info on GD here are a couple links.

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/pregnancy/complications/075.html

http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/gestational_diabetes

Thats the nitty gritty of it. I will post more after our trip to the doctors.