We had our garage sale on Saturday morning and I had some higher blood sugars that morning until after lunch (and they were stubborn numbers too - wouldn't budge - low 200's overnight and then stayed at the high 100's), and then they got really high early afternoon. Like 340-ish high. And I'd give a correction bolus of insulin, and 30-60 minutes later...no change. Did that again, and nothing. At that point I changed my infusion site (hoping that was the cause) and your Daddy wanted to listen to you in there since we'd been battling these high numbers. So we got out the fetal monitor to hear your heart beat. And my first reaction was, "Thank God...there you are, beating away!" And then my second thought was "Oh wow, baby girl, your heart sounds so fast." You were clocking about 170 beats per minute and you are always between 135-150. I've never heard you this fast before (well, at least lately - when you were just a mere little bean you always had a higher heart rate, but haven't had that since probably June!). We got a little freaked out and I called my buddy ol' pal Nurse Val. She suggested we go in to the hospital and get monitored just to be sure. She assured me that you could be just fine in there and just very active, so a 170 heart rate wasn't crazy to her. But, of course, it could also mean you were in distress, so best to go in.
Got to the hospital and checked in. Was in the OB Triage area first and had these monitors strapped to my belly to measure your heart beat and any contractions I would have. Your heart was still beating higher than normal, like 165 bpm. My blood sugar was coming down (according to my meter) and was now in the mid-200's. According to the hospital's big ol' clunky meter, I was low 300's. I feel like I, the patient, have better technology than the hospital. And more accurate. So, the nurse relayed this information to the doctor (that's the nice part of having a group doctor's office for the pregnancy, there is always one of them on staff at the hospital), and he wanted to admit me for the night, mainly to watch my blood sugar levels. They weren't overly concerned with your higher heart rate, even though I told them this wasn't anywhere near normal for you. I accepted the hospital stay quite calmly, it meant we got to figure all of this out with good help nearby!
Got to the room and got strapped into the fetal monitors again. I had two straps around my belly holding the heart rate monitor (for you) and one holding the contraction monitor (that also measured movement from you). Then, I had a clippy thing on my toe that read out my heart rate and my oxygen level of my blood. I was all hooked up! Similar to this picture, except she doesn't have the clippy thing on her toe and I'm not Asian. Other than that - the set up was exactly the same - with the monitors in the background and everything (thank you to whoever this is in the picture - so sorry if you didn't want to make an appearance on my blog!).
Once I was in my room and all strapped in (literally), your heart rate here started to be more like normal - more in the 150's. The entire time my blood pressure was wonderful at 115/75. And I am not sure how, since I was stressed out completely! My temperature was normal too (which was one of the reasons my blood sugar could've been elevated). Your Uncle Ray and Aunt Brenda heard we were headed to the hospital and came to visit. They stayed for about an hour and kept us company and our minds off of the sheer fact that we were staying the night in a hospital! We love them for coming! The OB doc (not my high-risk group doc) came by and checked on me. She got a download of the details and we agreed to just have me monitor my numbers with my own meter (for the most part) and that I would be in full control of my insulin pump. I told her my concern with the discrepancy of meter readings between mine and theirs and she pretty much agreed with me that mine is probably the one to trust. And that was it...the nurse would check on me during the night at some point or another and be my go-to person. My numbers were now to the 140 range. Not perfect, but soooo much better than the 300's. Your Daddy and I finally got something to eat too around 9pm. My hour postprandial reading (1-hour after eating) was 208...still a little high, but something I deal with at home every so often, so nothing unusual.
I called Nurse Val again and told her I was staying. She suggested that I set a temporary basal rate to 110%, because this jump could very well be the fact that I am almost to 32 weeks - and this is what happens - you start growing more, hormones go off the charts and an all around increase of insulin is needed. I started this around midnight...and throughout the night, my numbers slowly fell into normal range again, even with an 80 at 6am.
Your Daddy is such a good hubby to me, he stayed there with me on the uncomfortable pull out chair next to my bed. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. First of all, that hospital bed was horrible! I couldn't have slept even if nothing was on my mind! Second, I was strapped to those monitors all the time and if you moved, or the monitor moved a little with my movement, your heart rate would disappear from the screen and I would readjust and try and get it back again. This became normal and not alarming after many hours. It scared me at first, but then I realized if I wanted to sleep at all, I would have to ignore this factor. Every 1-2 hours from midnight to 6am, I woke up and took my blood sugar, wrote it down, unplugged the cords from the monitors - three of them - so that I could get up and go pee. It had to be a sight, because I had these huge straps around my belly with long cords coming from them and I would just hold the cords in my hand and do my best to go the bathroom! And then, once I unhooked the toe clippy heart rate monitor, it would start screeching like I had no pulse anymore (the nurse knew to expect this when I was getting up to go the bathroom). So there was a huge "BEEP...BEEP...BEEP" constantly going until I could get my tangled self back to bed and hooked up again. Your poor Daddy, he'd get woken up every time I had to get up too! And then I'd get all plugged back in again, toe thingy back on (whew...pulse again!), and then situate the monitors to find you again and get your heart rate back on the screen and thumping again. By this time, you were at your normal range - 130 - 150 bpm.
The nurse told me that you looked great in there. They look for activity from one of the monitors on my belly and match it up with your heart rate and if it changes with your activity. I guess you were a champ, because they said you looked great. I also noticed that sometimes your heart rate would go to 115-120 for a few (LONG) seconds and then come back up to normal. So, I asked about this in the morning and she said that this is completely normal and most likely it is from you either leaning against your umbilical cord, or your squeezing it. Again, completely normal (just be careful with that thing, okay?! That's your life line!). I also learned that the mild contractions I had been feeling were really just that. They noticed on the monitor that I had several. Completely normal to have them this early - just getting ready to get you out of there!
I gave the nurse all my readings from the night before and remember the 208 postprandial that I had the night before? The nurse gave this number to the doc and he was concerned still and thought I should maybe stay another night. What?! This was ridiculous...especially now that I was around 80 - and I hadn't set the temp basal to 110% at that point...so after I did...I obviously was getting my numbers back into range. I told the nurse this and she relayed them to the doctor (the one from the doctor's office, by the way, and he hadn't come and even seen me yet...so that frustrated me a bit to make this judgement without even talking to me! To his credit, there were 12 babies delivered the day before and that night I was there....so there were a few other things to attend to!). I had a minor meltdown with just your Daddy in the room (picture a kid stomping when they don't get their way and then tears). I think everything just built up finally - being so scared for you, being hooked up to all these monitors constantly, the bed SUCKED and my hips were hurting through the whole night and also feeling bad that your Daddy was stuck there with me! Luckily, I got over my temper tantrum pretty fast and the nurse came in and told me that the next doctor from my office was on the clock now and he would come in and see me shortly. He did - and I knew this one - he was the one that your Mimi and I saw when they were in town. He agreed with my logic (thank you!) and if my lunch postprandial number was close to normal, he'd discharge me.
At that point, I confess, I cranked my temporary basal rate to 117% instead of 110% so that I had a better chance of getting out of there! And it must've worked, because I was 139 after lunch (as close to normal as I get) and just like that - I was out of there! My readings were pretty normal (with the temp basal still set) through the day yesterday, a little higher through the night (150's), and today have been a little more like 150 too. So, I may just need to reset all my basal rates to around 125% of my old rates. It's just that time during the pregnancy baby girl! I have already double the amount of daily insulin that I use...and knew I could go as high as triple that amount...so we're right on target! Even though it's still frustrating...I'd still do anything for you little girl! In honor of SEVEN weeks to go and our little hospital adventure, I thought I would do our countdown this week based on that. Here are the SEVEN things I actually liked about needing to go and stay in the hospital.
7. We know where to go and what to do on the big day!
6. There are current movies to watch at the hospital - and free! All chosen from my uncomfortable hospital bed! We watched "The Proposal", "Land of the Lost" and started "This Is It" (Michael Jackson - that was good!).
5. We got to know the staff a little and feel really comfortable with them- maybe the two nurses that took care of me will get to meet you too!
4. I know for sure that your Daddy gets to stay the night with me there when we have you.
3. Hospital food isn't too bad (although they try to act like I should be on a "diabetic diet" which is just really funny to someone who takes care of herself like I do - on a pump, etc. - oh well!).
2. I didn't have to get wheeled out in a wheelchair to get discharged. They let me walk out on my own like a normal person!
1. You were 100% a-okay. Hearing your heart beat and monitoring you for a good 12 hours or so was such a comfort to your Mommy and Daddy! And hearing the nurses say you look great in there was even better!
This hospital stay was a huge test in the humility department. It made me feel like I couldn't take care of myself and you on my own. And I guess that's where the humility comes in - reality is that I can't. At a minimum I need God and to do what He says instead of going where my pride leads. It's hard to say that I had to stay a night in the hospital due to high blood sugars...like I didn't do a good enough job taking care of you. Well, and that's the next bit of reality - I do need others sometimes with having diabetes. I never like to think that way, but it's true. I have a disease that has a mind of it's own sometimes. Where others get the luxury of having a pancreas that knows exactly what to do and is so intricately smart, mine is just a plain loser. A waste of space really! I wonder how much a pancreas weighs? Because I really don't need it.....you get where I'm going with this?
Anywhoooo....what about you? Let's see....here's a little update.
This week you should weigh about four pounds and are around 17 inches long. And though that's a head-to-toe length, you are actually back to a curled-up position. Since we are so close to the end, I am more so feeling tapping and squirming instead of your signature rocking and rolling. That's because, while comfy, you are a bit tight for exercise space right now. You are most likely settled into the head-down, bottoms-up position in my pelvis in preparation for birth. Even if you move around and your head isn't always down, at this point, you still have time to take your final position.
And because you are accumulating more fat and your skin is finally turning opaque (like mine) this means those see-through days are over. Though weeks away from D-day, you are looking more and more like a newborn!
And speaking of that big day, I should be resting up for it — because you sure are. In preparation for that big first date with your mama, you are literally sleeping like a baby — with sleep cycles of 20 to 40 minutes long. So, if I am feeling less movement from you nowadays, that's because you are sleeping more than you used to.
You seem to push down on my left hip a lot these days. And then simultaneously up in my ribs at the same time. This must be a little stretch that you do a few times a day after you wake up....hands and feet straight up and out. I feel a little more hungry now too, which is weird because I haven't felt overly hungry this whole pregnancy. But, since you are growing in there (and I know this as well from my huge increase in insulin this week!), this new hunger makes sense too.
We have our first non-stress test (NST) this week, along with a growth ultrasound and doctor's visit. All of this is on Thursday. From this point on, I will need two of these visits a week (but only one ultrasound). The NST will be exactly like what we did in the hospital with those straps on my belly, measuring how much you are moving vs. the movement of your heart rate. So, this is just a 45-60 minute deal of monitoring.
Another thing we get to do this Sunday is take your Sisters to the TobyMac, Michael W. Smith, and Third Day concert. We all LOVE TobyMac and I love the other two as well. It should be a great concert - we can't wait! And that reminds me of a song of his that I hope he sings. It's not exactly about a baby in a mom's womb...but when I hear certain parts of it, it makes me think of you in there just needing to make it few more days...and then I get to hold you! I'll leave you with a few of the lyrics to end the blog today.
Baby hold on
just another day or two
I can see the clouds are
moving faster now
and the sun is breaking through
If you can hold on, to the One that's holding you
there is nothing that can
stop this crazy love
from breaking through
And the stars are up there
shining for you
oh, how the Father does adore you
His love will never change
And you and I
we were born to follow
the hope that will lead us to tomorrow
and no one can take it away
So baby hold on
just another day or two
I can see the clouds are
moving faster now
and the sun is breaking through
If you could hold on
to the One that's holding you
there is nothing that can stop this crazy, crazy love from breaking
Love you!
Dani - It won't be long now - the little boys were born at 34 weeks - I can't believe how fast it has gone - (for us anyway)!!!!
ReplyDeleteTake care - she'll be here before you know it!!
Aunt Susie