(Continuing my high-risk pregnancy story)
Wow, time flies!
I have been WANTING to write a blog post since the last time I wrote one more than two years ago but I always made an excuse or something would come up.
I give props to the social media influencers who have kids and continue to post about their life and do what they were doing before having a kid. That is commitment at its finest. As much as I wanted to share my story, I either didn’t make the time or didn’t have the time.
So here we are 🙂 More than two years later. My son (who is turning 2 this month!!!) is watching Cars 3 while I write this blog post.
So much has happened since the last time I wrote a blog post and I’ve thought about catching everyone up and writing about the rest of my pregnancy and my birth story and everything after and life updates and diabetes updates but then I don’t want to start and take forever to finish. But then I think it would be important as maybe people would relate and not feel alone or isolated. Okay, now I am just rambling.
In the last post I wrote, I shared my experience of meeting with a MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist/doctor) who made me feel unseen and unheard. Luckily, I never spoke with them again and was always scheduled with someone else. I eventually requested an office closer to where I lived and met with the MFMs at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (while still making sure I didn’t meet with the first MFM as I became aware that MFM also traveled to the Pomona clinic). Anyway, the MFMs I worked with for the rest of my pregnancy were amazing and meticulous and patient and I was beyond grateful for them.
As my pregnancy progressed, I would see the MFMs a lot more often. I went from seeing them every two weeks to every week, which I loved as I got an ultrasound each time and saw my baby and heard his heartbeat.
One of the most anxiety-producing appointments was needing to do a fetal echocardiogram, which is a specialized ultrasound used during pregnancy to assess the baby’s heart structure, especially in high-risk pregnancies. I felt anxious as I was scared that something would be wrong. I thought something would be wrong as in a prior appointment, I heard the MFM say that the blood flow appeared slower than normal and they would need to further assess. I had to wait a whole week between those two appointments and I couldn’t help but think negatively and prepare myself to hear that something was wrong with my baby’s heart. I was hoping for the best but prepared for the worst and it was hard to challenge those thoughts. My husband and family kept reassuring me everything was okay, normal, fine, etc. but I couldn’t shake the negative thoughts.
Luckily, everything was okay and my baby’s heart was functioning normally. I let out a big sigh of relief when the doctor told me everything was okay and normal. And yes, a MFM did the fetal echocardiogram, not an ultrasound tech.
During the pregnancy, I had stubborn highs and my insulin resistance increased and I needed a lot of background insulin (I continued using my insulin pump throughout my entire pregnancy). It definitely took a lot of work to keep my A1C under 6.5 during my pregnancy and I was stressed with every high and every minute I was high. But I did it 🙂 and looking back, I am so dang proud of myself.
Whenever I get another chance to write another blog post, I will share my birth story.
Thank you all for reading!
Living with Dianabetes 