Three Little Birds...

Today was one of those days where I just know that everything is going to be alright.  I had my second appointment with my OB today to verify that the pregnancy is progressing as expected.  It went really well.  She did an ultrasound and the baby is growing exactly as expected, was super active, moving around for us, and has a strong heartbeat (177).  It still looks like a little gummy bear, but we could see a distinct head, body and even little arm and leg buds flapping around.

I walked out from the appointment feeling on top of the world.  I just knew in that moment that all of my fears from the last year, were for naught.  I'm sure the feelings will still come and go, but seeing that little baby on the screen today was my three little birds on my doorstep (to use the words of Bob Marley).

I am being treated as having gestational diabetes again.  I had done some bloodwork for my primary care doctor just days after finding out I was pregnant, and my fasting glucose came back a little high.  So my OB ordered an A1C test to see where I really stand.  I was adament that I didn't want a straight diagnosis of diabetes while I was still pregnant, since I know my body and am very clear that things changed when I was pregnant (even before I knew I was pregnant).  My OB absolutely agreed, and said she didn't even care about the glucose read because really the A1C test is the only accurate way to see how your body is processing sugar.  In a very simple explanation, a typical glucose test checks your blood sugar at a single point in time, either at fasting or at a specific point after a meal (usually one hour).  This is typically the way pregnant women are checked for GD since that is specific to the way your body is processing sugar.  The A1C is typically ordered when diabetes 1 or 2 is suspected.  It uses a marker on your red hemoglobin that shows a sort of average blood sugar over the past 2-3 months.  This is a better indication of how your body is managing in general.  My A1C test came back slightly elevated with a result of 6.  According to my online research, this is actually still within the "normal" range, but in the "pre-diabetic" range.  I am actually happy about this test and its results for a few reasons.  The first is that I don't have to take the awful Glucose Tolerance Test.  The second is that this tells me that although my blood sugars are currently elevated, it really is due to the pregnancy, and I was fine prior to the pregnancy.  This is of course just a guess since it is an average (and maybe I was worse before, or just the same the whole time), but I am pretty tuned in with my body, and feel very confident that this is the case.  I feel that this means I will manage my health and diet quite well through the pregnancy due to the extra monitoring, and that I won't be facing a long term health issue after.  It may not be ideal to have GD, but it forces me to take care of my body in a way that I typically am not great at, my weight will again be well managed during the pregnancy, and it leaves me with a chance of actually losing a good amount of weight shortly after delivering, and hopefully this time, I'll actually keep it off!

So anyhow, it felt like good news all around today.  Plus, I got my new phone, which is always fun, even when done under duress.  Since I upgraded, I have a much better camera phone now which will hopefully mean more wonderful pictures of my sweet Bella, this crazy pregnancy, and any other delightful things I find in life!