Perinatologist = overnight stay at Hospital

Wednesday, NOVEMBER 18th

Okay, so before I give you the low-down. This is a long read. I apologize for that. It was a LONG night coming....

I had an appointment with the Perinatologist today. About a week and a half ago I got a call from my dr.s office saying my test results from my "Sugar drink" came back positive... meaning I have gestational diabetes. Lucky me. :0) It was so high they want me to meet with a Perinatologist as soon as possible. We were on our way to AZ for a Construction Convention for Andrew. They said to meet w/him as soon as we got back.
Well, we came back from AZ. Andrew had a crazy day at work and was not able to go with me to this apt. So I called my sister Katie and she met up with me there at Timp Hospital ( where I meet with the Perinatologist).
We get into the room where the Dr. meets us. First a nurse comes in takes an ultrasound of the baby and goes over everything to make sure the baby is doing well. Then the Dr. came in. He did the same thing and then he got my results of my blood sugars faxed in. He took one look at them and said he had no idea that my blood sugars were Sooo high. Apparently my blood sugars are supposed to be below 139 and I was at 202. Pretty high! So he goes on to say... " They use to admit people to the hospital all the time back in the day, but they don't normally do that these days, BUT since you are Sooo high and we don't know how they are doing right now, my suggestion for you would be to admit you tonight and watch your blood sugars for about 24 hrs, and make sure you and the baby are doing well". Obviously he gave me the choice. Well, talking with my sister and trying to call Andrew and my mom we decided since that was what the Dr. recommended, that's what we were going to do for the safety of the both of us.

Down to Labor and Delivery my sister and I went. I was hooked up to a non-stress test where they check the baby's heart beat. They also hooked me up to a contraction monitor as well.
My sister ended up leaving and Andrew was able to meet me at the hospital.
I met with a dietitian to go over a healthy diet for me and got a small monitor to take home and test my blood sugars myself by pricking my finger 7 times a day. Not so fun!
Well, while we were at the hospital the nurse told me I was having contractions every 2-3 mins. I didn't know exactly what to think about that. She kept coming back in every couple hrs to check on me and I could tell she was getting more and more worried. Well, after the 4th or 5th time she said, "Well, we are going to run a few tests. The 1st one is to make sure you aren't dilated and not going to have the baby tonight..." Andrew and I looked at each other. I could only imagine what was going on through his mind. She continues,"the next test we'll take is to make sure you won't have this baby in 2 weeks as well. The 3rd test we will do is to make sure you don't have a UTI (urinary tract infection), cuz that could cause you to have contractions as well. Do you have any questions?" WOW!!
My thoughts: a baby tonight...or in 2 weeks??? I am only 29 weeks along. We have Sooo much to do still. I thought I would have more time to get everything together. Parents already? Just like that? YA! I have some questions... Is our son going to be ok if he does come tonight or in 2 wks? How long would he have to be in the NICU? Should we be worried. Is there anything we can do to make this better? I'm kind of freaking out here!
Andrew: (Well, all I got was blank stares and what looked liked empty thoughts. I don't think he knew what to think either.)
The nurse said everything would be fine. So I did the tests and waited... and waited... and waited...
About midnight we finally got results saying everything was negative. No baby tonight, no baby in 2 weeks and the next morning we found out no UTI. Well, through all of this we were still pricking my finger and all those results were pretty normal.

Thursday, NOVEMBER 19th

After a long night and a lot of craziness and stress and uncomfortableness I only had a few more hrs & then hopefully I could go home. Work gave me the day off and Friday off to rest. They were Very good to me and got my shifts covered. The on-call Dr. came in to talk to me. He said he had been communicating with my regular Dr all night. Then he said, "after last night it looks as though everything is good & your blood sugars have been normal..." He even had a thought that maybe the very first test I took might have been a fluke. Which seems everyone I talked to that night was thinking the same thing. Well, he said, "Since everything is good we're going to hook you up to the Non-stress test again for a few hrs this morning and check to make sure everything still looks good. If it does, you can actually go home early and not have to stay til tonight.
Thank goodness!! Good news for Andrew and me. He had already left for work early that morning so I called him and told him the good news! We were both thrilled. All my tests were good and I was able to leave a little after they gave me lunch. I went straight to my sister's house in Lehi. I knew Andrew had a long day at work and I didn't want to go back home alone until he got back after all that.

Since all of that has happened they still want me to prick my finger and watch my diet just in case. They still consider me having gestational diabetes. Lucky me! :0) It has been going very well and I have been very good to stick with the diet they gave me and prick my finger. About a month ago, since my sugar level has been very good I only have to prick my finger 4X's now instead of 7. Yay!! Really at this point, I am Sooo ready to be done with pregnancy. LOL I tell Andrew he is having our next child. :0) He said ok, but we all know that's really not going to happen. lol I can always have wishful thoughts. :0)