Another day, another doctor's appointment

It seems as though we are constantly going to one kind of appointment or another. Yesterday we had an ultrasound scheduled at 8:00 and were to see my OB at 9:00. That seems reasonable doesn't it? Apparently not. We should know better by now that going to the Perinatologist is never a simple matter. The first person that saw us was a new OB resident who was doing her ultrasound rotation. She barely had a clue at what she was doing. A couple times I tried to point out to her when she had a good picture, but it didn't help. I also tried to save her some time when she messed up on her documentation by reviewing her images and remeasuring. I wasn't really trying to help her, but to get out of there a bit quicker. It didn't really matter. She ended up scanning me for an HOUR AND A HALF! After that time the sonographer and some other guy came in and took her literally 10 minutes to get ALL the pictures that were needed. Marc got to the point where he was ready to snap and tell her to send the doctor in, but he refrained. When all was said and done we were there for over two hours. As the sonographer and the other guy (I think he was another resident) we walking out she mentioned something about practicing looking at hearts on our babies, they decided against it, but I would have refused anyway. But the babies are doing well. They each weigh about 3.5 lbs, which is exactly where they should be. The bad thing, they are both still breech. The Perinatologist wasn't holding out hope that they would turn, but my OB hasn't given up. They are not big turners, as one has never flipped and the other only one time, so I am not too optimistic. Also, because of the twins and the gestational diabetes we are starting the Non-Stress Tests next week and will do it every week until they are born. Yeah! More appointments! All I can say is I am glad that we are double insured.
As far as my due date is concerned, we will either schedule a C-section or induce me on October 14, unless I go into labor sooner than that. Apparently with twins, they will not stop labor after 34 weeks, so we will see. But I am not dilated or effaced at all, so it could very well be Oct 14. My mom has told me that she leaves on vacation on the 15th, so she will visit us in the hospital and that is about it. Marc's mom has told us that is a convenient time for her, so that is good.
In total, between the two appointments, we were at the hospital for for about 3 hours. When I finally got to work, the clinic I was supposed to work was almost finished, but whatever. They knew I would be late.
Today I am meeting with a nurse at the diabetic care center to go over my blood sugars and diet. My doctor was very happy with all of that yesterday, so it shouldn't be too bad. In fact my doctor was so happy, so was telling me I can check my sugar less if I want to. I only had 3 high readings in the last week, and I knew exactly why those readings were high (like eating a bagel and then 2 hours later having a baked potato). I didn't know this, but evidently the biggest risk for not controlling my sugar is it slows lung maturity. So by controlling it, the girls are less likely to spend time in the NICU. That is pretty good incentive. The only thing I have really missed is french fries, and it is probably a good idea not to eat that anyway.
This holiday weekend Marc and I have taken extended time off and will be rearranging our house to accommodate the girls. Should be fun, I will post pictures when we are done!

Testing supplies and the Zermatt

After being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I met with the dietician, got my glucose meter, called my doctor who called in my perscription for testing supplies to my pharmacy. Marc goes to the pharmacy to pick up the supplies and what do we learn? Diabetic testing supplies are not covered by insurance! I was absolutly shocked, because they are not cheap. Actually I was furious. I just keep thinking that I can afford to pay for these, but I could see how many could not. So the insurance company will provide you with insulin, but no way to know if you need it. Appalling! Marc called his dad to ask about his testing supplies and through Medicare he gets $3000 a year for his supplies and he has used that up already. Whatever. All I can say is Thank goodness for Flex Spending.
On a completely seperate topic, yesterday around 5:30 we got a phone call from Marc's friend who was at a work party in Midway. His work had payed for a hotel room at a really nice resort and he wasn't using it, so he wanted to know if we wanted to spend the night up there instead. We have no shame about free loading, so we packed up our overnight bags and headed up to Midway. If you want to check out the website of the resort go to http://www.dolce-zermatt-resort-hotel.com/Default.asp
We were also excited to be able to use some of our Happenings coupons in Midway that we would never use otherwise. We ate at a really random and out of the way place called Inn on the Creek. It was a cute little hotel and the food was really good, especially with our buy one get one free coupon. Besides that, it is always fun to get away, even for a night.

The Diabetic Care Center

Yesterday I had my appointment with the dietician at the Diabetic Care Center. As you can imagine, I am not the typical patient that comes in for a consultation. First she explained what gestational diabetes is and what causes it (apparently the placenta secretes a hormone that blocks insulin, and having 2 placenta, well you get the idea). She then gave me a glucose meter and showed me how to use it. After that she and an intern gave me a basic nutritional rundown. I already knew everything they were telling me except how to use the meter, but whatever. The one thing that was helpful was the breakdown of how many carbs, protiens and fats I should be aiming for with each meal and snack. Pretty much the entire nutrition speech was about carbs. Before she got going she asked me very seriously "Now do you know what a carbohydrate is?" Marc chuckled and commented that with a lot of people, you need to start from scratch. I guess that is why most people are there, right? So now I need to take my blood sugar levels in the morning and 2 hours after each meal. Hopefully I will be able to control it by eating smart instead of taking medication. We will see.

Childbirth Education

Yesterday we started a childbirth education class that is offered through my hospital. When I first signed up for the class it was to be a 2 hour course once a week for 6 weeks. I told Marc about it and he wanted nothing to do with it. He was upset about the length and duration of the classes and wanted to me see if there was any other alternitive. They don't tell you this, but they offer the class as a full day Saturday or 2 half day Saturdays. We decided on the half day Saturday and I am so glad we switched. Most of the stuff I already knew, but Marc hadn't heard much of it. As you can imagine, Marc doesn't seek out any information on this topic. He feels that if he needs to know something, I will tell him. So I think he learned a few interesting things. The highlight of the class for me was during a birth video, Marc hadn't been watching and looked up at just the wrong moment. Both he, and the guy sitting next to him, had identical looks of horror and disgust, it was priceless.
We go again next Saturday to finish up.

I got the Sugars!

For anyone who watches Last Comic Standing, last season there was a very large black man on the show who did a bit about being diagnosed with diabetes. When he went to tell his family, they had no idea what he was talking about, but when he told them he had "the sugars," they finally understood. So now Marc and I joke about diabetes being the sugars. Anyway, in order to be diagnosed with gestation diabetes you need to fail 2 out of the 4 blood draws, and that is exactly what I did. So now I get to meet with a dietician who will help me put together a food plan and I will need to start testing my blood sugar 4 times a day. Hopefully I won't need to go on any medication, but we will see how it goes. I will also be keeping a log of my sugar levels and will need to fax it into the doctor every week. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I am not entirely surprised to have failed the first test and now the definitive one, just because I am so sensitive to sugar. I don't think that I will need to alter my diet that much, but I will be interested to see how things go with the dietician and also checking my sugar.

Glucose Tolerance Test

I did in fact fail the glucose screening test. The acceptable threshold was 135, mine was 146. My doctor wanted me to do the big four hour glucose tolerance test before my next appointment, which is tomorrow, and the only day I could really spend 4 hours at the hospital was today. I worked last night and I had to be sure to fast for 12 hours before the beginning of the test. So last night I ate dinner at about 11:00 and then could only drink water after that. I woke up around noon and hurried out the door to get the test over and done with as soon as possible. I got there at about 1:00 and they drew my blood as soon as I got there. They did the first draw to check my "baseline level" (I think it is really to make sure you are truly fasting). After they get the results back from that (about 40 minutes), then they had me drink the glucose drink (2X as sweet as the screening test drink) and drew my blood every hour for 3 hours. In total I was fasting for 18 hours, that was lots of fun. Luckily I knew how long and boring this was going to be and brought the new Twilight book to keep me entertained. The book is not particularly well written, but is was compelling enough and the reading was easy enough to keep me entertained for the 4 hours. I will get the results tomorrow at my appointment, so fingers are crossed that everything is normal.

Baby Shower II

On Saturday I had my "ward" baby shower. It was actually the ward that I grew up in, not my current ward. It was so fun to see a lot of people that I grew up with like my primary teachers, piano teacher, and friends. Also a lot of my family was able to come, so it was really great. The shower was actually more of an open house hosted by Constance Erickson, so people were coming in and out between 12:00 and 3:00. I really enjoyed that format since people didn't feel pressure to stay, and there were no games. Also we got a lot of things that we have been really wanting, like a baby gym and lots of diapers. We also got quite a few things we didn't know we needed, like the Bumbo. I had never heard of these, but are apparently great for helping babies sit up before they can do it on their own. They even come with an activity tray that makes it possible to double as a high chair. Conveniently we only got a few blankets, and no burp cloths (which we got all that we needed at the last shower). My aunt Raelyn put together a "ready made scrapbook" with all the cute
paper and layouts already put together, all I need to do is insert photos and write a few things. I thought that was so clever and what a great thing for a new mom with no time. My cousin Kelsha got us preemie diapers and some preemie onesies (which look like doll clothes). As we accumulate all this stuff it feels like things are getting closer. The picture I have here is of the cookies Constance got from Provo Bakery. They normally come with only one smiley face, but Constance let them know that would not be enough and they needed two smiles. They turned out so cute!

After the shower we went to the mall for 'Friends and Family' day at the Gap and Banana Republic. Lauren's friend Ashley used to work at Banana Republic so we all used her coupon to get 25% off, and when you already shop the sale racks, that ends up being a really good deal. I got some T-shirts from the Gap (which I really needed) and Marc got some great sweaters for work from Banana Republic. Thanks Mom!

While the women were enjoying our day of leisure, the men (Marc and my dad) were hard at work changing the brakes to our Nissan Pathfinder. Apparently the Pathfinder is a difficult car to deal with and they had a few problems getting everything apart due to rust and the 4WD. Once everything was apart Marc took the old rotors down to Pep Boys to be turned and then went to visit his friend Steve. When he was ready to pick up the rotors he called Pep Boys to make sure they were done and was informed that no one was there to turn them and we would have to wait until Monday. That would have been good information 3 hours previous when he dropped them off. Had he known this, he would have just bought new rotors, which are only $15 more than having them turned. So having wasted all that time, Marc went to Auto Zone and bought new rotors (he had had it with Pep Boys) and the brakes didn't get finished until pretty late. We can't complain however. Since my dad was kind enough to help us, it cost around $100 instead of $1000, which is how much it would have been if we had taken the car to a repair shop. Thanks Dad! It was also fun for me to get to spend the extra time with my family and see Leah and her family who were at my parent's house getting ready to go to Lake Powell tomorrow. We didn't get home until late, but it was a fun day.

Another Dr appointment

Thursday was the dreaded 26 week appointment. This was not that different from my other appointments, except that I had to do the diabetes testing. As most people know, I have been totally off sugar since October and have come to realize how sensitive I am to it. When I eat the slightest bit of sugar I get an instant headache. My mom has the same problem, so it must be hereditary. Anyway, for those of you who have never experienced this, you drink this bottle of glucose that tastes like orange soda. I was worried it would be disgusting, but I didn't mind it. Then you wait for an hour and they take your blood to check your sugar level. Since I was so nervous about this test, I talked to my doctor about my anxiety and she told me I had no choice but to do the test, but if I ate a high protein breakfast and popped a few Tylenol before the test, that should help. Amazingly, she was right! By following her advice I didn't get a headache at all, which I could not have been more shocked about. The only thing that happened was I got really hot and a little light headed about 10 minutes after drinking the stuff. So I drank the stuff, went to my appointment, and then had a ultrasound. My hour was up while I was in the ultrasound so the lab tech came in and drew my blood while I was on the table, it was very convenient. However, I am a little nervous that I failed the glucose test. This would not surprise me, due to the aforementioned sensitivity, but annoying all the same. I wasn't too worried until I got a message yesterday asking me to call the nurse back on Monday. If I failed I have to repeat the test fasting and this time it would last 3 hours instead of one. The most annoying this about these tests is that I eat like a diabetic anyway, so nothing would change if I was diagnosed, but whatever.
Again, the ultrasound took forever. This time I had a medical student scan me first. She couldn't get all the pictures so the sonographer came it, then we had to wait about 30 minutes for the Perinatologist to come and scan me. Every time we go there we think it won't take that long, and then we are there all morning. We scheduled the next appointment at 8:00, the first one, so hopefully it will be a bit quicker then. But the babies are doing really well. They are measuring right where they should be and are weighing each 2 lbs exactly. The depressing part is thinking that all the weight I have gained and only 4 lbs is baby, but whatever. The only bad news was that both babies are now breech. I could tell about 3 days ago that the one had flipped since my bladder was getting doubly pounded. If they don't turn, or at least baby A doesn't turn before 32 weeks, it will be a C-section for me, and nobody wants that. So in the mean time we will try and think positive and try and coax both babies into the ideal positions. If not, I guess there are worse things that could happen.
Yesterday Marc turned 35, and he is informing everyone that he is now middle aged (so apparently he thinks he will die at 70). To celebrate we went to Pei Wei and the IMAX Batman with some friends. It was fun to go out with other couples, but a bit depressing when they told us that this was like a vacation to them because they don't get out that often because of their kids. Marc and I have started taking the approach that we just don't want to hear it. I know that after the kids are born that we will be a lot more restricted, but we prefer not to think about it. Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.