The studies that show women with gestational diabetes have bigger babies....well, they clearly did not include me in their data.
I had two appointments yesterday - one with my dietitian because they force me to go since I'm technically unable to pass a glucose test and an ultrasound to measure the growth of Baby L because only gaining 6 pounds by week 30 is frowned upon in the world of obstetrics.
My diet is good and well balanced, but apparently doesn't include enough calories. I've been instructed to add 200-300 more calories per day. I already feel like I am eating all the damn time. But once again, the scale showed that my weight has gone absolutely nowhere over the last 10 days. I know it sounds easy....Just eat more, Marti...but I also have to test my blood sugar at least 4 times a day and turn in those readings every two weeks at my appointments. It's a fine line trying to eat more and yet not cause my sugar readings to be too high. A fine line and a pain in the ass.
So I was really hoping my ultrasound would show that Baby L is a decent size so everyone would quit nagging me about food.
Yeah. She didn't quite cooperate on that end.
The ultrasound measurements indicate that Baby L is in the 11th percentile for fetal growth. She is one percentage point away from where they would truly start to worry about intrauterine growth restriction. Lovely. I have yet to see the doctor (next week) but was warned by the tech that they will probably want to do more ultrasounds to track her growth better. If she's just a small baby...then she's just a small baby and will probably keep growing at the same rate. (And she has been on the smaller side at every ultrasound.) That should at least get her to the 6 pound range by birth.
Oddly, I buck the trend when it comes to birth weight of multiple babies - mine have steadily gotten smaller. Braden was 8lbs, 8oz. Anabelle was 7lbs, 14oz. And Georgie was 6lbs, 10oz. I'm all for not pushing out another Braden, but neither do I really want to spend the next 10 weeks worrying about this little nugget's lack of growth. Georgia was tiny enough. We weren't expecting her to be that small - remember that I was even more diabetic with her than I am now - and then she lost 10oz by the time we left the hospital. The only clothes that fit her for the first month were some random preemie onesies that my little sister had used for doll clothes. Since L seems to be taking after G, I decided to be a little better prepared this time and already bought a pack of preemie sleepers. I was kinda hoping that act would jinx her into growing and make the sleepers useless. Um, not so much.
The whole thing makes it feel a little ridiculous that I'm having to be on the diabetic diet to avoid having a big baby. If they would just let me eat some flippin ice cream, we might all be a little better off.
Anyway...we only got one picture from the ultrasound and it's not a great one.
I had two appointments yesterday - one with my dietitian
My diet is good and well balanced, but apparently doesn't include enough calories. I've been instructed to add 200-300 more calories per day. I already feel like I am eating all the damn time. But once again, the scale showed that my weight has gone absolutely nowhere over the last 10 days. I know it sounds easy....Just eat more, Marti...but I also have to test my blood sugar at least 4 times a day and turn in those readings every two weeks at my appointments. It's a fine line trying to eat more and yet not cause my sugar readings to be too high. A fine line and a pain in the ass.
So I was really hoping my ultrasound would show that Baby L is a decent size so everyone would quit nagging me about food.
Yeah. She didn't quite cooperate on that end.
The ultrasound measurements indicate that Baby L is in the 11th percentile for fetal growth. She is one percentage point away from where they would truly start to worry about intrauterine growth restriction. Lovely. I have yet to see the doctor (next week) but was warned by the tech that they will probably want to do more ultrasounds to track her growth better. If she's just a small baby...then she's just a small baby and will probably keep growing at the same rate. (And she has been on the smaller side at every ultrasound.) That should at least get her to the 6 pound range by birth.
Oddly, I buck the trend when it comes to birth weight of multiple babies - mine have steadily gotten smaller. Braden was 8lbs, 8oz. Anabelle was 7lbs, 14oz. And Georgie was 6lbs, 10oz. I'm all for not pushing out another Braden, but neither do I really want to spend the next 10 weeks worrying about this little nugget's lack of growth. Georgia was tiny enough. We weren't expecting her to be that small - remember that I was even more diabetic with her than I am now - and then she lost 10oz by the time we left the hospital. The only clothes that fit her for the first month were some random preemie onesies that my little sister had used for doll clothes. Since L seems to be taking after G, I decided to be a little better prepared this time and already bought a pack of preemie sleepers. I was kinda hoping that act would jinx her into growing and make the sleepers useless. Um, not so much.
The whole thing makes it feel a little ridiculous that I'm having to be on the diabetic diet to avoid having a big baby. If they would just let me eat some flippin ice cream, we might all be a little better off.
Anyway...we only got one picture from the ultrasound and it's not a great one.
She looks a bit like Squidward to me is this picture. Let's hope that doesn't prove to be true.
We did get to watch her for a bit in 3D (first time we've had that with one of the kids) but didn't get any pics since her hand was in front of her face the whole time.
The best part of the appointment was that we brought all three of the big kids with us. They enjoyed watching the scan and were relatively well behaved. The ultrasound tech was not excited about 3 little kids when she first walked in, but they charmed her with their cuteness and excitement about their baby sister.
That's where we are at for now. I don't know how much to worry. Bryan isn't really concerned. Like one of my friends pointed out, someone has to be in the 11th percentile or it wouldn't exist.
Just in case, I think I'll head on down to the kitchen and find something to stuff in my face.
1 comment:
Just think of it this way: Henry needs more tiny friends! :)
My babies didnt ever get bigger either, Hannah was small but all the boys were actually almost the exact same size at birth right around 7 lbs.
I hope her next scan gives them the results they need so everyone can stop worrying! Keep us posted!
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