Things I would do differently

Thinking about all the recent medical stuff has made me make a list of things I would do differently next time which would hopefully bring out a better outcome for me.  This is all just theory of course, but would be interesting to experiment with (that is if this isn’t my one and only).

I wouldn’t pack on ten pounds in the fourth month in an attempt to make up for the weight I didn’t gain in the first trimester.  For some reason I thought you were supposed to gain 3-4 pounds every month, when in fact they assume you won’t gain anything until about the fourth or fifth month, because almost everyone is sick to some extent (or if not sick, then not actively gaining weight).  At the moment I am on track for the high end of healthy weight gain – 35 lbs.  I sure wish I were on track for the low end of healthy weight gain – 25 lbs.

When I do the 1 hour glucose test, I will refrain from carbs and sugars for at least a day or two before.  I believe I had a giant bowl of pasta the night before my test, which meant my numbers were probably high that morning anyway.  They also had told me to not move around between drinking the glucose and taking the blood an hour later because it would “raise my sugars”.  I now know this to be the exact opposite – had I gone out and walked around the block as I did when I did the first glucose test at eight weeks, I undoubtedly would have passed, since I was only 20 points over the limit anyway.

Then if I pass the 1 hour I won’t be pressured to cutting carbs and adding tons more protein to my diet, which I am convinced is why protein started spilling into my urine making them think I am a candidate for pre-eclampsia even though I have none of the other signs at all. 

Now of course if there is a next time I’ll be 41 and they may treat me like a sick person anyway even if everything comes up clean – but I’d be very curious on a scientific level to see if these small changes cause anything to be different.  Based on all my tests being totally normal lately I can’t help but believe all of this – the pre-e scare, the GD – is just a bunch of nonsense.  Am I happy for the extra monitoring just for my peace of mind?  I guess, and surely as it gets closer to my due date it might give me some insight as to what’s going on with impending labor, which will be helpful.  But all of this has upset me so much that I have to admit it would be much better to just be treated like a normal patient, because a nine months pregnant woman doesn’t need a bunch of scary ideas put into her head. 

With that said I can’t believe it is now March and the month of my due date (although of course he may very well be born in April). Every minute of every day I wonder what’s going to happen – is there going to be some problem, or am I just peacefully, naturally going to go into labor and have a normal time of it?  Will my water break, will I see the mucous plug come out, will there be signs?  Will I even know I’m in labor at first?  Will it wake me up from a sound sleep or start in the middle of the day?  Will I be out in public? What will I do with the dog? Will the house be ready? Will I be ready? So much to wonder about!