Twenty-eight weeks yesterday. This is another milestone, as 28 weeks is also considered a big viability point. It used to be considered the earliest general survivability point, but improvements in premature medical techniques has pushed that to 24 weeks for many babies. It's very nice to be past this point as well, though. From 28 weeks on the baby is fully formed but just needs to mature and fill out its frame with body fat (for heat regulation) and continue lung development. The lungs are the weakest point in terms of premature survival now, and women who are in danger of early labour are often given steroid shots to try to speed up lung development. There's a protein covering the interior surfaces of the lungs which prevents them from sticking to each other during exhalation. Babies who have not finished developing that will have trouble breathing, so I think that is what the treatments try to stimulate.
But! No signs of anyone arriving early here, so that's all academic right now. I had a midwife appointment yesterday and baby is still head down, with feet over on my left side and bottom over on my right. (Maybe that's why my right side tends to ache more than any other spot, especially while taking walks. Kind of feels like a permanent 'stitch in the side'.)
As part of the 28 week checkup, yesterday I had to test my blood sugar for any signs of gestational diabetes. The 'medical model' of this test is to fast, then come into a doctor's office and chug a really nasty tasting hyper-sugary drink, then wait for one or two hours and have your blood drawn. A lot of people end up having poor reactions to chugging this drink (nausea, general sick feeling, dizziness and, obviously, a huge spike in blood sugar) so I was pleased to find out last month that my midwife's version of this is to use a glucose blood meter like diabetics use. I test my blood in the morning before eating anything, then have "a sugary breakfast", then test one and two hours after eating. I did this, but my numbers came back REALLY weird, so I've emailed my midwife to see what she recommends I do next. I think she's attending a birth right now, so it might be a little while before I hear from her. I have a pager number I can use in an emergency, but this isn't an emergency.
I'd hoped to be able to post a "yes, I passed the GD test" or "no, I need to go in for further GD testing" but instead I guess I have to say "my numbers are a bit ambiguous, so I don't know anything for certain right now"!
For you medical types, do you know the answer to this? I was wondering whether diabetics always have to use fingertips to check their blood sugar levels, or if you can get the blood from anywhere. Blood is blood, whether it comes from finger, arm, leg or whatever, right?
I don't know what was weird about your numbers, but can contribute that mine did not follow the normal curve either. My sugar stayed at a fairly high plateau, then dropped precipitously, as I recall. The conclusion was not that it was a diabetic response but rather a tendency toward hypoglycemia (which I have to this day.)
ReplyDeleteAha, that is interesting Emmline. Mine followed that sort of pattern. 95 pre-breakfast (wanted to see 99 or lower), then 159 at an hour (wanted to see 140 or lower), then 161 at two hours (wanted to see 120 or lower), then 76 at 3 hours. I would be interested in knowing more about your hypoglycemia tendencies, if you care to share. Doesn't have to be here!
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not private. During pregnancy I started having a tendency to have rapid drops in blood sugar at which point I'd get almost crazy-disoriented and need food NOW! I can remember feeling the serious urge to throttle someone who was being slow in front of me at a fast food joint.
ReplyDeleteI learned that I needed to carry food with me. I can still have rapid drops, though not as severely as during pregnancy AND I think my diet nowadays (more fruit/veg/protein, less bread) helps.
I think that whatever your tendencies are, pregnancy can exacerbate them.
Very interesting. I've definitely found that I need a snack nearly every hour or two in the last few weeks. Someone else in my Due group suggested my numbers might mean insulin resistance. Haven't heard back from the midwife yet; will give her another couple of days to finish up this birth and then follow up if I haven't heard anything. The girls who get the doctor test sometimes have to wait a week for the results so it's not an urgent thing.
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