34 week appointment

Last night we met with the midwife for my 34 week appointment.

We discussed the pros and cons of the GBS (Group B Strep) test and ultimately Martin and I decided not to do the test but to do the preventative herbal remedies, so I got a data sheet about what I’ll need to do and when. We also learned that most countries don’t even routinely test for GBS. If we were still in the UK we’d only be tested if we had significant risk factors. I got a list of the risk factors and unless I go into pre-37 week labor I don’t really have any of them.

The baby is measuring really well and the midwife was astonished - again - at how long the legs seem to be. Fish is head down - WAY down - but not dropped, and the head is in a “good orientation”. Currently the back curves up through my lower left side, the knees are apparently the huge bulge that comes up daily to the right side of my bellybutton, and the feet are WAY over on my far right side. Not sure where the arms are in all that!

Blood pressure, urine, pulse and weight are all good. I’ve got extremely tense muscles in the pelvic region and was shown some exercises to try to alleviate that, and we talked a bit about my recent pre-GD numbers. I had tested my blood on Monday night around a ‘test’ dinner to see what effect a higher-carb meal would have.

(As a reminder, my official diagnosis (as of early January) is “insulin resistant” or “pre-GD” but I don’t know whether that is pregnancy-caused or whether I’ve always been insulin resistant, as I think I have shown some of the warning signs in the past.)

Anyway, I was really craving pasta, and my appetite has increased a lot in the last couple weeks so the dinners of fish or chicken and veg weren’t really filling me up. So I had cheese ravioli. One serving, of nine squares, was 37g carb and 2g sugar. I had 2.5 servings, so about 95g carb/5g sugar. I also had pasta sauce (about 10-15g carb) and some parmesan cheese. All in all, around 110g of carb in a single meal - twice what I have been allowing myself most evenings.

I had a snack before leaving work that day, at about 4:30, but didn’t have anything after that.

Pre-meal blood test at 6 PM: 97
Starting eating at 6:15.
One hour test at 7:15 PM: 118.
Two hour test at 8:20 PM: 120.

I figure I probably spiked somewhere between the two readings (which seems to be typical for me), but it doesn’t look like it could have been a very high spike. All those numbers fall within the normal range. So I asked the midwife about it yesterday. She said if I really want to see what a carby dinner/evening does, I need to test the FASTING level the next morning, not the 1 and 2 hour levels that night. She said if my system is struggling with the carbs my blood glucose will go up, then down, and then rise again during the night.

So I’m going to record what I eat in the evenings (past 5:30 PM) for the next few nights and what my fasting value is the next morning, and see if anything triggers problems. If my fasting level is OK, then that meal is OK.

Last night was chicken with veggies, including a no-no of baked potato, and then a chocolate cookie later that evening. Fasting this morning was 88! (That's good.) So I’m also going to try a pasta dinner, and a brown rice dinner, and a bowl of ice cream (not for dinner!). And more baked goods. I miss breads and cookies. And pretzels.

Next appointment is in two weeks, and then we go weekly!