Third Trimester and Explosives: Type 1 Diabetes and Pregnancy: Weeks 26-31

Then end of my 2nd trimester was full of good energy and a great break from having too many doctor appointments. Then, during week 28 I had four doctor appointments and from here on out I'm there once to twice a week. 

EYE DOCTOR
The first during week 28 was an eye doctor appointment for the "floaters" I'd been seeing. This was a long appointment because my eyes had to be dilated. They took some extra precautions to minimize absorption because I'm pregnant. Everything looked good on my retina and I felt a huge relief!

OBGYN
My next appointment was a standard OBGYN appointment. I had blood work ran for my iron levels and another A1C. Despite STILL feeling like my levels were harder to control and averages spiking, my A1C came back at 5.5 again. I'm still taking 3x my pre-pregnancy insulin levels and for a few weeks even more. It has stabilized a bit recently. 

PEDIATRICIAN CONSULT
My husband and I consulted with a pediatrician for our next appointment. Did you know YELP has reviews for doctors? We read everything we could beforehand and I expected we'd love him. He answered all our questions before we asked them. I know many parents to shop around and "interview" a few pediatricians before choosing. We didn't really have time for that and felt lucky we loved our first choice.

GROWTH ULTRASOUND/ABDOMINAL PAIN
Finally, late on a Friday afternoon I had my first growth ultrasound. They measured baby's head, abdomen, heart, leg bones, and I don't even know what else. His weight came out at an estimated 2lbs 15 ounces and all measurements placed him in the 53rd percentile. So far on track! Not too big, not too small. Of course, I have no idea how accurate it is or how they calculate those measurements! The tech also was kind enough to give us some extra views of baby's profile and did some 3D imaging. As I've stated before, I've always thought these look kind of creepy. They still do, but I cannot stop staring at ours, oohing and aahing over it, and gushing that he looks just like my husband! Cannot wait to kiss those cheeks!

During this appointment I explained to the doctor that I'd been experiencing some abdominal pain. Because of the location of the pain she had me complete blood work to check my liver. Again, tests returned normal. Yay! We decided it seems muscle related as heat packs seem to help and sitting too long makes it worse. Actually sitting longer than 10 minutes sometimes is painful. I bought a heat pack specially for work that I can put around my belly so I can sit and get work done. I also got one of those belly support bands which has helped a little, but more with my posture when up and about. Ugh! Bring it on 3rd trimester!

FLYING IN THE 3RD TRIMESTER
After the onslaught of doctor appointments, we had a nice Thanksgiving weekend visiting family. We flew to Oregon from California and even though it's a short flight it was pretty uncomfortable. My doctor gave me a note for travel, but no one asked me for it. I also got sick for the 3rd time this fall during the holiday! We came back with an extra day off to rest, which was much needed because I'm feeling the fatigue come back!

On the way home I had to get the "female assist pat down" because I refuse to go through those new machines while pregnant. I've gotten really use to these and the sweet TSA lady and I were flying through it. I'm complicated because not only am I pregnant, but also wearing multiple medical devices right now. I have to touch my CGM and insulin pump, then they wipe my hands and stick it in the machine to test for explosives. Well I have no idea what could have been on me, but the machine alerts in red EXPLOSIVES DETECTED. I freaked out a little. The TSA woman was more like "oh jez, now we have to take you back to the private room and do more screening". All I could think is I hope I get to keep my clothes on! Thankfully I was calmed that my husband could come with me. He was carrying all my stuff from the security line. They redid the pat down exactly how they'd done it by security and then they tested everything in both my carry ons. It went pretty fast and before we knew it we were out of there laughing about it. Definitely a first!!!

EXERCISE
During week 30 I committed to getting back to the gym. I had dropped to 1-2 times a week with supplementing walking and my prenatal workout DVD. Between being tired, in pain, and on vacation it was difficulty to get my workouts done. I am glad to be back because my body needs it. I have made a lot of modifications but I still try to do weights 2-3 times a week and cardio (or at least "light cardio") 4-5 times a week.

NST
I had my first non-stress test at week 30. I will be doing these weekly now, along with growth ultrasounds every 4 weeks, it means I'm at the doctor 1-2 times per week. They hooked me up to a machine with two monitors. One tracked the baby's heart rate and the other if I was having contractions. I sit there for about 20-30 minutes. 

My understanding is that this helps monitor if the placenta is keeping the baby healthy and whether or not I'm showing early labor signs. Again, everything looked normal!

Lots of little potential scares these last few weeks and I'm glad none of my googling "eye floaters" or "upper abdominal pain" led me to freak out too much. Also, glad the airport didn't arrest me for "explosives detected!!" Good grief! Feeling very thankful for lots of "just another pregnancy symptom" moments. Can't wait for the "just another part of motherhood" moments! 

Since I know I'm being induced by 39 weeks, we've only got 8 weeks to go!

Last "selfie" of my bump I've taken back at 28 weeks. Since I feel like I've swallowed a baby whale since then I haven't taken a more recent one!!! I will remedy that this weekend I hope!!