Some Time to Reflect

So, many many things have happened, mostly though it has been days and weeks of feeling cranky, nauseous, bloated, and dog tired. I've told some people, including my father (pictured here), who didn't let me tell him, but instead told me that I was having a little girl. I only mention this because my father is a little bit psychic, as he also dreamed that my cousin Hilde had a baby boy before he was told she was pregnant. And now Hilde has Graham, so . . . I guess more than anything, in these first 12 weeks, while I try not to worry about miscarriage and complications, I can take comfort in my father's psychic-baby-babble.

Mostly, I've been terrified about the Type 1 Diabetic pregnancy thing. Every time my bloodsugar goes up or down, I freak out a little about the baby, whether this bloodsugar wackness is affecting its growth, heartbeat, well being. I spent four hours on Friday at various Kaiser specialists, and it was all very good news. I have the first ultrasound photo, which I'll post soon, and got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which was freaking fantastic. And I also got tons of good news about my Super High Risk Pregnancy. Basically: I'm not so high risk. Why? Because my disease is pretty much under control, and my body is pretty dang healthy.

What does it all mean? A breakdown:

*I am, as of today, 8 weeks 3 days pregnant.
*Thanks to my peeing in a bottle, Kaiser pharm has determined I have A plus kidney function. This is awesome.
*My A1c is 6.8. If you have an a1c of under 7, Kaiser considers you to be only slightly higher risk than the normal population. I've read studies showing that if your A1c is under 6.9, you basically have a normal pregnancy. I'm hoping to get my a1c down even further, hopefully into the 5s, by the end of the pregnancy. (An A1c of 6.0 or less is considered normal for a non-diabetic, according to The Joslin Diabetes Center.)
*I tested negative for cystic fibrosis, HIV, various STDs, Hep something or other . . . basically, all my test results were rocking.
*Dr Maier, the perinatologist (high risk ob/gyn)is pretty great, thus far. He asked me, after checking his notes (we had a pre-consult back in December when he tried to Scare The Crap Out of Me) if I was taking extra folic acid, as my mother suggested. "I always try to do what my mother suggests," I replied. He smiled and replied, "Me too."
*My body is responding like crazy to exercise now. A brisk walk with Oz will drop my bloodsugar by like 80 points! That is nutso. I'm being more careful about taking less insulin when I exercise.
*I'm taking prenatal pilates with Kristin Goldsmith, aka KikiBomb, aka the most awesome sunshine presence in the world. It's great preparation for everything, and is helping me to remain patient and breathe through the pain (I absolutely hate the "frogs," and yes, Kristin, my inner thighs are the weakest part of my legs.)
*I'm pretty sure we're going to do an amnio. There are cardiac and neural tube defect issues for diabetic babies, and I want to make sure that we don't have a Down's baby as well. We're just hoping and praying and working towards having a healthy, beautiful baby.
*I really hope it's a girl. I have the best name for her.