I Could Do Without . . .

I suppose immediately I could do without the swelling. My ankles, my calves, my hands, my wrists . . . I am retaining fluid and so very, very puffy. You can kind of see it in my hands in this picture. My blood pressure is higher than normal, still within okay ranges for now, but it concerns me that it's gone up, probably no coincidence that it went up right after I stopped my regular acupuncture treatments and started with the acupuncture inductions.

More immediately, I could do without the fear. I am trying not to carry it, but the doctors seem as if they have no idea that how they present information can be misleading, discomforting, and confusing, to the average patient. I ask lots of questions, and try to root my way around the issue, so this has helped some.

For instance, on Friday, at my appointment, my doctor started off by saying that inducing labor because of a predicted large baby did not reduce the incidence of c-section. Which seemed obvious to me, since induction more easily leads to c-sections. Then he said that in my case, we'd worry about shoulder dystocia, which would be a good reason to induce, because diabetic babies tend to have larger bodies than heads, that they're "chubby" because of the mom's high bloodsugars.

(Again, please remember, I have an a1c of 5.1; my baby is large, but so are most babies in my family, regardless of diabetic status.)

Then my doctor said, "However, judging from the ultrasound, your baby's head is in proportion to its body. You just have a big baby."

DUH. I mean, I KNOW that I have a big baby. I walk around every day with this little dude. I know he's a big guy. And I have had a feeling all along that he is healthy, strong, and, well, in proportion.

So after scaring the bejeezus out of me with the shoulder dystocia crap (which is still scary, even though it occurs in a very tiny percentage of births), he agrees that yes, I am likely not a likely candidate to experience it in labor.

Blech.

This reminds me of something that happened the other day, too.

Doctor's comment:

"Your amniotic fluid is slightly high today. It's still within normal range, but it's probably because your bloodsugars have been high."

My bloodsugars had not been high.


NST technician's comment:

"Your amniotic fluid is a little high today, but that could be because your baby just peed. Let's look." (She checks the ultrasound as she's scanning fluid.) "Yep. Your baby's bladder is empty. He probably just peed."

Do you see how the latter's comment is so much more patient-friendly and reassuring? It drives me crazy that this sort of thing is overlooked in patient care, especially when I am there all the damn time.

Still, I agreed to an induction on March 1st if the baby doesn't come by then. Peter asked me today if we were actually going to go through with it. I honestly don't know. I want to allow him time to come on his own terms (or the terms that I am "naturally" allowing him to come by). I'm going to do a few more acupuncture inductions this week, I am taking homeopathics, I am walking uphills, I am trying to envision him coming, I am trying to get my oxytocin levels up . . .

I feel ready. The guest room/nursery is ready. The crib is in our room. The diapers are all washed and ready to go. Our bags are packed. We are ready for you, Uli! We want to meet you! And I would really, really, rather meet you without intervention, induction, or a c-section. But no matter how you come to us, as long as you come healthy, we will be so grateful.