20w1d Anatomy Scan

Friday lunchtime we went to our anatomy scan which I had been looking forward to greatly the entire week.

Tiny Fish is measuring pretty close to perfect size and the sonographer didn't find any problems: spine is fine, heart, brain, no obvious cleft lip, kidneys, fingers, arms and legs, stomach, abdomen. All good.

It was done at a different clinic this time and although the screen was lots better we were not allowed to video it which was disappointing.

We got a couple of stills, here are some of my favs:




Above: profile of the face



Above: soles of the feet.

He/she was active the whole time squirming around but got shy towards the end so decided to hide down low and make the scan a bit harder.

Tiny Fish is about 300gms and 15cm long head to bum.

We didn't ask for the gender and I'm happy with this decision.

Today my sister took me shopping for maternity jeans and we almost didn't get any cos in one shop it was so hot that I nearly fainted. What should you not grab onto when you feel faint and nauseous? That's right: a store ladder on wheels! :-/

I had to go outside and sit down. What I desperately wanted to do was lie down with my feet up, but there was nowhere and I was wearing a short summer dress in a crowded mall. I practiced some yoga breathing to focus on something other than the horrid hot cold sweats and sickly feelings. Then my sister took me outside to try and cool down more. She wanted to get me done water but didn't want to leave me alone. I checked my blood glucose and it was falling ever so gently at about 8-9mmol so I figured a small juice wouldn't hurt and the liquid might do be good. The best thing though was when she took me to my car and put the air con on full blast then drove me home. What a sweetie.

I think it was a combination of forgetting my prenatal vitamins for two nights, being tired from the week of work, being hot and maybe slightly dehydrated. I'm better now just a bit washed out.

Sorry no bump pic today cos I'm writing this from bed before sleep!

Thank you to everyone who sent in helpful and supportive advice re my little cousin.

19w3d Swimming and sore thigh

Tiny Fish is somersaulting and kicking as I type this :)

I've been swimming twice with the insulin pump infusion site and Dexcom transmitter in. At first, on the weekend, I was worried about going untethered from the pump (would I go too high without insulin? Or too low with all the exercise. Answer = too low) and what the pool water might do to the adhesives or reliability of the Dexcom.

Turns out it was fine. My Dexcom has a whopping great piece of opsite Flexifix taped over it (with a little window so the transmitter can poke through) so the adhesive was really no issue. The infusion site (inset30) was at the end of its 3 days so was already a little worse for wear.

All in all it felt marvelous to be in the water and we went again tonight after work. Even with a banana beforehand I still drop between 4 - 6mmol in 40 mins untethered. But then I do climb to about 11mmol a couple of hours later. This rise is due to the lack of basal plus the emergency juice after the swim. Must try basal reduction prior to the swim itself.

In other news: OWWWWW!!!

My right thigh is hu-uu-rting! It gets tingly then goes numb on the main muscle down the front/outside of the thigh. Then it gets achy. Then the ache gets a bit stabby. Then my hip gets achy and stabby cos it feels all left out. Long story short: standing and walking hurt. Standing to take a shower hurts. Sitting or lying down makes it better. Even though I have a job that has many hours in front of a computer, I still do a lot of traipsing around campus and it's surprising how many people think it's cool to have long-winded chats in the hallway, standing up, with no chairs ready to rescue me!

I asked my OB about this when I met him the other week and he wasn't too concerned, just said to watch if it got worse. Well, it's definitely worse.

So I gave in and texted my midwife asking her advice. She thinks it might either be a pinched nerve or maybe a torn ligament in my hip. I am going to call a physiotherapist (I can do self referral which is quicker, but it would be pay out of pocket either way) tomorrow morning hopefully.

Oh and I had a quick unexpected catchup with my pump reps T and K today up at the hospital. On Saturday night I was having a headache, exhaustion, and lows. The Dexcom and the vibe (both of which had new sites inserted that evening after the first swim) took it upon themselves to wake me up no less than 20 times with various low alarms, false low alarms, error code 0, error code 1, calibration warnings, and reminders that the calibrations were failing. Bah! By 3am I gave up and turned the CGM functionality off both devices just so I could get some sleep.

An email to my rep in the morning and she offered to meet up and bring me a replacement sensor, and explain the error codes. Since they are normally in another city it was an unexpected pleasure to get to see both of them face to face. :)

And now for some devastating news. You might want to click away now if you're not in a particularly happy spot right now as this next bit is just utterly heartbreaking :(

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My little second cousin, a 10 year old boy, has just been diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer with a simply awful prognosis. He's already about to have his second surgery in a month, the first removed a strange lump and now that pathology has finally identified it he's been rushed to the children's hospital. He is not expected to out live his parents. Apart from some radical drugs in clinical trials, surgeries are the only option. Chemo and radiation don't really work well for this type. Our whole family is pretty much in shock and I would love advice from anyone about how I can best support my cousins at this time.

So, that's it for now. I don't expect to be posting many updates about my cousin as that's not really my story to tell. I'll just see how it goes and do what I can for them.

18w4d - When space starts to become sparse

The bump has most definitely gone "pop" in the last 10 days. When I wear a dress to work everyone comments on how big it is.

Tiny Fish is kicking with regularity when I wake up and when I go to bed. TF also quite likes the sound of Hubby's voice and often starts kicking up a storm when he/she hears Daddy.

Over the weekend I experienced TF's first really big growth spurt: my belly got really tight and the skin at the sides became itchy.

I got pretty tired out on Friday night and that tired-headache came on and I couldn't shake it for the whole weekend. Boo. Even with panadol each night. I was sleeping huge amounts and barely doing anything, but scared it would turn back into a migraine with more vomiting. Thankfully, it didn't, but those growth spurt hormones really treat me badly.

My blood sugars went quite high and I was using multiple temp basal increases each day to try and keep it down. I actually thought that I might finally be getting to the second trimester insulin resistance. But no, on Monday it was back to almost "normal" including the lows.

We met the obstetrician last week. He seems nice and my aunt and cousin who have connections to healthcare both say he is very nice and very good. I've got to do a PCR urine test for protein. I asked him about this numbness and pain I'm having in my leg (like a pinched nerve when I stand too long) but he didn't seem too concerned. I'll keep an eye on it and talk to my midwife about it when I see her next.

Back to work this week and things are going well. I am managing a reasonably busy day but I have to be in bed quite early or else that headache comes back.

Had a wonderful evening tonight celebrating my Dad's birthday. I ate too much and I'm paying for it now with high blood sugars and the most incredible uncomfortableness in my tum :(

Oh, and I appear to have become lactose intolerant. All that extra yogurt and milk I was advised to eat for calcium was turning from uncomfortable guts to painful.

Belly button is starting to change shape getting wider and shallower, with a knobby bump at the top. I have also noticed some tiny veins appearing on the skin at the base of ribs on both sides. No stretch marks yet but I'm using some nice smelling body butter to prevent them (not holding my breath) but it does help with the itchy skin a bit.

Here is a belly pic for you:




That's the Dexcom sensor, and I am really reacting to the adhesive now that all the skin is stretching. Also, no, those pants are not done up. Not even close lol

17w2d First Kicks

Our little Tiny Fish has made his/her presence felt. About 16w4d I felt what I thought might be a kick. It was not some subdued flutter or bubbles. It felt like a tapping finger, but inside. The most similar feeling I could describe would be if you tap the inside of your cheek with your finger.

A couple of days after that I was quite sure of what I was feeling and Hubby could feel it too!

Two nights ago I was doing a site change and I suddenly sneezed. I got a right strong internal thumping, and due to my excited yelping Hubby got a nice strong kick on the hand too :)

I'm now getting either kicks or rolling movements every 2+ hours or so. It gets easier to feel when I'm sitting up in bed, or in the recliner with my feet up, or wearing my pants done up (rare, now lol).

It's Sunday night and we've just had a lovely summer BBQ with my parents and the step kids. The two youngest go back to high school tomorrow, with it being the first day of secondary school for the youngest. Eldest step son has finished school and goes to college in April.

My first day of work is tomorrow and although Thursday is a holiday (Waitangi Day) I'm still not sure how I'll handle getting back into the whole work routine - I quite like being able to nap from 2 - 6pm if necessary.

Get to meet the OB on Wednesday, and Tuesday is a training day so it should be a bit of a wasted week.

I did my first ever basal test this morning. My diabetes nurse advised me just to have a carb-free breakfast I think cos she knew a complete fast would be a bit impossible for me - hungry pregnant lady raaaarrr!!! I had 2x boiled eggs, a spoon of peanut butter and a cup of tea. Looking back the peanut butter probably wasn't a good choice cos I went from 5.8mmol to sit around 10 for the entire morning. It was great to see how flat it was on the Dexcom, but I was frustrated not being able to do a correction. I think I should probably repeat this morning segment of the test just to check that the basal is fine and the pb didn't screw up the test too much. Oh well. It wasn't too much of a drama and I'm not worried to repeat it, it just too four mornings to start as I kept going low!!

In other good news, my good friend who has been trying for a baby for ages has just discovered she's pregnant. Very exciting to have someone close to me on this journey too!

I'm just so pleased that Tiny Fish is kicking away in there - it makes me feel so reassured and it just feels so, right. Before, all the weird machinations in my abdomen felt rather alien and strange. Now it finally physically feels like it has purpose.

Here is a belly shot for you. I'm tall, so I'm not sticking out much yet.