Family Affairs

Alright, I know it's been forever since I've posted anything but to be honest I don't have any really cool updates about baby to post... so, I'll just give you an activity update about Charlie and I. Now that I'm in my second trimester the docs are kind of just letting me 'wait it out' or so it feels. I'm only seeing the high risk doc every 4 weeks and my regular doc every 2 weeks (in addition to some visits to the diabetes educator sporadically in-between!)

So in our free-time (yeah right), Charlie and I got to go home to Wisconsin to see my youngest sister get married! It was a beautiful quiet little ceremony at a rooftop restaurant in downtown Milwaukee. We got to see my little niece Ezrah for the first time since our wedding, and she was an absolute doll (see photo below).

The little princess playing with her favorite toy... 

Rocks (a girl after my own heart)!

My sister was beautiful, the wedding was classy and by the end of the night Charlie and I were left with an awesome new brother-in-law (a first for us both). We are so excited for them, and excited to give Ezrah her first (well maybe second) new baby cousin!

 The beautiful new couple!

The trip was short but packed full of lots of crazy family activity. I would post more photos but I don't want to steal K's thunder (to see more photos check her blog in a few days). 

After making it back to Seattle I spent the next 2 days sleeping (literally!) and Charlie headed back to work. Things are going well and I will try to post again when I have more to share!

Cait

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Oh... I didn't see a doctor this week but I do have my own sneaky ways of checking on the little scout at work so just incase you were worried he is still doing okay, strong heartbeat and very active. I don't have a good photo but I have a close up snapshot of him being a little stinker and griping onto his own umbilical cord! See the blurry, pixelated photo below! :)

Our little bean being a stinker!

Sterile My A**!!!!

Sorry guys but this is going to be somewhat of a very big rant!

My blood sugars are doing much better these days which is awesome but taking away that major stress is making some of the other more normal difficulties of pregnancy even more irritating! Last week when I went to see the high risk doc he told me he wanted to do a 24-hour urine on me. For those of you who don't know what that is it is just what it sounds; it's a urine analysis checking for protein but instead of just taking just one sample they collect EVERYTHING you pee out in a 24 hour period. So in the office he has the nurse get me a collection kit and a sheet of instructions, she put it in a bag told me not to forget to get blood drawn when I was done and I was on my way.

After I got home I was reading the instructions (not that I haven't instructed patients a million times how to do these but just to be a good patient), as I was reading I was a little concerned that the container they gave me wasn't going to be big enough (roughly 3,000ml) but Charlie assured me that they knew what they were doing, and its in an OB's office so they always have pregnant patients who pee a lot not to worry. Fast forward a week and it was time for me to head back to the Dr's office to see the diabetes educator.

I got home from work Wednesday morning and started the collection at 8am so that I could pee for the last time at 8am today before heading in to the doctors office. What you guys have to understand about me is that pre-pregnancy I peed easily twice as often as the normal person, during this pregnancy its been a giant joke! The only time I can ever go more than 2 hours without making a trip to the bathroom is when I'm sleeping, when I'm awake it's at least once an hour, sometimes as frequently as 3-4 times an hour. I'm going to attempt to spare you guys the details but by 2 in the afternoon when got up for the day I had already filled almost 2/3's of the container. I debated at this point what to do, I knew I peed most in the morning and during the night so I though maybe I would be okay but to be safe I decided to stop drinking as much just incase.

I went through the day stuck in the house, but in the afternoon I had to run to church so I was thinking as I was on my way maybe I could stop by my work and con them into giving me another container just incase. By the time I made it to church and got the things and talked to a few people I NEEDED to go home right then because I though I was going to pee my pants! I don't know about you guys, but I wasn't prepared to tote around 3 liters of my own urine with me in a brown paper bag every time I left the house so I gave up on the idea of stopping by the hospital (most patients didn't even have that option so I figured I'd be fine).

The next thing I'm sure you have all seen coming... around 11pm I ran out of space in my little (giant) orange container. By the time I woke up again at 2am I was running around the house looking for some sealable clean container that I could fill (and never get back). I was planning on using tupperware with the screw-on lids, but much to my dismay they had all disappeared, so I collected a random assortment of bottles and decided on the large 1500ml Gatorade container. I washed it out really well (with no soap so I didn't contaminate the urine) and went on my way. By the morning I had completely filled the gatorade container also.

My appointment with the diabetes educator went really well, we didn't change much and things are getting better so after I saw her I headed down to the lab with my 4,500ml's of urine at my side! I walked in and already the tech was irritated because I wasn't on her schedule, but she said she'd see me anyways. I handed her the urine and she looked down at it then looked up at me with a face of disgust. Our conversation went like this:

Lab tech: "What is this?"
Me: "My 24-hour urine sample."
Lab tech: "Yeah, but what is this? "(lifting out the gatorade container)
Me: "My pee."
Lab tech: "Who gave you this? Why isn't it in the orange container?"
Me: "It didn't fit, the orange container is totally full."
Lab tech: "What am I supposed to do with this?"
Me: Blank stare
Lab tech: "Did I give you this?"
Me: "No, the nurse did, last week."
Lab tech: "Didn't she give you instructions?"
Me: "Yeah, and I read them twice, it says is that if you miss collecting ANY urine you have to start over, it says NOTHING about what to do when the container gets full!"
Lab tech: "Well WHAT am I supposed to do with this?"
Me: "I didn't know what else..."
Lab tech: "You realize this isn't sterile right? The orange container is sterile until it is opened, THIS... (pointing disgustedly at the gatorade container) is NOT sterile! I don't even know what kind of detergent you used to clean this!"
Me: "I didn't use soap cause I didn't want to wreck the test, I just used a lot of hot water."
Lab tech: "They're not going to accept this. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with this?"
Me: (about to lose it) "It was 2AM, What was I supposed to do!"

At this point there are a million things running though my head! I wanted to scream at her, I mean they make people do this all the time, I can't honestly believe that I am the first person ever to run out of room! And who is she trying to kid, that freaking urine container became unsterile the second I opened it. They are having me pee repeatedly in a hat in the toilet then pour it into the container, with no instruction on how or even if I'm supposed to be cleaning the hat. Do I just leave it and let it collect bacteria and bugs between voids, or do I clean it with tap water and a towel every time (effectively making it less sterile than the gatorade container). I mean common, they weren't even having me do clean catch urine samples, which means that no matter how clean I keep the containers, the urine is FAR from sterile!!!

The conversation above continued for quite a while but after my 2am comment I just stopped talking and stared at her. After she asked for the 5th time what she was supposed to do with the urine it took every bone I had in me not to get out of my chair, grab another clean "Sterile" orange container from the shelf above her head pour my "gatorade" pee into it, hand it back to her and say "Here, problem solved!" But I knew that if I did that I would just stomp out of the room and never go back, and she hadn't drawn my blood yet, and if I left without getting a blood test they would throw the urine away anyways so I kept my mouth shut! Stupid, I was so irritated when I left I didn't even know what to do with myself! She was acting like I was an idiot someone picked up off the street and dropped at her doorstep.

End of story she finally drew my blood (irritated again that no one gave me a lab slip) and let me leave but not before warning me that "the Lab is going to reject this sample and you are going to have to do it again." Well if it does fail I'm pretty sure they better wait a freaking long time before telling me, because if anyone even mentions the words '24-hour' and 'urine' to me together in the same sentence anytime in the next month I might just throw my decaf coffee in their face! Sorry... I'm blaming the pregnancy hormones for some of my irritation but seriously, I'm not joking about the coffee thing!

-Cait

P.S. On a brighter note, I'm seeing my regular OB in the morning tomorrow (if she hasn't gone into labor herself) and will hopefully have a lighter, shorter update to post after that!

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Fun Updates for Week 12

First off I want to thank you all for all the encouragement I've received from you guys in the last week its been so nice to hear from family and friends that I'm so far away from! 

I feel like I'm trying to be on top of things but I'm behind already! I assured my family that this post would be up by last night but instead of writing I watched the original Planet of the Apes movie with Charlie (he said it was some sort of American right of passage that I clearly have been deprived of). Anyways, On to more important things! We have had a pretty good week this week. My blood sugars have gotten more under control (after 2 or 3 more changes in the last week), the extreme lows have almost entirely disappeared and now i'm just having to deal with baseline numbers in the 150's to 180's which I personally don't like to see but my doctors assure me that both baby and I are safer sitting at those numbers than we were when I was in the 20's and 30's, which makes sense. The plan is to let me sit kind of high for a week or two until the numbers creep up further (showing signs that I'm moving out of the 'honeymoon' period of lows into the 'insulin resistant' upswing of highs that should start around week 15). Overall my diabetes/pregnancy is right on track as far as where my hormones are leading me which I guess is reassuring although at times overwhelming. 

As far as typical first trimester stuff is going I'm slowly starting to feel better, getting a little bit more energy (which likely has more to do with the fact that I'm not crashing into the 30's three times a day, than it does with anything else but I'll take it!) We also had an ultrasound with my high risk docs at Swedish yesterday that Charlie was able to come to which was really exciting for both of us! The little guy is doing great and according to the tests he has a much lower risk of developing Down's Syndrome than they had originally though. This was reassuring to us although I seriously had no idea they were that worried about that in the first place but apparently they were (some things like that are better left unknown I decided). See a picture of the little guy below. He was quite a stinker, moving all over the place arching his back and changing directions. He also refused to move either of his hands away from his face so that they could check his nasal bone but I really don't blame him; they were squashing his face, he was just trying to protect himself!

The little bean at week 12

 Before he took up is defensive boxer stance and covered his face!

So there you go! We're doing well. I feel a lot better not having to cover up and try to hide my growing belly, it makes life easier for all of us! Our next appointment with the high risk docs and Ultrasound isn't for 4 more weeks so I probably won't have as many pictures to post but I'll try and keep things updated as I can. 

P.S. I almost forgot, he's 6 cm long now, almost twice the length that he was at my 10 week appointment! Growing fast!

-Cait

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Quick update...

This is going to be brief, I hope! Since my last post (like 3 days ago) it has been a rough and trying week at best; one last minute sick call, a 911 call, 3 different doctors visits, 3 pump adjustments and multiple check-ins and updates with my diabetes educator.... And, its only Wednesday! I'm not going to go it to detail but I just wanted to post a new picture for our families. Despite all of the trauma that myself, the little one, and Charlie have been through this week I got to see him again today, moving around with a strong heart-beat (I could actually hear it this week!) So although the picture looks worse than the last one we got at 10 weeks I thought I would post a Week 11 photo (kinda... 10 & 5/6ths but who's counting). Here you go:

The little bean at almost 11 weeks!

-Cait

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The First Few Weeks

I want to start out by apologizing for what will be a likely very lengthy and boring post (for those without a strong medical background or understanding of type 1 diabetes). But I wanted to post this for family who will likely have lots of questions and concerns about how Charlie and I are managing not only the pregnancy but my diabetes. So please feel free to ignore this post if you don't fit into one of the categories above (or just peek at the photos at the bottom :).

I was told at a pretty young age that if I was ever to get pregnant that I would be considered high risk. This isn't news to me. I have been working as a labor and delivery nurse for the last 5 years so I have seen both ends of the spectrum but walking into this pregnancy I knew there would be changes and challenges but I thought that I was over all pretty healthy so I wasn't too worried. But sitting here today I can honestly say that I was very unprepared for how big these changes would be and how quickly they would happen.

Prior to pregnancy I had talked with my obstetrician about things to look out for, precautions to take, plans for when I was pregnant, so I had been doing all the "good patient" things like taking daily vitamins and folic acid just incase. I had also had an appointment with my endocrinologist shortly after I was married at which point he very bluntly told me that he didn't trust my current birth control methods (smart man) and took me off all of my medications that were considered unsafe in pregnancy.

Jump forward a few months and Charlie and I are preparing for our first mission trip as a married couple to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In my frantic and last minute planning I realized that I probably should pack some  "personal hygiene products" (as my mom would say) just incase. As I was going though the cabinet I found a pregnancy test that I had gotten a few months earlier and figured I'd just take it to make myself feel better before leaving. Much to my surprise two lines showed up before I could even set it down on the counter! Talk about feeling unprepared, I didn't even have time to process this news before our flight left the next day, not to mention prepare for the things I might need while I was over there! I stocked up on vitamins, folic acid, test strips and extra synthroid medication just like I'd been told by my docs. Long story short after a very long and somewhat trying week working with orphans in one of the worst slums in the world we returned to the states. By this time I had told Charlie I was pregnant and had been feeling pretty sick for a few days, I was seriously dehydrated, exhausted and all around overwhelmed. At the pleading of the nurse we talked to in Haiti (after my feet swelled up to the size of grapefruits because of dehydration) the first thing we did when we got back was to call my OB.

Not surprising after giving them my symptoms (which had at this point included sever right lower quadrant pain and insane blood sugars) they wanted to see me right away that day for an ultrasound and exam. Charlie came home in the middle of the day to come to the appointment with me, as we both very quietly and nervously walked in to the US room we were blessed to see immediately on the screen a little tiny blob situated on the left side of my abdomen (the baby wasn't implanted in my right fallopian tube as I had been panicked for days that it was) and as she focused more clearly we saw a heart beat of 122 beats per minute. We were ecstatic, at not even 6 weeks pregnant (and only 4 weeks post conception) there was a chance we wouldn't have seen any of that! But there he was! (just an FYI we have been referring to him as a boy for unexplained reasons ever since the first time we saw him, we might be in for a rude awakening 8 weeks from now but thats okay!)

Our first view of the little guy at 5 weeks and 6 days. 

(I hijacked this photo from the computer at work, if I'm suddenly unemployed this is why)

After the ultrasound we saw my doctor together which was very reassuring for both of us. We got prenatal vitamins, a prescription for an obscene amount of folic acid, blood work drawn, and an outlined plan for what the next few weeks would bring, this is where the shocks began! I was told to get in to see my endocrinologist ASAP,  I was scheduled for check-ups, appointments, and ultrasounds every two weeks until at least week 14.

By the time we made it to my second appointment, at week 8, I had been sicker than I have ever been with a fever for 9 days, a cough that made it difficult to breath, one panicked trip to the ER, an emergency visit to a dentist. I was diagnosed that week with bronchitis, treated for influenza, and after I just started to get rid of the fever, a sinus infection. I had also been told by my Endo that they could not see me for two months even after I called them crying because my blood sugars with the illness had been so out of control that I had passed out while sitting up attempting to hold a conversation twice within the last week and then had other numbers running in the 3 to 4 hundreds with all the stress.

Our second photo of him at 8 weeks. 

At the second appointment I brought my blood sugar log (amazing right!) that showed the last 3 weeks of my blood sugars listed hourly throughout the day and night! It was at this appointment that I was referred by my OB to see a High Risk Perinatologist, Dietitian, and diabetes educator. And let me tell you these people don't mess around! By early this week, now at week 10, I had had my 3rd ultrasound (baby is looking great, Charlie says he has his families health and resilience, and I am praying he's right!) I spent 4 hours at the perinatology clinic and I wasn't sitting out in the chairs I was going from one doctor to another.

I found out a lot of good stuff that afternoon, albeit overwhelming but good. The high risk docs want me in their office for growth studies (ultrasounds) every two weeks in addition to meeting with my OB. They talked to me about plans for later in pregnancy, my increased risk of developing pre-eclampsia, and the babies risk of having heart problems. They scheduled me for some sort of special ultrasound to check more closely the babies anatomy next week, and walk me through all the other type of diagnostic testing they wanted to do. I refused most of it to be honest, I told them they could take as much of my blood and as many ultrasounds as they wanted but I was not doing anything that involved taking anything from the baby (cord blood, amniotic fluid, part of the placenta??? are they crazy?) So although I refused a lot of the tests they wanted they are still having me meet with a pediatric cardiologist after they do an echocardiogram on the baby at week 20 due to high risk of heart problems.  They also talked to me about delivering and whether it would be best to do it at my hospital, or their high risk unit. They told me that if all goes well that is a discussion I could have with my primary OB later on but if I for any reason need to be hospitalized for any complications before 34 weeks they want me at their hospital incase emergency delivery is necessary they have a Level 1 NICU (which my hospital doesn't).

Week 10, with a strong heart beat!

After all that, I went on to meet with the diabetes educator, who was amazing. She was able to print out literally a minute-by-minute account of my last 4 weeks through my pump, it was incredible (and kind of creepy!). She worked with me for 2 hours changing everything from basal and bolus rates, correction factors, carb counts, everything! She also explained to me that these changes were temporary. At the place I am in right now with the pregnancy my insulin requirements are dropping severely (hence all the crazy lows), but that will all change in about 5-6 weeks when they will start to climb as the placenta makes my bodies ability to utilize insulin go way down. By the middle of the second trimester my insulin needs will double, by the third trimester they will triple and within minutes of delivery I will literally be able to turn my pump off for a few days as my body adjusts to single life again (with the added burden of providing massive amounts of calories to my little one through breastfeeding). Oh the CRAZINESS!!! She also wants me to get a new pump, so that it will function well with the continuous glucose sensor she wants me to have for the remainder of the pregnancy! (I though checking my blood sugar every 1-2 hours was a lot, she's talking about every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day!) I smell an insurance battle brewing to say the least! Despite all of these changes I left the office feeling really good about suggestions made (and so far my blood sugars have significantly improved over just the last 5 days). Due to all the changes however, I need to go back to see her weekly until things get under good control with the sensor. I feel like I am going to need a personal secretary just to schedule and remind me of all my appointments!

 Week 10 again. He's waving Hi!

(The sonographer told me like three times that he was cute, I agree with her!)

I'm assured though that this is just until things get settled, for most of the second trimester I can go back to seeing just one doctor every other week (if my doctors can decide which one of them should take that primary role). Then if things stay okay I will be set until the third trimester, when they will want to start twice weekly non-stress tests... I can't even go there right now!

Very long story short, things are changing fast, but as far as I can tell the little one is a fighter and so far doing great! Enjoy the pictures.

-Cait

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The Truth Comes Out...

So... here we go.

The real reason my lovely youngest sister has pleaded with me to start this blog is because my husband and I are expecting our first child late this year, cat's out of the bag now! Prior to getting pregnant I had this dream that I could make it to at least week 16 prior to telling anyone I was expecting (maybe even find out the sex first, if I was really lucky), just to make sure things were going well and everyone was okay.

Well, then it actually happened and all bets were off. First off its kinda difficult to have your whole life plan take a 180 and not be able to explain to those around you why plans for next year are suddenly changing, why financial worries that were not that big of a deal before are all you can think about, why business plans that you once had take on a whole new meaning, and why I suddenly have 3 different doctors appointments a week. The second reason is because lets face it, who am I kidding, there's no way I can suck in my gut for 14 hours a day, I make it the first 4 hours and then everything is aching and I can't breathe! I think that I maybe could have made it a little bit longer by being extremely covert (and patient) but that would have required buying an entire new wardrobe (which my loving husband suggested that we do after I complained to him for the 300th time last week that I have nothing to wear that doesn't make me look fat or pregnant). But the reality of the situation is that we don't have money to buy me new clothes, that at this point that will only fit for 4 more weeks, just so we can keep people guessing as to whether I'm actually pregnant or just putting on a surprising amount of weight since the wedding. So I decided that it was in our best "financial" interest (and for Charlie's sanity, poor guy) just to suck it up, announce it to the world, and then I can go around wearing my too small, too tight, unbuttoned and awkwardly layered clothing for a few more weeks.

Don't feel bad it's not like I actually don't have clothing to wear, its just that I am just a girl who is used to being able to mix and match outfits and I am now limited to sun dresses and maternity t-shirts and tanks which if any of you have been pregnant or had a pregnant wife know that there is NO hiding the bump in either of those clothing options. :) So we decided later this week, after all my doctors appointments, if everything is okay, we are going to call our families! ...then the cat will REALLY be out of the bag, no turning back now!

-Cait

Stay updated later on for some medical updates (too boring and complicated for most but mainly just for my parents) and possibly blurry pictures of the little bean!

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New Beginnings

Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself... yeah maybe not.

The truth about this blog is that I'm not doing this by choice, I am doing this to quiet the pleadings of my youngest sister (and soon, I'm sure, my the rest of my family). You see I am not a writer (I miss spelled that word the first three times I typed it, it apparently has only one T... right) neither am I a reader, nor am I really interested in any major or minor literary arena. I am however very close to my family, who 3 years ago I up and moved 1,600 miles away from. Although we talk occasionally and keep up on facebook (if that even counts) I feel like with all the changes happening in life I need a new way to keep them all updated on my life in the great northwest. Cause lets face it there are lots of changes coming and I don't have enough time to spend two hours contemplating every time I pick up the phone who I am going to call first, and then what excuses I'm going to give to the others as to why they were called second, or third, or God forbid last (because I'm the type of person who would stress about things like that).

So there you have it, in a nutshell, kind of. Please feel free to check in for updates but please be prepared for infrequent posts, inappropriate uses of punctuation, run-on and incomplete sentences, not to mention poor grammar and spelling (sorry mom & K, but seriously I even miss spelled the word grammar two seconds ago, I spelled it grammer and then when the red line showed up underneath it I though "Oh maybe it only has one M like the 'writer' word I just screwed up" so then I tried gramer and then auto correct just said screw this your an idiot and automatically replaced it with the word gamer... yeah this is going to be great!) Have fun reading and please don't judge me too harshly.

-Cait

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