First OB visit

Today I went for my first OB visit though I have been to the OB clinic quite a few times already because of my diabetes. We also went to the hospital which is just opposite the clinic yesterday for genetic counseling. I am scheduled for my nuclear transparency test on Dec 4th and they will also do some blood tests that day that will give an estimate of chromosomal abnormalities. They gave us a sheet which has the estimated risk for every age and the risk increases so much year by year. Also, I am not being able to control my blood sugar levels with diet and exercise alone; so I have to start on insulin. That means pricking myself six times a day but we IVF people are used to needles :). One of the bad things of going to Stanford is that though it is only approx. 14 miles from my house, the route is through very congested inside roads and it takes 30-45 minutes drive.

My OB seems nice... she was referred by a colleague of my husband's and she is a faculty in Stanford. However she said she believes I was diabetic before pregnancy and as I have having identical twins, they will monitor me very closely. So I need to do a number of tests. To start with, I need to collect my urine for 24 hours and take it back to the clinic for my next appt. Then I need to do a number of blood tests. After some weeks, they will do a fetal echo to make sure the babies' hearts are okay and so on. Also, because of my diabetes, I have to eat sometimes every 2-3 hrs, walk for 20 mins and then do a blood sugar test. This is not leaving me much time to do anything else. I cannot simply go out anywhere. I have to think how much time it is going to take and pack a snack accordingly and also carry my glucose monitoring kit. Anyways, everything is okay as long as the babies are fine and they seemed to be fine today....

The rollercoaster continues

I have not blogged for quite some time. My excuses are 1) I have been busy at work 2) I am feeling nauseated and hence have not been feeling like blogging. Anyways, last week I went for my 8th week ultrasound and saw the identical twins in the ultrasound. They are in one placenta but they have two separate amniotic sacs. Then we had a big surprise - there was another placenta but my RE did not see any heartbeat in the second placenta. So we are still having identical twins but the second placenta might create some problems with some of the diagnostic tests.

So this Wednesday I went for a pregnancy class at Stanford OB clinic. I have an appointment with the OB there on 26th. The nurse took my family history and as my father has diabetes, made me go for a blood sugar test. And guess what? My blood sugar is very high - in fact, they are suspecting I might had diabetes before pregnancy. I go for another test next Thursday that will find my blood sugar level for the last 3-4 months to see whether I had diabetes before my pregnancy. I also have to go for a diabetes management class that day. This is bad news. The baby's organs develop in the early weeks of pregnancy and having uncontrolled diabetes at that time might lead to birth defects. It is very likely that I had diabetes before considering my high blood sugar level. I wish I had checked my blood sugar level before the IVF so that I could not managed it but there is no point beating myself up over what could have been done. I did check my blood sugar before I started trying which was 2 years back. So even though my IVF worked, I am still worried because I do not just want to be pregnant, I want healthy babies. And thinking whether they are okay, is making me terrified.