nicole norstrud

So the good news first – I don’t have vasa previa!! Well, at least the sonogram didn’t show any tissue between the cervix and the placenta this past week. The tech mentioned that the baby moved from a transverse position into a heads down position, which could have pushed stuff out of the way – so I’m hoping that a no vasa previa condition is where I will stay for the remainder of the pregnancy. Although I’m still going to push for another sonogram around the 34^th week just to be 100% sure. If nothing else, I’ve learned that you have to be your own advocate and push for extra monitoring if you feel like it is warranted. Although it sounds like I’ll be getting extra monitoring starting the 34^th week since I have reached Advanced Maternal Age (AMA). So that makes me feel a little better . . .

The not so great news is that I failed my 1 hr glucose test with a value of 146 mg/dL. So that’s been really stressful. I had no problems passing the test with my first son, but this pregnancy has been totally different. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’m now considered ancient, whether it’s the fact that this baby was conceived via IVF or whether I now have a significantly harder job (I’m a stay at home mom) than I did with my first pregnancy – but this pregnancy has been harder. With a toddler in the house, I definitely don’t have the luxury of taking care of myself like I once did. And I know that I shouldn’t complain, but I can’t help but wonder if all of these things have taken a toll on my overall health. Regardless, I’m going to try not to freak out about having to take the 3 hour glucose test – especially if I end up failing it. It’s not the end of the world. Plenty of women have had gestational diabetes in their pregnancies and most have gone on to vaginally deliver healthy babies. I just have to believe that I won’t be any different. I had stopped saying my daily mantra but I think I should probably pick it back up again – “healthy pregnancy, healthy baby!”

As an aside, I also had a consultation with another doctor here in town who I am considering switching to. My husband and I have been debating all of the pros and cons of switching doctors, and I believe we have made up our mind to switch. The new doctor has looser delivery policies, which aligns with our delivery preferences. Of course, I’ve only met this doctor once, and there is no guarantee that she will be a perfect fit for our family/delivery. But I also feel like we’ll never know unless we try. I guess at the end of day I feel like we owe it to ourselves to choose a doctor that makes us feel comfortable and one that we can trust in the delivery room. But switching has been hard with all of this glucose testing going on. Hopefully next week I’ll have good news about making the switch. . .