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[BlissfulCS]

Hoping- 5 minutes early or late won't make a difference. I wouldn't go more than 20 though. But Im new to this too and am no expert!

[hopingForAMiracle]

Thanks Bliss for your response.

How long has it been since your diagnosis? How are your levels usually? Are you on any medication? How many >120 readings does your nurse allow per week? I freak out at the prospect of even eating out these days.

I have been testing for last week and I have no clue what to think - the same meal causes me to be 87 on one day and 138 on another. (Although I admit about an hour before that meal I had a tablespoon of raisins ). Hope you are having a better time tracking than me!

[BlissfulCS]

Hope- I have only been logging for 17 days so I am learning too. I talked to my Doc today and he said they want to see only 30% of your levels outside of normal. I have been lucky and have fewer levels than that outside of guidelines. Really confusing for me is that the steroids they gave me to mature the baby's organs will cause you to be over for about 5 days.

So far I am diet controlled and think I will probably be able to stay there, especially since our little one is measuring small.

I too sometimes find it difficult to understand what causes the variation in levels and have experienced the same thing where one meal gets one result one day and a different one the next. Who knows??? But I have noticed certain foods are better for me than others. I do well with potato, but not so well with corn. Strange...you would think a carb was a carb.

I do know stress can affect your levels though, so try not to worry too much. I know...easier said than done!

[JenMink55]

Happy Saturday night everybody =]

Had a horrible scare last night. I was leaving work and hit the restroom and stood up to a toilet with bright red blood. When I wiped there was about a quarter size smear on the TP. About three hours prior to this I had an internal U/S and the baby was measuring fine with a strong HB. As I was driving home I called my OB. Seems like the bleeding/spotting was from the internal U/S irritating my cervix. I only bled that one time but since that time I have been having some chunky (very small chunks) brown discharge which has continued tonight. I had some cramping too but it's better. Talk about freaked OUT! I am so happy this little babe is okay.
The 2nd U/S did confirm there was a twin growing but it didn't fully develop so it looks like it was probably a blighted ovum. So we have confirmed there is only 1. I did find out that my BP is very high already so they are putting me on Labetal(sp?) oh joy! I also have to test for GD already because apparently I am overweight and at risk. That kinda surprised me!! I am almost 6 foot so although I weight 220 I don't look like it. Oh well...

Bliss--- glad you are home and resting. Do you have GD?

Tuffy-- how many weeks are you?

Dallas- I remember cycling with you in April !! I can't believe you are already close to having your miracles and boy/girl twins how awesome!!!!!

Hoping- Sounds like you have been through it! I am worried about my NT scan because I am 38. THe OB is already asking me to do an amnio. How was it?? I am scared to risk a miscarriage and no matter what the results are I wont terminate. I guess it would be good to be prepared though? Congrats on a baby girl !! =]

deftones- Oh I hope you don't get preclampsia!! Did you get it with your first baby?

Hope I didn't miss anybody!

Oh and update -- my MS has really kicked in this week. I would say about 3 days ago I noticed if I didn't eat I was starting to feel like I was going to toss my cookies!! I am also having wicked Heartburn which has been waking me up at night. I am not used to heartburn and that stuff sucks. I will take whatever symptom is thrown my way however because I am just so happy I am pregnant!!!!!

Hugs!! Jennifer

[hopingForAMiracle]

Hi Jen

The bleeding episode must've been really scary. So sorry you had to go through it!

The amnio sounds a lot scarier than it really is. Even the odds of m/c are different for different clinics. The doctor who did the amnio on me said that, he had may be 2 miscarriages out of about 2000 procedures - and one of them was because the lady went back to work the very next day and worked out and stuff. The important thing is to really take it easy for 48 hours after the procedure.

The procedure itself did not hurt. There was a little pressure when he was drawing the fluid out. And some very very mild cramping the day after and nothing on the day of the procedure. I just stayed in the couch for the whole 48 hours.

The doctor who informed me of the NT results, did say though that unless you want to terminate the pregnancy, there is no reason to do an amnio. But we chose to do it anyway. It is a hard decision to take. But given our circumstances we could not risk not to. Do what feels right for you and your life-situation. You are the one that's going to have to live with that decision. Good luck either way!

[BlissfulCS]

Jen- yes I do have GD unfortunately. But its very mild and controlled by diet. Sorry for your scare! Trust me, I have done a lot of reading on bleeding during pregnancy and it happens in the first trimester very often with no issues. Glad everything is okay and that you were able to have another u/s.

A word of advice...if I were able to relive my first trimester I would do one thing differently...eat less. I have always been very fit and exercise a lot so I decided to take my pregnancy off from watching my weight and I ate my way through morning sickness. For me, carbs were the only thing that helped me feel better and I ate them by the truckload. Fast forward 30 pounds later and I have GD. Type 2 diabetes run in my family and I am still not overweight, but I don't think the early binging helped. Do what you need to do to feel good, but try not to eat through that m/s if you don't have to!

[deftonesmo]

Jen: My pre-e was triggered by labor . . . kinda stressful, but it all turned out okay in the end . . . sorry to hear about your bleeding . . . I had three different bleeding episodes in my first trimester (5 weeks, 7 weeks, and 9 weeks) . . . so scary and such a powerless feeling! Each time I went in for an u/s, DS was okay =) RE/OB could never figure out why I bled, but irritation from the u/s is a likely cause for other women who bleed . . . and the blood turning brown is a great sign . . .

Hoping: Glad to hear your amnio went ok . . . we decided to skip it after our level II U/S came back okay . . . our risk is 1/200, which is the same as the number quotes for pregnancy loss from amnio . . . but you're right, the skill of the doctor can make the risk more like 1/400 or 1/800. I had some bleeding on and off in the first trimester, which I read could perhaps increase the chance of a bad amnio . . . our nt came back okay, but it was the quad portio that came back screwy, which I read is notorious for false positives . . . and just like your doc, my doc said if we weren't thinking of termination, then there was no need to even to do the amnio . . . there is a new down syndrome blood test, but my doc/hospital is not offering it right now . . . I could do an amnio at 34 weeks, but I think we'll just wait . . . I've waited this long, so I suppose a few more weeks (and google searches) won;t hurt
AFM: days away from 32 weeks . . . wow . . . time is flying by! I start seeing my OB every 2 weeks now . . . can't believe that Grady could be here in a matter of weeks! Wow!

[hopingForAMiracle]

deftonesmo - you are right - i almost forgot - I had spotting from 6-10 weeks due to a small hematoma. And IVFers usually get the HCG-alpha(I think) alright (mine was right around the 50th percentile) but the PAPP-A levels are usually low (mine in the 2nd percentile) and that is supposed to throw the calculations off. my risk was 1/185.

Bliss - I totally missed reading your post, just until now - talk about lame. oh so you must be about 12 days ahead of me in terms of diagnosis. I really find these readings misleading. A few times when the sugar levels showed a little high and I didn't feel that way, I took an immediate second reading and it was always lower(less than the recommended value) and sometimes the second reading would be off by as many as 30 points. I am going to ask my dietician/diabetes educator about this, when I meet her this week. Did this happen to you? Why is your baby measuring small? I have the same issue here (although the doctor keeps saying that since I am small I am not going to have a huge baby anyway AND I have a unicornuate uterus).

For gestational diabetes, the only risk factor I have is family history (my dad had diabetes). I was a total health freak before I got pregnant and in the first trimester walked about 2 miles a day in addition to regular work. For the most part craved green food (aparagus, broccoli, spinach) during the first trimester. I did have those carb-craving days but never went overboard (the worst i had done was eat a whole bagel in one sitting). But since my cerclage at 17 weeks and contractions at 20 weeks, I have been on bed-rest - which is what I think contributed to the diagnosis. Although I had still tried to keep up an upper-body regimen, until it triggered contractions. I gained about 23 pounds at this point (29.3 weeks) and considering the bed-rest it is not so bad. Oh well!

Sorry about the long post and the rant. Just had to do it, thanks for bearing with me.

[deftonesmo]

hoping: My HCG was a little high in the first trimester, but I didn't test positive . . . it was only in the second trimester, when my HCG and inhibin both went up did I screen positive (initially 1:110, and then 1:200 after a clear u/s) . . . I;ve read a lot of studies that show women who undergo IVF have elevated levels of HCG due to multiple corpus lutea sites . . . and inhibin is a modest indicator of pre-e . . . in fact, many states/countries/hospitals (even the Mayo Clinic!) adjust their testing markers for IVF because of the high numbers of false positives . . .so many things can cause false positives (weight, ethnicity, placental issues, etc). I live in CA, and the lab said they don't adjust their numbers for IVF because they want to see more research on the subject . . . oh well . . . their cut-off is 1:200, which is also different from state to state (some states only screen positive at 1:110--such arbitrary numbers!) and some women just make high levels of hormones . . . I really wanted to take that less invasive down syndrome blood test, but my hospital wants to see more research (see a theme in california? ) oh well again . . .did you have the integrated screen?

SO sore today . . . and swollen . . . and tired . . . home stretch, here I come!

[NancyB]

OMG Nancy, we are exactly a day apart at the time of transfer. I had my FET on 06/01 and my pregnancy test was the same day as yours! how cool! Do you know if you are having a boy or a girl?

Now that is cool!!!!!!! We chose not to find out gender so we'll find out in Feb. How about you?

[Wishingandhoping]

Hello everyone!

Alisa- I'm glad that you and Evie are doing well now! I know you had quite a scare! I'm sorry about the GD, but as long as it's diet- controlled and Evie looks good, then hopefully it's just an inconvenience more than anything!

JenMink- Welcome and congratulations! I'm so sorry that you had that bleeding scare! I had a few bleeding scares at the beginning of this pregnancy, but it hasn't been an issue since I was about 8 weeks pregnant, and my babies are doing great! The best thing to do is just to let the RE know and get an ultrasound. I always went on bedrest until the bleeding stopped.

Deftones- You are in the homestretch! Yay!!!! I'm sorry that you're tired and sore, but I know it will all be worth it in the end!

Hoping- It sounds like you have been through a lot this pregnancy! Glad to hear that everything is moving along well at this point!

Nancy- I'm so impressed that you're still holding out on knowing the gender! The suspense would kill me!

AFM- I had another ultrasound today...getting them every 4 weeks now. Everybody looks good! My cervix is 4 cm, and they're happy with that. My boy is 1 lb 3 oz and my girl is 1 lb 1 oz. I was worried because I only feel movement on my right side, but it turns out that they both have their feet on my right side. My boy is head down but his head is right on top of my bladder...explains a few things I have another ultrasound and GD test in 4 weeks. We ordered our furniture yesterday, and we've started registering. It is so overwhelming to register for these babies! I thought we had a ton of room in our house, but all of this stuff is going to fill it up pretty quickly! My only real complaint now (other than frequent urination) is awful back pain! I asked my husband for massage gift certificates for Christmas. Hopefully that will help

[Sunshine1576]

Our Birthday List: This includes present and past cycling buddies…May our new year be filled with many blessings!
JULIA- DEC 13
GINA- MARCH 5
BLESSED- APRIL 4
BLUE-EYE-DREAMER- APRIL 28
LAURA- APRIL 28
KYNLEE- MAY 23
BONNIE- MAY 29
ANTON (Antonia)- JUNE 11
BODIE (Ilene)- JULY 4
SUNSHINE1576 (Christy)- July 15
MARIA (WeHaveHope) - AUGUST 21
AMANDA- SEPTEMBER 2
JAYNE (Amy)- OCT 5
NINDE (PATRICIA)- OCT 5
TESS (Wendy)- NOV 23
KERPUPPLES (Amy)
ROSIE
KIMINISH
NANCY
KALA
NEFFI
LYDIA
FRUIT
KERRI
JENMINK
MARGI
MOOREBABY
WISHINGANDHOPING
DEFTONESMO
FELICIA
INDIGO
AKDELP
KAMINA
CT-MICHELLE
JASMIN
GREEKCHICK
BLISSFULCS
LOU71- November 28
RYPELL- (Ryann)
ANNASHOPE
SUNSHINEANDSTARS
HOPEFULMOMMY
HOPINGFORAMIRACLE
OUTLAW
BLAIRWITCH58
KLINGER13
MAMABOO
HAPPYBUNNY
DALLAS
HOPEISALLIHAVE
RIOGIRL
MELLOW4
BABY_BLU73
SWEETPEA614
TAMARA
TUFFY4U
K8IELOVETT
SAMANTHARAE21
CHERRI76
ADDY
SMOON0021
Did I miss anyone? But I wanted to compile a list of birthdays to celebrate everyone's special day on here. Each one of you are special and we wouldn't be here today without you!

[deftonesmo]

My birthday is August 18

[smoon0021]

Mine is next week!!!! 12/15...... >,<

[DALLAS]

Have my 34wk check today. I am assuming I will remain on bedrest, but hope I have had no progression since last wks visit.
My Bday is May 16. Name is Miranda.