Pregnancy updates: Insha-Allah 80 more days to go!

Alhamdulillah not that many days left now. Had my Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) and once again the result was positive. Alhamdulillah in every situation insha-Allah. I did try to eat more fruits and vegetables and fish during this pregnancy but I guess it’s in my gene so couldn’t really avoid gestational diabetes. So got it for the third time now and the part I hate most is how now I’m no longer a low risk pregnant woman anymore for the health professionals! I have been summoned to go to see my special Diabetes Midwife as soon as possible and also from now on I have to have a regular appointment with the consultant. I am also expected to give birth at a special hospital where they apparently are more able to deal with high risk woman like moi! You get bombarded with all the stuff which 'can go wrong' from now on given you got GD such as the baby can be quite big so you may not be able to have a normal vaginal birth, baby may also develop diabetes, I may have diabetes too within five to ten years time and so many other things to consider! And also sometimes people think you get GD because you must be over weight or obese. I remember with my last pregnancy when I was diagnosed with GD I did ask my Diabetic midwife why it keeps happening to me when my BMI is quite good and I am no way an obese person alhamdulillah. She told me as my dad got type 2 diabetes, I am more likely to have diabetes too. With both pregnancies I was able to control my blood sugar just with diet alhamdulillah. This time I am hoping I will be okay insha-Allah. The more I am reading about pregnancy and natural birth, I am confident Insha-Allah it will be okay.

Sometimes, Gestational diabetes can lead to toxemia. Toxemia is pregnancy induced hypertension. Severe toxemia, however, can cause many health problems. Serious Toxemia may develop into something called pre-eclampsia, which can then lead to eclampsia, followed by a serious complication called the HELLP Syndrome. Toxemia starts to develop as the placenta begins to develop. Toxemia is most likely to occur during first-time pregnancy. I did develop Toxemia with my first pregnancy. I think just couple of weeks after I was diagnosed with GD I started to have very high blood pressure. The causes of Toxemia are not known. The symptoms of toxemia are elevated blood pressure, protein in the urine, and hyper-reflexia (extremely fast reflex responses.) Other symptoms may include bloating of the hands, feet and face due to fluid retention.
I believe with my first pregnancy, I was really very worried for the baby and there was obviously fear of birth too. I was told to take lots of rest but I felt too stressed to rest. I think having GD I felt like I was doomed. It almost felt like I got untreatable cancer or something really terrible ! For a long time I didn’t know how to explain what I was feeling like. But alhamdulillah recently reading quite a lot of books on natural birth and pregnancy, finally I am able to describe properly how I felt and what really went wrong in my case with my first pregnancy. Some medical experts believe that diagnosing GDM (Gestational Diabetes Mellitus) can lead to a strong nocebo effect. If a diagnosis of GDM causes high levels of stress and worry for the mother, her stress hormone levels can rise and be transmitted to her baby, increasing the risk of poor growth and premature birth. I strongly believe, I was feeling much stressed and as a consequence developed pre-eclamsia. Now I know it must have been the nocebo effect. At least I got a phrase to explain what I went through alhamdulillah! There was a research done by the U. S Preventive Services Task Force which reported, “In the first few weeks after screening, women who screened positive for gestational diabetes may report higher anxiety, more psychological distress and proper perceptions of their general health than women who screened negative.” This is exactly what I went through and ended up in the hospital and had to stay a whole week to get my blood pressure down but nothing really changed so they induced me at week 34 and my son was born six weeks early! For me, the hospital birth was horrible. I just didn't know what was going on as I was just getting bombarded with too much info and risks associated with all the procedures! I thought I am going to die! But Alhamdulillah he was all right and I was also doing fine so we came back home the next day. I must say we were extremely lucky ALHAMDULILLAH! I kept asking Allah swt for His Rahma (Mercy) and Help (Nasr) . Subhanallah you feel amazed how quickly your duas get accepted ! Allah swt is always very kind to me!
But with my second pregnancy when I was once again diagnosed with GD I decided not to worry and think too much about it. I was enjoying my time with my toddler son as much as possible and doing my diet and exercise. Alhamdulillah I didn’t develop pre-eclamsia and my daughter was born at 39 weeks. Alhamdulillah the labour was also spontaneous (not induced like my first one) and quick alhamdulillah. In fact it was so quick that cudn't get to the hospital on time and gave birth at my bedroom surronded my peramedics. Felt so relieved and great alhamdulillah! I felt like I was in total control , not treated like an object ( like at my first birth experiance at hospital !).

So this time I am not worried anymore alhamdulillah. Everything is in Allah swt’s control. He know what is best for us so no point getting stressed! Alhamdulillah doing my almost sugar-free diet, eating more fruits and veg and protein and trying to do some exercise too with my kids! There is this channel (SKY 275 Body in balance) I recently came to know through one of friend which shows quite a lot of yoga and belly dance stuff so trying to follow the exercise with my children! They love seeing their ‘eccentric’ mum doing all the crazy and funny moves so alhamdulillah having a quality time with my son and daughter. They find it quite amazing that their mum got a big tummy. They do try to communicate with the baby through the belly button as if that’s the window from which they can see the baby and baby can see them. I never felt that much strong movement with my other pregnancies. Mashallah the baby moves a lot especially when I go to bed at night. I feel so wonderful touching my tummy. I am so eagerly waiting for meeting my baby Insha-Allah! Please do keep us all in your duas my dearest blog readers :-)

Comments

Alhamdullilah! I am happy to see you enjoying your pregnancy with your children. The more you have the more you feel their movement. I also believe they are reacting to their siblings because they seem to recognize their voices at birth.
Jazakallah khairan sis for the lovely comments. I hope you are also enjoying your time with your children, insha-Allah. Keep us in your duas sis :-)

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