Monday, April 29, 2013

Glucose Tolerance Testing


The big day came for me to do a glucose tolerance test! Luckily I got the orange flavor; because I’m not sure the fruit punch would have gone down very easily.  Think Pedialyte, but really sweet.  You gulp this down in five minutes, then wait one hour and get your blood drawn.  The lab will tell you to sit and wait for your draw, but my awesome Dr. Cato stated that walking instead of sitting during the hour wait is better for getting an actual blood sugar value. So I marched around the parking lot and then picked up some compost from the nursery down the street from the lab. 

Thankfully I don’t have Gestational Diabetes because, as many of you may know, I do not love needles and having to prick myself regularly would be horrible and scary. 

Gestational Diabetes is a condition in which women who didn’t previously have diabetes have high blood sugar levels during gestation.  This most commonly shows up around the 24th week so they test for it around this time. Diabetes occurs when the insulin receptors don't properly respond to sugar uptake. This is due partly to placental hormones like lactogen. Gestational Diabetes affects 3-10% of women during their pregnancy.  The risks to the baby are jaundice, low blood sugar at birth, and large birth size requiring a C-section. Diet and sometimes medication are needed to manage this condition. 


So I am celebrating and going out to eat pie. No, maybe just a healthy smoothie!

Glucose 1h post meal
84
< 139
mg/dL
Glucose po, dose
50G

Friday, April 19, 2013

Blood Count at 28 Weeks, But why Now?

Your result
Standard range
Units
WBC COUNT
8.0
3.5 - 12.5
K/uL
Red blood cells count
3.71
3.60 - 5.70
M/uL
Hgb
10.9
11.5 - 15.0
g/dL
Hematocrit
32.9
34.0 - 46.0
%
MCV
89
80 - 100
fL
RDW, RBC
13.0
12.0 - 16.5
%
Platelets count
235
140 - 400
K/uL

Top of Form
Bottom of Form


Notice the two low blood result? Both Hemoglobin and Hematocrit

That means that I’m slightly anemic which is a common condition that occurs during pregnancy.  Here are some common symptoms of anemia:


Fatigue and feeling weak all the time
Pale skin
Recurrent headaches, ranging from mild to severe
Feeling dizzy and unable to do any work
A feeling of numbness or coldness in the hands and legs
Irregular and rapid heartbeats
Body temperature tends to lower
Mild chest pain
Shortness of breath
Becoming irritable
Pica, or an abnormal craving to eat weird things like clay, paint, mud and sometimes even ice
Tingling sensation in the palms and feet

I’ve been having mild headaches and fatigue. You might point out my pale skin but that’s just my European heritage!

Taking a low dose iron supplement is the best way to treat anemia. Unfortunately, this can be difficult if you are already experiencing nausea.  I recommend, and am taking, Sweet Herb Medicinals’ liquid iron. It tends to be more easily tolerated by women with morning sickness. Capsules are great for women who aren’t dealing with this annoying problem! 



However, if you are only a few points off  (in my case 32.9 instead of 34 and 10.9 instead of 11.5) it can be managed by eating iron-rich foods.

Here are a few great ones to add to your diet:

1.  Spinach
2.  Red meat
3.  Nuts: pecans, walnuts and pumpkin seeds
4.  Chicken liver
5.  Tofu
6.  Broccoli
7.  Eggs






Monday, April 15, 2013

Doctor Check up, but who Cares?


So My next doctor’s Check up that occurred is more to make sure that my body is in working order and that the baby isn’t distressed.  They do vaginal check up if there are any signs of bleeding or cramping.  I had neither of these, which is good.  They also do a heart monitor check up and the baby’s heart rate was 150 bpm.  This is a very healthy heart rate and very common for babies here is the range normal; 120-180bpm.  The heart starts beating at 5 weeks and it is around 80-90 bpm for a short period then it almost triples to the heart rate it will have through the rest of the pregnancy.    They also check and measure the uterus from the base of the pubic symphsis to the top of the belly also called the fundus and this will give a guess of how long the baby is.   Usually the length corresponds to about the number of weeks you are.  So I was at Week 24 and the baby was 22 centimeters long.    So far healthy and progressing as expected.

Next up will be my Glucose tolerance test.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Healthy Mom's Lifestyle List


So every mom wants to be as healthy as possible.

I have a list of health tips that will help mom’s diet during pregnancy this I give to patient’s and can be found on our website.  http://in-healthclinic.com/how-to-take-care-of-yourself-during-pregnancy/


Trust me I am following it religiously except for the occasional sour patch candy.

Look at this list here and on our website for diet and healthy ideas for mom.

Healthy Mom List

**Eat Low Mercury Fish

**Drink safer water which means less chlorine and may require purchasing a filter such as Brita or a more expensive reverse osmosis machine.

**Eat Low Mercury Fish


·      Salmon
·      Tilapia
·      Polluck

**Choose Better body products: 

Look at the EWG Cosmeticsdatabase.com

Avoid: triclosan, oxybenzone and essential oils as these can be teratogenic to a developing little one

**Wash all new cloths that are purchased as they often have a residue on them.

** Resist Caffeine and Alcohol.  Yes some cultures still have small amounts but babies have a longer half life in there body meaning that drugs like alcohol and cafifene stay longer in there system than ours, so be careful.

** Avoid Painting and other chemical intensive jobs around the house.


Remove the Dirty dozen foods or make sure they are organic.


Dirty Dozen Plus
Buy these organic

1

Apples

2

Celery

3

Sweet bell peppers

4

Peaches

5

Strawberries

6

Nectarines
– imported

7

Grapes

8

Spinach

9

Lettuce

10

Cucumbers

11

Blueberries
– domestic

12

Potatoes



Clean 15
Lowest in Pesticide

1

Onions

2

Sweet Corn

3

Pineapples

4

Avocado

5

Cabbage

6

Sweet peas

7

Asparagus

8

Mangoes

9

Eggplant

10

Kiwi

11

Cantaloupe
- domestic

12

Sweet potatoes

13

Grapefruit

14

Watermelon

15

Mushrooms