- the baby can grow too large
- sugar spikes in the mother can 'age' the placenta prematurely, causing it to deteriorate in function towards the end of pregnancy
- the baby can be born with too much insulin (as he/she was having to compensate for mother's sugar highs)
Well, in my case -
- I know baby's perfectly sized because of weekly ultrasounds
- Baby's amniotic fluid is perfectly adequate too, not too much or too little
- At the moment, with weekly checks, placenta function and blood flow in the cord are perfect
- I have no sugar spikes because I control my sugars well through diet.
Which leads me to question whether any of the risks above are things I should really worry about. Unlike a mother with pre-existing diabetes, my risks are already lower; and the only large study I have been able to find that compared mothers with well-controlled GD to mothers without GD found that 4 in 10,000 women without GD had stillbirths, versus 5 in 10,000 with GD. That's one more, which does matter, but even if my baby was stillborn it would only be 20% likely be caused by GD!
How I feel. Backed into a corner filled with fear. |
But unless the doctor I'm seeing next week can give me a good reason why I am actually at risk, I will ask them a few questions...
- Placental failure, which was thrown at me at the last appointment: how quickly does it happen, if it happens? Is it like kidney failure, or heart failure, which doesn't mean function stops - only that it deteriorates, which can be picked up in good time?
- Can we agree that from Week 38, I can be monitored regularly - daily if necessary?
- If we reach 40 weeks and baby still hasn't made their appearance, I understand risks actually do rise and I would agree to an induction then.
So that's my battle plan for next week. My preference, however - if you're the praying sort, please pray this for me - is that baby will just decide to come naturally. Before Week 38 if possible, so I don't have to go through all the above. It's nerve-wracking to negotiate with medics as a non-medic who has no way of knowing what risks are truly worrying and where the medics are just trying to cover their backs against litigation. I feel very, very out of my depth. All I want is for baby to be well...
By the way, full term (37 weeks) is this Tuesday. Baby would be very welcome to show up right then.
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Thanks so much for sharing!