15 Weeks 4&5 Days

Friday I went in to the chiro to do my second back treatment. I lay on a machine with big straps around my waist/hips and another around my belly. The straps are then connected to the bottom of the machine and the top. The machine works by slowly pulling my back apart (sounds bad) and lets pressure off of the discs to allow them to suck back into place. 3 of my lower discs are bulging, not ruptured so it's like squishing a balloon between your hands. The edges of the balloon are past the edge of your hand but it's not popped. So by letting some pressure off your hands (the vertebra) it allows the balloon (disc) to go back into place. The procedure is about 25 minutes and then I lay with electrical muscle stimulation on my lower back and a heating pack for another 20 minutes. I'll do this for a few weeks and see if I have any relief from it. So far, it hasn't been painful which the doctor said is a good sign. By the time I got home from my appointment, my feet and legs had begun to swell. I'm wearing compression stockings which should be helping but I need more compression on the top of my feet too, not just my legs. My BG levels are still a little off. My current range is between 100 and 180. It should be 100-120 so I'll get there before too long. As long as I'm not going low or too high it's okay. My foot was hurting earlier today so I sat with it on ice for a little while and that helped. Now I'm sitting with the ice on my back, per doctor's orders =) After Joseph went to work I started feeling nauseated. I called my parents to see if Mom could come stay with me and they were only 3 minutes away at the time! Dad dropped her off and she stayed until dad picked her up at 11pm, when Joseph got home from work. Earlier in the evening, I had a phone chat with the nurse in charge of taking in my BG's in the OB clinic. We had been going back and forth with emailing but since it was getting close to 5pm, she decided to call; we had a 30 minute conversation. Mom and I chatted after her call about what we talked about. I didn't take any of the dr's suggestions because, as I stated on the phone and email, that she didn't have enough info to make changes so I had made my own.

Saturday morning I woke at 5:45am with foot pain. This is the 3rd morning in a row so instead of taking a double dose of Methadone at 8am, I'll take the double at midnight and see how that goes. Today I'm back to a single pill during the day and I hope that pain isn't too much. I don't want to have to up the dose again unless I really have to.  At 5:45 when I woke up, I checked my bg level and I had risen 45 points since midnight. I went ahead and raised my 4am basal. This was the second morning that I'd raised like this. I woke up (with a correction at 5:45) 90bg. That's a great number! I'm getting a headache and will start to ice it now before pain gets to building too much. I plan to go to Fairfield today to lay out and let Blake play.
1pm and that's as long as I lasted before needing to take the 2nd dose of Methadone... I'll have to email my doctor to see if I can add another 5mg dose at midnight. I'm sitting in mom's rocking chair with ice on my back and hot rice pack under my neck...
Later on, I had gone low and Mom drove to my house to get my anti nausea pills and I was unable to eat very much. As the day continued my headache got worse and worse. Rhonda came over and gave me a neck and shoulder massage which helped a lot. I was still nauseated for quite a while from the pain of the headache. My foot started hurting later in the evening too so took another Tylenol which only took the edge but that was good enough I guess. I'm leaving Blake in Fairfield with my parents and will get him tomorrow. I've been here from 1pm - 11pm. I'm headed home to sleep away the rest of this headache.

15 Weeks 3 Days

These last couple days have been pretty good. My levels have been a bit on the higher side from me being too careful with my insulin. Things are being funky in the morning and I can't figure out what's up. I won't bother to ask my dr about it because she will be of no help right now. I haven't been taking my blood pressures lately because I've been doing much better since the doc upped my bp meds. But, in the last few days I've been starting to swell and it's getting worse day by day. Today it was really bad in my foot/toes, legs, and hands. My hands are aching because of the swelling and last night I slept with holding an ice pack between them. The swelling in my feet is putting pressure on my already tender right ankle and causing some more pain. I'll start to wear my dad's compression stockings some to help prevent from getting too stretched. I can't believe the swelling is so bad already. Last time I started swelling between 25 & 30 weeks and then got Pre Eclampsia. I'm thinking that once I get to 20 weeks I'll be borderline Pre E and will be sending Blake off to live with Papa and Grandma for a while... =( I've been having some headaches along with the swelling so I'll be consistently checking my BPs. Not much helps the headaches and that's hard to deal with.

My nausea has died some but I have been taking anti-nausea pills almost every day. According to my mom's scale, I've lost some lbs this week and according to measuring around my belly, I've lost 1"... I think it was because I've been fasting so much this past week, trying to get my basal rates correct, that I've been unable to eat. That, and due to the amount of nausea I've had. Nausea is fine as long as I don't puke and have a blood sugar crash... I don't need more hospital visits: this is week 15 and I've been in the hospital 7 times. I'll be doing more basal checks this week because of things changing. 

Dr emailed me back today about the changes I need to make to my insulin. She really only had one and a half days of blood sugar numbers and with those days, she had very minimal information, like only 5 or 6 numbers out of the 12 she had asked for... There is no way she can make changes without having information. Me and mom came to the conclusion that the dr is only looking at my basal rate numbers and thinking they're too low based on other patients... because she is NOT even looking at the numbers I gave her. I emailed her back asking for an explanation of why she chose those changes. 

It's getting to be very annoying being on crutches. I've been on them nearly 2 full weeks and am so ready to get off them! I keep having to tell myself that it's better now than when I have have 2 kids and it's better that it's my foot rather than my arm being out of service... If it was my arm I would have an extremely difficult time making food, keeping things picked up, caring for Blake and changing diapers, playing with him, or getting myself ready and presentable.

... {the foot is better than my arm} repeat 2x  ... 

I'm getting very frustrated with all that's going on lately. 

I keep telling Joseph that I need a vacation from life for a while. 

I'm only 15 weeks in and still have a long road of frustration and pain to endure.

15 Weeks 0&1 Days

My pain level has been on the lower side. I think my higher Methadone dose is building up and making that difference. I've been battling headaches some and it's not fun because it's been bringing on some nausea. Sunday we stayed home from church because of not feeling well. Monday I was nauseated and had thrown up and went a little low but was able to correct with glucose tabs. I was a little worried but it didn't last long. Ashley came over in the evening and went with me to visit the chiropractor to chat about my back and possible treatment. I'll start the back treatment on Wednesday and hopefully it will alleviate my pain =) Dr. explained my back in more detail than other doctors and it was nice to get a bigger picture and understand my situation better.

After we were at the chiropractor we went to Joanns to buy a new hoop for handquilting. Mine is on it's last loop =) We got home about 8:15pm and Blake was overly tired of course and Ashley got him ready and for bed and put him down. When we were at Joanns, my foot pain and back pain started kicking in big time. I think the time standing at the chiro and at Joanns was too much. When I got home, I had Ashley get all 3 icepacks for me;:2 for my foot and 1 for my back. I was in a ton of pain, the most in the last few days. I stayed on the ice for a while but it took a long time to start working. Ashley was too tired to stay long so she headed home and I was extremely tired also and tried to sleep in my blue chair. Within 1 minute after Ashley left, Blake came and stood by my chair wanting to lay with me. In the next 15 minutes, I dozed in and out while Blake laid with me. When Blake was done laying with me and went to lay on the couch, but reached for the xbox controller first... He wanted to watch Mr. Rogers =)  I then woke at 11:30pm to Blake snoring on the couch and I was still on ice. Joseph worked overtime and didn't come home til 3am.

Today started out very well. No issues. I ate breakfast and was sitting at the table when I was overcome with dizzyness and nausea! I called for Joseph to get me a pot. Right after handing it to me, I lost my breakfast. While I continually filled the pot, Joseph stood behind me and pulled my hair back, out of the way. Right after, I felt just fine! I was worried about a low but because I hadn't bolused yet, I wasn't too worried and didn't go low! We then drove to fairfield to pick up Blake's diapers and it was such a nice day, I decided to stay all day since Joseph was headed to work. I was in the backyard with Ivory, doing HW and tanning when I got the pot urge. She went to get me pot, which I promptly filled upon receiving it. I didn't go low at this time either and BG was at 140 so I didn't have to worry at all! The day went well and I actually went high from a treatment to prevent any dropping from 140.  I took a double dose of anti-nausea and it helped the rest of the day! Right before dinner I accidently ripped out my shot =( So I had to rush home to get some dinner insulin in me!
The throwing up wasn't bad (except for peeing my pants both times from the extreme emptying of my stomach lol) and totally okay to deal with, with no low bgs!!

14 Weeks 5&6 Days

Today I woke up late when Blake came into my room at 10:30 and laid down with me. Even though I had enough sleep (not too much) I have been very tired today and took an afternoon nap between BG checks. I did a basal check starting at noon and plan to go til 8. Along with being tired, I've had a headache which is continually getting worse. Tylenol doesn't help so I don't bother taking it. This headache has caused me to become nauseated too, maybe due to the pain? . . .  I took an anti-nausea which has helped but I'm not sure I will be able to eat any time soon. My levels are rising slightly then dropping back down and I'm having a slightly difficult time trying to figure out which insulin rate to adjust. I'm not going high or low though so that is good! I'm trying to narrow my range at this point.
Ted and Elaine stopped by for a visit and my headache kicked in super bad. For a good chunk of the time I sat with ice behind my neck and then on top of my forehead and eyes, I fell asleep shortly after they left (7pm?), just after I switched to heat. I woke at 1:30am to foot pain. I had slept through my Methadone @ 12am phone alarm. Joseph and I headed to bed then, my headache still on pretty strong. My foot had bothered me quite a bit during the night and morning hours. Joseph had to get me ice in the early morning.  After dealing with the pain, I then slept pretty solid and woke to my 8am alarms. I was exhausted when Joseph got out of bed so I stayed there and didn't get out of bed til about 12:30pm. I wasn't fully sleeping the whole time because I was aware when Joseph was trying to keep Blake on the quiet side. My headache is still present but it's more of the, "I'm here; don't be loud or move too much or I'll slam you again" feeling. I was going to do another basal check within range but then nausea kicked in. So I ate as much as I could with an anti-nausea pill and the basal check will fine til later.

I have been reading in my FB Pregnancy/Diabetes group that many women are finding out their baby's gender as early as week 15 ! I'm hoping I can find out at my next appointment instead of waiting another few weeks to do the 20 week ultrasound.

14 Weeks 3&4 Days

Mom has been in town the last few days to help me out. It's been a little difficult taking care of house and life while going massively low and being on crutches. She is staying with me til tomorrow so we can watch out for lows together =) She has been so helpful with taking care of Blake and making food/cleaning the kitchen. It's been much better to ask her for help rather than hop around/crawl around and struggling to get things done. I'm so glad to have her here for these days!

My BP has been high so my docs have me on BP meds that I started 2 weeks ago. Just this week my legs and feet have started to swell. My pants have gotten pretty tight and that's super frustrating! I've been propping them up at night which is a huge help! =)

I had an OB appointment yesterday and a medication change appt. today.

Yesterday's appointment was a special appointment made by Tuesday's L&D staff for my doctor to address the low blood sugars. At the appointment she ignored the papers I provided, which showed all my lows, and proceeded to try and increase my afternoon basal. I was adamant that I would not change that basal because for the last two weeks I had major lows resulting from that basal rate already being too high. She refused to pay attention. I did make one basal change but wasn't comfortable with it. Mom and I left the appointment annoyed and discussed the appointment with Joseph when we got home. I then emailed my doctor saying we were unhappy with the care in my diabetes and that I should not be having all these lows, my husband shouldn't have to skip work, and family shouldn't have to babysit me 24/7. I stated in the email that my new range will be 85-120 at all times and I will do my own basal changes at this point. I made my adjustments yesterday after the appointment and finally, the first time in 2 weeks, I stayed level all afternoon!!! It was wonderful! For quite a few hours Joseph and I researched new doctors to leave to just in case my doc wouldn't agree with our decision. She emailed back later saying that "We're working together and that sounds like a good plan." She comes across well, but in person, is very intimidating, demanding, and unsympathetic to the situation because of not paying attention to the facts.

Today's appointment went well and we made a slight increase to the Methadone for day time. My pain level has been pretty good but my foot hurts quite a bit during the day still. But, a level 7 pain max is better than a level 10 pain max! There has been improvement!

I'm still doing basal checks to make sure the new (much lower) rates are accurate. I was doing pretty good but then started dropping. So my rates are still too high! I'll be doing another basal rate check tomorrow!

Baby's heartbeat is strong and yesterday B was quite active on the ultrasound =)
Only a few weeks til I can feel that movement!

I've been sitting here chatting with my mom. My foot started to hurt and within 10 minutes my pain went from "eh not bad" to nearly unbearable, literally rolling on the floor trying to find the right position to lay in, rub my leg or whatever... I crawled to my room to get a Tylenol from my headboard and went to sit in my chair again. I then asked mom to get my two ice packs from the freezer and a towel. I placed my foot between the two packs and within 10 minutes, my pain has dropped in half... No bueno, but I'm very glad it has been a fairly short pain period (30 min total) than a long one!! =D Improvements, improvements!

14 Weeks 2 Days

From previous post:: When I got in the car, it was just about 1am. We got home just before 2am and Joseph fell right asleep as he attempted to rub my leg. I read a book and went to sleep about 45 minutes later. I went to sleep with a BG of 167. I woke 2 times during the morning to check and it was slightly lower each time and by the time I actually woke up fully at 1pm, my bg was 117. Joseph left for work just after 2pm and I had a bowl of cereal. I did NOT bolus and plan to see what my levels decide to do while I'm sitting at 200's rather than low 100's. I drastically cut back my basal rates to hopefully run a little high than sooo low. Mom is coming back with Blake today and  she will stay with me for a few days to help out. 

I got a call saying I have an appt with my OB tomorrow morning and the doc last night wants me to give my OB ALL 15-20 bg's from every day that I have. Today I will transfer my messy papers to neat ones for my OB to see. Busy Busy Busy. 

I'm so thankful for my motherinlaw who was able to come on such a short notice and for my parents who were willing to drop all they were doing to come assist. I've been so blessed with being close in distance to everyone and to have such a relationship that allows them to help me as needed.

14 Weeks 1 Day

I had a bit of pain at bedtime and woke to pain in the morning. I needed to take Tylenol both times for that pain. My back has been doing better these last couple days even though my foot has hurt. Today I went to DMV and got a handicap placard. It's so much better going to DMV on crutches because you sit in a chair at the counter and they come to you! =D I'm battling a headache today and plan to go to the chiro this afternoon sometime.

Good levels today and last night. I lowered my basal and will do basal checks today to see how my afternoon goes! 

Last week at my doc appointment, drs wanted me to make changes and  I said no, not until I am convinced by my levels that they're high enough to make a change. It's been GreAt since friday, but with lows each afternoon.. I keep lowering the rates they want raised! I just emailed in my levels from thurs-today. It will be interesting to see which rates they have in store for me later today!

WELLLL...... I ended up having a VERY interesting afternoon, to say the least!
Around 1pm, I started to get nauseated. My headache increased dramatically and I put ice on my neck. Before taking my planned nap, Joseph checked my level and said, "HOLY CRAP!" and took off running toward the kitchen. I sat up and was like, "Hey! What's my level!?" He said I was at 59. Because I was already nauseated, I told him to use the Glucagon Emergency Shot instead of trying to eat or drink anything. He gave it to me and the nausea continued to build with the addition of the Glucagon making it worse. He called both our parents and whichever ones he could get a hold of, he asked them to come take care of me because he had to go to work. He called work to say he'd be 30 minutes late. I had taken a Tylenol for my foot pain which was increasing and an Anti-Nausea. Within just a few minutes of taking those, I had Joseph hand me my pot (because I'm on the crutches, there was no way I was going to try and go anywhere) where I threw up within seconds, all of my breakfast from 3 hours previous. After 2 minutes or so of that pleasantness, I drank some tea and took another anti-nausea and another Tylenol and also an early Methadone dose. I kept checking my levels and topped out at 115. I typically raise up to 400 points within a very short time of taking the Glucagon Injection. This has not been the case though with being pregnant. Joseph's mom arrived and my parents were headed my way still having an hour to drive though. After taking the additional pills, 10 minutes later, I was throwing up again into my pot. Because I wasn't sure how quickly the Methadone would soak into my system on an empty stomach, I wasn't sure if I needed to take a second dose, as I had been doing with the Tylenol capsules. Joseph and I updated his mom on the situation and he left for work as I called and left a message for my OB. I quickly received a call back from an advise nurse who said that because I hadn't eaten all day except for the one meal in the morning, and because I couldn't currently keep anything down, I needed to come into UCD L&D. I called Joseph but he didn't answer his phone or texts so I woke Blake up from his nap, loaded my pot into the car and Elaine drove me to Sac. Before getting onto the freeway here in town, I had Elaine give me a 2nd Glucagon injection because I'd dropped from 130 down to 80. I didn't want to mess with anymore lows because of being so nauseated. I was extremely nauseated the whole time while driving and the driving/shadowsun mix coming thru the window didn't help my situation. I sat in the front seat with my head in my hands leaning close to the AC to try and help things for the entire drive to Sac. I had Elaine pull up to the front doors and I crutched my way into the hospital while she went to park the car. Once I got through the main doors, I was huffing and puffing! Some employee stopped me and put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me up to where I needed to go. I was SOOOOO thankful for her help! God put her right where I needed her to be! I checked in and a 2nd nurse leaned over to the window where I was signing papers and said, "Hey, weren't you JUSt in here a few days ago!?" I chuckled and said, "Yup. And I'm sure you'll be seeing quite a bit more of me as time goes on!" I then sat in the hallway for about 7 minutes until Elaine and Blake came up to meet me. Just a few minutes after that, I was taken back to my room. The nurse immediately checked my BP and said, "Oh it's high. You need to change out of your (extremely thin long sleeve) and into the gown. I so badly wanted to be sarcastic and say something like "You don't think the high BP is actually caused from me crutching my way down a 50ft hallway after a nurse who was walking on the faster side?..." Of course, I kept my mouth shut and put on the gown like she said. A few minutes after sitting quitely, she came back in and was happy to report a better BP. Yup. I wasn't huffing and puffing anymore!! lol She said she was going to head out and put some stuff into the computer. She came back 10 minutes later with an arm band and then left. Elaine took Blake for a long walk after that because he was being a bad boy. Baby didn't get more than a 10 min nap all day!! That nurse didn't ever come back in. Over an hour later, it was shift change and I had a new nurse who brought me buckets of water! I'd been there just over 2 hours before I got any water or a nurse to come back in! In the meantime, I rested with the light off and moaned against my nausea. After 7:30 doctors started arriving to talk about my afternoon. I had ketones in my urine and they drew blood to see if it was in that as well. My sugars spiked at 200 and around 8 I decided to turn my pump back on. I'd turned it off at 1pm. Once turning it back on, my levels started dropping 20 points ever 20-30 minutes. Mom and Dad came and he took Blake to walk around the building outside and out for some dinner. Poor kid was probably VERY hungry! Mom went to the Cafeteria to get me dinner just before they closed at 8. My nausea was doing better but still present. At this time, I was thinking that the nausea was caused from such an empty stomach rather than the nausea that started this whole episode. I ate half my sandwich just fine and once I ate a few bites into my other half, nausea hit me so I leaned back, made sure there was a clear path to the sink and waited for it to pass. 5-10 minutes later it was totally gone. We were waiting for blood work to come back to see if there were ketones in my blood. I was drinking as much water as I could. Mom and Dad left with Blake and I started reading some homework I had with me because of my assignment due before midnight. Mom and Dad brought my laptop so I was able to do the things I needed to. The labs came back and I had ketones in my blood slightly. I started drinking more nasty water but then asked if I could have an IV instead of battle this continuing the slight nausea. The nurse asked my doc and after talking with them, they went ahead and started an IV of liquid. I was surprised how fast the drip was turned on and was even more surprised when Elaine noticed it was almost empty! They started another bag and waited for more blood work. Once the ketones in my blood were gone, then I could go home. Joseph arrived at 11:30pm and Elaine then left to head home. When the bloodwork came back after midnight, it was clear of ketones. We were finally able to head back home. Joseph and I walked down to the main entrance where I sat down in a chair and waited for him to get the car. My left calf was nearly cramping from the long walk I'd made. I can't believe the muscle that is already bulking up in the one leg! haha Good thing I bought a floor length dress for Natalie's wedding! If it was short, I'd have extremely funky looking, mismatched legs! Anyway. When I got in the car, it was just about 1am. We got home just before 2am and Joseph fell right asleep as he attempted to rub my leg. I read a book and went to sleep about 45 minutes later. I went to sleep with a BG of 167. I woke 2 times during the morning to check and it was slightly lower each time and by the time I actually woke up fully at 1pm, my bg was 117.