Confessions of a Starbucks addict

My OB and I get along so well. We chatted about everything today...mostly to do with how women who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes should just immediately be put on insulin instead of trying to do the quite limited ADA diet for GD. I gave her my email address and phone number so that I could be kind of a "friend" to anyone newly diagnosed in her practice. What prompted this was the patient who left the office as I was coming in... I could have sworn that this woman was just told her baby had died inside her, she was carrying on so badly. I felt really sorry for her. But no, that's not what happened...she was told she needed to be on insulin because the diet just wasn't working for her. I do kind of feel badly for people who are dxed while pregnant, but you know, at least it ends with the birth of your baby!

So, I'm hoping to help convince these women that having to take shots isn't the end of the world...those needles are itty-bitty, they don't hurt, and honestly look at it this way: with insulin you can still eat whatever you want to! I guess the previous patient had told my OB that she was trying to kill this lady's baby... with what? Insulin? You're kidding me, right? IT''S A HORMONE PEOPLE! It's not like it's really a medication, it's something your body isn't producing properly (or it's producing it but your cells aren't using it right so you need some more injected). It's not going to cause cancer, it's not going to kill anyone (well, okay if you give yourself too much and don't eat to cover the insulin you took I guess it'd kill you, but come on don't be stupid!)

I don't mind being a support person, but my OB knows, I'm going to tell it like it is.

So, in other talks at the OB's, she mentioned that she'd like me on a heparin pump. I guess because I was complaining about the enormous bruises on my hips from the 25-guage heparin needles. To give you an idea of the size of that needle, it's the same size they use for the flu shot. A normal insulin syringe is 29-gauge. What they draw your blood with is 21-gauge (the green-topped needle, that is...the butterflies ~light blue~ are 23-gauge). Okay, so it's about middle-sized for things that have been stuck into me (I'm not counting IVs or the needles they use for pheresis), but the heparin was leaving enormous bruises. So, I'm being referred for a heparin pump.

Baby's heart rate was a little low today (152 BPM), but my OB noticed that I was dehydrated so that's probably the cause. She made me drink 32 oz. of water before I left the office. :p