Heffalump in the making...So I have now reached the 6 1/2 month mark - time is flying by... NOT... as a competitive cyclist when you are not competing or training for anything, and seem to be simply getting fat, the days seem to be very long waiting for this little blessing to make his presence known.
He seems to be having a good time now though playing soccer in my belly and making me feel like a heffalump in the making - thus the title of my blog.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term Heffalump, as I found my workmates were not familiar, here is a little background.
In the fifth chapter of Winnie the Pooh, Pooh and Piglet attempt bravely to capture a heffalump in a trap. However, no heffalumps are ever caught in their trap, and indeed they never meet a heffalump in the course of the books. The sole actual appearance of heffalumps in the books come as Pooh tries to put himself to sleep: "He tried counting Heffalumps but every Heffalump that he counted was making straight for a pot of Pooh's honey ... and when the five hundred and eighty-seventh Heffalumps were licking their jaws, and saying to themselves, 'Very good honey this, I don't know when I've tasted better', Pooh could bear it no longer." We learn nothing more about the nature of the beasts in the writings.
Although this is never explicitly stated, it is generally thought that heffalumps are elephants from a child's viewpoint (the word "heffalump" being a child's attempt at pronouncing "elephant").So hopefully the picture helps explain a little how I feel and am sure am going to feel even more like in the coming weeks. "Rocky" as we call him, because he is about the size of a small rockmelon, is about 9+ inches long and apparently will approach 17 inches in the next 3-4 weeks. Yikes - I can hardly breath now and eating anything more than a few slices of bread at a time makes me feel like my belly is going to explode, it is unfathomable understanding what this is going to be like when he is double the size in a few weeks.
So Diabetes wise what has been going on?
MyA1C at last visit was 6.3, yipee!! the best it has been since I was a teenager, although some days it surely does not feel like it could possibly be that good. At about 20 weeks "Rocky" started inflicting the apparent insulin resistance factor in a big way. Any insulin I put in seemed like it was going into an abyss. Doses have dramatically increased despite the fact that I am eating far less carbs than I have in a long time. The Doctors assure me this is normal and good to know I am like everyone else with diabetes that gets pregnant. Not great for the mental fortitude you need when battling blood sugars has always been tough, now it just got a little harder. Exercise has still continued to be my saving grace, although nowdays it seems to be difficult just to ride on the flats, climbing passes or hills is pretty much out of the repertoire. I long for the days when I can return to the summers of riding Benchmark (my favourite climb for wildflower viewing) or Resolution Road (for the ultimate punishment) as it will not be this summer.
"Rocky's" growth is right on target according to the Ultrasounds I have been having once a month. Hope is he will stay on target along with blood sugars as this hopefully will prevent him from growing too big too fast.
The many lows I had during the first trimester have definitely petered off and I have become much better at managing them when they do come, in the past a blood sugar of 34 would have seen me passed out, now I am still somewhat alert but definitely not right and have already treated it if it gets to this point. My Powerbar sponsorship has continued to be an enormous blessing helping me with fuelling while I am exercising and for those anytime lows, my ever failful Powerbar Performance Chocolate Peanut Butter flavour is always the saving grace or a couple of rasberry gel blasts definitely gets me back on track.
We have discussed options with the Doctors and it is sounding like unless "Rocky" decides to come early on his own, they will do an amnio at around 36-37 weeks and if he shows good lung development they are then most likely to induce early to help prevent placenta complications or issues that sometime arise for people with diabetes late in the pregnancy such as pre-ecalmpsia.
My strong desire is of course to have a normal delivery with no C-section but only time & "Rocky" will decide this.
In the meantime Stephen is trying to cram as many races in as possible and we hope to continue our active lives despite major changes on the way. Adios until the next update.
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