It's all Academic...

Last week was a period of revelations, education and a million more things to worry about.

First off, we learned that my wife has gestational diabetes.  For those that may not be aware of what GDM entails, basically, it is an elevated blood glucose level, diagnosed/occurring during pregnancy.  It's fairly typical (around 10%) in a woman's third trimester and is commonly linked to pregnancy related factors such as the presence of a placenta (which inhibits insulin receptors).  We are having fraternal twins, which means my wife has whipped up two placentas for double the insulin inhibiting goodness.  Her numbers were not terribly high, so we are hoping that it can be controlled, over the next few week,s through diet alone.  If necessary, should diet changes not be sufficient, insulin can be used to blunt the glucose spike before a meal.

The risks with gestational diabetes can be quite sever if left untreated.  The babies may be born with a higher than normal birth weight, which to me doesn't sound that bad for twins.  But it can also cause jaundice, seizures or still birth.  For mom, the increased birth weight can lead to difficulties with a vaginal birth.  Again, not something that affects us, we are scheduled for a c-section on August 8th.  The real downside for mom, is that women diagnosed with gestational diabetes are at higher risk of developing adult-onset diabetes (type 2) or pre-eclampsia.  Pre-eclamspia is a medical condition involving hypertension which can lead to damage to blood vessels, kidneys and liver.  It can ultimately lead to eclampsia which can result in seizures and coma. 

We are, of course, taking this situation very seriously.  Our doctor referred us to an endocrinologist, who in turn sent my wife on a course to learn to monitor and control diabetes through diet.  She now tests her glucose levels upon first waking as well as 2 hours after each meal.  The collected data is relayed to hospital staff who will determine whether further measures (insulin) are required.  I too did my part when she was diagnosed, by immediately eating all chocolate, ice cream, candy and cake we had in the house.

Later in the week we attended an infant CPR class.  This is something that I think all soon-to-be parents or new parents should consider.  I've taken CPR classes before.  In the past, I've always had this detached feeling while listening to the instructor.  The information I was being given was something I would need to use on a stranger...I would save the stranger and be a hero.  But this class was different.  I might need these skills to save my children.  When that realization hit me I suddenly became very frightened.  These little people, that my wife and I are creating, will be completely dependent on me...ME!  The more the nursing instructors spoke, the more scenarios we went through, the more I realized that keeping them in my wife forever might be a good idea.  To make it worse, the nurse had several personal anecdotes involving her own choking children.  Either this woman was purposefully choking her kids or it's very, very common.  I actually spoke with several other mothers about this (including my own) and they all had choking stories too!

The three hour course covers more than just what to do in case of choking or discovering your child unresponsive; there is a section on SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) as well.  This is the completely unexplained, sudden death of an otherwise healthy infant.  They just stop breathing, and they die.  WTF?!?   I am never going to sleep again.  Even typing this is making me sick with worry.  My next door neighbour told me, that to this day, at ages 4 and 6, she checks on her children's breathing at night.

The last course of the week was on lactation.  As a man, I am already an expert on boobs, so I skipped this one.  Besides, I didn't want to hear about some other terrible danger, like BSID (boob smothering infant death), that would surely be brought up in the class.  I did however attend a 1 hour personal (my wife and I) meeting with the lactation consultant.  My wife very much enjoyed the course, but I think it's something that she will have to repeat once the twins have arrived.  An average stay for c-section delivery is 3 days.  During that time a lactation consultant will meet with the mother to discuss techniques of both single and tandem feeding.

I personally think that these courses were great.  The more information I can gather before the girls are born, I'm hoping in some small way, will prepare me for what is to come.  I understand that academics might be thrown out once practical kicks in, but at least I'll have a starting point.