AWOL

Apologies, I yet again let time pass without popping in here to say hi.

All is okay, in fact, better than okay. I now have less than 10 weeks to go till Junior arrives - I do have an official 'too posh to push' date now but I'm not sharing because I'd rather announce his arrival than have everyone knowing it is just about to happen - and my consultants are extremely happy with my progress.

I guess everyone pretty much knows that diabetic mothers have big babies but the truth is a little less cut and dried than that. If you are diabetic you have the potential to have a big baby and you also are at a higher risk of pretty much every complication there can be from miscarriage to still birth and all the defects in between but, and it's an important but, if you keep your blood sugars as perfect as possible you will have as normal a pregnancy as a non-diabetic woman, risk levels are no different.

So it doesn't take a genius to work out that it is entirely the mother's responsibility to control her blood sugars as well as she can. Not just because you don't want to have to get a 19lb baby out but because the higher your blood sugar at birth the more dangerous it is for the baby. Very simply this is because if the mother's blood sugar is high and her blood is being transferred to the baby then the baby will over produce insulin to combat the additional sugar. Once baby is out there is no high sugar level but there is still an over-production of insulin so the baby's blood sugar will drop significantly and quickly causing serious problems. The over production of insulin is what causes the baby to get fat too.

So there endeth todays medical lesson LOL. Very simply, the more normal my blood sugar the better for my child and my sugars are pretty much spot on perfect. I also have a fantastic medical team supporting me - a dedicated diabetic specialist midwife, a dedicated diabetic consultant and a dedicated diabetic specialist obstetrician - and I have been seeing them every three weeks throughout the pregnancy so far. After I get to 32 weeks I'll see them every two weeks up until the birth.

I was in the same medical position when I was pregnant with Lia and she weighed in at 7lb 15oz (3.6kg) and was absolutely perfect, I'm thinking I'm not going to get junior in under 8lb but I'm hoping for not much over. At the moment he's exactly on the 50th centile of the growth scale which is fantastic.

It certainly makes me glad how medical science has progressed because as little as fifty years ago diabetic women were routinely sterilised because it was too dangerous for them to become pregnant...

On a lighter note, we're just starting to get the room ready for the baby. We have a plumber coming a week tomorrow to move the radiator in his room and then we can paint and get the new carpet down. We pretty much have all the furniture we need but I need to see it all arranged in the room with everything in its place so I can be sure we have all we need.

Lia is still extremely excited at the prospect of a baby brother and is very keen to help with all the organising. She's also still enjoying school and seems to be thriving. She was the 'star of the week' in her class last week which meant she got a certificate from the Head teacher - she got hers for making a big effort to listen to everybody for the whole week. It's caused a lot of fun in our family as she's now officially the first female on both sides that can produce documented evidence of her ability to listen LOL.

On the crafting front I have been sewing up a storm, I finished my Michael Powell mini design and am over half way through Spooky Spots by Shepherd's Bush. I've been getting my money's worth from the sewing machine too. I will definitely be taking pictures this weekend so will bore you all with them next week

Have a good weekend everyone