Friday, January 23, 2015

Lumped into a category: Pregnant and diabetic

It's been 26 weeks of this new category: pregnant and diabetic. I've heard others who are a bit further along say they don't know how much more they can take... that they are getting treatment from their insurance companies and medical team that are hindering their ease of diabetes management.

I've been a bit frustrated by the medical industry's lack of interest in accuracy. I know that there have to be broad designations, but there MUST be room for accuracy! Type 1 diabetes + pregnancy = high risk. Period. No way around it.

I've been doing OK with my blood sugars. My A1c hovers around a 6% (the low end of where you start seeing complications). I haven't had too many readings over 200, and only once over 250. I've been exercising 2-4 times a week, and have been taking my vitamins and eating my veggies. My eyes are fine, my kidney function is excellent, my lipids are amazing, my blood pressure and pulse on the healthy end of the spectrum... My doctor agrees that my blood glucose readings give him no cause for concern.

And yet, I still get designated a high-risk pregnancy. Not that I particularly mind; I get far more ultrasounds than the average woman, I've had growth scans every month, an echocardiogram to examine the baby's heart, and I've been sending my numbers to the doctor every week and working with him to adjust my rates. I kind of like the attention. But I don't like the inaccuracy.

This could come to a head when it comes to deciding when and how baby comes into the world. The doctor already told me that he would like to induce labor at 38 weeks. This article explains why it's best to wait until at least 39 weeks. Of course, I would like baby to be as healthy as possible, and come into the world when he or she is ready.

If there is sound medical reasoning for inducing the baby at 38 weeks (based on actual information--like how the baby is measuring, how my blood sugars have been, etc), then I will of course consider it. But if they are saying this because on average, diabetic women (lumping type 1, type 2, and gestational in one category) deliver large for gestational age babies, then I would hope that they would seek to me more accurate when dolling out medical commandments!