Polyhydramnios and Other Interesting Terms...

I looked up this whole excess fluid thing a bit more. Because it really does feel to me like I'm bigger than I should be. Today I feel even tighter than yesterday. Up to about 4 or 5 days ago I felt big, yes, but nothing uncomfy. Then in the last few days I've felt like my tummy has suddenly just got really tight. It felt stretched and large before, yes, but it never felt so tight and uncomfy as it does now. So when they said 'excess fluid', I thought, yeah, that makes sense...

The trouble with it being my first pregnancy is that I don't know what feels normal and what doesn't!

One thing they didn't explain was why this is quite common in pregnant diabetics. Of course, reading the reason, it makes perfect sense - raised sugar levels cause the baby to urinate more frequently, thus increasing the amount of fluid. (Wikipedia tells you a bit more about it.) Apparently having excess fluid increases your chances of premature labour, which again makes perfect sense, coz your body is gonna think it's a lot more pregnant than it actually is! A bit like with multiples.

I'm not sure how the condition is exactly related to sugar levels. i.e. I've felt extra big and tight yesterday and today, yet my levels have been perfect! And they weren't any worse than 'usual' in the few days before that, either.. so perhaps it's just to do with an overall sugar intake that the baby has... I'm not sure.

Hopefully the scan in 2 weeks will show that it is just diabetes causing this problem - and not any of the worse problems, such as the baby's chest not having developed properly. Hey, with any luck it'll go down again (something I read implied that it can change quite quickly, although I don't know how much truth there is in that) and be normal!

Of course, if I did go in to labour early, that would at least mean that I wouldn't need to be induced. I keep expecting them to just give me an inducement date ( - and I'll be like, "erm, now why exactly do you want to induce me? Diabetes alone is not an answer!") but as yet it hasn't happened.. probably a bit early I guess. I tell my baby that it can come as early as it likes, as long as it's healthy! Trust me, the way my tummy feels at the moment, I wouldn't complain about it coming early! Inducing does of course lead to higher risks of needing a cesarean - the last thing I want. So yeah, if this excess fluid thing keeps up, induction would make sense - but labour beginning early would be much more preferable.

Hey, at least diabetics can have babies, eh?