The big day is here!

Tonight I'll be going into the hospital to start my induction!

I have been neglectful of this blog over the past several months, while I've been busy blogging about my diabetic pregnancy over at HealthCentral.com. But I've continued to be a faithful reader of many O.C. blogs and wanted to share my joy with our little diabetic community.

My pregnancy has gone wonderfully! I've honestly never felt more healthy and fit in my life. Swimming has been the best addition to my life, and I plan to keep it up forever. Also, eating a lower carb diet has paid great dividends in the weight department. I hope to maintain this diet for a lifetime as well. I've gained less than 20 pounds during the pregnancy. It's pretty cool because I've actually slimmed down in my face, arms, and legs. People keep commenting that I'm "all baby." I never thought I would be one of those pregnancy ladies who doesn't look pregnant anywhere but my belly!

My blood sugars have been darn good, with A1c results of 5.0% and 5.4% during my pregnancy, without very many hypos at all. Still, despite my best efforts, we learned at my 36 week growth ultrasound that the baby's belly was disproportionately large! This is a very common diabetic complication, though one that my doctor thought I might avoid due to the quality of my control and my modest weight gain.

Because of the potential for the baby to be large, my doctor has decided to induce labor about a week early. My due date is January 8th, and the induction will actually begin on the morning of January 2nd. Clearly the doc's not too concerned, otherwise he'd have induced earlier or advised a cesarean section. To the contrary, he's committed to given me and the baby a chance to have a vaginal birth. We'll just have to be careful and not use certain interventions (such as the vacuum or forceps) because of the risk of injury.

So, the plan is to go into the hospital tonight to begin the cervix ripening process. This should get me dilated to 3 or 4 centimeters, before starting the IV of Pitocin tomorrow morning. I was pleased to learn last Friday that I was already 50% effaced and dilated 1.5 cms! Upon hearing this news my doctor remarked, "That's an inducible cervix!"

I've been carrying high and at this point still haven't seen the baby really "drop." However, I'm having other symptoms that the baby is descending into my pelvis. Mostly, my left hip is pretty sore, especially when I walk! Also, I have these sporadic sharp, nerve pains in my groin area that run down my leg. I'm continuing to feel the baby kick (or knee) me in the rib area quite often. Even though my pregnancy has been fairly easy, I'm starting to get uncomfortable now. I think this is nature's way of making mother's eager for labor!

If you're curious about more details about my diabetic pregnancy, please check out my posts over at HealthCentral. It's been great keeping such a detailed record of my experience. It's truly been a joy!

The picture I've attached was at 30-31 weeks. You can see my pump tucked into my bra strap!

I'll be sure to write soon and post some pictures of Baby Bonilla as soon as possible! Happy New Year everyone :)