It has been a while since I have written and there’s a
couple of reasons for that…the first is that the insanely busy world of
teaching and trying to get everything completed in time for that magical day when I go
on maternity leave has been never-ending. The other reason is that I have been unwell
for the last couple of weeks.
Despite being ill over Christmas I managed to eat my way
through a cholesterol-raising amount of chocolate while my husband dosed me up
with lemon and honey which, if I’m honest, did more for my sugar levels than
the virus. By the time I got to my hospital appointment the nurse, who
hurriedly took a urine sample, came out with: ‘sugar in the urine, sugar in the
urine…’ before disposing of the results.
“What does that mean?” I asked the nurse’s turning back. “What
does that mean?” I panicked. But she had gone. I looked at my husband with
sudden anxiety.
Another nurse approached me. “Have you been eating lots of
sugary things? Lots of sweeties or chocolate?” she wagged her finger at me.
“Erm…somewhat,” I replied sheepishly, feeling my face go
red.
“”Hmm…” the nurse pointed her finger. “Or is it that you eat
a lot of fruit? Because you can eat too much fruit, you know, as that contains
natural sugar and it all counts.”
“I do eat a lot of fruit actually!” my eyebrows raised hopefully.
Eating a lot of fruit would surely sound better than eating a lot of chocolate…
“Well, you’ve really got to be careful about that because…”
she didn’t finish that sentence and just gave me a look for a few seconds. “…Just
keep an eye on it for now, okay?”
I nodded, saying nothing. I knew it wasn’t good and the
minute I got home, looked it up on our good friend, Google. The main thing that
came up was gestational diabetes and I freaked. Had I let my baby down by
clogging up my system with sugar? Would the baby be able to come out safely? Or
worse, would the baby come out with its mouth covered in chocolate holding a
dessert spoon and demanding more? I certainly didn’t want our baby to get a
taste for chocolate this early on in life!
So I cut down on the sugar after that. Then I realised that
during the period of unwell, I had been
drinking more lemon and honey drinks than usual, of course. Surely my increased
sugar was down to that? So I stopped those, too. Then, a few weeks later, not
only did the cough and throat virus return, but no sooner did I get over that,
that I got a rippling pain coursing across my ribs. It came over so suddenly.
One minute I was sitting on the couch and the next I was on the floor, doubled
over in pain. With every breath I took there was what felt like my muscles
snapping together – or apart – a crippling sensation overall. I couldn’t sit
on the couch, couldn’t lay down in any position, couldn’t move around. I was blubbing my way through the pain. More
reading up online told me that the reason for this pain is the baby sitting or
laying in a certain position and lots of women feel this. Right then, she must have been laying on a lung,
or part of one and secretly jabbing me in my sleep. Thanks, baby! Well, at least that told me she was nice and strong and healthy, I reassured myself, even if it did mean that I was suffering in the process. The only thing
I could think of doing was taking a warm bath, with the advice from my
fantastic mum telling me to gently try and prompt the baby to move along with
the flat of my hand. Tried this and it seemed to push the baby down a bit but
she sure had left behind some bruising! Oh well. I think I can forgive her when
she arrives.
