Congratulations! You’re pregnant again!

This was my fourth pregnancy and my third baby back-to-back.

I was worried this time. Did my body have enough time to recuperate, and would it have enough essential vitamins to help this fourth baby come into this world healthy?

The last three babies I had were perfect and were all healthy, but somehow I sensed that something was wrong. I went through all the tests, and this time my borderline gestational diabetes was more to be concerned with. My sugar was up, and my blood pressure was rising. If I didn’t get my sugar down within acceptable measures (115 was where it should have been, and it was at 215), then I would have to go on insulin shots.

This frightened me to no end. I tried desperately to watch what I ate, and it just didn’t work. The baby was kicking a lot less now than all my others before birth. I fought with my sugar levels all throughout pregnancy, and at the time of birth, I went in with raised sugar levels again. Now the doctors were worried about the baby.

I was given a shot of insulin, which turned out to be easier than I had figured, and labor took some time. When my waters broke, they shot across the room like a bullet to the other wall. The doctor looked surprised as when waters break, they usually gush out to the floor.

Our son was born and he was whisked away after a few moments of mother/daddy/baby time. He was having difficulty breathing, and he needed immediate care. Within a few short hours, he was also whisked away to a hospital that could take care of him better for his prematurity and breathing problems.

We spent 10 days up at the new hospital in intensive care with our newborn. The 5 weeks early and the high sugar levels took their toll on our little baby boy. Finally, we were able to go home, and we went home with a medical device called a breathing monitor attached to our littlest bundle of joy.

We were petrified he would stop breathing. However, he never has, and we gained our strength back as we took faith in our baby and not in the device. He is now 10 months old, and we are looking into genetic testing as he is not crawling or sitting up yet. The doctors, my husband, and I feel he has an excellent chance to catch up with the rest of the kids his age, and we feel more confident every day with our cute little boy.

My advice to all you moms, soon-to-be moms, and future moms is to beware of your sugar levels and don’t mess around with them. If I would have gone on insulin earlier, some of the complications could have been avoided. It is very important to listen to your doctor and do what he says. Do not let shots scare you away from getting them because, in the end, the shot was the least of the problems.