WEEK 14 - CONNECTING WITH A DOULA AND A VISIT TO THE DIETICIAN

The highlight of week 14 was that I got connected with my doula! She is from Birth Roots Doula Collective (http://www.birthrootsdoulas.com/). As I was looking at their website, I noticed that I recognized the name of one of the doulas as a woman from Steinbach (my hometown) who also has Type 1 diabetes! So when I registered with Birth Roots I asked if I could be paired up with her. Because she has 3 small children herself, she will not be able to be "on call" for the birth itself, but she was very excited at the possibility of working with me, so she will be my doula along with another doula from Birth Roots. I have my own little doula team! I feel very fortunate!

We will meet a few times before the birth and then this second doula will be with me for the whole labour and birth process (no matter what time of day/night). It will be so nice to have that support! Statistics show that using a doula greatly increases the chance of having a "positive birth experience", partially because of the support, but also because of the pain management techniques they teach, and I'm all for that! My OB was very supportive of this decision too, and actually knows my doula quite well (and even delivered two of her babies)!

By week 14 I had actually gained no weight at all yet, even though my stomach was definitely protruding. My metabolism has really changed a lot with the pregnancy, which means my diabetes care requires constant tweaking…but I’m managing to stay on top of it. I saw a dietician at the Youville Diabetes Centre during week 14 as well. She was quite happy with my diet – especially with the amount of omega-3 I’m getting, thanks to the salmon cravings I’ve been having! (More on cravings later.) It was good to hear that I seem to be on the right track!

Another good thing about week 14 was that I was able to start reducing my Diclectin for nausea! I probably could have done so sooner, but I’ve been so cautious because I get worried that making reductions too soon could give me nausea problems again and throw off my bloodsugar levels again…and it just hasn’t been worth the risk.