Gestational diabetes and early induction

Despite all the drama, Kylie and Tim were all smiles to greet Emma

During the third trimester of my pregnancy I began to have problems, starting when a lump the size of a tennis ball formed in my groin. I was diagnosed with ‘varicosities of the round ligament’, which is a fancy way of saying I’d developed pelvic varicose veins. Though painful, the swollen blood vessels, a result of increased hormones, blood flow and pressure, posed no risk to my pregnancy.

Then I developed an irregular heartbeat and racing pulse. At rest, my heart was going about 120 beats per minute, instead of the normal 70 to 80.

And it didn’t stop there. Next I developed gestational diabetes and had to manage my blood sugar levels with insulin shots.

Big babies go hand in hand with gestational diabetes and because of this I was constantly under threat of an early induction. I was keen for an intervention-free birth, so I tried natural ways to help bring on labour like homeopathic treatments, massage, exercise, acupuncture and eating lots of curries. One week before my due date my waters broke. I was thrilled.

At the hospital I was given three lots of intravenous antibiotics as I had tested positive for strep B. The next morning my contractions still hadn’t started, so I was induced. After two hours of labour my baby’s heart rate dropped. At the same time, mine went through the roof. I was rushed into an operating theatre for an emergency caesarean.

But when I finally held little Emma in my arms I couldn’t care less about how she came into the world. She was 3.5kg and 48cm and healthy. That was all that mattered.

When we returned home I was desperate to breastfeed but had all sorts of trouble. Emma didn’t latch on properly and I had mastitis three times. Knowing the importance of breastmilk, I began expressing. I was hell-bent on establishing a good supply and expressed every three hours, day and night, for 12 weeks. Eight months on and I’m still express-feeding. It gets easier.

Only a new mum can understand the utter exhaustion a newborn brings. My life was a cycle of expressing, feeding and changing nappies. I cried constantly, didn’t sleep more than one or two hours a night, and was paranoid about making sure Emma was all right. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight and was constantly going in to her room when she was sleeping to make sure she was breathing.

I was soon diagnosed with postnatal depression. This came as a shock, as I’ve always been such a positive and capable person. But I now know that depression can take hold of any new mum. I’m a naturopath, so I started taking some natural anti-anxiety medication and got lots of support from my husband, Tim, and from family, friends and my mothers’ group.

I began feeling better and better each day. Now my life is back to normal and only getting better as I get to share it with my beautiful daughter.

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