I knew I spoke too soon! My miraculously amazing pregnancy has hit a couple of snags as of late. I'm still counting myself lucky, since I've been going for nearly 30 weeks with uninterrupted bliss, but the first bump in the ... bump came in the form of DIABETES. [er, "the diabeetus," as the kids say] After failing my one and three hour glucose challenges which every pregnant woman has to go through, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. I have never cried like I did that day. Those of you who know me know that I never cry! I always make the joke that the last time I cried was when I watched Fox and the Hound when I was eight years old. It isn't quite that bad, but pretty damn close. My poor husband never knows what to do because it happens so seldom. Luckily, he wasn't here for this initial breakdown in the car, but the breakdown lasted all day ... so he got to experience the really awful, stopped up, puffed face, I've-been-crying-all-day-and-can't-properly-enunciate session of tears. I feel bad for getting so upset now, but at the time I figured it was because maybe I was a genuine, rascal-cruising fat ass or because I ate too much fruit [my only pregnancy craving] during the first two trimesters. I thought I did this to my baby and that she was going to have complications because I didn't know how to NOT eat an entire bag of Lay's [betcha can't eat just one is a cruel slogan, by the way] which is a problem I had before pregnancy.
So after some preliminary research, I found out that being a member of the Chub Club isn't a guaranteed diagnosis for GD GD. [this is what I'm calling it, you can figure that one out, surely] You also don't have to have someone in your family with diabetes. Basically, hormones effect everyone differently during pregnancy; some women go bat-shit-bananas crazy and others get really weepy ... my hormones just decided to take it out on my blood instead. Essentially Gestational Diabetes is similar to Type II Diabetes, in which the body is unable to appropriately and efficiently create insulin to turn carbohydrates into energy for the body. I'm paraphrasing, but you can Google it!
After my diagnosis, I attended a 4-hour diabetes introduction course which was really informative and only mildly painful, mostly due to the blithering idiots who attended the class with me. That sounds mean, but here are some out takes ... "Can I put white? I don't know how to spell Caucasian," "Um, no one told me I was supposed to bring an ID or my Insurance Card!" "Who is my next of kin? My brother?" "Oh, so I can still have fried green tomatoes, just not fried chicken?" "How come The Diabeetus got me?" .... I thought I was going to die! These people are making other people; I couldn't stop worrying about my daughter running into their sons. Anyway, the class was great and I was set up with a fancy-pants monitor for checking my blood glucose levels. I was also set up with a dietitian to help me with my introduction to my new diet, which is pretty strict! I have to check my blood sugar four times a day and write down everything I eat and when I eat. This is the first time I've ever immediately changed my eating habits ... I think the fact that I'm doing it for someone else has a lot to do with that! But I'm having such success that I'm hoping I can continue to eat this way after baby is born.
My diet is written out for me very specifically, right down to the grams of carbohydrates, fats and sugars that I am to ingest. There isn't anything I'm not supposed to eat, I just have to choose carefully and watch my portions. I really feel like everyone should eat this way. Having the instant gratification [or judgement] of the monitor after eating allows you to better understand how your body uses food. As of now, I don't have to take insulin, but if the diet does not work or if I have some spikes that scare them, I may have to. Luckily, since this is Gestational Diabetes, it will go away after I give birth. As far as complications, when you don't produce enough insulin, the baby can try and make up for things by creating insulin which can cause her to get too big to fit through the birth canal. I'm not high-risk, but I may end up delivering a little earlier than my original due date. Trying not to panic about this, so I'll keep you posted!
I've taken a few colorful pictures of my new 4x-daily routine in hopes that if someone sees this blog and has been diagnosed, they won't freak out and worry until their diabetes class!
Ouchie! ♥
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