Gestational Diabetes

Guess what I have! 

Apparently this pregnancy was going too easy and my body decided to make it a little more difficult.  It figures.  Me and my body have been enemies for decades.

I can't say I'm surprised.  I've been on the diabetes watch list since I was 12.  I'm overweight, it runs in my family, and I tend to show symptoms all the time like thirst and wounds healing very very slowly.  I actually get tested quite often because doctors have a hard time believing I'm NOT diabetic but I guess my luck has run out on that pattern.

I really did do my best to prevent this.  I took Metformin prior to conceiving and into my 8th week to try to avoid this.  My horrible diet has been a million times improved since getting pregnant.  But I guess it wasn't enough.  I admit it, even though I logically know that it's not really my fault and that I really did do what I was supposed to do to prevent this, I'm feeling like a failure.

Did a glucose test the other day.  That consists of drinking a 10oz bottle of glucose water in the span of 5-10 minutes.  It tastes like flat, over sugared 7-Up.  It was so gross!  I nearly couldn't keep it down it was so disgusting.  You then get your blood drawn 1 hour after finishing the bottle so you have to note what time you finish and then get to the lab at the hospital.  And then all sorts of blood is taken out of your arm. 

Fun was had by all.  Usually this isn't done until late in your second trimester, but because of the increased odds of my having it, we tested massively early.

And my sugar numbers came back really high.  And my iron numbers came back slightly low.

So I'm starting on an iron supplement every other day.  My numbers there were only slightly below normal so it's not necessary every day, but every other day should push me into the normal range.

And next week I get to meet with a nutritionist and learn all about foods and probably get prescribed a very restrictive diet.  And I get to learn how to prick my fingers and test my blood sugar levels.

I'm predicting this will be very difficult for me.  I've been able to succeed at a lot of things in life, but living by an actual diet plan has never been one of them.  I've tried several times and I've never been able to do it.  And this time, I absolutely have to.  It's one thing to tolerate being fat as a result of my failure, but I won't subject my kids to my failure.

On the upside, I've got a husband who likes to cook and his doctor has told him to drop a few pounds.  So he'll be going to the nutritionist with me and plans to do whatever diet is prescribed with me.  And if he's going to do most of the food prep, it will make it easier for me to have him do the thinking and I'll eat what he puts in front of me.

And the effects that this can have on the kids so far haven't manifested so it's still totally probable that it won't affect them at all since we're catching it and will start managing it early.  One of the issues is high blood pressure but I've been in the perfect range from day one.  I actually tend to have low blood pressure so I've got a little bit of leeway there.  Another concern is that the babies will gain too much weight in utero resulting in gigantic babies.  So far they are textbook size for their age.  And being twins, they are likely going to be too small anyway so if this adds a smidge of weight to them, that's probably not a horrible thing.