gestational diabetes

So, one of the things that I don't do on this blog is actually mention some portions of my real life. Some of that is on purpose, and much of it is accidental. I may have mentioned in passing being tested for gestational diabetes and my expectation that I would fail the test. I did, and I've been on the diet for ten weeks or so. It is even milder than when I had it with Ella, but when you listen to that speech about stillbirth and fetal organ development from the diabetes educator, it can scare the living tortilla chips right out of your hand.

I went to a class at the hospital taught by two extremely overweight, no, they were morbidly obese, women. That was disconcerting, but I really do live in a small town, and they did know their facts. Apparently they just weren't applying them to themselves. They gave me a lot of printed information, enough to get started, but I feel sorry for all the people who just go with that amount of information for the remaining months of their pregnancies, or, if they have type 1 or 2 diabetes, for the rest of their lives. The educators need to tell people that they need to completely change the way they think about carbs, about food. If you don't eat any prepared food you can actually eat more food without feeling deprived. Soup in a can has starch added, as does most prepared food. I heard the educator telling some poor woman how to measure out a portion of Hamburger Helper, and I felt so sad for the poor faceless person on the phone. Throw it alway. Buy a box of Dreamfield's pasta, some hamburger, a can of tomatoes, and some cheese. Instead of having a half a cup of a chemically laden boxed meal she could have had a whole bowl. The Dreamfield's pasta somehow has so much fiber in it that it only has five net carbs per serving, and it is not brown and gummy.

The hardest thing for me to give up has been rice. I can't have any or my blood sugar goes through the roof. Even brown rice. Rice noodles are the worst. No thai for me. My fasting blood sugars were the worst so I have to eat a breakfast that would leave my two year old hungry, but at ten I can have a bigger snack, ie second breakfast, and by lunch I can eat a whole sandwich and maybe half an apple. My cholesterol is probably through the roof because of all the eggs and meat I've consumed, but Ruby has definitely been the salad girl as well.

Last night I actually wept over the GD for the first time. It was my anniversary. I had been in the car for four hours with the children, and then I found out I had to go drive another hour to go pick up John after work at a Mall in the big city. Someone had previously agreed to bring him home and then backed out at the last minute. Anyhow, I had brilliant idea that the nine months pregnant lady would find some sugar free ice cream at the Mall. None. And then I cried over ice cream. So, as soon as this child is born, hopefully weighing less than ten pounds, I'm going to sit in bed and eat ice cream, the real kind.

In retrospect I should mention that for some people with gestational diabetes, the diet just isn't enough and insulin is a necessity. I've been lucky enough to count my carbs and make it to full term while I've known others to take insulin twice a day and survive on premeasured healthy choice frozen dinners. We all do what we have to do.