Friday, February 11, 2011

Another Joyous Moment

I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. My blood sugars are barely over the cutoff, but I don't want to have a C-section, so I definitely don't want to carry a 13 pound baby! Also, with gestational diabetes, the baby could be born and suffer from hypoglycemia for a few days and possibly need medical care. I want to be able to feed my baby right away and go home as soon as we are able.

So, yesterday was another very long day at the clinic. The ultrasounds were good...the baby's heart is perfect. The size of the baby now is right on target. I have to have ultrasounds at 30 and 34 weeks just to make sure the baby is developing at the correct rate. I have a single artery umbilical cord, which is rare and can cause problems, but as of now, we have no problems. The maternal fetal medicine doctor said I am finished with his department...yeah!

On to the diabetic nurse educator, where I was told, in the most simple of terms, what diabetes is (I already knew). She taught me to monitor my blood sugars. I have to check them 4 times a day and the numbers are low. I'm okay with pricking my finger. If there are any problems, I will have to inject myself with insulin (which scares the crap out of me!). So, I will do what I must to not have to take insulin.

Roger and I had lunch at the Sanford cafeteria, which is pretty good, but I was too scared to eat much. After lunch we met with the nutritionist. Again, in extremely simple terms, she explained what a carbohydrate is (I already knew). I am restricted, but not as bad as I thought. No more soda and very little orange juice, but otherwise, it isn't much change in what I eat during the day. My biggest challenge will be to hold off on fruit until later in the day. When I first wake up, my blood glucose is higher than the rest of the day--pregnancy! I'll be following my eating plan as closely as I can...even if that means eating more vegetables! I don't want that damn insulin!

After a long day, Roger and I had a quiet night with lots of talk on what we'll be doing. We made a stop at Barnes and Noble and I bought a cookbook--on making our own baby food. We likely won't need this until November, but I really liked it and had to buy it. I can't wait to make my own food. It will be so fun to eat similar to what the baby eats...I just hope I have the time and energy!

Well, on to a quiet weekend. It is needed!

2 comments:

Heather Floyd said...

Hi Kate, it's Heather Floyd! Sorry to hear about the medical complications. On the up side, the things you eat are likely to become your child's favorites out of the womb, so eat up those veggies and you will have a very healthy kid!

Best of luck!

Jen Nelson said...

Even thou the baby isn't here yet, you should check out the website Cooking With my Kid...she does an awesome job of creating easy healthy meals for both baby and adults! I like that most of the meals are very do-able and are modified to be healthy but not tooo healthy! Good luck with your diet. Our whole family struggles with food...so I feel your pain! You should see if there are and CSA's in the Valley City area...it would be a great incentive to eat healthy veggies! There is a great one here in Fargo called Red Goose Gardens ...they have a website.