If you've been following me since I've been pregnant and had our baby girl you know that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in December 2014. I was crushed. I cried. How me? I'm so careful with nutrition and trying to maintain good health. I ran three 5K races while pregnant. I ran until the cartilage pain wouldn't allow anymore at 25 weeks. How me?
Well, I learned something. Gestational Diabetes cannot be prevented as many think it can. It wasn't my fault. The placenta produces hormones that can lead to higher levels of sugar in ones blood. It's a matter of how your body handles that change.
So, I could write a book on how amazing my doctor is and how thankful I am that he takes GD seriously. But I'll skip those details and say that I had a carb range for each meal and snack during my day. I checked my glucose level 4 times a day at specific times in regards to my meal times. I had ranges that it was supposed to be in at each reading. I knew what to do when it was high, when it was low, and when it was in range. I took this diagnosis very seriously and quite frankly. I kicked diabetes booty. I took my readings in to each OB appointment. I was so well in range my doctor allowed me to not just go to 40 weeks but 40 weeks 5 days and our baby girl was healthy as could be and only 6 lbs 5 oz at birth. My doctor and I were both proud of the accomplishment. It was a team effort I do believe. (When I was diagnosed I actually lost 5 lbs eating with diabetic restrictions. Then gained a few more in those last 15 weeks or so)
I was so excited when she was born. With the placenta goes the diabetes in text book cases. The rest of labor was better than text book for us so I had good faith! That night I ordered cereal during her 2 am feeding. I hadn't had corn flakes in 20+ years and they were awesome. THEN. Morning came and my blood sugar was almost 200. Twenty points higher than my highest reading during pregnancy. My doctor told me not to worry. It was just hormones probably. My husband and the nurse also encouraged me to realize frosted flakes weren't "quite" as good for me as the healthier whole grain cereals I had been eating. Oops.
Past that things began to go back to normal. I lost 21 of my 29 pounds gained during pregnancy within the first three weeks. Woohoo. Then the last 8 became a nuisance.
Six weeks came and went and it was time for my 2 hour glucose test. My doctors office knows me well and was excited to call and tell me I passed! Yay! I passed!
Go six more weeks down the road.... Still can't get that last 8 pounds off...
Ran across my glucose monitor on Monday morning looking for some ibuprofen. Decided Id take a look....99! What?! That's higher than any fasting read I had the entire pregnancy. My range was 70-90 for fasting reads. I continued to monitor each morning this week. 99,98,99,93... Midweek I changed back to my diabetic carb restrictions from pregnancy and the lowest I got was 93 by Thursday. I had also taken a few daytime reads and they were higher than I wished as well. Not bad. 116, 124 but higher than I wished. My goal max number during pregnancy for after meals was 120. I rarely broke that.
So I called the OB. He was out but his office referred me to an endocrinologist. That office got me in by 2:00 that afternoon (yesterday). I explained my numbers to him. He reviewed all of my tests and did an exam.
Here's the sum up of what all he told me.
-Pregnancy limits are more strict so my numbers were too high for then but not for now. Non pregnancy fasting limit is about 100. So I was close. (Too close for me)
-I'm five time more likely to develop diabetes in my future because I had GD (5 times...FIVE times)
-since I have PCOS I'm also more likely to develop issues. One of which is struggling to lose weight (I knew this) which can in turn increase glucose levels.
-since I have hypothyroidism ... (See PCOS statement)
So what he and I decided was my plan is the following:
-eat in the ranges my OB gave me for GD
-check my sugar often but not four times a day unless it's off
-call if my fasting gets to 105 or above and I will have to take Metformin. (Not at ALL what I want to do- praying diet and exercise work)
-lose weight (glad my doctor agrees with me. Haha)
-keep breastfeeding it can not hurt baby unless my sugar gets above 400. Can't imagine it would do that.
-see him in a year.
So, basically. Live as though I'm diabetic so that I won't be diabetic. I don't mind doing this at all but I have to say I felt cheated yesterday. I worked so hard and it's lingering.
It could be worse though so I'm not complaining. I'm healthy, my baby is healthy, we are blessed.
I've always said I'm glad God allows my body to communicate with me so well. I'd rather have a few extra pounds and be healthy on the inside than "naturally skinny" and have no idea I was unhealthy inside. Make sense?
So heres to a new journey!!!
I'm on day 4 of the diabetic restrictions and I've lost 3 pounds. (Makes sense when I think about having lost 5 pounds while pregnant on those restrictions)
I plan to blog more now that life as a mom is beginning to settle. Thanks for reading!
