When you’re pregnant, all sorts of worries swirl through your head about your health and that of your unborn child. Add being a perpetual worrier and a high-risk mama-to-be, and finding out you’ve developed diabetes while pregnant makes this phase all the more stressful.
Being high-risk, my doctor instructed me to get a one-hour glucose test when I was 10 weeks pregnant. I had no idea gestational diabetes was even a thing! I knew no one with experience of it and had no diabetes in my family medical history. The glucose drink and testing process was completely foreign to me. However, I was not nervous going into the test because I’m not someone who eats a lot of sweets. Unfortunately, the one-hour test was high — my count was 153 and it needed to be below 135. So my doctor tested me again with the three-hour glucose test. This time I passed with only one count — my 2-hour test — falling above passable level.
After passing the three-hour test, my OB explained we would need to take another test when my third trimester began. Last week, I entered the doctor’s office having drank the glucose drink and ready for another one-hour test now that I was at Week 28. When the bloodwork returned, my count needed to be below 135 again to pass and my glucose levels were a high 197. And there it was… I was officially diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM).
Discovering this diagnosis was not a shock. Back in October, the doctor explained the likelihood of me failing the glucose test again. My chances were high for a number of reasons: I was overweight prior to pregnancy, I am over the age of 25, my pregnancy is high risk, and I have been combating hormone issues for years.
Even though the diagnosis was not shocking, I will admit I’m both sad and embarrassed. Obviously, I knew I could have lost weight prior to my pregnancy. However, with my body thinking it was in menopause for the past several years, there were a lot of external reasons why my BMI was not as low as I’d like. Most people view me as a healthy person — I eat fruits and vegetables with every meal, typically bring a salad as my lunch at work, and opt out of desserts most days.
Pregnancy hormones and pregnancy cravings are no joke though. Even attempting to curb my biggest cravings throughout my pregnancy — fettucine alfredo, macaroni and cheese, Reese’s Puffs cereal, and gallons upon gallons of milk — were no match for my body’s hormonal spikes.
With this knowledge in mind, I began to make changes to my diet last week.
As soon as I received the diagnosis, I started to do my own research on how to survive the remainder of my pregnancy with GD. First goal is to better understand what foods work and do not work for my body. To meet this goal, I began using a glucometer to track my blood sugar levels on Wednesday. Beginning to monitor by blood sugar through four daily finger pricks has been an adjustment too! So far, my counts have been good, other than my fasting numbers. (I’m not quite sure why, but you better believe I plan to find out…)
I meet with a dietitian next week to discuss best strategies for the rest of my pregnancy. Following that meeting, I will be able to see my baby through a special 3D ultrasound session. I am excited to hear from a specialist how I can better improve my health over the next several weeks in order to be as healthy as possible for Dean’s arrival.
I’ll share more information as I learn. If you have any advice, please feel free to comment below.
Wish me luck, friends!
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