Baby Update - Glucose Tests

Right before I left for Indiana I had my doctor's appointment.  They did another ultrasound to check my placenta...and everything looks great now!  They said it "moved" enough that I don't need to have a c-section, so that is great news.  She said everything else was still looking good.  I jokingly asked her to check and make sure it was still a girl...and she entertained me and checked.  It's still girl :)  It was fun seeing the baby again.  We also got some really cool 3-D pictures!  They did them at the other ultrasound too, but since she is bigger now they turned out even better.  I love them!  It makes me even more excited to see her in real life.

I also had to do my glucose test at this appointment.  I'm so glad that it doesn't make me sick.  That orange drink doesn't bother me at all.  I wasn't even worried about the results, but later that day I got a call that my test came back a little high, so I needed to go do the full 3 hour glucose test.  Dang it.  They wanted me to come in that week, but I couldn't since I was leaving for Indiana. So I had to do it today, which worked out well since Landen was off work and could keep Ellie.  I had to go fasting so I went first thing in the morning.  I ended up being there about 4 1/2 hours, but it wasn't that bad...that much time without my two year old...it was like a vacation!  You can poke me in the arm all you want :)  I had time to catch up on work emails and do a lot of work stuff online.  Nicholas Sparks and I had a date too.  It was pretty great.

They tested my blood first thing and my blood sugar was where it was supposed to be, so I had to drink the orange drink.  Again, not a big deal.  Then they drew blood every hour for 3 hours and checked my glucose level.  Not too hard.  I was still fasting the whole time, but luckily it didn't bother me that much.  I was glad to get home and eat a little something though.

I'll just go ahead and give the full update in this post (since I'm technically writing it in February...).  A week had gone by and I hadn't heard anything from the doctor about my test, so I figured the results came back fine and stopped thinking about it.  Well, I got a call back and my test actually came back borderline for gestational diabetes.  The nurse told me that I needed to meet with a diabetes dietitian.  She put me on hold to make an appointment with him and as I sat there and got thinking about it I started getting really upset.  I'm not sure why I was so upset, but I was.  By the time she came back on the phone I was crying.  We got an appointment set up for the next week and then I got off the phone and just cried.  It was just frustrating.  I think it was hard to hear since I had gotten to the point that I thought I was good to go.  The next morning I had to call the office back because I had some questions and the nurse felt so bad that she upset me the night before, but I assured her it wasn't her fault.  It was probably just my hormones making me crazy.

I had an appointment with Dr. Olsen the next week and he explained what was going on.  I'm only borderline for gestational diabetes because only one of my 4 blood tests came back high, but to be diagnosed 2 of the 4 tests have to be high.  He said that since I'm borderline I will need have a modified diet and that the dietitian will explain everything in more detail.  Blah.

Two days later I had my appointment with Patrick Shepherd, the dietitian.  He was really great and explained everything so well.  He taught me all about glucose and insulin and how it works together.  He talked about how during pregnancy the diabetes is caused by the placenta and the hormones, which is why after you give birth and deliver the placenta your body goes back to normal within 24 hours.  Since I'm borderline we just want to prevent it from turning into gestational diabetes, because if we didn't do anything it would definitely develop into diabetes before the end of the pregnancy.  The biggest risk is that the baby will get too big too fast which could result in needing a c-section and some other complications, but if we can prevent that from happening then the baby is at no bigger risk for some things than any other baby.  The fist thing I said to him was, "Just tell me what I CAN'T eat.  Just get it out of the way!"

So basically I have to limit my carbs.  I need to keep a meal under 45 grams of carbs and a snack under 20 grams.  The only things he told me I can't have are regular soda (which I knew was coming...so I drank a big Coke from McDonald's earlier today to have one last one...yes, I'm horrible.), juice, dried fruit, and fat free candy (like Swedish fish or jelly beans or marshmallows...stuff like that.  But chocolate is okay because it has fat in it.).  The only thing that will be hard will be the Coke.  Man I love my Coke.  Anyway, other than that, I just have to watch what I'm eating.  If there is a label I just have to go by that, but if not he gave me categories of how many carbs are in something and a serving is about a half cup.  I think I can handle that.  Meat, eggs, cheese, fats and diet drinks don't count at all, so I can have as much of that as I want.  I left there feeling pretty good about things, but as the days went on and I tried to stay under my carbs I realized how much harder it was going to be than I thought!  There are a lot of things I "can't" have just because the carbs are too high...like pizza among other things.  Now that is a sad day.

This has been so hard!  The first week was kind of miserable and I was hungry all the time as I was trying to figure out what I could eat.  I've been eating a lot of bacon and eggs, chicken, I've even made some salads.  Yes, you read that right, SALAD.  But I'm surviving.  I have had some cheat meals (or days when we went to Jared and Megan's for a weekend) here and there, but for the most part I have been doing well.  It actually has been more emotionally hard than I thought it would be.  Sometimes food is my outlet and during pregnancy it's kind of like the one time in life you get a "free pass" on what you eat (to an extent) and when that is taken away it is hard.  I have had some days where I was in tears about it all, but I've made it through.  I just have to remind myself that it is temporary and I need to do it for the baby, that's the most important thing.  She is lucky I love her :)  I've gotten to the point now where I eat a lot of the same things over and over, but I know what I can and can't eat.  I've also figured out where I can eat out and what I can get.  Pathetic, I know.  I'm now 37 weeks (yes, I'm writing this on 2/17/16)...so only 3 more weeks of this!  I can do it!  I told Landen he better have a pizza and a Coke waiting for me after I push this baby out!!!

The other thing I've had to do is test my blood sugar once a day.  It's really the only way to know if this is working.  Pricking my finger is not my favorite thing, but it isn't the worst thing ever.  I have new respect for people who have to test multiple times a day and do this all the time.  My blood sugar is supposed to be between 70-130 when I test.  There has only been one time I've been over and it was only 134, so this is working.  I've even tested after my cheat meals sometimes and I've been fine...so that is good news.  I'm so glad I don't have full fledged gestational diabetes and that things have been pretty good by just doing these things.  OH, the other thing I'm supposed to be doing is 20-40 minutes of physical activity everyday...but I have been really bad at doing that!  I am so tired and sore the last thing I want to do is move around...but anyway.  Overall things are good and it doesn't seem like the baby is getting too big...so I can make it 3 more weeks!  I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!!!  But I am so excited to not have to worry about it anymore...and to get my pizza and Coke privileges back :)