13 Weeks Pregnant!!! ..... and Diabetic

It is official.... I'm a diabetic!!! i was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes...boooooooo!!!  My OB wanted to test me early due to my family history, my PCOS, and my weight. My fluffy self was predisposed to it.  So it was confirmed a few days ago.  I will meet with a dietician/nutritionist once a week through out my pregnancy. It won't be soo bad, and it will be okay. I had a a laugh when my OB's nurse called me with my results. I was honestly shocked!!! I really wasn't expecting it.... I guess my body is doing a poor shop of processing my body's insulin.... Did i mentioned i was caught by surprised??

I was surprised because when I went to take my first test,which was the 1 hr glucose tolerance test. Now i had heard many of pregnant moms experiences and it didn't sound like fun.  You show up to your lab, let them know you are there for the test (something i didn't do and sat for 40 minutes waiting for them to call, while i could have had it started when i got there). They give you this orange cold drink. Now the taste wasn't THAT bad. i don't like orange drinks unless is orange juice...this was far from orange juice. It was like drinking some sort of orange flavored medicine... I had to finish it in 5 minutes and i did, it wasn't to bad...it was sweet, but not horribly bad.  So once it is finished the lab notes the time and i had to return in exactly one hour to draw my blood.  WEll i did go back in an hour, i got those results back and i had just BARELY failed. The normal cut-off range is 140, I came in at 143!! Since i failed i had to repeat the test but it would be a 3 hour test. this happened to my sister and she passed her 3 hour test, it also happened to another friend and she also passed her 3 hour test. Most pregnant moms who barely fail their 1-hr test go on to take and pass their 3 hour test. SO i assumed i would repeat THAT cycle.

Uh-uh! Didn't happen. I drank the drink and my blood was drawn and hour, then 2 hours, then 3 hours from the time i finished the Orange drink.  The purpose is to see how your body makes and processes your body's insulin.  If it doesn't process it properly due to pregnancy hormones blocking insulin, your body's glucose isn't made and processed enough to convert into energy.  Un treated, GD will affect my baby.  So since i failed my 3 hour test (2 of the 3 blood draws came back with levels elevated), i have to now watch even more what I eat. I was trying to be careful before to avoid putting on more weight than my Dr.s wanted me to put on.  It will be okay, i'm positive of it. I wasn't too upset getting the results, but getting some information from the Diabetes Center that I will be working with throughout my pregnancy. That is when it became real to me, i guess.

I got some forms i need to fill out before my first meeting with the dieticians, and they also provided me some information of what I should avoid, what is good and not good to eat or drink while having GD. I was shocked to find out I am to AVOID mild at breakfast! It is okay the rest of the day, just not breakfast...who knew?!?! I was a bit sad about that, since that is when i would drink my milk for the day! They also provided a 7 day sample menu and it really isn't that bad. i can still a lot of yummy foods, just smaller portions and eating more through out the day. This is where I find i have some issues. Being always on the fluffy side, I have always eaten less... but obviously it wasn't the right way, or the right portions, or even the right foods, since i have maintained my weight all these years, but not lost weight like i have tried.  So i have to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks throughout the day. It is small portions, but it still feels like a lot of food.  I just have to work on being okay with eating throughout the day.

Today is the first day that I'm following the new diet suggestions. Not bad, even if i did make myself eat an actual breakfast... No more breakfast on the run. My usual breakfast was either toast with peanut butter or an whole wheat english muffin with a little jelly and 1 or 2 cups of milk.  NOw i will get up earlier and fix my self an egg or two, eat it with some cooked veggies, very little cheese with some salsa, or in a breakfast burrito style on a whole wheat flour tortilla, or with whole wheat waffle w/ sugar free syrup, or with instant oatmeal ( i have never really cared for oatmeal... i guess i better try again) all very yummy options. I'm just not used to eating breakfast like this except weekends.... but that isn't until 9 or 10 am..... eating at 7 am, that will take some getting used to.

All in all, it is a good thing  in the long run. It will help improve my eating habits as well as my husband's.  He should take better care anyway, he has diabetes in his family too. Well, at least it could be worse.... I could have not found out yet and gone another 7 weeks possibly harming my baby.  Now i can give my baby a better chance at starting a healthy life inside the womb.  all in all, all is going well. I'm 13 weeks today and therefore have one more week before graduating to the 2nd trimester... and i will breath a huge sigh of relief. As soon as i learn how to post pictures, i will. 

What a difference 3 years make......

I meant to post this last week as my anniversary was here and has now passed, but still very significant for me. I needed to write my feelings of where i was at now 3 years ago. I don't remember the date specifically, but remember it being a Friday and the Blue Angels were in town for the weekend's Fleet Week festivities in San Francisco. It was a Friday afternoon that I and my loving hubby caught a BART train to San Francisco. I had an appointment with an OB/GYN at UCSF Medical Center. I'm not quite sure why i had made the appointment, but I think it was that i wanted another OB/GYN's opinion on the results from the D & C my OB/GYN had performed a month earlier.  A few weeks earlier my OB/GYN (DR. B) had told me that I had endometrial cancer, also known as Uterine Cancer, and her recommendation for treatment was to get a hysterectomy. OF course she referred me to an Oncologist, but i guess i wanted to get another OB/GYN's opinion. I will remember that Friday afternoon clearly. It was a beautiful sunny day in the City, and the Blue Angels were practicing over the city's skyscrapers and I can remember being in awe of the jets flying overhead as my hubby and I waited for the Muni Bus to take us to our final destination.

It was fairly quick appointment. The OB/GYN as UCSF Medical (Dr. X) reviewed the pathology report copy that had been faxed to him by Dr. B's office. He simply said that I indeed had cancer. He then went on to give me his recommendation for treatment. He was a nice older man, probably late 50s early 60s, and told me what he would recommend if it were his daughter. He agreed with Dr. B, and even told me some Dr.s out there would recommend treatment that is outside the box and would prescribe a hormone treatment. But there weren't enough studies to show that it was more effective than immediate surgery to remove the uterus.  So now i had been told by 2 OB/GYNs that I would need a hysterectomy.  I recall the ride back into downtown San Francisco on the bus be a gloomy one. My hubby and didn't speak too much.  I had done research and knew that usual course of treatment was a hysterectomy, but there was a little proof that hormone therapy with progesterone also helped women of reproductive age maintain their uterus, get rid of cancer and go on to form families of their own.  

I was certainly confused and unsure what my future would have held for me and my husband. We so badly wanted to have children and we were faced with possibility that we would not have that option.  Since i have the world's greatest husband, he took me to a place that he was sure was going to bring a smile to my face and we can forget reality for a little while. He took me to the Disney Store at Union Square.  Now my husband, before now, did not like to step foot inside the Disney Store.... I think i irritated him with my oooohs and awes every time i dragged him into a store. He fed the inner child in me and walked with me through out the store and even pointed to things he thought i would oooh and awe too. He also bought me the most beautiful Little Mermaid snow globe. I LOVE the Little Mermaid. This would be the 2nd to my now nice collection of Little Mermaid snow globes.  He knew what would bring back some joy and happiness to me, and he did it all on his own. We walked out of the store with our new purchase and had a quick dinner and headed home. 

My husband was always optimistic, even when I didn't want him to be so. As we all know, misery sometimes likes a little company.  For a few brief moments, life seem to pull the rug from under me, and thought for sure that I would not know what it would be like to feel my baby move and grow with in, but 3 years later here I am.  While it is hard for me not to worry all the time, i do manage not to worry about my little baby all the time, and I enjoy the pregnancy along with my husband. My husband is happy as can be, and is so loving and so helpful.  I fall in love with my husband all over again all the time. I am so thankful to God and to everyone who prayed for me and was by my side for the short/longest 6 months while I was in treatment for cancer. I was fortunate enough to catch the cancer early and after consulting 2 separate oncologist, and both agreeing that hormone therapy would help me.  I'm forever grateful to God that I responded to the progesterone treatment and was cancer free 4 months after beginning treatment with progesterone.  

It did take us 3 years after originally being diagnosed to conceive our first child, and although it was a bumpy road, we are here and expecting our first child.  I feel very blessed, and always felt blessed because after a gloomy moment in the fall of 2005, God took care of me and I can say now that I am pregnant. Which so far all is going great following my bleeding episode.  I had a sonogram last Monday where my hubby and I saw our baby flipping around and moving all around. It was amazing. We both laughed and I cried, and just felt so blessed. Many more blessings to come I'm sure!