Gestational diabetes

So if you've been pregnant in the last 10 years or so or are very close to someone who has been, you may be familiar with the glucose test taken around the 6 month mark. Nothing extraordinary, you drink a sugary drink they give you and in an hour test your blood sugar. I thought little of this as I passed this test with flying colors my first pregnancy. This time I failed.

Still not concerned, assuming it was something I ate, I went in the next week for the 3 hour test. This is horribly tedious as you have to sit in the office and wait an hour after each time being poked. Plus you can't eat anything before nor during the test. If you've been pregnant you know how awful that makes you feel. I took my laptop in and played crappy games while I waited. I passed the first two times they took my blood, the third time I was right at the cutoff, but the forth I was 8 points high. No arguing with the results. Feeling very sick and frightened I left the doctors office. I got a call that night to come to the gestational diabetes class the next day at the hospital. The nurse assured me I needed this class right away. So in I went.

The class eased my fears quite a bit. I havn't known anyone that has had gestational diabetes and didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if my eating/exercise habits had caused this danger to my baby nor did I know what I'd be able to eat. At the 3 hour class I learned that nothing I could have done could have prevented this from happening. It is caused by genetics and hormones. Because of the different hormones I did not get it before and I may not get it with my next pregnancy.

My diet is carb counting diet. I am sad to give up the milkshakes and my Little Debbie snacks, but most things I can still eat. The recommended portion size is pretty much what I eat anyway so I'm not eating less food, just have to tweek a few of my meal choices. I am not to lose weight, after all I am pregnant. So I also have to take a urine test every morning to check my ketones. Ketones is a waste product produced when burning fat. Normally a good thing and just go out with the rest of the waste, but when pregnant the ketones get passed the baby which also is not good. I do have to test my blook 4 times a day. This is probably the most difficult part being how terrified I am of needles. I still have to close my eyes to do it. I also have to walk for 30 min. a day. Jaden and I go right at breakfast at about 7:30 in the morning before it gets too hot. Even so, I'm exhausted when I return home. I'm not normally such a wanny, but being pregnant really depleats my energy supply. The last thing I have to do is check for baby kicks. This is something your generally suppose to be doing anyway, but now I have to write it down. This means I pick a time of day when Bella is most active, I chose about 10 min. after dinner, then I lay on my left side and count kicks and movements until I get to 10. She needs to kick 10 in an hour. . . yeah we usually get 10 in about 3-7 minutes. So we're good there!

All in all it's really not that big of a deal. There are many health concerns for baby if this condition is unchecked, but gestational diabetes does not even occur till the third trimester and Bella has not experienced any setbacks because of it since we tested when we did. Nothing motivates you to stick to a diet like the health of your baby, so you don't have to worry there. I WILL do all the stuff I have been instructed to do. We continue to pray that Bella will continue to develop properly without issues and if you'd like to pray for Bella too I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

If you'd like to learn more about Gestational diabetes, I found this article: http://mayoclinic.com/health/gestational-diabetes/DS00316