Thursday, September 24, 2020

Three Things Thursday

Happy almost Friday, and happy start of fall! On Tuesday, our temps were in the 80s so it did not feel fall-like at all!But I will take it because I know what comes next and I can see that our temps will cool off next week. I was so over 80-90 degree temps this summer but that was because the humidity was high. It's very low now, so 85 felt way different/better! Here are 3 things going on/on my mind as we close out this week!

1. New room at school! Pablo has been transitioning to a new room at school for the last 2 weeks. Monday was his first full day in the room so we took "first day of school" pictures. He was a really good sport about this. He's typically extremely crabby in the morning and I kind of doubted he'd smile for a photo, but he was super cooperative! So far the transition is going well. He's definitely extra extra tired at the end of the day but overall, it's gone well. He transitioned with his BFF Georgie and knows a lot of the kids in this room since they used to be in his toddler room. And now he's finally in the same room as our good friend's son who is 5 weeks older than him. They know each other from all the play dates we've done so I am sure they will really start to form a friendship now that they are in the same class.



2. Endo appointment. Not exactly a 'fun' update, but I met with the same NP I saw at the Endocrinology practice I went to during my pregnancy with Paul. She agreed that a glucose test was unnecessary so she gave me a refresher on the gestational diabetes diet (GD), gave me a glucometer and supplies to start, and sent me on my way. I had a high sugar the first night which was disappointing. I'm such a 'gold star' person, so seeing a number in red bummed me out. For dinner that night, I had 2 ground turkey tacos with corn tortillas (1 corn tortilla/taco) and literally 2 tortilla chips. And then I had a high sugar. The total carbs in that meal were probably 25g. The diet says I can have 3-4 servings of carbs, which is 45-60g (1 serving = 15 g). I know I can't eat 3-4 servings of carbs since prednisone makes me incredibly sensitive to carbs, but I was surprised that I got a high sugar off not quite 2 servings of carbs. I guess I didn't have enough protein/fat to offset the carbs. Have I bored you to tears yet? All this is to say that while I know what I am doing and can leverage what I learned during Paul's pregnancy, it's still a huge challenge at times and there will be bumps along the way. Going forward I am going to try my best to fit a 15-20 min walk in after every meal as that will help my body process the carbs. I have to test my blood sugar 1 hour from the start of the meal, so that hour can go fast, especially on week nights when I'm helping out with bathtime/etc. But we'll figure it out, I guess! I just really really really do not want to have to go on insulin as it requires even more doctor appointments. Plus I already give a blood thinner injection once/day and prick my finger 4 times to test my blood sugar, so I'd like to avoid more pokes! I avoided it last time so I *should* be able to avoid it this time - fingers cross. 

3. Recipe search. Now that I need low carb meals, I've done a ton of recipe research. In general, we eat a pretty low carb diet due to my gluten intolerance, but we do not eat much protein typically, so I'm on the search for low carb/high protein meals that look appealing to us. The first one I made this week was loaded Italian sausages. We used chicken sausages to lower the fat content a bit and I had to leave out the mushrooms since Phil hates them. I served this with roasted broccoli and Phil and I both liked it. We did not serve it to Paul - he had cauliflower tots and dino-shaped chicken as he doesn't like sausage. Or peppers. Or onions. Or broccoli. Toddlers!

Not the prettiest picture, but here are 2 of the 4 stuffed sausages!

Bonus item: Lest you think every weekend is filled with social obligations - let me tell you that we have 0 plans this weekend and I'm just fine with that. Phil is going to get Oscar from his mom's this weekend and we might join him if the weather is nice enough for us to be outside. And that is it for plans! Oscar has been out there since mid-February when we went to Florida! Covid hit when we got back from FL, so we left her out there as an 'emotional support animal' for my MIL. She lives alone and with covid precautions/isolation, we figured she could use some company. But Oscar will be coming home for a couple of months as she has dental surgery in early October. Hopefully she adjusts to life with a toddler ok. He gets so excited around her which Oscar does not like - especially when he vocalizes his excitement... Oscar will go back to live with Grandma right before the baby is born and will probably stay out there for a couple of months. We miss her when she's gone but I know my MIL benefits from her company! 

What's on your mind today?

10 comments:

  1. I’ve been wondering how your glucose testing is going, so enjoyed reading this, and I know you’ll find your base and do well. That recipe sounded so good, by the way!
    Is this new room more regimented than his last one? Or is he tired from the adjustment to the new room and more children around him? He sure cooperated well in that picture! Love it!
    I sure enjoyed the warmer temps but we’re back to cooler and cloudy days. I miss sunshine when we get into days like this, but can’t change the weather!
    I’m wishing you good luck on your blood sugar reports.

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  2. Ugh blood sugars/ diabetes stuff is so hard. I've worked with kidney/ pancreas and liver transplant patients my whole career who are generally always on steroids indefinitely, so I have a lot of experience with diabetic patients (steroid induced, or many just have the regular Type 2 DM which often caused their renal disease). The diet piece is SO hard for everyone. It would be for me too. Hang in there. It probably doesn't really feel like it, but you are getting really close to the end already!!! I'll brainstorm if I have any good Mexican style low carb recipes I can send your way. :)

    BTW- who is "Oscar"?? I must have not been reading long enough to know. ;)

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  3. I'm glad Oscar is coming home. It will be an adjustment for everyone, but good, I think. And I love the school photo.

    The food thing-- ick. Do you follow Jan's blog. It's something like Low-Carb Diabetic (or maybe not but close). She has recipes almost every day, mostly low carb of Keto. If you don't already follow, let me know and I'll find the url from one of her posts for you.

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  4. I did not know Oscar was with Joan all this time! That was sweet of you guys to lend her during this time as some kind of emotional support. There is something about having another warm body in the house, I must agree. With all the time Ryan is gone - I've always really appreciated hearing Miles' presence. Especially at night!

    How do you track your carbs? Even when I've done diabetic education with patients... I always think this is such a daunting task to keep track of. Especially when your sugars are being so dang erratic! That's hardly any carbs at all. I'm hoping you can figure out the balance correctly? Seems odd that your A1C is so low...you'll have to keep me posted on what they say about your bloodwork.

    On my mind today is the ultrasound drama. And that I finally got my contract between my school and place of employment settled for my practicum. I have been trying to get this processed since June. It was supposed to take like...2 days. Instead it took 3 MONTHS b/c the legal department at my hospital blamed all inefficiencies on Covid. *eye roll* But I m glad it is done, because if it wasn't completed by the end of this week - I would not be able to start my practicum in 2 weeks OR graduating in December. So I have been really stressed out internally about this. This has been the week/month/quarter of being "powerless".

    I love that picture of Paul, by the way! How fun he gets a new room at school and new friends!

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  5. Hi Lisa - If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend this "Egg roll in a Bowl" recipe. It is great w/o rice and is always a big hit at my house.
    https://pinchofyum.com/15-minute-meal-prep-egg-roll-in-a-bowl

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  6. I'm so glad Oscar is coming back! Yayyy! I'm sure it's been nice for your MIL to have the company and I'll be curious how she takes to being back home! I don't know how I would have gotten through the first months of quarantine without my cats.

    Good luck with the new diet! I need to get serious about something like that because I've been on the cusp of being pre-diabetic for a while and really don't want to get some sort of Type 2 diagnosis. That would be awful!

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  7. It will be nice for you to have Oscar home, but that is so sweet that she's been with your MIL 💙 Yes, I really hope you can avoid needing insulin.

    The stuffed sausages sound really good!

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  8. My grandpa has acquired diabetes and so he is also taking his blood sugar and editing his diet. I'm actually very interested in GD, mainly because I feel like anything I can know about pregnancy before I attempt to embark on that journey myself is good knowledge.

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  9. Bummer about the high sugar, but don't beat yourself up. You're doing absolutely amazing tracking everything so well, and staying healthy despite your risks.

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  10. So sorry about the blood sugar, but it can be SO arbitrary, as you well know! Did you sleep? Were you hydrated? Had you sat more that day than usual? Bleah. For me, bumping up the veggies - even though they have carbs - always helped, but the other problem is that everyone is different! I hope you find what works for you with this pregnancy. Not fun.

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