Gestational Diabetes: Dealing with Another Diagnosis

As I mentioned in my TGIF post from last week, I failed my glucose test (a test where they make you drink a super sugary drink and then test your blood sugar after an hour). After-the-fact, I learned that prednisone, which I take to keep my flares bearable, raises your blood sugar so I basically had no chance of passing. I decided to skip the 3 hour test because I would have had to go off prednisone for a week and that is just not possible with how bad my RA has been. Instead, I just had them give me a referral to an endocrinologist. Who knows if I technically have gestational diabetes or whether my sugars are artificially high due to the prednisone use. Either way, high blood sugar isn't good for me or the baby so getting them under control is important.

I met with a registered dietitian at the endocrinologist office on Tuesday morning and learned all about the diet. I have to say it was pretty overwhelming.

One of the pages of the meal planning book which helps you count your carbs

The biggest surprise to me was HOW MANY carbs they want you to eat each day. In my mind, I was thinking I'd be eating less carbs, not more. But perhaps I am the outlier in my carb consumption compared to the average person. With my gluten intolerance and dietary habits, I just don't eat a lot of carbs. Yes, I have fruit which is a carb but besides that, I'm not eating a lot of bread, potatoes, rice, etc. So I'm kind of confused about how this diet is going to help me when it would result in me eating MORE carbs. For instance, at lunch and dinner I am supposed to be eating 3-4 carbs at each meal. I usually eat maybe 1-2 carbs or sometimes no carbs at all, besides the trace amounts that are in vegetables that I put on my salad. I honestly don't even know how I would physically eat as much as they are prescribing as it just seems like soooo much food (you are supposed to eat 3 meals a day and 3 small snacks a day). So I am just going to eat what I can and hope that it all works out. I am sure that eating more protein and fats will help as those help your body break down carbohydrates (you eat a fat and/or protein with every snack and meal which is a big change for me as well).

In addition to following the diet, I also need to test my urine every morning and test my blood sugar 4 times a time: when I wake up before eating anything and an hour after breakfast, lunch and dinner. So far, my blood sugar results haven't been great as about 3/4 of the time it's too high, even though I'm eating exactly what I'm supposed to eat.

All this has left me feeling pretty defeated. I feel like a failure for not being able to get my blood sugars in a healthy range but then I also feel like maybe it's completely out of my control due to the prednisone use. Whatever the cause, there have been a lot of tears since Tuesday morning. I meet with the endocrinologist next Thursday to review my blood sugars and then we will go from there. I am just really worried that I am going to have to go on insulin. I HATE the thought of having to put something else in my body on top of all the drugs I am taking for my RA.  :(  But if that is what it takes to keep my blood sugar under control, then so be it.

So right now I have quite the case of the sads. Phil has reminded me that we are lucky to have a healthy baby that is developing on track (as far as we know) - and for that I am grateful. But having gestational diabetes introduces all these other risks like the respiratory system not developing properly. And even though I know this is completely out of my control, I still feel responsible. I already feel bad about exposing the baby to steroids, which also carry risks, and now there's another batch of risks that are being introduced. Plus moms with gestational diabetes have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life, which would really suck.

With time, I am sure I will get the hang of this. And one upside is that I'll have more ultrasounds to track the baby's growth so we'll get to see Baby S. more than we would have otherwise. But right now I'm just sort of having a down week. Which is ok and to be expected. Hopefully the excitement of Christmas will give me a bit of a pick-me-up. For now I'm giving myself permission to feel a little bit blue and frustrated.

This should go without saying, but I feel like I need to emphasize that we are SO VERY GRATEFUL to be pregnant. But you can be grateful to be pregnant and also dislike being pregnant at the same time.

And that's my real talk for today.