Keeping things equal + Gestational Diabetes and things I've learned

There was this time when I was pregnant with Claire where I ended up spending quite a few hours in the hospital getting fluids after a really long day of being non-stop sick. It was just super fun. So, in the spirit of keeping things equal among my offspring, I did it again. I am all about making sure New Baby feels that she is just as important as her sister.

It was slightly different this time but essentially the same. It all started with a migraine that just got worse and worse and worse throughout the night. So I started vomiting. Which meant I couldn't keep my migraine medicine down. Which meant that the migraine got worse. Which meant the vomiting continued. See the spiral of evil in which I found myself? By the time morning rolled around, I was super dehydrated, still vomiting every 10 minutes, still dealing with the migraine, and the midwife on-call at my doctors office told me I needed to head to the hospital for monitoring and fluids. Oof. Thankfully, it was a flexible day for Brad, and we were able to cobble together a nice lineup of childcare for Claire. Actually, she ended up having a blast; she spent the morning with our friend, Colum (his wife has watched her for us in the past, but she is a nurse who works 12-hour night shifts and had just gotten off work), and then the afternoon with one of her little friends (whose mom is a saint to watch two 3-year-olds, as well as her 4-month-old). 

I ended up spending about 6 hours at the hospital; we got there right as several women went into labor (they had me in L & D, not the ER), so I had to hang out for a while before they could get to me. Also, let's just reflect for a second about how I actually walked through the metal detector at the hospital entrance, carrying my vomit bag. How classy am I? It took three attempts and two different nurses to find a vein for my iv, which was so not fun. (#dehydrationprobs) Thankfully, though, they eventually got my fluids and phenergan started, so I could stop being sick and start being rehydrated. They kept monitors on the baby to make sure she was fine (she was, by the way. Totally unaffected. I believe the descriptor they used for her was "happy.") and gave me two bags of fluid over the next several hours. Sweet Brad was such a sport and worked on school work while I slept and hydrated (in addition to keeping all the parents posted and making sure Claire got everywhere she needed to with all the things little people need). I eventually felt better and was able to be discharged, even though I still had a headache (downgraded from migraine, thankfully). I was just happy not to be vomiting anymore (although I did once more after we got home). It was quite a way to spend a day, that's for sure.

On another note, I've been gestational diabetic-ing for a while now and am in a groove, of sorts. It's still not terribly fun (I really want some cake, was bitter about no Easter candy, and my fingertips get pretty sore from the pricking), but it's definitely more doable and less overwhelming than it seemed at first.

In the spirit of honesty, I will say that the first week or so of checking my glucose was extremely stressful for me. I am such a rule-follower, so I was sticking staunchly to the letter of the law, regarding where my glucose readings should be, which made me feel crazy. Interestingly, stress can cause your glucose readings to go up. I had to figure out how to chill out and make a workable plan. 

My daily glucose check-ins (pricking fingers and using a glucometer to read my glucose levels) look like this:
1. Fasting reading. This is first thing in the morning before I eat anything.
2. Post-prandial #1 (that's fancy for "after you eat"): 2 hours after breakfast.
3. Post-prandial #2: 2 hours after lunch.
4. Post-prandial #3: 2 hours after dinner.
In between meals, I'm also supposed to eat protein-carb balanced snacks to help maintain an equilibrium. This works out well for me because I've always adopted a Hobbit-style eating plan.

I figured out some good meal and snack options that kept my post-prandial numbers where they needed to be (below 120). That lowered my stress level greatly. The tricky thing was getting my fasting numbers (the first-thing-in-the-morning, pre-breakfast glucose readings) where they needed to be (under 90). My daytime numbers were controllable with diet and lifestyle (i.e. "exercise" and movement), but there was basically nothing I could do about my fasting numbers. I followed the dietician's guidelines by the book and could NOT get my numbers under 90. My stress level went up again as my doctors kept making comments about how I might need to go on medication and monitoring if I couldn't get my fasting under 90 (which made me feel- irrationally- like I was doing something wrong). Fortunately, one of the doctors casually mentioned I might want to try eating avocado as my last snack of the night. I did, and IT DID THE TRICK. The mighty avocado became my hero in this GDM process.

I've figured out quite a few things about how my body processes sugars and what I can do to help it. For example, not only does avocado before bed lower my morning fasting number, but eating a slightly larger snack than was recommended on my nutrition suggestion sheet helps, too. Maybe my body metabolizes the food faster and therefore needs more? Brad figured out that I can enjoy Mexican food more fully (i.e. not have to eat my sad pile of 10 tortilla chips while everyone else eats as many as they want) if I eat guacamole along with it. Yay! Don't get me wrong; I still have to limit my chip and tortilla intake, but I can help balance it a little better. 

I've also developed a pretty handy ability to judge how many carbs will be in just about anything that's being served. We eat most of our meals at home, so obviously, I can control that; however, when we're out or at church or with friends, I have to pay closer attention. All of my obsessing over carb counts and portion sizes at the beginning of this journey are paying off now, and I don't have to think as hard, which makes life feel more normal.

One really unexpected aspect of GDM that has been interesting to chart is how it has affected my weight gain. Or, I should say, non-gain. Since I started on my diabetic diet, I've gained about 1.5 pounds. And that's highly dependent on what time of day they check my weight + how much water I've had. One of the doctors I saw (I see a rotation of them rather than just one) a couple weeks into the process told me not to be surprised if I don't gain much from that point on. I kind of didn't believe her, because I had well over 2 months of pregnancy left. Apparently, she knows of what she speaks. :) If there is an upside to gestational diabetes, I guess this is it. 

Those are some of my take-aways so far. It's not fun or always convenient, but it's definitely doable and not nearly as catastrophic as it seemed at first. I've learned things that have been super helpful to me, AND I've learned that one or two high numbers do not call for a panic attack. I have higher number on days I have migraines. This is expected; if you don't feel well, your glucose will be higher. DON'T PANIC, ERIN. If I order something in a restaurant and have higher numbers later, it's probably because there were sugars or carbs I didn't take into consideration, not having prepared the food myself. THIS IS NOT A REASON TO FREAK OUT. See? Such excellent lessons learned. 

This was a lengthy update. Whew. I'm impressed if you made it to the end! Maybe you deserve some chocolate (but it will have to be dark chocolate and a small portion, because that's what fits into the GDM diet).