Gestational Diabetes... the bane of my existence

GD has been a pain in my *** for the last 2.5 months ever since I found out min-June @ 28 weeks that I had failed the second glucose tolerance test (the 3 hr one). GD happens during pregnancy and means that my body (specifically the placenta) is not able to produce the right amount of insulin to counter the amount of sugar in my blood. To counter this, I have to control my intake of carbs and sugar in order to keep the blood sugar at acceptable levels, otherwise the risk is that 1) the baby can grow too big which increases the chance of having to do a c-section 2) the baby will have to produce too much insulin 3) the baby will be too used to getting all that sugar through me that when he/she is born, will go into shock from now being cut off (hypoglycemic). The scariest risk is that if mother's blood sugar is not controlled, the baby can die.

In order to keep my GD under control, I have to test my blood sugar level 4 time a day: 1 in the morning when I wake up (known as the fasting time), and 2 hours after each breakfast, lunch and dinner). To be in control is defined as having a score under the acceptable threshold. I have to keep a log of what I ate and what my score was, and see a nutritionist every 1 or 2 weeks. With my specific case, I was able to control my after meal sugar levels with diet (i.e. no simple carbs or sweets). However, my fasting numbers were higher than the acceptable threshold and there is nothing I can do to help it since I am literally sleeping, so I take a small dosage of a medicine called glyburide which helped. I was glad that I did not have to take insulin because that would require me to inject myself everyday.

By far the toughest thing about GD was the diet. No carbs or sweets meant no breads, sandwiches, cakes, desserts, ice cream, candy, rice, potato, sweet drinks. Gah! It was really hard because carbs/sugar is everywhere! Rice/noodle is a huge part of Asian food, hello! The temptation for sweets was strong at time and every now and then I would break the rules and give in to my temptations with undesired consequences. Poor baby. Tom has been a good support partner to me, making sure I stick to what I should, making sure I get fed, and not letting me go overboard when I do allow myself some indulgences.

Different people have different reactions to different types of carbs. For me, it was the white rices/noodle/bread/potatoes that would spike up my sugar levels. Also some sweet fruit. Even replacing white rice with brown rice didn't help me much. So the trick is to each very small amounts. Or spread them out throughout the day (like eat fruit 2 hours after the meal). Also, stress affects blood sugar level too. I will be so glad to be able to eat these things when this pregnancy is over. I even made a list of specific things I want to have when it is over:

• rice noodles (ho-fun) freshly made from this place in Elmhurst
• McDonald's soft serve ice cream and baked apple pie
• Wendy's chocolate frosty
• Twix candy (this is going in my hospital bag!)
• cheesecake
• polenta
• mac n cheese
• sweet potato fries
• panini sandwich
• e-fu noodles (the one with mushrooms from a fancy Chinese restaurant)

The only positive thing I have to say about GD is that since it forced me to control my diet, I didn't gain more weight than I would have. I still can't go too overboard when this is over because I think this came from family genes but at least I can enjoy a little more.