“I… don’t know how to say this…”
Here, I’ll let 30 Rock break the news softly:
You may remember I had a rather unfortunate glucose challenge test experience back in December. After failing to even complete the test, my OB decided to spare me further morning sickness drama and opted to have me take the 3-hour glucose challenge when I was around 28 weeks. So, this past weekend, it was back to the blood lab for another stab at keeping down the most noxious orange drink ever designed.
And amazingly… I kept it all down. Of the four draws, only five sticks to get all the blood they needed. I wolfed down a burger immediately following the test and then crashed for a good four-hour nap. Saturday was a complete waste of a day as a result, but it was worth it just to be done with the test finally.
But come Monday, I got the bad news: I got the ‘beetus.
My OB practice works with a gestational diabetes/lifestyle management group affiliated with the hospital, so it was off to two appointments. I first met with a nurse counselor who basically gave me the 30-minute “Gestational Diabetes: SCARED STRAIGHT” overview of insulin resistance:
Big babies! Premature babies! C-sections! Undeveloped lungs! Jaundice! Newborn hypoglycemia! NICU! DOOOOOOOM!!*
It was painfully obvious, what with the color drained from my face and my very poor attempt to hide my quivering lip that I was not handling the overwhelming abundance of information well. She handed me a box of tissues as I burst into tears.
“This happens to about 7% of pregnant women,” she said. “And every one of them I see does the same exact thing you’re doing now. It is a lot to take in at once. And I tell every one of them: no, you didn’t get this because you did or didn’t do anything in particular. It just happens but you’re going to have to make a lot of changes.”
(*To be fair: these are all valid concerns. Her delivery could have been a little less intense.) It took a few minutes for me to get my shit together and then I learned the joys of checking my blood glucose levels.
This little kit right here is my new best friend:
From now until the moment the Knish arrives, I’ll be checking my glucose four times a day: once upon waking and then an hour after each meal. I’m to keep my waking glucose level under 95 and my post-meal levels under 130.
I also met with an endocrinologist, who I’ll be seeing weekly. Right now, we want to focus on using diet changes and exercise to keep my GD under control. But if we can’t, then she suggested that insulin would make the most sense for me, given my history of endocrine clusterfuckedness. Today, I’ll meet with the nutritionist to get the skinny (ha, see what I did there?) on how I should be managing my diet.
As overwhelming as the last couple of days have been, there’s not a whole helluva lot I can do except follow my doctors’ orders, get up off my ass and not eat junk. And with the marginal placenta previa still TBD until my ultrasound this Friday, there’s just a lot that I simply don’t know and is out of my hands right now.
So for now, I’m doing the best that I can: making healthier food choices, setting up alarms to remind me to eat and to test my glucose, making sure I get out of the house and walk for at least 30 minutes. So far, so good – my numbers yesterday were well within normal ranges. Tonight I’m hoping to fine-tune that when I meet with the nutritionist.
I’m also trying out a pretty comprehensive diabetes management app for the iPhone, the Diabetes App by BHI Technologies, Inc. At $6.99 it’s pricey for an iPhone/iPad app, but in just a day and a half of using it, it’s already been well worth the price. I can track detailed information about the foods I eat, from calories and carbs to protein and fiber. I can also keep track of all my glucose tests and even record activity levels and how many glasses of water I’ve had.
My favorite feature about this app? I can email all of these stats as .csv files to anyone I want, including my doctors. I don’t need to worry about filling out that archaic printed Excel spreadsheet my endocrinologist gave me, or use whatever paper food journal I’m sure I’m going to get tonight. Diabetes App compiles it all into an easily importable spreadsheet file that I can send to myself and others.
As stressful and overwhelmed by all of this detailed diet management and glucose testing might be, I don’t really have any other choice but to dive into this head first with as positive an attitude as I can to do what’s best for me and the Knish and know that I’m doing the best I can.
Until then…
