Only 379 Pokes Left!

I met with the specialist on Tuesday of this week. We spent 30-45 minutes just talking over the Gestational Diabetes diet. Then she gave me my glucose meter and showed me how to use it. I'm keeping a log of my daily food intake and my blood sugar and will email it to her each week.  I might be being overly optimistic, but so far its really not that bad. I was really worried about how I was going to manage the finger pricks, but so far its been okay. I have an irrational fear of pulling whatever has stuck me out. I know that sounds crazy, but if I step on a sticker or something manages to poke me I usually make someone else pull it out. If there isn't anyone else around then it takes forever for me to work up the courage to remove whatever foreign item I have managed to impale myself with, it's usually at least ten minutes of repeating "You can do this K'Lynn". Thankfully the finger stick pulls its self out and I never even have to see the poke. It's also a tiny little hole, I actually have to squeeze my finger to get any blood out. But it still hurts, every single time. I doubt I get used to that. 

I am eating 6 smaller meals a day, each with a its own carbohydrate allowance. My nurse practitioner said not to worry about counting calories but do try to eat protein with the carbs. I am still trying to get into a good schedule. First thing every morning, after I sprint to the bathroom to pee because its not like I peed an hour earlier, I take my blood sugar. This is called my fasting number. This little number is what I failed during my glucose tolerance test. Its the number most people have the most difficulty with and the number my nurse practitioner thinks I will have the most trouble with. It hasn't been high yet, and with the right bedtime snack and evening walk I plan to keep it that way. Next I get a small cup of coffee, get dressed and tell River to get up. He whines and rolls over. I start making breakfast. I have always waited until around 9am to eat breakfast. Partly because I'm usually not hungry earlier in the morning and partly because I really don't have much time to sit down and eat breakfast. Its one of those busy working Mom things. I have had to adjust to not only sitting down to eat breakfast but also cooking it too. I am allowed 25-30 grams of carbs for breakfast. I am currently eating a toasted English muffin with honey cream cheese with a fried egg on top while I do my hair and makeup at the kitchen table. I know, doing my hair at the kitchen table is gross but its better than eating my breakfast in the bathroom. Timing my breakfast has been the trickiest part so far. Rivers morning speed (varies between tortoise, snail, and sloth), traffic, how many times I will have to hug and kiss him goodbye at school, and the 15 minutes it takes me to get to the office from his school determines when I should start my breakfast in order to be able to test my blood sugar 2 hours later. I can't eat breakfast at 6:15 because I am either still commuting or dropping River off at 8:15. I have been trying to time it so that I begin breakfast at 6:40 and by the time I get to the office I will have had time to settle in and can test in peace. So far I have tested once in River's school parking lot, once in my office parking lot, and once at my desk. Its a work in progress. About an hour after my morning blood sugar test I have my morning snack. I'm allowed 15-20 grams of carbs for each snack. I have eaten Greek yogurt with walnuts and an apple with peanut butter. A few hours later is lunch. I'm allowed 45-50 grams of carbs for lunch. I have been just eating a turkey sandwich on whole wheat sandwich thins and a small fruit or chips or crackers. Two hours after I finish eating I test my blood sugar again. About an hour after that I eat my afternoon snack. Are you noticing a routine here? All I do is eat and poke my finger! The afternoon snacks are mostly the same as the morning or crackers and hummus. I'm sure I can and will get a lot more creative with my snacks. For dinner I am allowed 45-50 grams of carbs again. I'm finding it difficult to get that many carbs in with dinner. I may have to start adding in a small dessert to meet my allowance. Then 2 hours later I take my blood sugar. I've learned the last one of the day is the hardest to pump myself up to take. I'm also really fond of only two of my fingers and I switch back and forth between the two throughout the day so by the fourth they are both tired of being poked. My evening blood sugar test is hard to time too as sometimes we are out and about. For example, yesterday I tested it in a Wal Mart bathroom. Don't worry, I washed my hands before and after, and by washed I mean thoroughly scrubbed. Then right before I got to bed, about 9:30, I eat once slice of bread with peanut butter on it and a small glass of milk. Its actually over my snack carb allowance but so far it has kept my fasting numbers down. I also try to fit a walk in sometime during the day. Even if its just going the long way to check the mail or a 15 minute break to stretch my legs a work. 

It is quite a routine. I couldn't imagine having to do this forever and I really hope that once I have the baby I go back to normal. The diet part I really don't mind, what pregnant woman doesn't like to literally eat all day? But I'm already over the blood sugar testing. I just keep telling myself that its not for me, its for the baby. I want her to be healthy and I want my labor and delivery to be normal. I don't want to be induced and I don't want to have a c-section because she is too big. I will be having monthly growth scans to make sure that she is measuring where she should be. I'm considering that a plus because who doesn't love extra ultrasounds? All in all I know this is something that just has to be done. I look at it two ways. I can mourn the fact that I am going to miss out on pies and cakes or I can be just get over it and deal. I've chosen to get over it and deal. So far we have a perfect, healthy baby. I can't really see why I should throw a fit or complain because I can't have a  cookie. 

K’Lynn