Friday, September 2, 2011

Gestational Diabetes

I've been crap at keeping the big things on here. So at 28 weeks (close to 3 weeks ago) I have my 1 hour glucose test. I had to get up the morning of it and eat a breakfast high in protein, low in carb. I had two eggs, a slice of 12 grain bread with some peanut butter spread over it.

Then, 45 minutes before my appointment I had to drink this stuff called glucola. Sadly, it was the unflavored stuff so it just tasted like sugar water, blegch. I've heard the flavored stuff is nasty but I was kind of disappointed it was plain, haha! The stuff is chock full of sugar, way more than I ever have in one sitting.

Well got the call last week that I failed it and would have to have an appointment with my nurse midwife to go over what was to happen next and talk about taking the 3 hour test. So I got to my appointment with the guy (yes, my nurse midwife is a man), and he tells me my sugars were 212. The range is 130-200. If you're over 130 you fail the 1 hour and have to take the 3 hour. Well he said that because I'm over 200 the 3 hour test is out the window and he's just going to assume I have gestational diabetes (here on out called GD). This meant that I could no longer deliver at the birthing center and would have to do that at the hospital. I would stop seeing the midwives and my option of a water birth was snatched away from me. It also meant I have to go on a special diet and check my blood sugars 4 times a day.

So I've met with the dietician and have been on the diet since Tuesday (August 30). Supposedly my diet is supposed to have 2,000 calories in it, but I can tell you there is no way it does. Each meal is small and healthy so there's few calories. Which does not sit well with me because I'm wondering if my baby is getting everything it needs.

It's a lot of label reading. High protein, low carb. And it's crazy what has carbs in it. Milk and fruit. Like, I can have HALF a banana for 1 carb choice (I get around 2 to 3 carb choices, which include milk and fruit as well as starch, per meal) because it's got 15grams of carbs in it! So fruit is kept to a minimum.

I've got to look at the amount of carbs, protein, and fat in each thing I eat. It's tedious but it's necessary. I could never do this diet if it was just for me. But it's for my baby, and anyone that knows me knows I'm better at doing things that affect me if they're for other people. Or like when I lost a bunch of weight back in 2004, I did that because I had to exercise at least 5 days a week for school.

The hardest part about this diet is trying to put together a meal. Even snacks are annoying. Meat is the easiest way to get protein but you really don't think of having that for breakfast and if you're like me, even for lunch. But then, I can only have 3oz. It's small. I'm hungry about every 2 hours because the meals are so small and insubstantial.

I've been trying to find some sites that give a bunch of different meal ideas but so far I've found nothing. So I'm hoping to change that by blogging about what I do during these last 9 weeks of my pregnancy. I hope to put up some great meal ideas and some recipes so that others looking for help can find it here.

On the good news side of this mess, I went to what I thought was my last midwife appointment at the birthing center yesterday (Thursday, Sept. 1). The midwife I met with was not one of my usual ones because they were all out of town. But she was very nice, I really liked her. She was like a mix between my main midwife (who's a bit more business than the others) and the really happy, sweet midwife. When I mentioned my GD she said, "Oh! I know who you are now." Then went on to tell me how my main midwife was talking to all the others about my predicament.

The consensus there was that my sugars weren't through the roof and they would like for me to take the 3 hour test. I was only supposed to get a consult from the nurse midwife. And this midwife, she said my main midwife, we'll call her V, was NOT happy when she heard the guy had just taken me on.

The guy told me that it's regular procedure to just take the 3 hour test off the table but I think it's more because he gets money if I see him. I don't like him as much as I did when I first met with him.

But the midwife yesterday said that my regular midwives will talk to the nurse midwife about letting me take the 3 hour. The woman said she'd make a note in my records that I WANT the 3 hour. It's not just in hope that I can pass it, it's more to see how bad my GD might be if I've got it.

So I think the midwives will schedule me for one and if I pass it I'll get to go back to them ^_^ I was on cloud 9 yesterday because of that news. But I will still remain on the GD diet and I'm thinking of alternating appointments between the birthing center and the OB clinic, that way I can get more comfy with the nurse midwife and make sure he knows what I want for my delivery should I have to go to the hospital.

Here's hoping I get to take the test and I pass it! I so badly want the calm, homey atmosphere of the birthing center.

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