Monday, March 18, 2013

Gestational Diabetes (GD)

So as I mentioned in my last post I have GD and therefore I have to make some changes to my lifestyle.
This past Monday I had a growth ultrasound. Baby boy is already 3lbs 1 oz., measuring a week ahead and growing beautifully! He was very shy per usual and we didn't get any good shots of his profile. My ultrasound place has 3D capability but I have a feeling we won't be getting any good shots of those since he loves hiding his face, oh well...I've always been a big fan of surprises anyway. You won't be hiding your face from me soon enough little man! lol

Afterwards we meet with the nutritionist. I love this lady and I kid you not she looks and sounds just like Lisa Lampanelli! And her name is Lisa! Ha! Ok moving on.
Seems like I failed my 3hr intervals by only 1-2 points above their standards (Doh!) So I'm very borderline.
She didn't want to put me on any medications because she feels that a diet change should be enough to control my GD for the remainder of the pregnancy. I am being monitored for 2 weeks to make sure this new diet really is helping me control my sugars.

Ok so here is a little GD 101.
Gestational Diabetes is a type of diabetes developed only during pregnancy. This is a disease of metabolism which causes your blood sugar to be too high. Your body, when functioning properly breaks down the food you eat and converts it into a simple sugar known as glucose which is your body's main source of energy.
With GD, your placenta can interrupt your own insulin production. This is why any woman; heavy, thin, healthy etc. can form GD. You are at a higher risk if you don't eat well or are a heavier set woman but plenty of thin healthy women can get this too. Just luck of the draw in the end.
Monitoring and controlling GD will help future complications such as a larger than normal baby (which increases your chances of an early birth & C-section), developing Jaundice and developing Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) among others. Even though your GD will leave after you give birth you can be at risk to develop type II diabetes which is why monitoring your blood sugars will continue about 6 weeks post-partum.
(This is all information given to me in my "Managing Gestational Diabetes" booklet. It's an easy read and very informative.)

Currently I check my blood sugars with my glucometer 4 times a day. I check once in the morning when I wake up and 2hrs after breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the morning my numbers should be between 70-95 and after meals they should be between 70-120. I have had no problems with my after meal numbers but I couldn't figure out why my numbers where above 95 in the morning. Finally I realized my after dinner snacks might be to blame. Once I cut those out my numbers were starting to fall within the right range. 3 meals and 3 (now 2) snacks a day seem a lot to me, but I'm handling it well. My appetite hasn't been very strong during this pregnancy so sometimes I have to force myself to eat.
I'm still learning & testing my boundaries on food consumption but there are 3 rules everyone should follow.

1. Protein at every meal. This helps to avoid that crashing feeling one gets after a meal because of eating too many carbs.

2. If a food has more than 6% of fiber, it actually helps you subtract from the number of carbs you’re having in your meal.

3. No simple sugars, no fruit juices and fruit should not be had in the morning or after dinner.

I won't lie, I already live without indulging in wine every now and again so being told I can't enjoy some sour patch gummies now too seems cruel but....I know I would do anything for this kid so it’s not a big sacrifice. He will be here soon and I needed to eat more veggies in my life anyways :)

For addtional information you can visit National Institue of Child Health & Development (NICHD)

Quaking on more healthy,
~JD

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Birth Boards are strange...

So I was thinking about the birth board I belong to today and to be quite frank I really just hang around for the entertainment value. I mean I've picked up a few tips here & there but most of the time it just feels like women attacking other women for different opinions, stupid subjects, etc. I remember I posted something back in December about my baby being a boy, and what a boy! The picture I have just makes his "package" look big and I made a joke about hubby being happy that he is well hung. That's all it literally was, a joke! But no....I had random women very disgusted about what I said, almost made me out to sound like a perv and "why would I be a happy about him being well hunged?"
Ahhhhhhh.....I don't get people.
I miss the ladies from the TTC groups; they always had a wealth of relative information to share and really kept you in high spirits, then again who would want to be part of TTC group that was anything but helpful & supportive? It's already stressful in the real world trying to make your dreams happen, why add virtual stress to that too.
Rant over.

Quaking on,
~JD

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Almost to the home stretch!

It's been awhile in the blogging world for me and it's been nice to catch up on some on my favorite blogs. With spring just right around the corner there is new hope in the air and the possibilities of new beginnings feel even stronger than ever. I want to take a moment to give a shout out to all the ladies embarking on new pathways that will allow you to get a step closer to motherhood! You’re always in my thoughts and prayers.

Come Saturday I will be 28 weeks and officially be in the third trimester! Just when I was complaining it was all going so slowly, I blinked and the clock fast forward quickly.
So here is a quick update on things so far.

First the bad..
I failed both my 1hr and 3hr Glucose test so I am now diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes...great...(eye roll). For someone who doesn't drink soda, doesn't really like chocolate/sweets and can eat her weight in carrots, this just doesn't seem fair. I want to do a separate post on this after my meeting with the nutritionist on Monday for anybody looking for more information. I have found some great recipes for GD that I can't wait to try out this week. It's going to be the healthiest 3 months of my life, lol.

Now onto the good...
Work wise-I actually got a raise! I call it my "Cost of Baby's Living Allowance Adjustment" since that's were all my new funds are going to go. I feel really empowered right now and in admiration for all the movement done towards women's rights. A young pregnant women actually flourishing and getting new offices/raises just a few months short of going on maternity leave? Shocking! 

Baby wise-Baby boy has become quite an active little fellow. I don't worry about kick counts because I feel him practically all day long. He is quiet during the morning, gets busy in the afternoon till the evening (very active in the evening). I don't know how active he is when I sleep since he has never woken me up during the night. Surprisingly I am still sleeping fine too! We will see how long that lasts, lol.

DH and I ordered the crib last night and it felt great since we have barely anything for him yet. Our baby shower is on April 28th which is only about 5 weeks away from my due date. Stressful much? Uh yeah!
My mom has racked up many reward points on her credit card so she gave us $200 in Babies "R" Us gift cards. We had to choose a different crib because the one we liked does not have the option to ship to the store which would have given us free shipping. They would have to ship it to us, which would have cost $129.00 for JUST shipping......Ridiculous!
So we went with this one instead...
We currently live in a one bedroom apartment so we wanted something that wouldn't consume too much space and would give us the changing table as well. Our bedroom is quite huge and this will fit perfectly. We also have a separate small closet apart from our his & her closets that will be more storage for the baby. Aside from that, our attic will also help us store anything else needed.



  I'll be seeing baby boy on Monday as well, can't wait to see how big he has gotten!

Quacking on,
 ~JD