Gestational diabetes

I went to the drop-in in Friday and was given a blood testing kit and lots of info about diet and what foods turn to sugar, which will affect my diabetes. 

I've been testing my bloods for 4 days now and so far so good, all readings are lower than they should be. I have to test my blood 6 times every day. Before every meal and then 1 hour after. So this doesn't leave much wiggle room so anything other than a healthy diet. 

I've been tracking all my foods now for about a week and it's been good to get back into it. I've had some lovely meals rather than some of the rubbish I was eating before. 

Carbohydrates turn to sugar once digested and its that (and actual sugar) that can affect your blood sugar. The things that can affect your blood sugars include: breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, some veg, sweets, cakes, milk and there are more but I can't remember them at the mo. so I've been trying to have protein & veg/salad as the largest proportion of each meal, but still making sure that 'good' carbs are included. I've been having crunchy bran for breakfast and then just having 1 slice of wholemeal bread instead of 2 with my lunch. I'm managing to eat between 1900 - 2000 cals a day too. I've not had many snacks in the day, but have had some in the evenings. I made a hummus dip the other night and have had that with raw carrot, raw cauliflower and celery with a reduced fat dip. I had so much and was so full after which was great. I've also been having pistachio nuts and pine nuts as a snack. They are a good source if protein and much better than crisps etc. 

This week has got a lot of challenges when it comes to my diabetes. We went to a party for our son's friend's birthday. But I  managed to choose wisely and my sugars were fine, I even had a bit of cake for my pudding in the evening. Tomorrow is a big day in our house as our gorgeous son turns 3. We have family coming round for a small lunch and of course birthday cake. Then on Wednesday he has a few friends coming round for a playdate. I'm making a train cake and it's a chocoholics idea of heaven. So I'll have to restrain myself and just have a small piece. We've also got family down this week and a few other events. I reckon if I can control my blood sugars this week then the next 10 weeks should be no problem. 

I weighed myself today on my wii fit scales. These are the scales I used the whole of last year and so I know that they will give me a true reflection of my weight. Since I've been pregnant I've just been using bathroom scales (which actually aren't that reliable). I have actually put on 2st 5lb which is less than I thought I had, by about 7lbs. 

Right I'm off now to decorate the house ready for our little boy's special day tomorrow. 

The 'unhealthy snowball effect'

Hello!

It's been so long since I wrote in here and thought that with a few significant changes I should get some thoughts out.

On Monday I reached 29 weeks of pregnancy! I can't believe 1) how quickly the time has gone and 2) how long this pregnancy has been going on for. I know it's a complete contradiction - but there you go.

At the very beginning of my pregnancy I was still being very healthy and making all the right choices. But I fell off the healthy eating waggon I'm afraid to say (damn it's so easy to do). I was getting cravings for ice cream & chocolate from the end of my first trimester until about 5 weeks ago. I actually found it very difficult to eat 1900-2000 calories a day. I think that I'd trained my self to eat so well that actually finding more calories to eat actually meant that I would start eating unhealthy foods just to add on the calories too, which started the 'unhealthy snowball effect'. I got to the point where I wasn't watching what I was eating at all and not tracking down what I was eating - BIG MISTAKE!

In my last post I said that I didn't want to put on more than 2 stones, which is what I put on when I was pregnant with my son. Well this has not happened and I have so far put on approx just under 3 stones. It's disappointing as it's nearly half of what I lost last year. But I cannot allow myself to become depressed about it. It's not all fat after all - I am growing a lovely little baby girl in there too.

Last week I had to have a glucose tolerance test to check my blood sugar levels. It turns out that I have gestational diabetes - boohoohoo! Although this is not good at all due to added risks to me & Squeak, I have decided to see this as a positive thing. I know that I can control my blood sugars with my diet. When I had my health MOT at the gym I managed to get them to about 2. Although I haven't seen a diabetic nurse yet I know that I can control this with diet alone. Tomorrow I am going to a diabetic drop-in clinic to collect a blood monitor so that I can check myself at home. For the last 3 days I have been tracking my foods again and cooking lower fat and lower sugar meals. I'm hoping to get more info about diet tomorrow before my appointment with the diabetic consultant in 10 days time.

I'm quite worried that if I don't control this with diet, then I may need to start injecting insulin and I DO NOT want to do that at all. This in turn has the added health benefit of meaning that I shouldn't put on as much weight from now as I will be reintroducing more healthy foods into my diet.

I think that over the last 7 months I've really learnt that self-control can be bloody difficult at times. But everybody is human and make mistakes from time to time. The point is I have looked back (albeit due to a medical situation) and realised that I kind of gave up and started using the "I'm pregnant" excuse. Actually it probably was the worse time to give up. But what's happened has happened and the past. Now I must look forward. As I said above I have put on almost half of the weight I lost, but I am determined to lose that once little Squeak arrives. I've done it once and I can do it again!

Just go to get through the next few weeks as there are lots of birthdays and parties coming up - wish me luck!