Round Three and Kicking!

The past two months have been a rollercoaster, and I can now safely say that I am ready to begin anew... again. I know, I know, not the best way to gain readers. Let me tell you, if I'd had the energy, I would have kept blogging. I did two posts this summer, but then gave up when it got to be too much, and I needed to simplify.

In May, we miscarried at 9 weeks, just after I started this blog. We moved forward, we grieved, and then, much to our surprise, on July 22nd, I was late in my cycle, peed on the proverbial stick and it said... Pregnant.

I know. Fast. Both my husband and I looked at one another and went "Uhhh, ok?" and didn't try to get too excited until we made it past the 12 week mark. We decided to keep it very mum. I told one person at work just in case something happened, she would know what was going on. We didn't even spill to parents or close friends. I did not want to go through what we did when we miscarried. We goofed and told people early, and shouldn't have.

I wrote a couple of posts here as I got used to the idea of being pregnant yet again (without spilling yon beans about the bean), and then first trimester tiredness and overwhelmed mama came into play as we dealt with my unruly and recalcitrant body. I slept a lot. OK, so I was a sloth.

A big, pregnant, Diabetic sloth.

Despite our hesitation at welcoming this pregnancy, and as I had decided upon the miscarriage in May, I began testing my sugars with the remaining testing strips I had in my possession right away. From the last go-around, I knew my levels were likely to be all over the map, and this way, I would be prepared, and perhaps we could get my levels under control a bit sooner, and prevent another miscarriage, if that was the problem last time.

My home testing came back all wonky and I realized it was time to get into gear getting the doctors on board. Within two weeks, I had a random fasting blood sugar done just to see where I was at, and blammo, it came back high. Like frosting-for-blood-pancreas-on-a-holiday high.

I did the two-hour glucose tolerance test after that (for what reason I did not know, they wanted to do it), and my levels were 16 mmol/L at one hour, and 19 mmol/L at two hours. Ummm yeah folks, I coulda told you that. I'll never forget the Diabetic nurse's face when she saw the results of those tests in my chart. I guess that is abnormally high for 7 weeks pregnant, because she was amazed. *blink*

The Diabetes doctor I saw first off was wondering if was indeed type 2 Diabetic between pregnancies. According to my GP, and our regular 6 month tests, I'm not. I had to get my GP to forward all the tests he had done for the last two years, since my body was acting like a fully Diabetic machine-o-sugar, and they didn't believe me.

I registered again at the high risk unit of the Hospital where I had my first child, where I saw both the Diabetes Nurse and Doctor. The intake nurses remembered me, surprisingly, and with my very bored husband in tow, we ran the gamut, as well as spent some time with the nutritionist.

Cue sweeping diet and routine changes, plus crazy amounts of perscriptions here. I walked back into my house with boxes of needles, lancets, test strips, and insulin.

We are at 14 weeks now, officially into second trimester. First ultrasound to do IPS screening showed a very normal and bang-on to my estimates baby. We are due March 23rd, 2011. He (or she) was quite active, had a great heart beat, and seemed happy in there. *poke*

The bad news out of all this is that I am fully insulin dependant. I take, via needles, NPH (Humulin) before bed, and again when I wake up. I take fast acting insulin (Humalog) before each meal. The Humalog is on a sliding scale, based on my reading before the meal. The higher the reading, the more units I take.

Let's say that it has been a large adjustment. Partially familiar from my last full-term pregnancy, partially all new, since I am finding it much harder to control this time around. Foods I could have last time I can't touch, and foods I couldn't touch before I can have. Sugar alcohols are causing me more problems, and sugar-free ice cream is a rare treat now. Rice? Yeah, don't even talk to me about rice.... And my wonderbread peanut butter and banana sandwiches? *sob* But pasta, pasta I can tolerate in properly carb-counted portions.

My levels are a moving target as I progress, just like last time. This can be frustrating, maddening, and defeating. And the Diabetic Doctor says this is the easy part of the pregnancy. Oh joy!

I asked if what I was on was a large amount of insulin, and apparently it is not, yet. The Diabetes Doctor told me about one (anonymous) lucky woman who was taking 200 units of insulin a day in the later part of her pregnancy. They had run out of places to stab the needles into her poor, tired flesh. I shuddered. The Doctor said that even with that large amount of insulin, her levels were out of control, and she had a rather large baby. I asked how much of that was diet control, and she grimaced and said "most of it was lack of diet control". Ah-huh. Got ya beat sista. I have a husband who has taken on the Diabetic Challenge in keeping my levels ok.

So here we go again, round three. So far, so good, and more to come! Wish us luck, good eating, and the ability to find a winter coat that will go around this mama's already showing tummy!