Surprise!

My daughter arrived a little early. About a month early, actually. But she is healthy and doing just fine. She weighed 5 lbs 11 oz at birth and my OB estimated that had I gone to full term, she would have been around 8 lbs. A good size, but not as big as you might expect for having gestational diabetes.

As the pregnancy went on, I found it easier to control my blood sugar. The glyburide definitely helped. Towards the end, I was skipping my morning walk since I was able to keep my post-breakfast glucose under 130 without it. I was tired in the mornings and it was getting warm, even at 8am. I continued with my evening walks with my husband and son, and that has continued to be a night time routine, even when I wasn't able to go after our daughter was born, my husband still took our son out.

The other thing that I found really helpful was a protein shake I could eat for lunch when I was too nauseated for other sources or protein or just too tired or hungry to make something requiring more effort. I used a shake called Spiru-Tein that I have had before. In fact, I drank it during the first trimester of both pregnancies when I was nauseous but needed to eat. I was worried it would raise my glucose levels too much, so I hesitated to try it until I felt like I had my blood sugar pretty well under control. Although it only has 11 grams of carbs, I mix it with milk and it tastes pretty sweet. I found the best way to make it is to mix one scoop in the blender with 1 cup of milk, about 8 ice cubes. The vanilla one almost tastes like a milk shake.

There were some days when I felt nauseous and didn't want to eat any protein, not even peanut butter or cheese (the two forms of protein I could tolerate best when I had no appetite). I would feel depressed because I didn't want to eat anything, but I needed to eat something for the baby, something with protein. Once I found I could make this shake, feel full, and have a post-lunch glucose level of around 95, I felt a lot better. I didn't have to stress about whether or not I had an appetite because I had a backup meal I knew I could tolerate.

Once my daughter was born, my OB told the nurses they didn't need to test my blood sugar any more (they were testing it every few hours at first) and that I could resume a normal diet. I tried to continue to eat well from the hospital menu, but I did indulge in chocolate pudding the first night and loved every spoonful.

Since coming home from the hospital, I try to follow the basics of the diet I had been on. I try to eat snacks between meals and have protein any time I eat. And I try to still drink about 3 glasses of milk per day. But I've gone back to having my morning coffee with milk and I've been indulging in a little chocolate every night. But I don't eat cereal for breakfast - I have something with protein, usually a PB&J sandwich on whole grain bread. And I still try to limit my carbs at meals and eat brown rice instead of white, etc.

It's been weird sitting down to eat and not having to remember to set a timer for 1 hour. And I still mentally go over what I'm eating, even if I don't actually write it down in a log anymore. I also find that after I eat, I feel like I'm forgetting to do something (test my blood sugar).

In about a month, I'll start testing my blood sugar again so I can take the results to my OB on November 6. Hopefully everything returns to normal. I asked him if I was likely to get GD again if I have another baby. He said chances were good, but if I get my weight down and change my eating habits and continue to exercise regularly, he has seen women who don't develop GD on a subsequent pregnancy.

Good news

I saw my OB today. I only gained 1 pound in the 3 1/2 weeks since my last visit. Although I started this pregnancy 10 pounds heavier than my first, I may actually not go over my all time high weight from last pregnancy. We'll see - I'm about 3 pounds under what I weighed at my last prenatal visit during my last pregnancy and I only have 4 weeks to go.

I confirmed with my doctor that I will take the glyburide up until the night before my scheduled C-Section (unrelated to the gestational diabetes). But the good news is that once the baby is born, I don't need to test my blood and I can eat whatever I want. He specifically mentioned cake and ice cream. I'm excited. I thought I'd have to test my blood even in the hospital and order off the diabetic hospital menu.

A week or so before my follow-up exam 6 weeks post-partum, he said I should start testing my blood here and there - both fasting and after meals, but not the 4 times a day I do now. And then I should bring those results with me. If all looks OK, I'm good. I won't even have to do another glucose tolerance test that I was dreading (I read online that they usually do one 6 weeks after you deliver to be sure the diabetes is gone). He said since we have such good glucose monitors these days, it makes more sense to test your blood with how you eat normally. He also said hopefully I would make lasting changes based on what I've learned. And certainly I will since I think it will help ward off Type II diabetes. But at least I'll be able to have more than 15 g of carbs at breakfast and I can indulge in chocolate mousse once in a while.