Yesterday, Joe and I made our way to Tripler for a class on nutrition and blood sugar testing. Come to find out, not many husbands go to these. =P Poor guy was the only one there, except for the LTC who taught the class. Anywho. Now that I've gone through the class, this is what my life consists of:
I have to test my blood sugar by pricking my fingers 4 times a day. {Can you say OUCH?!}
I have to keep a food log, counting how many carbs I've had for each meal and snack.
I'm allowed up to 45 grams of carbs for lunch and dinner, breakfast and snacks are up to 30 grams. Which means I'm constantly looking at these to see what I can/can't have.
{via}
It's not horrible, especially considering I was previously a calorie-counter. But trust me when I say that counting calories is far easier, if only because you have more food options. My biggest food problem right now {and it's been a day} is breakfast. Cereal for breakfast is a no-go because most, if not all, cereals have about 24g per serving. So, I could have cereal...if I wanted nothing else with it, like milk. I like milk far too much for breakfast... I've been drinking probably something like 14-16 ounce glasses for breakfast every day. Now I get 8oz. I miss it.
I've always been a carb eater, so this is going to be very hard for me. And let's not get started on all the sweets I can't have anymore...
As much as I miss eating all the "good" stuff, pricking my fingers sucks a little bit more. I am not a huge fan of poking myself with a needle 4 times a day. Which is why I'm praying that I can control my GD with diet and not need insulin. I don't even want to think about giving myself shots!
I know all of this is for the good of little miss Charlotte, which is all that's keeping me going. Because this is not fun. And the more I let myself think about how much this sucks, the more upset I get. And then I think about the possibility of getting Type 2 somewhere down the road and it just makes me sad, irritated, upset...you name it. I'm sure that not everyone who has GD gets Type 2 later, but my mom already has it and so does my uncle {her brother}. So chances are it's going to happen at some point in my life. And I'll probably have GD with my next pregnancy too.
Blech.
Have I mentioned that this sucks? I'm certainly not going to die from counting carbs and testing my blood sugar, and I know that doing this is only helping me and baby. Clearly this isn't something I was expecting to deal with, but now that I have it I have to remember that staying healthy is all that matters. And hopefully, in 9ish weeks baby and I will have normal blood sugar levels and this momma can go back to having cereal for breakfast. ;-)
If you have any good low carb meals/recipes, please share them!!! I have a feeling I'm going to run out of ideas quickly.
14 comments:
*hugs* I know it must be hard :( I hope that the next 9 weeks fly by for you.
i didn't have it the first time i was pregnant but i had a really big baby and my dr told me this time around i have to limit and eat a lot of salads and fruit. b/c if i have another big baby then i can end up with diabetes later on in life. i am very nervous that when i have to do the test it will pop positive. im also not a fan of poking myself with needles. i hope your next nine weeks go by fast and that everything is ok after you have her.
Skinnytaste.com (my new favorite website!) has some low carb recipes and also lists the breakdown of fat, carbs, and protein for each recipe :)
I totally lawled at your title :) Because, come on, the sentiment was there, even if you didn't actually mean those words. ;) It does suck, and I'm sorry. Skinny Taste is great, I pin stuff from there every day. And yes, you're doing this for Charlotte and it won't last forever, but who knows? Maybe you'll be able to develop some new good habits and carry those with you past pregnancy. I totally don't envy you the pricking. My husband would have to leave the room every time.
Oh I hate those blood sugar machines :(
Not sure what you like but here are a few things that I think you might be able to have
B&L's Strawberry Smoothie - 30.3g carbs - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/b-and-ls-strawberry-smoothie/
A website dedicated to GD Recipes - http://gestationaldiabetesrecipes.com/
and their FB page - http://www.facebook.com/gestationaldiabetesrecipes
Baked Honey Mustard Chicken - 24.8g carbs - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-honey-mustard-chicken/detail.aspx?src=3855_24
and some other low carb recipes - http://allrecipes.com/menus/16297/low-carb/viewall.aspx?prop24=PN_3.3.3_SN.Low-Carb
I don't know if any of this will help or if you like any of this kind of stuff but I hope it helps :)
We're on a similar diabetes journey with Nathan. My mom found some great recipes in magazines. Actually today she brought me a magazine called diabetic slow cooker recipes. It was like $5 in the checkout at the grocery store. That's a good place to look. :)
Hang in there.. I can't imagine going through this.. but when that beautiful little girl is here, you'll forget all about it!
Hang in there girlie! My first pregnancy I was able to control my GD with diet, but I guess that was one of the few graces I got that pregnancy since I also had a few other complications that pregnancy that put me on bed rest the last 3 months and ended with induction due to preeclampsia. Anywho, the second pregnancy was much smoother, and again diagnosed with GD and this time diet wasn't enough. I mention this because I want you to know that you won't necessarily have to jump straight to insulin shots. There's a pretty good chance diet will be enough for you, but I had a pill that I took twice a day. Much easier than the idea of injecting insulin on top of checking my blood sugar 4 times a day. So keep your chin up and in no time all of this will be behind you and you will have a healthy little girl to hold instead :)
Good luck with this change...I know you can master it!! :) Keep in mind that green veggies, eggs, cheese and most meat have no or low carbs. When I counted carbs because of Type 1 Diabetes we considered anything with less than 5carbs to be carb free...my after school snacks had to be carb free so I ate a lot of cottage cheese, boiled eggs, deviled eggs, and cheese sticks for snacks! Also, sugar free popcicles and jello are nice sweet snacks! OH AND I saw cake mix at the grovery store this week that was sweet-n-low brand so it was low carb. Might want to look for that if you like sweets and cake!! :)
What a bummer. Hang in there, and I look forward to reading the post after she's born that says you had a giant bowl of cereal with tons of milk! :)
Good luck! I cringed when I read about your only being allowed 8oz of milk a day. Ouch that would be tough for me. Especially on top of limiting carbs and sweets (can you tell I'm in the thick of pregnancy as well? lol).
You can do this new diet though and you're right- only nine more weeks! Totally doable! :)
Betty Crocker has a great Diabetic cook book out! Meals that are easy and yummy, and low carbs. Even shows how to make mashed potatoes with hardly any fat! So yummy!
Thank you for writing this post. I just found out I failed the 3 hour test and I cried last night thinking of all the changes will need to happen to control my blood sugar. This post has showed me the reality of what's to come and I appreciate your honesty. I have 10 weeks to go so I'm in the same boat as you.
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