Gestational diabetes

I meant to post on this sooner. Apparently I forgot.

I found out a few weeks ago that I once again have gestational diabetes. I was expecting it, so I was surprised at how ticked off and resentful I was once I got the actual confirmation, but that was pretty much over by the next day, replaced by annoyance and the digging out of information from last time.

I've since met with a dietitian, who looked over the meal plan I used when I was pregnant with Rachel and gave it the okay. She also gave me some other suggestions and tips and told me about a carb counter book that I picked up. It has TONS of info in it. It's the Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carb Counter (you can find it on Amazon, although I bought it at the pharmacy at my doctor's medical building) for $7.99. If you're interested in tracking carbs, fat grams or calories, you may want to check it out. It has sections on all kinds of foods, including a chapter on types of restaurant foods (Hawaiian, Indian, Cuban, etc.) and specific information on foods from 200 restaurants. It's not a regionally divided book, so you won't have all the restaurants near you, but it still gives you a good idea of what you're looking at. I was sad to find out that a medium Reese's PB Cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen is 111 carbs. Not that I'm eating sugary desserts right now, anyway, but that will probably be a good dissuader when I feel like eating one post-delivery. I'm sure I'll still have the occasional Blizzard, but looking at those numbers (850 calories) will help me to say no more often.

I also met with the diabetic nurse counselor, who gave me *more* information and a meter for checking my blood sugar. I have to take a fasting reading when I get up in the morning, and I check my blood 2 hours after each main meal. So, I get to poke myself with needles 4 times a day. Of course, that's a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what I'll feel in labor, and I've done this before, so I just suck it up and do it. Fortunately I'm not someone who's ever had a fear of needles, even though they're not my favorite thing.

I've got 9.5 weeks until my due date, so that's not too terribly long. Hopefully the diabetes will be gone afterward, although there's a small chance it will convert to type 2 diabetes and I'll have to maintain a strict diet for the rest of my life. That would be a bummer, but at least the chance of that happening is a fairly slim one for now. Having had 2 pregnancies with gestational diabetes, I do have a 1 in 2 shot of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 5 years, but my hope is that by losing the extra weight I've carried for some time now, I'll greatly reduce that risk/stave off when I develop diabetes, if not avoid it altogether.