Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Wake Up Call

When I was pregnant with Matthew, I had Gestational Diabetes. To be honest, it sucked. I hated counting carbs, always eating a protein with everything, and checking my blood sugar four times per day along with my dreaded night time insulin shot. After Matthew was born, my blood sugars returned to normal and I had a normal A1c reading at my follow-up appointment in October. Everything looked good and I promised to start exercising and eating better.

Then life happened.

My baby was fussy and had a lot going on for the first year. Every time he would seem to get better, he would start crying again and it was enough to drive you batty. I was constantly asked what was wrong with him and it was rough. We had plenty of good moments and he grew out of it and finally started sleeping through the night consistently after his first birthday, but it was a rough time.

During that time, I decided that I was too tired and overwhelmed to watch what I ate and really exercise. It's sad and such a bad decision looking back, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

I went in for a physical a few weeks ago because I needed to get my A1c checked and everything checked out well! Then, I got the dreaded phone call that my number had gone up and they needed me to make some changes.
Metformin ::check::
Eat Less Carbs ::check::
Cut Back on Sugar ::check::
Exercise ::check::

I have to admit that it was a rough call to get. How on earth could my number be that high? It's not in the diabetic range, but it's close enough for comfort and the good old internet would tell me that it's considered "prediabetic" {shudder}.

So, I've been counting my carbs, eating balanced meals and snacks (carbs:protein) and just doing my best. I haven't started working out yet and I plan to get on that when my foot is back to normal, but let's just say this sucks, but I made my choice and this is what happens.

It took a few days for me to not feel sorry for myself and I've been doing better with this transition. It's been a few weeks and I've already lost a little bit of weight so that's definitely positive, but it's still hard. I'm working on the right decisions one day at a time and know that this has to be taken care of now so it doesn't develop into diabetes. It's reversible at this point and that's the plan...to reverse the effects and get my A1c down.

If anyone has any suggestions, encouragement, advice, or anything, please feel free to share!

3 comments:

britt said...

Hi! I would love to be a source of encouragement for you. My email is brittbrien@yahoo.com. Shoot me a line if you are interested!

Britt said...

Commenting back to you here after the one you left me yesterday! I couldn't reply to you directly since you don't have an email attached to your blogger account.

First off, thank you so much for your kind words. It's good to hear that there is one positive that might come out of it in the extra ultrasounds, but I totally get what you're saying about taking it hard. I've been beating myself up about it even though there is probably nothing I could have done differently.

As for your situation, I totally feel you on the "lifestyle change". I've come to accept that I am never going to be someone who can just eat, work out when I want, and be the size I want, especially as we get older and have to worry about shit like diabetes. It's always going to be a struggle and just a part of life. The good news is that things aren't bad yet and you're able to turn it back around. You will do great and I'm sure your next doctor's appointment will go much better. Thinking of you, xoxo!

lori said...

i'm sorry to hear that you've had a hard time! have you checked to see if there's any mom workouts around? i go to one called baby boot camp (it's national- so it could be in your area) where i take carter in the stroller, and the moms exercise using few materials- it's a mix of cardio, strength and core. afterwards, the babys get out and play for a bit. it's a good socialization time as well as a good exercise.

hang in there, mama! things will get better!