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!

What i've been feeling lately

Yesterday I finally broke down and went to the doctor. I have been avoiding this for quite some time now because 1) I have no health insurance and have to pay out-of-pocket and 2) It would require blood work and I am really not a fan of needles.

As I suspected, they sent me to the lab to get some blood work done. For months I've been feeling exhausted daily no matter how much sleep I get sometimes this causes me to feel weak, shaky, dizzy, or just plain tired, irritable, and emotional. Yesterday was the straw when I was driving and things started to get randomly blurry from afar while I was wearing my glasses. When I called and told Phil about this at work he insisted that even though we had wanted to wait until I had found a job with health insurance to get everything checked out, then we had better get me in to see the doctor-- like, now.

The doctor was super nice and when I explained what's been going on as well as my lack of weight loss with the amount of effort that has been put in she agreed that something didn't seem right. She decided to check my thyroid because of most of the symptoms I've been experiencing as well as a blood sugar check for diabetes to see if I'm pre-diabetic since my sister and grandmother both have diabetes. She didn't seem convinced that I have diabetes, but wanted to check and see where we stood on all of that anyways. She is also checking for liver and kidney function as well as to see if I'm anemic because my fingers seriously turn purple when I get cold and that could be a sign of an iron deficiency.

I did really well at the lab today when they took my blood because seriously, I am the biggest baby about getting sticked (mostly with shots) and had the nicest phlebotomist that was there I swear. All in all it didn't hurt at all, but I'm feeling exhausted, dizzy, and was shaky earlier today and am a little weak as well. Hopefully, they will figure out what is wrong and it will be an easy fix (without needles) and inexpensive as well. That's my prayer for the moment and I am so thankful that God got me through today without totally freaking out. He's been here with me and I pray that He continues to bless me through all of this.