"Counting Carbs"

To the tune of "Counting Stars" by One Republic

Lately I been, diagnosed with GD
Dreaming about the things that I can't eat
These days, I've been, I been prayin' hard
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
We'll be counting carbs
Yeah, we'll be counting carbs....



To say its been a busy week would be an understatement. With Monday's news that I have GD, this week just exploded with appointments. So far, I've met with the CDE (certified diabetic educator) , the Dietician , and my MFM for a growth scan. We'll start with the CDE I guess!!

So here is my new best friend.... my blood sugar monitor!!

My appointment with the CDE mainly revolved around using this machine to check my sugars, how often I'd be checking the levels, and what numbers I'm looking for. Basically it goes like this.... check fasting levels before breakfast and hope they're under 95. Check levels two hours after every meal and those should be under 120. My first check at the office with the CDE went fine and no issues but of course when I get home and have to check my sugars after lunch I couldn't get the pin prick on my finger to bleed enough. I ended up poking every finger and going through a whole lancet to get one level reading! Oh my goodness!!!  I think I've gotten the hang of it now but wow that was frustrating!

So far yesterdays levels after meals were ok but my fasting level this morning was elevated. I didn't have a nighttime snack last night and so they're really pushing for me to have one to keep my morning levels low. If they're not being stabilized by diet its insulin for me so I really want to avoid that.

In addition to  my routine blood sugar screening, I also have to check my urine in the morning for ketones. This will show me if I've eaten enough proper foods the day before. When the food is processed in your system, if you haven't eaten enough your body starts burning fat and if you don't have any carbohydrates to burn from food the byproduct is ketones in the urine. So, if the dipstick is positive, I'm to drink a lot of water to flush them from my system and recheck in four hours.

Speaking of not eating enough, that is a problem for me. Normally you hear of pregnant women eating everything in sight. Nope, not me. Eating has always been an issue for me even before pregnancy. I've officially had to set alarms on my phone to remind me to eat every 2-3 hours. I know that sounds crazy but so far it seems to be helping!

Today was both my MFM and dietician appointment. Busy day , phew!

The day started with a growth scan at the MFM office. I had been really nervous about this appointment (I'm nervous for every appointment but this one especially) since today was the day last year I was hospitalized with Jack. Thankfully everything still seems to be looking great. Thomas' fluid levels are perfect, he's in the 49th percentile, he weighs 1lb 9oz (chunky monkey, lol) and the best part was that my blood pressure was only 118/78. I asked my MFM what the GD diagnosis does for my pregnancy. According to her, they are already keeping such a close eye on his growth that this doesn't have any additional cause for concern.  As long as my sugar levels are kept in check he should be fine. She did say however, that with my history and now this new fun little thing of GD, they wont let me go past 39 weeks. So I guess I'm having a March baby now! :)   I also was concerned about my weight gain since I've only gained about 11 lbs so far. Thankfully my MFM isn't worried and matter of fact she would only like to see me gain about 20-25lbs at most for this pregnancy to make sure my blood pressure and blood sugar isn't affected by extra weight. Being on the GD diet should take care of that anyways, so technically if I'm a little more than halfway to full term then 11lbs is about half of what I should weigh so that's perfect! Just what I like to hear! Here are Thomas' glamour shots from today....and don't freak about his cord like I did. Its not technically around his neck like it looks, its actually going across him as you can see his placenta is just to the left of him. Yikes though, that freaked me out!

After my MFM appointment I met with the Dietician which was very informative yet overwhelming at the same time. Chickin I know you were interested in this so I can scan and email you on FB this info if you're interested.

My diet outline looks something like this:

Breakfast and Snacks: 15-30g of carbs
Lunch and Dinner: 45-60g of carbs

No fruit before 10am....no fruit juice at all


The dietician gave me a list of foods and their serving sizes that would be 15g of carbs to get an idea of what I can and cant eat for meals. At first it seems super strict, as like 1 slice of toast is 15g.....1/2 English muffin is 15g.....1/4 bagel is 15g. Looking at this list you cant help but wonder "WHAT AM I GOING TO EAAAAAAAAT?"  but thankfully there is a second page list of proteins and fats that can be added into meals and snacks and don't have to be counted. For example, eggs, peanut butter, *most* veggies, and some other things too. So basically I can have a full English muffin, with peanut butter, and a hardboiled egg and its only worth 30g which is a perfect breakfast.

After I left that appointment I had to go grocery shopping since we had nothing in this house that was ok for me to eat. It took me two hours to check all the labels for everything I bought and I wound up spending $250 to restock the house. OMG. However, if it means my blood sugar stays normal oh well so be it.

So that's where we're at now!!! Its actually a good thing I'm working from home because there is so much to do and remember that I'd totally forget if I was at the office!!