Gestational Diabetes - How I'm dealing

So I'm not going to lie... I was really upset at the news yesterday. I think 1) I was just shocked that I failed. I was so convinced my one-hour test was a fluke. And 2) I was upset that the staff person who called me from my OB's office gave me essentially NO info... pretty much said I failed and expect a call to schedule my follow-up with Duke to get more info.

I had no clue how much I failed by.
I had no clue about gestational diabetes other than what I learned from Dr. Google
And I am pregnant and hormonal and we don't take bad news very well.

So I was super thankful that I had a good friend Amy to call... who was right by my side during my infertility issues and gave me SO much support and advice. She had warned me ahead of time to just plan on calling her if I failed, because she had gestational diabetes with her first little girl, but didn't have it with her second. Talking to her made me feel so much better. She gave me an idea of what I could expect --- and just a reminder that it was nothing I did wrong, my baby was going to be absolutely fine if I manage it correctly, and that pregnancy hormones can just make your body do all sorts of crazy things.

Then, I got a call from a nurse at my doctor's office this morning who gave me pretty good news. I barely failed. The only blood draw I did bad on was my one-hour (but REALLY.... whose blood glucose levels could possibly be normal after drinking that sick stuff)... my fasting draw was barely over, and my 2- and 3-hr draws were completely within normal ranges. So at least I know that it's not my body cannot handle insulin completely, it just might take it a little while.

Well, I figured I could wait until my meeting tomorrow with my nutritionist to discuss my new diet, or I could google what everyone else had to go through. From what I'm getting, it's not SO terrible (other than an annoyance to have to do the finger pricks every few hours to draw blood and counting your carbs)... but it does mean "bye-bye to carbs" for me for the next 3 months.

I can deal with no cupcakes, sugar, ice cream, cake, pie, chocolate, etc... (but still, really? no sweets for a pregnant person. sads.), but taking away my bread, potatoes and pasta is going to be the hard part. I know I can sub smaller portions of whole wheat, but anyone who thinks whole wheat pasta is as good as regular is off their rocker. The other hard part will be making sure I'm getting good protein (which is hard because I'm not a big meat-eater.)

But alas, I'll make it happen. I've heard the key is to combine my proteins with carbs to counteract them a little.

I'm going to learn MUCH more at my doctor's appointment tomorrow about my new gestational diabetes diet, but from what most people say I should be eating 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. I need to keep my snacks under 15g of carbs and breakfast/lunch at 30g carbs and dinner at 45g carbs.

So here's my trial gestational diabetes diet for today, which I'm affectionately calling my "Baby J Hates Me Meal Plan":

Wed. May 18
Breakfast: 7 a.m.
Half a whole wheat English muffin with one scrambled egg and a slice of cheese, 2 pieces of turkey sausage

Breakfast snack: 9:30 a.m.
Yogurt and almonds

Lunch: 12 p.m.
Homemade egg salad (I made a killer batch last night) on half a whole wheat pita
Baby carrot sticks

Afternoon snack: 3 p.m.
String cheese
7 wheat crackers

Dinner: 6 p.m.
Roasted chicken
Salad
Mini baked red potato

Evening snack: 8 p.m.
Pudding cup

So it's really not bad. The big thing is that I need to be consistent in the times of day I'm eating, that I don't skip meals/snacks, and that I spread those carbs out throughout the day. I'll be great at this during the weekdays, but it will be rough on weekends. I'm hearing the night snack is one of the most important because your bloodsugar levels are most likely to get out of whack over night. That's also why a good breakfast of protein helps too. So, no more Crispix and milk for my breakfast anymore - wahhhhhhhhhhh.

So that's the latest. I'll let you know what more I found out tomorrow.

Baby J, you are worth it. But I'm going to warn you ahead of time if you get whiny about having to go to the doctor's for a shot, you're going to get an earful from me about how I became a human pincushion to have you and grow you! ;)