Pregnant and Diabetic

I'm coming down the home stretch with my pregnancy and with only a month and half to go I feel like I'm finally "really" pregnant - my belly is big and I can really feel the baby moving, I move slow, can't bend over, can't get comfortable in a chair or on the sofa, always going to the bathroom, can't find a comfortable sleeping position, the baby's butt or a foot or something is constantly jammed under my right ribs.

Oh and then there is the diabetes.

There is so much information out there about diabetic pregnancies resulting in larger babies, more complications, pre-eclampsia, malformations, and still births that it seems like a difficult pregnancy with a poor outcome is inevitable (you can just google it and see how depressing it is - here, here, here for a start).  Its scary, stressful, and daunting.

But so far things have thankfully progressed quite normally for me on both the diabetes and pregnancy fronts.  My A1C has remained steady at 6.0-6.2 for the entire pregnancy, my blood pressure has been completely normal and ultrasounds of the little bub in my belly show that her growth is right on track - not to big, not to small but right in the middle.

I have been closely monitored through this whole pregnancy by my OB and my endo.  I have probably had almost twice as many OB visits and ultrasounds at this point than a non-diabetic woman.  And I see my endo every two weeks to review my blood sugars and make adjustments to the settings on my insulin pump.  I've been very impressed with my endo - he has been great in keeping one step ahead of the late pregnancy insulin resistance, keeping my blood sugars from hitting the stratosphere while also not sending them too low.

But I think I deserve some credit here too for taking good care of myself.  

I keep very close track of my blood sugars and am very focused on the types of food I eat.  I avoid foods that I know will send my BG sky high and opt for lower-glycemic foods that I know will make my blood sugar easier to manage.  This means I eat alot of fresh veggies, some fruits, beef, chicken, fish and cheese.  I avoid breads, pastas, and pretty much all sweets (cookies, cakes, ice cream, etc).  I average about 30-40g of carbs per meal plus 25-30g of carbs in snacks.  It also means that I have pretty much ignored advice from diabetes health professionals who advocate that people with diabetes eat more carbs and more whole grains - this approach just doesn't make sense to me when I'm trying to avoid high blood sugars and when the foods I already eat (like veggies) have just as much or in some cases more nutrition than the whole grains they recommend.

I also cook alot.  I pretty much cook every meal we eat.  Its sometimes a pain and I sometimes don't feel like it but it allows me to measure my food so that I know how much carbs are in it so I can bolus as accurately as possible.  Eating out is always a carb guessing challenge and typically results in a high BG for me which I would prefer to avoid as much as possible at this point.

While things have gone very smoothly so far, it has taken a lot of dedication and focus on my part to manage my diabetes and eat nutritious foods so that I can grow a healthy baby.  I haven't given in to the whims of my cravings for chocolate or ice cream or pizza or banana pancakes.

That can come later when the baby is delivered.