Just a quick update on the status of my gestational diabetes. So after a few weeks of checking my blood sugar and following my diet plan (with a few treats and exceptions), I have yet to have an elevated blood sugar reading. I have had one or two that approached the high level of the norm, but I could always tell from my food diary what caused it. Unfortunately I’ve had to increase the needle depth on my lancet (the little device that sticks me to draw blood) because I wasn’t getting enough blood. So each stick hurts quite a bit more. I’m surviving but I have to kind of hold my breath when I do it. I’m also increasing my exercise. I get 20-60 minutes most days of the week. My goal is 20 minutes minimum every day but that doesn’t always happen. We had our first growth check ultrasound and the baby is measuring in the 50% percentile for his gestation (a little over three pounds) which is great news. So far he’s on track to be smaller than my daughter which will hopefully only make labor easier.
I’ve been discovering new food as part of this diet and honestly wouldn’t mind eating this way a little more often (though I miss cookies and milk). I’ve discovered Greek yogurt. While it’s far too expensive to eat on a regular basis, it makes a great breakfast on days when I’m sick of eggs. I’ve also discovered that my body tolerates a Skinny Cow low fat ice cream treat as my bedtime snack. This little reward at the end of the day is making it much easier to stay on my diet the rest of the time. (Though there have been a few occasions when I was tempted to have more than one ice cream treat a day). Now that I see how well my body is doing on this diet it can be tempting to go off it and cheat. But mostly I’m happy to be eating healthy. Other new additions to my diet include Kashi high protein granola bars and whole wheat grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.
It is hard to go to the grocery store and spend so much more than I used to. We almost never bought boxed goods but now I’m finding it easier to buy a few things that I can read the label on rather than using homemade substitutes and having to guess on the carb content. Plus with my new schedule of eating six times a day and taking my blood sugar four times a day plus exercise, it has been hard to find as much time to make everything from scratch. But I can’t complain. If I have to deal with this, so far it hasn’t been as terrible as I feared.
Update: You can read my full gestational diabetes recommendations here.
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