Gestational Diabetes

Tears filled my eyes as I scanned the shelf.  Monitors of various sizes and shapes for anywhere from $20-$60 with cooresponding test strips.  I shouldn’t be shopping for myself, I should be shopping for my kid, my mom, grandmother, aunt, brothers.  If I was to ask for something for Christmas, it wouldn’t be GD and a glucometer.

What is wrong with my body?  Why isn’t it able to meet the demands of this growing child inside of me?   Did I eat too many mini-candy bars at Halloween?  Did two months without exercise cause a problem?  It was tough to get active with bronchitis….but I should have.

Everything I see online tells me this isn’t my fault.  The baby and all important placenta are creating hormones that counteract insulin.  So, my pancreas has to create 3x the amount it usually does.  It isn’t cutting it.  Close, but close doesn’t count.  It has nothing to do with what I have eaten this last 6 months.  It just is.  So, I have had to begin a low-carb regimine at my favorite food time of year, Thanksgiving-through-Christmas.  A time when I love to bake cookies with my son, make pies, pasta, hot cocoa. 

It will be fine, we’ll survive.  I’ll diet, I’ve had lots of practice throughout my life.  The baby is the one who matters and I will do whatever I have to for him.