I’m fit and healthy yet still had Gestational Diabetes

 

So you were just diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and if you were like me, you were upset and confused to why it happened to you. I was and this is why I decided to post about my experience. I really was thrown off to why I ended up with diabetes while pregnant since I lead a very active, healthy lifestyle, and continued this lifestyle while pregnant. With my first pregnancy, I had no issues, so of course I assumed this time around it would be the same!

While you are pregnant most doctors require you to take a glucose tolerance test. The first test is a simple, 1 hour test where you drink a delicious high sugar beverage (just kidding on the delicious) and sit quietly for an hour. After the hour is up, they take your blood and you are done.

If you happen to fail that test, which I did, then you have to do the 3 hour glucose tolerance test. This test is brutal. I assumed that I would pass it too, since a lot of people fail the 1 hour and pass the 3 hour–which made everything worse. You go in after fasting and they end up taking your blood 4 separate times. 1st when you arrive, 2nd an hour after you drink an even sweeter beverage than the first test, 3rd after two hours and the 4th time after 3 hours.

My blood sugar level shot up to 213 after the first hour and 187 the second hour. Normal after the first hour is 65 – 179 mg/dL and the second hour is 65 – 154 mg/dL. However, my fasting level was normal.

After failing the 3 hour test, I was instructed to go in for diabetes education, which was a 2 hour long class with a nurse and a dietician. I received a glucose monitor, lances and test strips.

Glucose monitor:

At the class, they tell you how many carbs to eat at each meal in order to keep your blood sugar levels at bay. I learned how many carbs are typically in foods like pasta, rice, fruit and bread. The other thing I learned is that you shouldn’t just not eat carbs or go on a low carb diet. You need carbs, especially while pregnant, for energy. But you should eat a protein at the same time as carbs. This is because protein is absorbed into your system slower than carbs, so they will slow down the metabolism of carbs. This can help to keep your blood sugar from spiking too high.

I was advised to have breakfast and then a snack, lunch and then a snack, and then dinner and a snack before bed. Every meal should have a carb and a protein. For instance, a snack can be a pear and a slice or cheese.

So, I thought, Ok, this isn’t so bad–I eat fairly healthy for the most part anyway and I exercise so it won’t affect my lifestyle. I just didn’t normally eat snacks at scheduled intervals like they were recommending. I basically tried to spread out what I ate throughout the day…which is what you should do anyway!

I had to keep a chart to send to the nurse every other week that had what I ate for every meal, how many carbs it had, and my blood sugar level fasting in the morning and after each meal. I had to prick my finger 4 times a day.

This is the recommended regiment of how many carbs per meal:

Breakfast: 30g carbohydrates
Snack: 15g carbohydrates
Lunch: 30-25g carbohydrates
Snack: 15g carbohydrates
Dinner: 45g carbohydrates
Snack: 15g carbohydrates

This is my chart:

 

For the most part, I was able to keep my blood sugar level at the recommended level with just my diet. There were a few times where I did eat too many carbs at one sitting and it spiked my sugar too high, but for the most part it was fine. The key is to just space out your carbs throughout the day.

Here is a chart of an idea of what to look for:

 

For gestational diabetes, though, I had to aim to keep my sugar level below 120 two hours after meals. I was able to do this with just diet alone. There were a few times it spiked if I ate too many carbs at one sitting, but for the most part I was able to keep it under control. Here is a good resource: http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/gestational-diabetes-guide/gestational_diabetes

All in all, yeah it sucks to get a diagnosis like this, but I learned a lot and it resulted in a healthier diet for the remainder of my pregnancy.  I then gave birth to a very healthy 6lb 10oz little girl!

Save