Gestational Diabetes Running Wild

I was going to post a shocking picture of what I have to do everyday in order to try to control this disease, but I believe the battery is dead on my iPod...so the imagination will have to suffice. 

I have met with an in-home nurse twice and I'm called almost daily by the diabetes nurse to whom I must report all of my blood sugar testing results.  Here's what I've found, since no information online seems to coincide with what I've been directed to do:

Morning routine:  Check ketones (sp?) each morning.  Check fasting blood sugar.  Target range w/o insulin:  60-95.  Do not go more than 8-10 hours at night without eating.  Eat breakfast.  Wait two hours.  Check blood sugar again.  Target range w/o insulin:  100-129. 

Additionally, I'm to eat a mid-morning snack, lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack.  I'm to check my blood sugar two hours after each meal. 

Believe it or not, I was following the very strict diet of counting starches, veggies, meats, fats, milks, and fruits.  I was following the diet as closely as possible.  Result:  My numbers were all over the board.  I could eat the same thing three days in a row, at the same time, starting with around the same fasting number, and yet I'd end up with 50 pts or more difference.  My numbers often skyrocketed into the mid-200s range, which is not good considering I would have been sent to the hospital had it hit 300.  A nurse had initially come to my house to explain all of this, and so I felt like a complete failure when nothing seemed to be working.  After about four days on this diet with no improvement and out of control numbers, I was told I would have to be placed on insulin.

I don't know about you, but I had only known gestational diabetes patients who controlled it with diet, not insulin.  This was scary.  Honestly, it's still scary.  When I opened the cardboard box on my doorstop and saw 100 needles staring up at me, tears streamed down my face.  How would I be able to handle it?  How would I be able to do this for nine more weeks?  Would this even help?

The nurse arrived at my house a week later to show me how to administer the injections.  Oddly, the best place to inject is in your abdomen, which made me freeze.  I was expected to stick a needle right next to where I continually feel kicks and punches from the life forming within me?  Yes, that was the expectation.  Again, I cried.  I did it, but I cried.  The next morning, I cried.  I did it, but I cried.  

How many times must I use insulin?  Three times per day.  That is a minimum of needles going in me seven times per day.  I told S not to squeeze me too tight when he hugged me; fluid might start to leak everywhere from all of the holes I've poked into my body. 

So far, my numbers have been much better, some actually approaching the bottom of the range.  I'm still expected to follow a strict diet and I'm not expected to gain anymore weight; in fact, I may lose weight.  I now look at my plate and almost (note: almost) snicker at the irony:  as a kid, I would never eat veggies, especially those cooked.  I would never eat fish.  No way would I drink a diet Coke (I know--not the greatest choice considering the artificial sweetener, but think of drinking only water--11 glasses per day, I might add--for nine weeks), and yet I've learned lime removes most of the aftertaste and gives it a better flavor.  Oddly, I can't eat many of the suggestions made for diabetics when I do searches online.  Milk and fruit are no-no's in the mornings.  No juice unless my sugar is too low, and even then, only 1/2 cup.  Most breads still spike my sugar. 

Another thing I've learned is that although I felt a little "off" once my numbers evened out, I now feel better and have a little more energy.  I don't feel quite as emotional (which may explain a certain previous post of a raging pregnant lady).  I had no idea what had happened to my body without me even knowing it.  I'm told again and again that this is not my fault; my hormones are just going wild and there's nothing I can do by myself.  Don't buy into the myth this only happens to heavier people, either; I've read lots of stories now about people living on organic food, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight, only to be told they have gestational diabetes.  Once again, I've learned I'm not in control, but I know He is.