Dealing with the side effects not always fun

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Most people don't know this, but for the past month and a half I've been pricking my finger four times a day in order to test my blood sugar.

According to the American Diabetes Association, I'm the same as about 4 percent of pregnant women who are diagnosed each year with gestational diabetes. And it has taken some getting used to deal with it.

At first, I was more embarrassed than anything, because I didn't want everyone to know that I was having to do "special" stuff during my pregnancy. I just want to be "normal" like everyone else I know who's carried a baby.

The pricking of the finger four times a day isn't really that bad. It hurts for about a millisecond, then you never knew you were bleeding. The hardest part of being diabetic is watching what I eat.

I'm one of the lucky ones who has managed to control by sugar and insulin levels just by watching what I eat - lots of protein, fats, non-starchy vegetables, and very little carbohydrates and sugars. But that also limits a lot of the good stuff I ate before being diagnosed.

But by watching what I eat and controlling my insulin production, I'm making sure my baby will be healthy when he is born. Not taking care of myself can lead to a larger baby being born, because the baby stores the extra energy as fat. There also are other complications the baby can face, like being a child more at risk for obesity and growing into an adult at risk for type 2 diabetes.

For me, being diabetic is a temporary lifestyle adjustment, because gestational diabetes typically ends in the mother once the baby is born. It just means eating more meat and vegetables like spinach and broccoli and peanut butter and sugar-free items for a couple of months until the baby gets here.

For people who are diabetic all the time, it means a lifetime change in eating and exercising, as well as the possibility of having to be medicated to help control the sugar and insulin levels in their bodies.

I know what it is like to have to completely revamp my diet to adjust how it reacts with the carbs and sugar being digested in what I eat. Some of the things you are taught growing up are the best for you, like fruits, are all of a sudden taken from you. All those fruit salads I was eating, because I thought they were healthy when I first got pregnant ... I can't have those any more. Only small servings of fruit on a limited basis.

To have to change my diet for the rest of my life would be a very difficult adjustment, and I can completely see how people with diabetes struggle to manage their glucose levels and what they eat on a daily basis.

It is hard to go out to eat and find something that isn't drowning in carbs or sugar. And then if you do, the seasoning has been made up with salt and other bad things for your body. It is a game of balancing the lesser of two evils against having no flavor at all.

A couple of meals I've found I like, but cost a little more because they aren't on any fast food value meal, are BBQ chicken with grilled green beans and cheddar mashed potatoes (because I can eat just one serving of starch and the rest are proteins) and a bacon-wrapped steak with a side salad and creamed spinach. Both of these are at local chain restaurants in Mount Airy.

I've found other things I can eat as well at other area restaurants, but sometimes they require making sure I take in a little more water or am a little more active after I eat to help pump up my insulin production.

My pregnancy hasn't been complication-free by any means ... as the doctors continue to monitor my sugars until delivery, and my blood pressure has been on the high side, which is an even more serious problem. But all I can do is look to the near future ... just four weeks from yesterday ... when my due date is scheduled and know that all will be well once my little one gets here.

Wendy Byerly Wood is the associate editor of The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at wbyerly-wood@mtairynews.com or 719-1923.

Additional information:

Understanding Gestational Diabetes Diet and Weight Gain
Gestational Diabetes Diet Care Guide
The Gestational Diabetes Diet Network
Gestational Diabetes Diet Plans, Menus and Recipes
Gestational Diabetes What it Means for Me and My Baby
Type 2 Diabetes Diabetes Symptoms Diabetes Diet Gestational
Gestational Diabetes Causes, Complications, and Risks
Diabetic Diet Zone Home Diabetes Diets Diabetic Info
Gestational Diabetes Diet
Gestational Diabetes Causes, Symptoms and Management.
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