A Little Good News, A Little Bad News

These past few weeks have been quite a roller coaster. To start off with the good news...I passed my exam for registered dietitians, which means that after five years of school and a year of an internship, I am finally a Registered Dietitian! I am so happy to finally be done and feel like school is behind me. Also, it is pretty fun to have credentials behind my name now (Janelle Connell, RD).

Now for the not so great news...At 26 weeks I had my routine glucose tolerance test done. I was not worried about this at all, but to my surprise the test came back with not great results. So then I had to go back and do a 3-hour tolerance test, consisting of me fasting for 12 hours the night before, then spending about 4 hours at the doctor's the next day still without any food. The second time around, the results were not any better and I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

The funny thing about being a dietitian is that things like this are kind of a double edged sword. On one hand I am very grateful to have the knowledge that I have so that I can manage this, but on the other hand I also know all of the potential complications and risks to me and the baby which makes me worry that much more.

After getting the diagnosis, I had to try to work things out for my treatment between the diabetes clinic, my doctor, and my insurance, which to say the least was a huge headache. After a few days of being so frustrated and not getting anywhere, I decide I would just manage this myself. I am lucky to work where I do because I was able to get a glucose meter and test trips to start monitoring my blood sugar levels.

So now I follow a pretty strict diet and watch my carbs and sugars, which means no more treats (so hard for a pregnant lady). Although I've taught a diabetic diet a million times, it is definitely a different thing to have to follow one. I struggle every day with feeling like I don't have enough choices of things to eat, but I am definitely gaining sympathy for those people that I counsel on managing their diabetes. I also test my blood sugars about five times a day and try to exercise regularly to keep my levels down.

Needless to say, I will be quite happy when the baby comes and I can go back to eating normally, but for not I am grateful for the knowledge that I have to manage this and keep our baby healthy. On a positive note...I just had another doctor's appointment and only gained 1 pound in the past 5 weeks during a time that is normally a growth spurt and most women gain 7 pounds. So all of my healthy eating is paying off.

Also, here is a picture of our garden. It has really taken off. We are getting tons of zucchini right now, so that's what we've been eating the past few weeks. I am looking forward to the tomatoes to ripen.