Diabetes

While I was pregnant with Archie I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Every pregnant mom has some insulin resistance due to some hormones the placenta puts out.  This resistance is good because it means if there is limited food for the mother, the body slows down processing food so that the baby can get the most nutrition out of whatever food goes in moms mouth.  For most women in a first world country, it's not an issue because there is plenty of food available.  Unfortunately for some women their placenta works overtime and builds up too strong of an insulin resistance resulting in gestational diabetes.  Many women with gestational diabetes can treat it by eating a low carb, high veg and protein diet.  Some women need diabetes medications to help level out their blood sugars.  My sugars were great with just diet, except for my morning fasting number.  So I took gluberide every night to help my morning sugars.  It gave me terrible stomach cramps the first week or so, but it worked.
I didn't tell very many people about being diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  Partly because I was embarrassed.  I (incorrectly) felt like it was my fault and I was hurting my baby with my health habits.  The reality was just that my placenta was being an overachiever.  :)
My third trimester went really well with Archie growing great and my blood sugars were fabulous.  I worked hard to eat right and avoided almost all sugar.  I did have a smidge of sugar around Christmas but I had plenty of protein with it so it didn't spike my sugars. ;)  I exercised everyday with either a neighborhood walk or a dance party with the family.
For most women with gestational diabetes it goes away after the baby is born.  Once the hormone producing placenta is gone, the woman's blood sugars level out.  We tested my blood sugars in the hospital and my doctor said everything looked great.  I checked my sugars sporadically over then next 6 weeks and they were all in healthy range.  I was working really hard to eat right and be as active as I could.  By my 6 week appointment I had lost all but 5lbs of the baby weight I had gained with Archie. After my 6 week appointment my ob had me to the 2 hour glucose tolerance test again.  Unfortunately it came back saying I had pre-diabetes.  This means I have a mild carb intolerance, but not severe enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.  I was obese when I got pregnant with Archie, and being so heavy makes me at greater risk for getting type 2 diabetes if I'm not careful. The treatment in my case is to eat right and exercise.  Hopefully I'll be able to lose enough weight to get my insulin working correctly again. I'm down 16 lbs since that 6 week appointment, so I'm on my way.