Pregnant!

I can hardly contain my excitement and I HAVE to tell someone, so I'm telling you all - I'm pregnant!!!!  I just found out this morning and I'm cloud 9!

My husband and I just started trying for our second baby (our daughter is 20 months old) and I am in total shock that I'm pregnant the first month off of birth control! Last time it took me 5 months.  I have to say that I am so glad that it happened quickly, though.  10 months is long enough to be completely psycho about keeping blood sugars low ;)

We have a trip scheduled to visit both sets of our parents (who live in Southern California) at the end of this month and I'm so excited that we get to tell them in person this time.   

Thanks for letting me share my news!! :)

Candace,  congratulations!!!!!! I myself am 27 weeks pregnant with our first and am enjoying the process immensely. I can't wait to meet our little one. One thing that has made it easier is the paradigm system. I'd highly recommend it if you have not gone on the pump yet.

Keep us posted on know how you are feeling! 

 

w00t! congrats to you and your hubby!

Woohoo!  That's awesome!  :)  Congrats Candace!

Candace,

I am so happy for you!!! You should start a juvenation blog and write about your pregnancy!

G

Thanks ladies, I really appreciate it!

We'll see, Gina.  I'm such a lousy blogger!  My blog on blogspot hasn't been updated in something like a year!

Do it come on! I would love to read about pregnancy since I will hopefully be trying soon!

I am just starting the process of trying to get pregnant...I am not on the pump...I tried it in High School and gained a lot of weight.  I am nervous about the complications but mostly about if I can get pregnant...how long did it take you?

Yay!  Congrats Candace!  That is awesome news!

Nicole- I think we are in a similar boat with the exception that I am on a pump now.  My husband and I hope to start trying to conceive next month.  My last a1c was 5.7 so in that respect I am ready, but I am terrified!  All the what ifs have been getting to me lately so I know exactly how you feel.  Anyone out there have any advice on how to let go of the worries?  Pregancy in general can be such an exciting time and yet scary all at once for women who aren't diabetic let alone for those of us who are.

 

Hi Nicole! I was really worried about being able to get pregnant too.  I can't really logically explain why, since I have no other health issues besides diabetes...but I guess I just figured there was already something wrong with me and maybe I'd have other issues too.  Well, with my daughter (who is almost 2 years old) it took 4 months and this time around, I was off of birth control for 2 whole weeks before I got pregnant!  So yeah, I guess I didn't have much to worry about. 

I'm not going to lie, it is a ton of work to be pregnant and diabetic.  It is my honest opinion that being on a pump makes it easier.  You just have a lot more flexibility to make therapy adjustments.  And you have to make A LOT of adjustments.  I've changed my carb ratio and basal rates 3 times just this week!  The pregnancy hormones and the baby growing just do wacky things to your body and the flexibility of a pump and being able to give more exact doses of insulin helps.  I know that my OB just about requires her diabetic patients to go on a pump during pregnancy because she feels it's safer for the mom and baby.  That being said, women (even diabetic women) have been having babies for years and years and years before we had pump therapy and they had healthy babies.  I think it's just about the level of work that you're willing and able to do and what is a right fit for your situation.  Have you spoken with your endo and/or OB about getting pregnant and what the best therapy decisions are for you and your situation?  That's definitely the best place to start.

Good luck with getting pregnant!  Try to relax and trust that your body will know what to do (I know, easier said than done.)  I can say with absolute certainty that it's much easier to relax the second time around!

Candace...I feel the same way.  I have no other health problems but I guess I just figure that since something is already wrong with me and my system that maybe I might have a harder time.  We have only been trying for one month but I was pretty bummed when my period showed up.  It's funny how you can spend years afraid of being pregnant and doing everything you can so you don't then one day you are ready to be a mommy and it feels like you can't....I started thinking " why did I take birth cotnrol at all?" Lol

It sounds like a lot of work...how long have you been on the pump for?  How hard was it for you to lose the weight with your daughter after she was born?  What about breast feeding?  Any complications? 

It is harder to relax but hearing that from you really helped.  Thank you.

I'm glad I helped!  Ask all the questions you have!  I know it REALLY helped for me to have other diabetic women to talk with during the whole process.  There's just a huge added layer for us that "normal" women don't even have to think about.  So much so that I just felt so different from my other pregnant friends.  My favorite is when my non-d friends complain and complain about having to take the glucose tolerance test that tests for gestational diabetes in the 25th week of pregnancy.  They go on and on about how nasty the drink tastes and how it's so inconvenient to have to be at the doctor's office for so long and give multiple blood samples.  I don't usually say anything, but in my head I think about how I'd LOVE to have to take that test because it would mean I didn't have T1 and I wouldn't have to do all the extra work!  They complain about giving three blood samples in three hours and I think, try pricking your finger 12 times a day for the entire pregnancy and having to figure out carb and insulin ratios! 

I know what you mean about just being ready to be a mom.  It sucks that you spend so much time avoiding it,then  you finally make the huge decision to do it, and then you have to wait to get knocked up!  It's enough to make you crazy!  But trust for now, just trust that your body knows what to do and that it will happen, since you have zero evidence to the contrary.  I think the average is like, 6 months of trying before people conceive.

It's a lot of work, but it's a relatively short period of time that you have to do it for.  Once my daughter was born, I was able to back way off of being so crazy about control.  Of course I still did things to take good care of myself, I just could be a little more lax about things and not freak out if my A1C wasn't a perfect 6.  I've only been diabetic for just over 3 years.  I went on the pump only 2 months after my diagnosis (I have a diabetic younger brother who'd been on the pump for a few years, so I knew from watching him that it was the way I wanted to go).  I got pregnant almost 2 years after my diagnosis.  I nursed my daughter for a year and didn't have any issues losing the 50lbs I packed on during pregnancy.  Yes, I typed 50lbs!!!  That's twice the recommended weight gain.  It was impossible for me to not gain that much, I excercised the whole time and ate really healthfully, but like my OB said, "Your body's going to gain what it wants to gain."  She wasn't that concerned, I guess because I wasn't overweight before I got pregnant.  I really packed on the lbs in the 3rd trimester when I was really insulin resistant and was taking triple my normal dose.  They say that insulin makes you gain weight and I can say from that experience that it's true.  The weight came off really easily because 1.  I was obviously taking less insulin once I wasn't pregnant anymore, 2. I kept eating a pretty healthy and balanced diet, 3. I nursed for so long (that REALLY helps with the weight issue), and 4. I was active - I took my daughter for walks in her stroller almost every day and did some long bike rides on the weekend.  I was back to pre-preg weight in about 8 months. 

No complications for my last pregnancy.  I did have my daughter 3 weeks early because my placenta was starting to break down a little early and they wanted to be sure that it didn't happen completely.  But 3 weeks wasn't so bad.  I didn't have to experience the miserably uncomfortable final weeks of pregnancy!  I did have a c-section, but it was my choice to not try induction first.  I didn't want artificial labor drugs that would just put me in pain for 24 hours before they decided to cut me open anyway (doc wasn't optimistic about induction working since I wasn't dilated or effaced at all) - so I decided to cut right to the chase.  I know some people are afraid of c-sections, but mine was great. Honestly, I was terrified of labor and how unpredictable it can be.  I mean, what would my blood sugars do during a long and active labor?  Would I be able to feel it if I went low?  Would I be able to treat it?  I hear that you're not really allowed to eat after a certain point and that you don't feel like it anway...I had all these questions about diabetes and labor that freaked me out and I was just happy for the easy, controlled environment of a surgical birth.  I know that sounds awful to some people, but it's just how I feel.  And my recovery was great, so I have no qualms about going that route again. 

Sorry for the novel, but I hope it helps to read someone else's diabetic pregnancy story.  I know it really did (and still does!) help for me!

  

Hey Gina! Can that super-long post count as my diabetic pregnancy blog??  haha! :)

Hey Candace!

I can't thank you enough for you long post!  I will be starting to try to conceive in a couple weeks and am getting so nervous about the whole process.  Your story reminded me of myself (in terms of how long you were T1 before becoming pregnant, etc.) and was really helpful as I am in prep mode.  That is interesting that you said you preferred a c-section.  I am so freaked out about the thought of being cut open while awake.  People tell me that once you get pregnant you would do anything for the baby and that something switches inside you.  I sure hope that's the case for me!  It really is so helpful to hear stories from other women with T1 looking to get or who are pregnant.  I love your story about your friends complaining about the glucose tolerance test.  I feel ya with that!  Wouldn't that test be FANSTASTIC!  Because that would mean no T1 for me!  I know people who are not diabeteic try to understand, but I think that only other women who are diabetic can truly get it.  Thanks again for sharing your story, and if you have any advice, I am always open for it!

Take care!

Katie

Thanks Katie!  I answered your c-section questions on your "Poll" post, so I won't go on and on here. 

 I will say that for a split second after my daughter was born, I did lament the fact that I will never know what labor feels like.  I'll never deliver a baby "the way God intended."  I don't even know what a contraction feels like!  There are some really anti- c-section ladies out there who have actually suggested that I didn't have the full experience of being a mother and a woman - which made me really, really sad.  But my husband (who is the best man in the whole world) said to me, "They are just stupid to think and say that.  You didn't need to go through the 'work' of labor and delivery to be a mom.  You were more of a mother during your 9 months of pregnancy than anyone else because you had to do all the hard work of keeping your blood sugars controlled and doing all the extra doctor's visits.  Just think of that as your labor and they can go ____ themselves."   I <3 him!!!

I loved reading your novel...I laughed quite a few times.  It is really nice to have a T1 to talk to about this.  I am also a go for the c-section too.  I am just really nervous about the weight gain.  I know I gain weight when I take more insulin now, I can't imagine what it will do to me :)  What insulin did you take during the pregnancy?  Tht is good to know about nursing.  I have heard that but I also heard it was a myth :)  I will keep that in mind...Thank you so much for your attention to detail...

 

Nicole

I've taken novolog in my pump for the past 2 years.  The weight gain really is a pain in the rear, and I was REALLY nervous about taking it off, but like I said it really wasn't a problem (HUGE sigh of relief!!)  I'm really hoping that will be the case the second time around, I'm not quite sure how I'll have time to excercise with 2 little ones running around - but I guess I'll just have to make it work. 

I think people sometimes think the nursing thing is a myth for this reason: ummm, you can't eat donuts and ice cream and fast food all day long and then expect nursing to take off all your baby weight! lol!  But if you maintain a healthy diet and keep excercising, then nursing definitely is an extra little boost.  As a diabetic you REALLY see that this is true because of what nursing does to your blood sugars.  It's definitely like a little excercise - I took less insulin when I was nursing than I did after I stopped and my endo confirmed that it was directly related to my body doing the extra work of producing milk.

Thanks so much Candace for sharing your story!  I agree 100% with your husband.  The other people that made those horrible comments about you not being as much of a mother are for the birds.  My mom had a c-section with me and again with my sister and she has been the best mother anyone could ever ask for.  How you deliver the baby doesn't matter or make you any more or less of a mother.  I can't believe those people had the nerve to say those thing to you! 

After beginning to feel all the "nerves" as I have been mentioning on here, I had a really bad time of it this week...complete panic attacks 2x and a lot of anxiety.  I have taken anxiety meds since I was in high school and I was just about weaned off everything in order to get pregnant, but realized that I can't be off of them completely...the anxiety and "withdraw-type" symptoms were too bad and this wouldn't be healthy for a baby either.  It's hard to come to terms with that.  So, that being said, I am trying to come to terms also with the fact that I am going to have to wait a little longer to have a baby until my doctors find a medication that I can take that will help the anxiety and have the least effect on the baby.  Do any of you know women who have been in this situaiton?  I am sure there are many out there.  I feel a bit like a failure at the moment, but I know that there will be a way for me to have a healthy baby -  between the diabetes and the anxiety-med issue now - someday.  I am only 28, so I really do have quite a few more child-bearing years.  It would be my hope that we could get everything situated by next summer, but I am just going to wait and see.  I think part of my problem is that I was trying to take way too much control over the pre-pregnancy planning (given all the diabetes prep that is needed) that it was taking all the fun out of it.  I started to lose the excitement, which I really want to experience.

Any thoughts, input, words of advice, would be much appreciated!  Thanks for listening!

Katie