Type 1 Diabetes & Pregnancy: What It Feels Like
Do you know how hard it was to not tell you guys I am pregnant? Sitting on that information for three months was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. There were SO MANY questions I wanted to ask, and so many stories I wanted to share, but I knew it was best to keep my mouth shut until we were past a certain point. And it is still early in our pregnancy, all things considered, so I shared our news with hopeful optimism and in hopes of some positive thoughts being sent our way.
And holy crap do you guys deliver. I’ve read every comment on the Dear Baby post, even though I’ve had to take breaks to grab tissues because you made me tear up quite a bit. My husband, my mom, and my mother-in-law are reading the comments, too. And they say thanks for the support as well. 
So now you know. And now I can talk about what the past three months have been like. (Video to come this afternoon.)
I referenced the exhaustion before, but I must mention it again. BabySparl makes me want to spend the majority of the day snuggled up against a cold pillow and a warm down comforter. I keep reading in all those “Hey, You’re Pregnant!” books about how tired the baby building can make a woman, but I thought they were sort of kidding or at least over-exaggerating a little bit. Not the case. Naps are my friend. I take them constantly, and sometimes I’m skipping the gym in efforts to snag a random hour of sleep.
Low blood sugars also appear to be my “friend,” only I’m not as happy about those. Over the last three months, I’ve had some very persistent low blood sugars. My A1C is down to 6.2% as of my last endocrinologist appointment on October 9th, but it’s not without the nudging of these lows. (Thankfully, the highs have tapered off to almost nothing, but still. THE LOWS.) Other diabetic women had told me that my A1C will be at its lowest during the course of my pregnancy, but I always thought it would be because of all the blood sugar stalking. I didn’t realize that building BabySparl was going to make me burn more energy than I ever have before. A few weeks ago, I had a blood sugar of 60 that stayed with me for 12 hours, regardless of the carbohydrates consumed. I’ve made some headway in peeling back on some of the lows, but I’m sure once I have it sort of figured out, my basals will change AGAIN. (They have changed every three weeks since I found out I was pregnant. Unpredictable body of mine.)
And the food cravings. For the first month and a half, I didn’t have any cravings at all. Nothing new appealed to me and I wasn’t even having any food aversions. But by the time I hit the 8th week of pregnancy, I was all over the map. Just to prove how confused my body is, I’ve gone from despising seafood in all forms to craving grilled shrimp. SHRIMP? I even ordered scallops at dinner the other night. There is something wrong with me. In addition to the suddenly-seafood cravings, I’m also fiending for fruit. Vitamin C-heavy fruits in particular. I think the ideal meal these days seems to be grilled shrimp and scallops with sliced kiwi and whipped cream for dessert. Orange juice (with pulp – the best!) to drink. And in even odder food news, I am completely turned off from coffee in all forms. (I KNOW.) It’s not the caffeine I’m trying to avoid, but the taste of coffee in general. It makes my stomach do flip-flops and that boggles the hell out of my brain.
And now, as of early last week, I’m seeing a baby bump that I can’t suck in anymore. Earlier in the pregnancy, I had some bloating that made me ask, “Whoa, am I showing already?” But it would come and go throughout the day, so I knew it wasn’t actual baby bump. Now, though? Pants don’t button. There’s a definitive bump just below my belly button that is hard and protrudes just enough. It is the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt, and even though it’s hard to adjust to the whole concept of “getting rounder” when I’ve fought an uphill battle to “get smaller,” every time I look at the ultrasound photo on our fridge and feel the hard, rounded belly forming under my shirt, I feel a rush of excitement. There’s really a baby in there. That very concept just blows my mind.
I’m beyond thankful to have resources like you guys to help me through the next six months. And I’m thanking you in advance for being tolerant of all the questions! This is the coolest thing I’ve ever had the honor of building, and I’m hopeful every day that BabySparl is having a grand ol’ time in there.
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
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