Bebe 2: Gestational Diabetes

I know this blog is titled Growing My FIRST Human, but I don't really want to change it and I don't have anywhere else to document Ka'io's birth... so here ya go! 

First of all, this pregnancy was so different from Lainey's. I wish I would have written more about it, but having a toddler means any screen time we have is dedicated to Minions or Zootopia. 😂

With this pregnancy, I got gestational diabetes. They suspect I may have had it with Lainey too, it was just so mild it went undetected. After having Lainey I gained a ton of weight so then getting pregnant so quickly and being so much bigger than when I got pregnant with Lainey didn't help. When I first found out I got a little extreme about it and cut carbs almost completely and lost about 15 lbs in two weeks. I realized I didn't need to be quite so extreme and slowly started eating a little more normally, just healthier alternatives. For example, I could still eat a PB&J, I just had to use sugar free J and whole wheat bread. The brand of PB didn't even matter, I could eat the regular stuff that my dad insists is terrible for you and my blood sugar would be totally fine. Oh yeah, I had to prick my finger and test my blood sugar when I first woke up in the morning and an hour after every meal. I thought it would be a lot worse than it was, I just had a hard time remembering to do it toward the end of the pregnancy (like when I was forgetting everything haha). 

After a month or so of trying to be totally perfect, I had to start taking insulin at night. My fasting blood sugar (first thing in the morning, after not eating for 8 or so hours) was never low enough. That was really when I started being less extreme with my diet; I was pretty discouraged. I also could not stab myself with a needle! Ho'oulu didn't want to do it either so I put off taking it for an extra week or two after the doctor prescribed it. I finally convinced him to do it (after many hours and nights of holding a needle to my arm and trying to convince myself to do it haha). He became a total pro and really saved my life - and Ka'io's! Not literally but maybe a little bit. 
I think the worst part about having gestational diabetes (besides the potential harm to the bebe, of course) is the extra appointments. We live AN HOUR from the hospital and we had to go there for non-stress tests, which twice a week for the last month, plus I still had to go to my regular OB appointments every week. So I had THREE appointments a week! And before that for about a month I had a non-stress test once a week. It was so awful. 
Gestational diabetes is the worst. I am so sorry to those who have type 1 or type 2 because that's indefinite; I could look forward to having a normal life again after giving birth (hopefully anyway. It's possible for it to just stay and basically become type 2, but I was SO LUCKY to not have that happen).
So basically if you ever want to have kids, start cutting carbs and working out now. 😂

This was a very brief version. If you have any further questions or you need low carb food ideas, feel free to message me on FB, comment here, text me, whatever! I'd be happy to help in any way I can.