You can’t control Gestational Diabetes. It happens sometimes. But there are ways to help your body deal with it. Monitoring diet and engaging in regular exercise really can be the key for women who have low-to-medium level insulin resistance. The aim of monitoring your diet is to balance the amount of carbohydrate in your meals. The general consensus from dietitians and endocrinologists seems to be that having 3 meals and 2-3 snacks per day (but please follow the advice of your personal care provider). It does make sense that it’s easier on your body if you spread out the carbohydrates into 3 balanced meals and 2-3 snacks instead of packing them into three carb-heavy meals per day. Another way to manage high blood sugar levels can be regular exercise, like walking. Going for a walk 30 and 90 minutes after eating to can help lower blood sugar levels by using up the excess glucose in the blood stream. Every person responds differently though, so if you do have Gestational Diabetes, please work with your care provider in finding the management plan right for you. Some women develop a high level of insulin resistance, despite eating balanced and spaced out meals and snacks, and exercising regularly. These women continue to have consistently elevated blood glucose levels. I was one of those women. When my hormones peaked at 32 weeks, I would not be able to eat a chicken and salad sandwich of barely 30g of carbohydrates without my blood sugar spiking well above the ‘allowed’ limits. People kept telling me to “control” my diabetes. I thought I was doing something wrong because my blood sugar levels were so high, so I reduced my carbohydrate intake drastically. The dietician put me on insulin when I started losing weight (and I was only 140lbs at 32 weeks, so didn’t have much to lose!), I had no energy and I was and spilling ketones into my urine. If, like me, you are doing all you can and you still need insulin, please be kind of yourself – it’s not your fault. Remember, you can’t control this. You have a medical condition. You are insulin resistant. Your body just needs some help. Injecting insulin is very easy (I found it virtually painless, and nowhere near as unpleasant as the finger-prick tests!). It helps your body by giving it the extra insulin it needs when your pancreas is producing as much insulin as possible but your body is still unable to lower your blood sugar level. Despite the myths floating around, a diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes does NOT mean you will automatically have a big baby. It does NOT mean you automatically need to have a cesarean. It does NOT mean you cannot VBAC. It does not mean your baby will definitely need to go to the Special Care Nursery… You have options, and a gentle, calm and intervention-free vaginal birth with gestational diabetes is possible for most women.
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