Second Trimester Stuff Thus Far

Well, I was about 1 day into my second trimester when my insulin requirements started to increase.  Thankfully, I knew this could happen and was expecting it, so it wasn't too much of a shock. Also, it means the baby is growing, so that's good!  It's still a little hard to see my insulin requirements increase so much, since for so much of my life I've equated more insulin needs to a failure somehow on my part (i.e. not exercising enough, eating too many high glycemic carbs, etc).  Even though that's total bunk in regular, non-pregnant diabetes life, that nagging "you're not doing well enough" feeling still happens every time my insulin needs go up.  It's an antiquated way to view insulin needs, that I can logically understand is stupid, but for some reason it's so ingrained in my psyche that it's still hard to see.  I just have to remember, that, pregnant or not, my body needs the amount of insulin it needs, and that non-diabetics use insulin on a regular basis (their bodies just happen to  make it), so why is it so bad if I need to use it too?  It's not. Get over it, Erin.

Anyway, when my insulin needs rose, it took a few days to figure things out. I ended up having to take lots of walks at random times of the day (usually at like 9:00 at night) to help get my blood sugar to come down, but I think I finally adjusted dosing enough to make it better . . . for now.  Apparently, this is going to just be the status quo until October.  If I'm lucky, I'll only have to make adjustments every week or every few weeks, but I know my insulin needs could potentially change on a daily basis, and while that totally sucks, I am prepared for that. I give serious props to women who do this while working full time! I feel like it's just a full time job in and of itself eating, taking medicine, adjusting, etc., I don't know how people do this with a full time job!

Other things that are happening:

• I'm getting larger.  I first noticed that, while my tummy wasn't growing bigger, my hips were expanding outwards, and I needed knew pants! My stomach is finally catching up to my hips a little bit, and while I haven't felt the baby move yet, it definitely feels like something is in there that isn't normally there. If I didn't know I was pregnant, I'd definitely think I had some kind of tumor going on.  Or a parasite family making a home in my stomach. (Shout out to La Famila Raul, C. Burns!) (that was an inside joke about parasites, just FYI) 
• My endo is still the bomb dot com.  They email back and forth with me once or twice a week and help me make adjustments to my blood sugars  And I don't have to pay for it. And they are my heroes. I love my endo and her PA!
• I had my first bout of morning sickness that ended really badly.  I was feeling a little nauseated, but knew if I ate breakfast, I'd feel better. So I proceeded to eat my oatmeal, only to throw it all back up again about 5 minutes later.  It was bad! I think it was a combination of things. I was having a really bad low (like in the 40s low) and going that low always makes me sick to my stomach anyway. Also (and this is gross) I was having some serious snot issues from spring allergies, and had massive amounts of mucous cascading down the back of my throat, making me feel gaggy, so that triple-threat combined equaled one yet-to-be-matched episode of upchucking. I feel for those who are constantly sick during pregnancy. Sheesh.

I just had both my monthly appointment with my endo, and my 16 week appointment with my OB.  My endo was absolutely ecstatic about how well things were going, which reassured me a lot.  I constantly feel like I'm killing my baby every time I have a low or a "high", but my endo said that I was doing perfectly and that I'm one of the best controlled Type 1s they had so far.  ( I should get some sort of award for that, or something, right?) My A1C was 5.1, which I guess is good, but to me it makes me wonder how can possibly still be alive and breathing with an A1C that low! When I told my dad he said "maybe you should be pregnant all the time, and that way it will be like you don't have diabetes!"  Um, not happening.  :)  My thyroid function is perfect for now, too, and they'll keep tabs on that monthly as well.  

My OB appointment was pretty low-key. We heard the baby's heart beat (156 bpm).  It totally freaked me out at first, because the medical assistant was having trouble locating it, but she found it and it was going strong.  She said she even thought our little fetus was moving around a bit, although I don't know how they tell that from just listening to the heart beat.  I have an appointment at 19 weeks when we will have an ultrasound.  While my OB is a high-risk OB, there is a doctor in the practice who is like the High Risk of High Risk OBs who's been practicing forever, so they are going to have him do my ultrasound just to make sure everything is OK so far. Hopefully we'll also be able to find out the gender at that appointment, too!

And then at about 24-28 weeks, I have to have a fetal echo done, where they will check out the little one's heart to make sure it formed properly.  With Type 1 diabetes, there's a chance that the baby's heart can be messed up, especially if you're uncontrolled, so I have to go get an ultrasound of the wee one's heart.  I'll get that done at the local children's hospital, which is where they have super special fetal echo equipment  apparently.  

And, that's about it so far! It's still a crazy ride, full of prescriptions and doctor's visits, and testing, testing, testing and more testing! And, I am actually looking forward to after this baby is born when I can neglect myself a little bit, and let me A1C run higher (and eat massive amounts of cereal--seriously you guys, cereal is all I'm going to eat after this kid is out of me!).  But, so far, so good! I'll keep you posted!