Becoming insulin-dependent

Pregnant at 44 - 1 March 2020 journal entry
(31 weeks pregnant)

Hello, March! I am 31 weeks pregnant now! I pray Galen makes his entry in six weeks, by then he would be full-term already. We are all excited to meet Galen, and every day we ask: Maitim kaya, kulot kaya? I’m sure Galen’s amazing in any skin color, hair texture and size. He is God‘s perfect creation, a bonus gift to the family! My prayer is for Galen to be healthy, that I deliver him normally, and that we get to go home at the same time ready to start our lives together.

I’m getting and feeling heavier by the day. My OB ordered that I go on sick leave again, for three weeks this time. I still have cough and haven’t gotten back my normal voice. I sound nasal for a month now. My OB wants my sugar controlled. I’m taking a second insulin dose (eight units) which  I inject before dinner. Still not sure whether the second nightly dose would fix my sugar level. My endocrinologist wants me to go on a trial and error process. I increase the dosage by one unit if my sugar spikes persist until I see her again in two weeks. Weight today = 65.9 kg.

Dealing with Gestational Diabetes

Pregnant at 44 - 19 January 2020 journal entry
(25 weeks pregnant)

This week was busier than my first work week. On Monday, I went to my endocrinologist  who has been my doctor for 12 years now. I met her when I developed a very rare disease called acromegaly (story on this link) and she remarkably made the right diagnosis in 2007.

My endocrinologist confirmed this time that I have gestational diabetes, and she said I was predisposed to it due to my acromegaly history. She started me on 10 units of insulin. I started monitoring my blood sugar in December. Sadly, I had many spikes reading as high as 187, and on some days, my sugar dived to 57. After a week of insulin I still registered abnormal high and low sugar levels, tsk tsk, not good at all. 😢

I should really shift to brown rice. Maybe I’ll start next week and see if white rice has been the main culprit all along. I never thought I could have diabetes. I’m praying my gestational diabetes resolves after I give birth.

I am also praying that the ultrasound-doppler finding on some notching in one of my uterine arteries, which delivers food to the baby through the placenta, resolves in my third trimester. In the meantime, I am to take aspirin, a blood thinner, daily.