Gestational Diabetes Blahs

You know those people who say that being pregnant is great because you can eat whatever you want. After all, you're eating for two. Well, that may sound great in theory, but it hasn't worked out that way for me.

With both of my pregnancies, I've had the misfortune of developing borderline cases of gestational diabetes. Basically, the pregnancy hormones for some reason prevent the insulin in my body from correctly processing sugar. This causes more sugar to be passed to the fetus whose pancreas has to work overtime to produce more insulin to process the extra sugar. This can cause the baby to grow too much as well as experience several other problems before and after birth.

Fortunately, because I have had borderline cases, diet and exercise have been sufficient to control the diabetes enough for it to not affect the babies. The down side is the diet. . .

The basic idea behind the diet is to control the amount of sugar and carbs going into my body so that I intake only a small amount but on a consistent basis. This allows my body to process the sugars without any big spikes in blood sugar. Generally, every 15 grams of carbs counts as one "carb serving". I can have 2 carb servings for breakfast, 1-2 for a mid-morning snack, 3 for lunch, 1-2 for an afternoon snack, 3-4 for dinner, and 1-2 for a bedtime snack. That may sound generous, but anyone who's ever tried to go on a low-carb diet knows how many carbs are in so many foods. I even have to watch how much fruit and milk I eat, even though those things are considered to be healthy foods.

With Jaden, after a few weeks on this diet, I developed a huge craving for pancakes and syrup (basically carbs and sugar). I satisfied this craving by taking my infant son to Kerby Lane for strawberry pancakes when he was 3 days old. I think that's going to have to be a King family tradition because I've got the hankerin' again.

I tell myself that, all things considered, GD is one of the "better" problems to have. It's a hassle, but if controlled, has no effect on the baby and no long-term consequences for me. Besides, I only have to be on the special diet for about 12 weeks. I have to remind myself of that a lot, because I've got 5 more weeks to go, and the whole diet thing is really getting old. . .really.

I know that God presents us with trials to refine our character, sharpen our faith, and draw us closer to Him. I know that He gives us the strength to persevere through our struggles. But, boy are those pancakes getting more and more tempting.