25 Commands (of a pregnancy with D)

(I'm not trying to turn this blog into a Mommy blog..but let's face it,kids do have a way of taking over the vast majority of your life. Plus, it's summer, & is not much else to blog about so it is what it is.)

Upon being diagnosed (with most any chronic disorder), comes THE LIST of rules/regulations for that disorder. Meds you can take, meds you can't take, what you can eat/drink/etc. blahblahblah. It's a whole new lifestyle, & "breaking in" does not come easy when you've done it a certain way all your life. Diabetes is a rather extreme example of that (I think it took years for me to "accept it" ) ,& I know that most of my blog readers are familiar with what that entails. On the day that diabetes "becomes yours(till death do you part)" it's an automatic stressor that can lead to a host of other stressors.

And then comes something else, say pregnancy,& an extra layer of stress gets added to the pile. More rules, more regulations, more doctor visits,more everything. I can't say that I'm used to it yet,I'm not sure that I ever will be. (I like my bad habits too much) And that list, the list of "diabetes rules" gets picked up & spun into infinitum (only this time,your opinion doesn't mean jack squat) like the 613 Commandments of the Old Testament/Torah beating you over the head until you're senseless. (I couldn't come up with 613, but here are a few "laws" of pregnancy)

#1 You will go from drinking Diet Coke non-stop to 1-2 a week. (or drink Caffeine-less)

#2 You shall pretty much forget about Starbucks for the next 9 months. (even the decaf has SOME caffeine)

#3 You shall email your endo twice a week with complete blood sugars/FOOD logs. (yeah, fun)

#4 You shall only take Tylenol when the headache/etc. gets so bad that you want to jump off a cliff...all other pain killers are verboten. Be prepared to see the line on your Dexcom go HIGH for the next 6 hours. (and screwy for the rest of the day)

#5 Your deli-meat, blue cheese chomping days are similarly, over.

#6 You shall stand by and watch every other adult sip beer, wine, margaritas, etc. (and not that I drink much,but there's nothing like watching someone else do something to make you wish you could do it yourself)

#7 You shall not eat Danish pastries every morning for breakfast. (even if you have figured out the bolusing sequence, just right)

#8 You shall not stare at random strangers in the doctor's office & wonder if you're the only person who still doesn't look pregnant. (at 16 weeks) The only thing thus far is 7 more lbs.

#9 You shall come to accept that between blood sugar checks and bathroom calls, you will never again sleep longer then a 3 hour stretch.

#10 You shall read Six Until Me (daily) until your eyeballs bleed.

#11 You shall not Google anything on the internet.

#12 You shall take a nap(as often as possible).

#13 You will discover that it is completely possible to have an overnight flatline Dexcom graph (in the 70's) without going low.
Not that it's easy, but it is "easier."

#14 You will go through test strips like a chain smoker goes through cigerettes.

#15 You will discover that chicken (and fish) are not your friends....steer clear of consumption.

#16 You will become a big fan of glacier-cold ice water. (for chasing away those nausea pangs)

#17 You will trim your list of "essential drugs" down to three. Everything else just complicates matters.

#18 You will enjoy the last fleeting moments of regular insulin requirements, for every soon everything will start going up & you'll be blowing through 3.5 bottles a month easy-peasy.

#19 You shall exercise (daily). (seriously, just get out there and do it...even if it is 97 degrees in the shade) It will soon be the start of the 2nd semester, and you'll be lugging more then just books this go-around.

#20 You shall spend many, many hours on the phone with your insurance company, trying to convince them that 6 strips a day just does NOT cut mustard during pregnancy.

#21 You shall change your infusion set (or Pod) faithfully, every 3 days, and under no circumstance put it off (like at 3 AM) just because you'd rather do something stupid, like sleep. (Pods completely expire every 80 hours,& you've got to change it, or go without a basal rate)

#22 You shall avoid diabetes related conversations with certain friends, because it does no good to freak them out too. This is our burden, & one that would probably send normal parents into complete meltdown. Heck, it even sends me into meltdown (on occasion) but I've got a great support system. I guess its normal to worry,& it's normal for that to be compounded by 100 (fueled by every disaster story I've ever heard). Normal people assume everything will be fine,PWD (or at least me) hope everything will be fine but assume the worst until told otherwise.

#23 You will learn to pre-bolus....for everything.

#24 You will realize, that if you didn't have diabetes, there's little chance you'd go the traditional OB route where you never seem the same practitioner in office & get stuck with the backup on the day that you actually do deliver. Discontinuous, much?

#25 You'll discover that any old movie will do....it doesn't have to be particuraly emotional, for you to become emotional.