All in a diabetic’s day: Second babies, Breastfeeding, and flu shots

Second Babies

I must say, when my son was born 3 years ago, I was very overwhelmed! Being a mama was a huge adjustment compared to the sleep filled / cocktail hour and coffee break existence I`d known up until then.   Presently, I’ve also gotten used to too little sleep and public temper tantrums.  But with my daughter, I’ve already been broken in so I can just enjoy.  I sometimes feel like I`m playing dolly!  Man are babies cute!  My challenge is to ensure I have the ‘me’ time I need to do  my pump set changes.  Also, not to get distracted on my way to fixing a low. (which has happened a few times...)

Breastfeeding and Diabetes

It’s so hard to maintain smooth decent blood sugars when you breastfeed!  Basically, I cannot anticipate how often a newborn needs to nurse.  Nor the impact each particular feed has on my levels.

If the baby has a growth spurt and needs to feed often, I find myself facing many lows in the vicinity of low 3’s high 2’s mmol/L

If I don’t feed regularly, I find myself with 14mmol/L

Quite the challenge.

I feel like I’m back on the rollercoaster ride of feeding lows like with multiple daily injections since you cannot program a pump for a trend you cannot foresee.

So now what do I do? Test often and correct as needed.

Flu shot and diabetes

So I went and got my flu shot.  People with diabetes are considered vulnerable.  But honestly, I did it for my baby girl, so that she would get the antibodies while I breastfeed.  The consequence on my blood sugars was ugly!  I ad to increase my insulin by 125%!

Creating antibodies manifests as sugar in the blood stream.

But it only lasted 2 weeks.  I also felt like I had gotten socked in the arm.  But that was everyone not just diabetic me.

It’s a Girl!

The background

On the Friday where I was 38 weeks pregnant, I got a 24 hour gastro bug. 

That Saturday night, my husband got a 24 hour gastro bug of his own.  

Then that Sunday night, my son got it and he couldn’t keep anything down.  My husband and I stayed up taking care of him all night.  

Finally, it looked like it had abated some by 5AM and we could get a few hours rest, and then my water broke!

The hospital

So into the hospital I went, no sleep, no food.

They inserted a ‘power bar’ type needle into my arm to plug in various meds:

-          1 for ivy: to keep me hydrated

-          1 for Oxytocin: to speed up the contractions

-          1 for insulin: I had to remove the pump and let them handle the dosing

-          1 for glucose: to be given when I was in active labor

They checked my blood glucose every hour.  When I went low they wouldn’t let me take Dex4 or any food to fix it, they injected me with glucose, then diminished my insulin

When I went high, they increased the insulin drip.

 

The Reward

After 12 hours, my daughter was born!

A little Mini Me of 8lbs and 4 oz

So sweet, so small, so beautiful!

The dosing

My own insulin levels immediately drop by a third.  I had already programmed an insulin profile for this into my pump.  It’s the placenta that makes a pregnant Type 1 insulin resistant.

Closing thoughts

-          Hospital food is terrible!  Bland and full of fat and carbs, not a fresh vegetable in sight. Guess they don’t want you to overstay your welcome!

-          The nurses and staff at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal are fantastic! Warm and caring and helpful.

-          The epidural is a fantastic invention!

Who Dunnit?

Welcome to the point where 'being high' has nothing to do with illicit substances and everything to do with an elevated blood sugar

I have had a week of very ugly numbers.  High blood sugars, over and over!  I dose myself with additional insulin all over the place to correct and avoid these 'highs' but success is minimal.  Here are the suspects:

1. I think the shock of air conditioning vs stifling heat and humidity gave me a chest cold.  When a person with diabetes is getting sick and their body is trying to fight off a cold, this effect manifests as elevated blood sugars

   - Eee, I have a cough and my chest hurts 

2. I am now 35 weeks pregnant.  As the pregnancy progresses my insulin needs climb exponentially. I count my carbs, and eat and give the corresponding dose of insulin.  Perhaps I need more?  I used to use 35 units of Novorapid insulin a day.  I am now up to 76 units per day.  Since my insulin pump 'reservoir' (the little bottle that I fill with insulin and insert into my pump) can hold a maximum of 1.8 ml of insulin, I need to replenish quite frequently lately.

3. I'm running out of good injection sites on my abdomen.  When you wear an insulin pump, you inject an infusion set (a Teflon needle/catheter) into your skin.  After 3 days, you inject a fresh infusion set elsewhere -like 1-2cm next to the previous site.  Basically, I go round and round my abdomen like a race track.  You do not want to overuse a site and cause scar tissue.  Scar tissue does not absorb insulin well, at all!  But I've gone round and round so often I've run out of real estate, so I've moved onto the back of my upper arm.  

   - The arms don't seem to absorb as well as the abdomen though

So, why am I high?  This is really bad when you're pregnant.  It means that you are giving the baby too much sugar and the baby is at risk of being too big.  Need to bring those blood sugars back in range!!!

In the end, the reason doesn't even matter.  It's just a thought process with which I can drive myself crazy.

Fact is, the solution is the following:

- Reprogram all the background insulin at a higher setting

- Reprogram all the food calculations to give me more insulin

- Reprogram all the correction calculations to give me more insulin

- Get used to injecting into my arms, that's what it's got to be

- Test my blood sugar often, write down the numbers, and reprogram as needed.

 And after that?  Keep on living, and laughing, and loving!

A Few Big Things on my Mind these days

A few Big Things are occupying my time these days........
Here's a snapshot of My Life Starring Me

1. Pregnancy
To be completely un-politically correct, I understand why fat people avoid exercise!  It's hard work when you are carrying all this extra weight!  I have a hard time remembering if I really and truly used to run 30min at 5.5MPH every lunch break on the treadmill.

I am now 30 weeks pregnant
I have gained 27lbs so far!  The Antenatal clinic has raised an eyebrow at all my weigh ins but at least I'm slowing down with the speed with which I'm gaining.

However, I am toooooooooooooooooooooooo heavy!
I walked 2 blocks and was exhausted and out of breath!  

Time to face facts! I froze my membership at the Nautilus Plus for one year.  Zumba, no more.
Plus my hip has moved out of place and my legs get tired if I stand too long.
(Clearly they are collapsing under the weight of my Fat-ness)

And people, Please stop asking if I'm having twins!!!!!
PLUS! As big as I am, I'm going to get BIGGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But the tummy is fun!  I see elbows and knees and feet.  I'm never alone!
I feel the movement at specific times:
- like when I eat something sweet
-or when I'm reading my son his bedtime stories
- or when my husband sings
I'm filled with wonder at the little girl that is soon going to join us.
(If the heart burn doesn't kill me first)

2. Insulin & Blood Sugar Management
My average daily dose has gone from 34units/day to 60units/day
 I keep increasing and increasing.
What happens is, I have a few really good days where my numbers are all in range.
For 4 days I see something like this:
I wake up at 5.4mmol/L -perfect!
I eat 20g of carbs and inject 4 units of insulin - a big increase, but it's fine!
1 hour later I'm in the 5.5-6.2mmol/L range -perfect

last 2 days, one hour later I'm in the 8.5mmol/L zone....not good.
Time to increase, again
When you're pregnant, you are trying to be back in range 1 hour after eating.  

I'm still eating my 150g of carb per day.  Starving, mind you.  But since I've cut my exercise and continued eating the same, it all balances out.  Supposedly.

I now go to the clinic every 2 weeks for Ultrasounds and general follow up
I'm also looking to use all my vacation days and overtime towards leaving work in the month of June, it's just so tiring! 

3. Volunteer Work
My new volunteer role with the JDRF is going very well!
I am the RIV (Research Information Volunteer) for the Montreal chapter.
So I have monthly conference calls with the New York JDRF Head Office and hear all the scientific updates on the various Research projects in place.  So satisfying to hear progress reports on the diabetes cures they are researching, like Beta Cell Regeneration (the beta cells are the ones that MAKE insulin -which I don't have) and  Beta Cell Encapsulation (how to keep new Beta cells alive in someone, like me, whose body keeps killing them) and the diabetes treatments like Artificial Pancreas Project, (an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor that communicate and automatically respond to your blood sugar needs!)
ANYHOW, I take all this information and present it to all you fine people that are fund-raising.
People really like knowing where their money is going!
I do love this role!

4. The JDRF Walk
This June 10th is the JDRF Walk-A-Thon.  I'm trying to get a team together and raise $5,000 personally.
I'm having challenges.  I have a team of 4 people so far (this includes my husband and my best friend!)
And My goal is sort of very far away.  So far I raised $1,410.  So 28% there.
I wish I could make people understand how much fun the walk is as a family outing.
Personally, when the weather warms and the flowers are in bloom, I just can't spend another Sunday morning in pajamas inside the house with the TV on!  I want to be OUT! I want to GO! Is it just me?  

5. Baking with Molasses
Black Strap Molasses is iron rich!  Good for pregnant vegetarian me, good for picky fussy 2 year old my son, and just plain tasty!
A friend of mine (Thanks Gloria!) gave me a ginger cake recipe (possibly Martha Stewart of origin).  I modified it slightly to increase the protein content and reduce the carbs and we are loving it!  One slice is a 30g afternoon snack or breakfast.  Very well spent 30g!!!
I've baked one cake a week for the last 3 weeks and it's still the highlight of my lunch!
I wonder if I can bake sitting down?

I end on a sweet note.............
P.S. It's so 'ME' to start off complaining about my weight and end with talk about food and recipe!
Ginger Cake
Recipe:
1 cup blackstrap molasses 224g carbs
1 cup boiling water + 2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup softened butter 92g FAT
2 eggs PROTEIN
2 cups white whole weat flour (I like Robin Hood Multiflour) 176g carbs
1/2cup soy protein 16g carbs and PROTEIN
1/3 cup brown sugar 60g carbs
1/3 cup splenda 7.5g carbs
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

1. Spray a bundt pan and preheat oven to 350F
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together, except for the brown sugar
3. In a very large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy.  4. Add the brown sugar and beat together until smooth
5. Add the molasses and the water/baking soda and beat until smooth,
6. Add the dry flour mix, and beat
7. Add one egg at a time, and beat
Pour the batter into the Bundt pan and bake for about 35 min (until toothpick test)

If you slice it in 16 slices, each slice is 30g carb and 6g fat!

Also, don't forget, when you lick the beaters and the bowl, those have no calories OK?

Ladies & Gentlemen

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A tale of civil war

v  The Main Characters

1.       Army unit I.S.

This army has 1 job:  identify and destroy threats

The unit I.S. has worked side by side with many other army units in Country T for many many years. 

2.       Army unit P.

This small army unit is in charge of: food processing

-          When food is delivered, it feeds all the other army units of country T

-          Also provides fluids to a few other units

v  Peaceful Times

Unit P. and Unit I.S.  are on the same side. 

Unit I.S. keeps Country T safe and

Unit P. keeps Country T fed.

They go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back.

They actually grew up together

v  Civil War

One day, out of the blue,  Army unit I.S., all of a sudden, looks at Army unit P.  and points accusingly and screams ‘ENEMY!’

Army unit I.S. launches a full scale attack on Unit P. and wipes them out!

v  Aftermath

Country T is not doing well.  The other Army units try to carry on but they have no food supply and actually start snacking on the barracks out of starvation.

Country T’s other Armies are on shaky ground.  Without proper nourishment and fluids they are completely falling apart

v  The moral of the story:

There is no moral!  This is Juvenile Diabetes!

Country T. is me, Tamara Segall!

Army Unit I.S. is my Immune System

Army Unit P. is my pancreas

v  Now, about Me

I was 29 years old when I was diagnosed.  It happened July of 2005 during a heat wave.  In the span of 1 week,  I went from feeling tired and drinking 15 glasses of water a day, to feeling completely exhausted and drinking 50 glasses of water a day.

I ended up hospitalized learning to inject myself with the insulin that my pancreas can no longer create.  I need to check my blood sugar at least 7 times a day to see how much insulin I need to take and to make sure that I gave myself the proper dose.  If my blood sugar is high, I fix it with another injection of insulin, if my blood sugar is low, I fix it with Dex4.

My tale of civil war is a very stylized and dramatized explanation of what happened to me when I developed Juvenile Diabetes (AKA Type 1 Diabetes), an Auto-Immune Disease. 

v  Help may be on the way…

The JDRF is dedicated to finding a cure.  They raise money to fund their research with this Walk-a-Thon!

So that people like me, and over 300,000 other Canadians, will one day not need to give ourselves  5+ injections a day nor prick our fingers to test out blood sugar over 2,000 times a year.

PLUS, they made the fund raiser fun for the whole family and overall a great experience!

v  Now, You

Please sponsor me and come walk with me

On Sunday June 10^th, 2012 at the Centre de la Nature in Laval! 

Lace up your sneakers

Come and meet some good people and do something wonderful

Let’s hang out again together and have a picnic

I’m inviting you to join me and my husband and my parents and my good friends and my good colleagues for a few hours for the Telus Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund’s Walk-A-Thon taking place on June 10^th

Over the last 5 years this has really grown into an annual family event for many of us.

At first I had a team of 3, now  our team counts over 50 people and every single one of them told me this event is a highlight of the season!

It’s on a Sunday morning, at a lush park, packed with good people

We chat and get samples

We walk 5km through the park and catch up with old friends, we make new friends

Then we get a free prepared lunch, this year they will be in a DEX4 Lunchbag!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we have a picnic, and the kids play, there are a couple of really fun things taking place as well

·         The MC is Bilal Butt Host of CHOM FMs drive home

·         There’s a Kids tent with coloring and balloons

·         There will be Inflatable games for the kids

·         There will be a 3 legged race you can sign up for on-line

·         And YES, lunch too!!!!!!!

To Join my team and Sponsor me

• Visit www.jdrf.ca and click on the TELUS Walk to the Cure icon
• Then choose to Register or Pledge a Participant
• Our walk is in Montreal June 10^th, Centre de la Nature
• To Sponsor me, just type in my name Tamara Segall
• Complete the registration fields and click submit

I’m available to help with this process and any others

I can also accept cash donations

Team AMG & Friends is aiming for $10,000 –at least!

Last year we came in at $7,000

I am personally aiming to raise $5,000.  I have raised, so far $100

The JDRF national goal is $7.9 million

SO, it’s time to get serious!

I’m very excited.  It’s going to be fantastic!

Thank you for your support

 

PS I will be waddling rather than walking, this year, because I will be 8 months pregnant!

Type 1 Diabetes and Pregnant

 As of this week, I am 23 weeks pregnant!  That's almost 6 months!
Though I am very excited, I find that being a Mamma that's pregnant with diabetes is much harder the second time around!

Here's what's different between Pregnancy #1 and Pregnancy #2
When you are expecting your first child: you have much time to sit and read popular fiction and chic lit novels with your feet up.  When you are expecting your second child, you have many toys to pick up off the floor or trip over.

When you are expecting your first child: friends, family, and colleagues will not let you carry anything heavier than a phone book.  When you are expecting your second child, you carry child number 1, plus your purse, and your gym bag, and your briefcase. plus your child's lunch box.

When you are expecting your first child: to have optimal blood sugars, you inject your dose of insulin a full 20 minutes before eating your first bite.  When you are expecting your second child, you learn that 20 minutes before your first bite is a nice concept, but spilled juice, dirty diapers, temper tantrums, and pre-meal hand-washing can magically turn 20 minutes into 40, so you inject with your left hand as your right hand shovels a forkful into your mouth.

Here's what's the same between Pregnancy #1 and Pregnancy #2
I am again a high risk pregnant lady.

So I go to the Antenatal Clinic for high risk pregnant ladies every 2nd or 3rd Tuesday. 
I am there as of 7:00 AM, along with 30-50 other women
I have a massive bag: filled with breakfast, lunch, a book, my laptop, a file dedicated to all my medical pregnancy related follow ups.
1. I go in and I wait in line with my hospital card and my medicare card.
2. I weigh myself (my boots weigh a whole kilo!  thank god, because I really packed on the pounds).
3. I wait for my turn in the bathroom so that I can pee in a cup: they need to check for ketones (incredibly dangerous bi-product of running high sugars that can cause you to miscarry) and proteins(that's a regular pregnant thing, not a diabetes thing)
4. I wait to have 2 vials of blood drawn: I don't turn away when they poke into the juiciest vein in the inner side of my right elbow. It's uncomfortable, but whether I look or not, or bruise or not, or hurt or not, they still got to do it, so might as well HAVE the experience
5. I claim my space in the waiting room (my spot for the next 4-5 hours) and I inject and I eat my breakfast.
Breakfast at the Antenatal Clinic
I always bring the same thing, it's 25g of carbs and it's an activity to eat and I always loved it as a child:
- 1 pack of Multigrain melba toast 20g carb
shmeared with
- 3 low fat laughing cow cheese 2g carb
- a bottle of 500mL unsweet soy milk that I flavored with my chocolate sugar free syrup 3g carb
 (the soy milk with chocolate syrup is shaken to perfection; that's shaken not stirred, eat your heart out James Bond! and keep your olives!)

6. I see one of the nurses.  She checks my blood pressure and asks me a ton of questions for which she updates my file.  Questions like: cramping? contractions? Water retention?  Heart burn? Headaches?  Eyesight?  Frequency of urination? Constipation? Average blood sugars before breakfast? after breakfast?  Before lunch? After lunch? Before dinner? After dinner? Before bed? Middle of the night?  Average insulin use for each meal... Name, rank, serial number.  And she updates my file with all that.
Then I go and sit and wait
7. I wait to be called by the nutritionist.  We go over my average carbs per meal, my carb consumption per day, my weight gain since last visit  (it's not me!  The scale lied!)  The sweeteners that are not safe for pregnancy: sugar alcohol oK, yes for maltitol, yes for sorbitol yes for Splenda and sucralose, no for Stevia (what!  But it's a plant??? But it hadn't been tested safe...since no one will foot the bill for that FDA study) No for aspartame, no for Sodium cyclamate (poison!), no for acesulfame potassium, and no saccharin. 
This means, no Nestea Zero, No diet softdrinks except for Crush, no gum, no Sugar Twin
Yes for canned tuna, no expensive tuna steak??? (mercury levels...)

8. I go back to wait to have another 2 vials of blood drawn -it's 1 hour since I finished my breakfast and they want to see how that went.  I don't turn away when they pokethe inner side of my left elbow.
For some reason, I am always out of range after the breakfast where I sit in the hospital waiting.... Most of the other pregnant women around me are too.

I go back to wait. I compile the notes from my last 3 weeks of meetings, I answer e-mails.  I read 2 chapters.  I watch the woman in front of me test her blood sugars, clumpsily (clearly a newly diagnosed gestational diabetic)  she sighs and then opens a Hershey cookies and cream chocolate bar and eats THE WHOLE THING!  (What?  And I got scolded for gaining 1.5lbs over the last 3 weeks?  I didn't eat an entire family size chocolate bar!  4 squares, maybe)  I take a mental note to send a case of samples of Dex4 glucose tablet to the clinic and to ask the nurses and endocrinologist to explain to their patients about correctly fixing lows.
I count how many women are knitting.  I observe the ratio of pink yarn to blue yarn  (pink is the majority, actually)

9. The endocrinolgy student calls me.  She takes me to a makeshift office and starts asking me information on my insulin use.  She asks me questions as though I was newly diagnosed.  I tell her I've been diabetic for 6 years and am on an insulin pump.  She is impressed because she hasn't ever seen a pump. What?  No problem.  I explain how it's used, about a constant drip of fast acting insulin.  She jots down notes on blood sugar problems I've been having then she takes me in to see the Endocrinoligist.
10.  I sit down with The Endocrinologist.  This doctor is QUEEN of insulin pumping!  I show her a weekly log that needs someone to fix it, it has some ugly high readings which could be because of my increased insulin needs, but increased how?  More for what I eat?  More to fix the high?  More to drip 2 hours before the high?  and the subsequent lows.  Too much insulin for what I ate?  Too many corrections?  Was it the exercise?  This brilliant woman sees patterns and figures it out!  And all of a sudden, it makes sense!  I have some new levels to program, I have a new plan for when I exercise over the next 2 weeks.
- Updated Basal program: this is the insulin that drips steadily to counteract my blood sugars
- Updated bolus ratios: this is the insulin for when I eat
- Updated insulin sensitivity: this is the insulin needed to crrect a high blood sugars
I'm telling you, this doctor is BRILLIANT!  I consider myself quite skilled at pump programming due to what I've learned from her.
She tells me to come back in 2 weeks. I note it down in my agenda

I go back to my chair and and wait.  I answer the 6 or so e-mails I got while I was speaking with the specialists.  I write up a recap of my departments sales activities for the last month.  I eat my walnuts, and look longingly at my orange. I play around with an idea for a product launch strategy and a list of products I want my sales reps to focus on. I read another 3 chapters.  
11. Eventually, I get called to meet with the high risk Obstetrician.  We listen to the baby's heart beat.  He asks me questions on my general health.  I ask if I can continue my Zumba classes.  He looks over my blood work and vitals.
Then, I either can leave, or go back to wait to be called by an ultrasound technician.
This time I get to leave.
12. I go back and wait to speak with the receptionist to confirm my much covetted spot for another round at the clinic in 2 weeks.

I leave incredibly happy and excited.  I'm doing well!  I'm healthy, the baby looks healthy, I can go back to living my pregnant life with my new insulin programs.
As I walk across the massive parking lot I call my husband to give him the news.  Then I call my mom, then my mother in law.  I wince when I pay the $26 parking fee.
Then I get into the car and drive to work, and call my sister and my 2 best friends to update them too.  But I use my hands-free dialing of course.........

Going Low: Welcome to the Mental Olympics

Even though winter has been fairly snowless and mild, my husband and I still feel like February is never ending.  So we booked 1 week all inclusive to Cuba! Yay!  To be quite honest, I was most excited by the idea of escaping daily routines like: emptying the dishwasher, battling traffic, pulling snow-gear onto my son before we leave the house, packing lunches...

Backstory: The Set-up
We were eagerly counting down the days until our Sunday departure..... and then, just 1 day before we were set to leave, on Saturday morning, my son woke up with the Chicken Pox!  Poor Baby!  He had a bad case too!  Even in his mouth, his ears, and in his eyes.
Thankfully I had cancellation insurance, so my week of sun and swim and sand and someone replenishing my towels, got replaced by half work days and oatmeal baths, and calamine lotion and watching Wiggles.  (I still have Rock-a-by your Bear on an endless loop running through my brain)

Backstory: The Unpredictable Blood Sugars
That being said, my routine was thrown out the window.  I didn't eat the same things I normally do.
Normally, my lunch is 25g of carbs:
* a big green salad with 1 can Rio Mare tuna plus 3Tbsp Kraft light Zesty Italian dressing 5g carbs

*1.5 cups of  sliced strawberries with 2 Tablespoons of reduced fat ricotta and 2 tsp of Splenda 20g carbs
*1 large peppermint tea with 2 packets Splenda 1.5g carbs (negligible)

Instead, I was offering my son Nutella and Wassa (Rye and Oat bran) crackers.  He said he wanted it, then changed his mind after 2 minuscule bites.
* 1 Wassa Rye and Oat bran crackers 8g of carbs
*2 Tbsp Nutella 22g carbs and 11g fat


Well, someone had to eat that cracker, and you know, the spoon was not going to lick itself!  And if the spoon accidentally slipped back into the Nutella jar, well, a mom's got to do  what a mom's got to do.  (I wonder if there's crack or something in that Nutella, because, damn is it addictive!)
So the blood sugars went up.....
But then, after his nap, I would take him out for some fresh air and he would climb into his big Baby Jogger stroller, and we would walk to the fire station to see the trucks, and then walk to one school and then another to see the school buses.
So the sugars went down......

Between the unusual food, exercise, and corrective doses, and insulin demands for my pregnancy it was a very poorly controlled week.

Backstory: Capturing my Imagination
On another note, I've been reading the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse book series.  The books are so good!  Unlike the HBO series True Blood which is totally Vampire Centric, this book series has inter-dimension beings, and Shape Shifters, and Witches, and yes Vampires.  But all in all, it's very entertaining escapism fun.
Normally I read before bed, though I can only stay awake for 3-4 pages.  But being home with my son,  I easily worked my way through several of the books over the course of a week's worth of nap times.  I'm enjoying them so much, I hope I don't finish the series too soon!

So that was my week.


The Incident
And then, in the middle of all of this, I woke up on a Wednesday morning at about 2AM.  I was covered in sweat and had soaked through my pajamas and the sheets.  So I knew I was low.  But, my brain would not allow me to get up and fix it.  My thought process was the following:
'If I get up and take some Dex4 to fix my low, I will block the signal that will keep me safe from the werewolves and no one will be able to track me down and save me.  So perhaps I should stay low.  
But wait, what if I find another means to make myself traceable?
Yes, perhaps I could draw 3 lines with calamine lotion on my belly and that would help them find me.
Brilliant, it's a plan!'
Mental discussion over, I got out of bed, and went to check my blood sugar.  1.7mmol/L
OK, then off to find calamnine lotion.
So I ate 4g of glucose, painted 3 lines with the calamine lotion I had on hand for my son's chicken pox, then proceeded to eat another 12g of glucose.  And then sanity restored I had a total 'What the hell am I doing?' moment.  Welcome to the Mental Olympics.

Then I changed my pajamas and got back into bed.

The next day, my liver finally decided to help out and send some sugar-looking hormones my way (too late, my friend!) so I spent 10AM to 2PM running in the 12mmol/L- 16mmol/L range.
Feeling like crap for being high, and totally nauseated from going from such a low to such a high.
And giving hourly corrective doses (because these highs are SOOOOO Insulin resistant!) and just drinking bottle after bottle of water to help get myself back in range.
I ate only proteins too.  Didn't need to add more glucose into the mix:
*1 hardboiled egg og carb, protein
*1 light baby bell cheese og carb, protein
* a handful of walnut for lunch Fat fat fat (but good fat)

Why my mind acted cuckoo
Fact is, your brain functions on glucose.  Glucose is the food of your brain.  When you have a hypoglycemic incident (a low), you are basically, starving your brain.
Plus, the more lows you have, the more your body adjusts and recalibrates to make sure that whatever glucose you still have in your blood when you are low, goes to your brain.
Consequently, you don't feel yourself going low until it's nearly too late.
Which is what appears to have been going on.  I mean 1.7mmol/L is really really bad.

Scary, ay?

Mystery of High Blood Sugar, solved!

Back in December I pulled a muscle in my back.  I'm sure it's because I tried to that stupid plank core training thing.  This always happen!  Anyway, it was a nagging pain that despite all my stretches and complaining was in for the duration: a solid 14 days.  It did feel better when I walked or lay down, but still!  Why are toilet seats so low?

But then, day 7, I was lifting my son into the car seat, attempting to favor the sore muscle when I did something far worse and ended up in excruciating pain!  One shoulder actually 2 inches lower than the other.  In pain while standing, in pain while sitting.  Waking up to roll over...and waking my husband to help me roll over.  I dislocated my pelvis!  A solid 11 on a pain scale of 1 to 10

And the sugars ran high........  I put an increased temporary basal.
And went to Physiotherapy.  They put it back into place and urged me to get a sacroiliac belt.  This is a tight neoprene and elastic and velcro contraption that you cinch aroung your pelvis to give you extra support (for the tidy sum of $60!).
I was told, it would take a good 14-20 days before it stopped hurting.

How did this happen?
Well, they said, after a pregnancy, a woman's pelvis and joints are loosy goosy to allow a woman to go through labor...yada yada...voila.

This belt did allow me to walk, though somewhat oddly.  It also pushed up every single fold of fat to give me an odd blobby shape.  I never took so much care with my appearance: more cleavage, chunky jewlery, flashy make-up, big scarves.  I also got tons of compliments! 'Wow, Tamara, you sure know how to put together an ensemble!'  Or 'Is that fluorescent pink eyeshadow?  That's so cool!' or 'I love those pants!' (my husbands: they were thick enough and big enough to conceal my odd lumpy ass)
BUT!  Since I could not exercise, I had to cut my carbs.  Gone went my free snack before workout.  Bye bye 2 additional portions of carbs.  Which sucks!  I only work out so I can eat more, anyway.

The lesser food, drove me coocoo!  Finally, after 2 weeks, when I was around food, I went a little crazy and blew almost my entire day's allocation of carbs!  I ate protein alone for dinner a few times.  The day of the brownie incident (10AM coffee break at a meeting)  I ended up eating tuna and celery for the rest of my meals.

And the blood sugars continued to rise..........
And my back felt better, and still they rose..........

And I was able to train lightly on an elliptical with 0 impact (which sucks compared to a full out run on a treadmill, but whatever) and still the blood sugars rose

And then.... I found out I'm pregnant!
Welcome back 30 grams of carbs!
Goodbye alcohol!

And as for the pelvis thing, oh! So that's why it popped out so easily!

So I'm back at the antenatal clinic at the Royal Vic Hospital!
Peeing in a cup onat 7AM on tuesday morning, 3 blood tests overs 4 hours, visiting with specialists, loads of papers for follow up tests.  God bless them all for taking such good care of me and my little 'bun'

I'm back to monitoring my blood sugars as though I was a nuclear technician and my blood glucose were emission outputs.  I prefer to run low than high.  I've eaten over a full 50 count bottle of Dex4 for correcting my lows.  But that's OK!  I feel better with a quickly corrected low rather than a high that can make the baby grow too big too fast.

It's so exciting!
I am simulataneously excited and scared!
When my son pitched a full scale 2-year old tantrum, my husband looked at me with raised eyeborws and mouthed 'imagine two of them!'
I am so excited and shocked!
I am simultaneously nauseous and starving

How can I already have such a belly at 13 weeks?
Good thing I know how to camouflage dress!  Bring on the scarves!