My second pregnancy and gestational diabetes

Finding out that i had fallen pregnant for the second time was the most amazing feeling ever!

After having my first son i just knew that i wanted another baby, a brother or sister for him, someone to play with and have that special sibling bond. 

I, myself, have no siblings of my own and that was perfectly fine for me but i knew that when it came to me having a family of my own i wanted several little people running around our home, causing mischief together and keeping each other company.

We had tried for several years to conceive and after taking pregnancy tests every other week and being disappointed every time I decided to stop buying and testing. 

Id been offered the job that i had went for in December and was focusing on that, planning on working really hard to get into a higher position at the company.

February 12th, i have no idea why but that evening i decided to take the last pregnancy test that i had left over from when i was testing all the time a few months back and to my surprise there it was, two pink lines, i was pregnant!!

I kept it to myself and planned to surprise my other half with a gift announcement on valentines day and oh was he surprised, so surprised that i don't think he really believed me at first. I also later that day told my mum in the same way i had told my other half and she was extremely excited to become a grandmother again!

I ended up luckily being at my job long enough to receive maternity leave and pay. unfortunately i was off sick a lot of the beginning of my pregnancy and signed off then through to when my maternity began. That in itself ended up being a blessing in disguise because i ended up absolutely hating my place of work, however that is an entire other story for another day..

I found throughout this pregnancy from the very beginning i was more anxious than ever and had definitely not worried this much in my first pregnancy. I worried every time a week went by if i would be lucky enough to make it to the next week. I didn't buy anything for the baby until around 20 something weeks, partly because i wanted to know if i was having a little girl or boy but also because i was secretly fearing the worse.

I have always said how i cannot believe how lucky i am to have two children, what a blessing it is to be able to fall pregnant and have two of my very own children that i (not forgetting my OH) made. I know some people try for years and years to conceive and just trying for a couple of years felt like forever for us and so to finally be so lucky to fall pregnant i worried if it was too good to be true.

As i said i was already extremely anxious, constantly, every day worrying about what i ate, what i was doing, what i was drinking, on high alert for any sign that something could be going wrong and so when it hit 28 weeks and got a call from my doctor to say that i had gestational diabetes it sent me into even more panic! I have to add that this is very common and so if you or someone you know has gestational diabetes it is not anything uncommon, a lot of women can get this during late pregnancy, its all to do with your placenta, as soon as that's out after having your baby you can be diabetes free instantly or in some cases may have it for a little while after.

I think, if i remember correctly, i had to go into hospital to pick up a little monitor to check my blood sugar levels before and after every meal every day, along with a list of foods that were OK for me to eat for the remainder of my pregnancy. I was given a week to try and manage my blood sugar levels by diet control which i thought i would easily be able to do, especially as my mum has type 2 diabetes and has done AMAZING to control her diabetes by diet, lose several stone and even got to a point where she was told by her doctor that her readings were pretty much that of someone who is diabetes free! 

Please feel free to pop over to her blog to read all about what she gets up to and how she is getting on in life as a diabetic grandma! 

thediabeticgrandma.wixsite.com/website

I knew i could confide in her and that we could support each other and i felt almost that i had the upper hand in all of this because i had her by my side teaching me anything i needed to know to manage it.

I struggled an awful lot and tried my absolute best to do as well as i could but i soon found out that certain foods that were OK for others with diabetes may not be OK for me and that they would make my blood sugar levels high. I also found out how hard it must be to live with diabetes permanently, to find interesting foods to eat that are yummy and that it pretty much consumes your day and mind because your constantly having to plan your meals or what to snack on. Not  to mention if your going out for the day, what to take in case you get hungry so that you don't have a sugar low and pass out!

My next appointment with my diabetes nurse wasn't great, it didn't help that i didn't like her anyway but i was put on tablets to help control my readings, then my dose was upped a few weeks after that and then finally i ended up on insulin, i felt like i had completely failed! 
I was so determined to do well and keep my readings down because i was so terrified of something happening to my baby before, after or during birth.

So my c section date very quickly came around, it was 18th October 2016 and i went into hospital at 7:30am to prepare to go into theater. I was so scared and anxious, walking down the hallway in my hospital gown towards the theater while my OH went off to get into his scrubs. I sat on the bed to have my spinal and was a blubbering mess, it didn't help that my spinal didn't quite work and so the surgeon made the first small incision and i felt it!! 
My anesthetist was great and put everything on hold, asking the surgeon to leave and have a break while they decided what to do next. He gave me the option of either trying an epidural or being put to sleep, i opted for trying an epidural because being put to sleep is also something that makes me hugely anxious just at the thought of it.
I'm pleased to say that my epidural worked, the surgeon returned and before i knew it our second son was born at 10:54am weighing a perfect 7lb 13oz. 

It turned out that i had done so well at managing my diabetes even though i had to have the help of insulin towards the end, which i'm told is more common than people think. My baby boy was born a healthy weight and compared to his big brother's birth weight, he was tiny! 
My OH and i had wanted another another baby so much and there he was as perfect as we had imagined! When his big brother met him for the first time just seeing them together made my heart oh so happy.
I have it all, two gorgeous little boys and a supportive, hard working partner. I couldn't be more content, we are now complete as a little family of four.