So here we are, just 10 weeks away from meeting out precious little baby (I will be induced no later than 39 weeks because of diabetes). So far pregnancy has had many highs and lows....literally....a little diabetes humor that I just could not resist! We still do not know the gender of our baby, despite the 4 ultrasounds I have had, with 2-3 more to go. I have my suspicions, but I'm not telling! We STILL do not have a name picked out for our baby either way and I'm getting nervous we will just have to actually name him/her the affectionate pet name, "Bubba," that we use now!
I have just completed my 4th appointment with the perinatologist (high-risk OB) and so far everything looks great in terms of my blood sugars and the baby's development. I always hold my breath a little while he reads over my last month's blood sugar print-outs, hoping that I am doing everything right. So far, we are under near perfect control, with still too many lows for his liking. Ah lows....on that subject, here is a little story from last night. So I went to bed with some active insulin after eating a small bowl of cereal before bed, this is typical though, especially with late-night hunger pangs, so I assumed if I set my alarm to check my blood sugar at 3am, I would be fine. By the grace of God alone, I am "fine" and able to type this right now. By 12:30am, my blood sugar was 24. I woke up shaking and sweating with my heart racing and my lips and tongue completely numb. All I could say was "24" over and over again to my husband lying fast asleep next to me as I stuffed candy corn in my mouth and dripped blood from my overzealous finger poke all over the place. Jordan stayed up with me until my sugar was steady again, but apparently not steady enough.
By 2:30 am before my alarm actually did go off, I was 28 and surprisingly felt fine, minus the racing heartbeat. Thinking I could handle it myself without waking Jordan up again, I stood up to go get some juice this time (switching off types of glucose is more effective). After taking two steps away from the bed, I quickly realized that there was going to be no "doing this myself." My legs gave out from under me and thankfully I fell back onto the bed. I must have made some sort of noise, I don't quite remember, but then Jordan was holding me up and then we were in the kitchen drinking cranberry juice. All I could think about the entire time was "Please, God, let the baby be okay." After 30 more minutes, a glass of juice, some starbursts and a slice of peanut butter toast, we were finally able to go back to sleep. Jordan was holding on to me so tightly I couldn't even move, but I allowed it because we both knew that the events of the night could have had a very different outcome.
After an eventful and nearly sleepless night, I woke up this morning ready to battle high blood sugar from all of that delayed glucose. Again, by the grace of God alone, was 106, with no low blood sugar migraine. I have felt the baby move more than ever today and my blood sugar is nearly perfect, all of which I am 100% positive are absolute miracles. There you have it, that is what is going on in the lives of people everywhere with Type 1 Diabetes, especially those who are pregnant. Nights like last night really put life in perspective for me and make me realize just how blessed I truly am to be alive and well every morning.
Pregnancy and diabetes mixed together are teaching me nearly hourly that I do not always have to be the one in control and that the Lord literally will wake me up in the middle of the night to save me, more than once if needed. I am so thankful to be alive this morning, so thankful that my baby is safe, so thankful that my husband can respond so quickly at 3AM. For the most part, though, I am really enjoying being pregnant. There is something so wonderful about being pregnant during the Christmas season, I feel like it really makes Christmas spirit come alive and allows me to be constantly aware of the baby in the manger that we are celebrating. On nights like last night, all we can do is rely on God to get us safely through the danger that is largely out of our control and spend our days praising Him for His faithfulness.
