Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Insulin

Okay... here's my drama from last week... My blood sugars were unusually high first thing in the morning almost every day last week. I couldn't make sense of it since I was still being really cautious about my meals so I called the Diabetes Center. They returned my call while I was with my class and informed me that I would have to be put on insulin. I guess my blood sugars through the night are being affected by my hormones, something that a meal plan can't really help with. In fact, as I near my due date, my hormones are probably going to require larger doses of insulin. Anyway, I broke down in tears at the news because I absolutely hate needles! Needles on top of everything that I already have to do! They insisted that I come into the center either that day (Thursday), or Friday. Waiting until the following week was not an option. So... after sharing the news with my principal, completely unable to do so without crying, he suggested that I take Friday off. Reluctantly, I did. My appointment the next morning was an hour long and the nurse taught me how to inject myself with insulin. I must've held the syringe for 10 minutes, unable to even look at it. It took a lot of coaching for me to finally do it. It feels like when I prick my finger- not painful, but I am definitely very aware that something is being put in my skin. I know it's completely psychological- I really have to work at building myself up to do it... When I went to pick up my supplies at Rite Aid, I was given something completely different due to my health insurance. That means that I spent an hour learning how to do something that I won't even be doing. I had to leave to head to Stockton, so it wasn't like I could go back to the center to learn how to use this new insulin pen. After the Josh Groban concert, my mother in law and sister in law both helped me in our hotel room. Jennifer read each direction (there are a lot of steps!) while my mother in law helped to make sure the insulin was completely injected. All of this has been incredibly overwhelming. I can't even begin to tell you how emotional I have been. I now have to inject insulin once a day, right before I go to bed so that the insulin can help lower the blood sugars by morning time. It has not gotten easier each night- it is definitely the worst past of my day!
One of the nurses mentioned that since my pregnancy is considered "high risk," my doctor will probably not allow for the pregnancy to be full term (40 weeks). Gestational diabetes causes babies to put on too much weight and because of that, usually are born at 38 weeks. That moves up our due date by two weeks!!! I'll find out for sure on Tuesday. My doctor has mentioned on several occasions how he'd like to have me induced. I think it's very likely that I'm going to be put on disability leave next week. Yesterday, I was given some news about my job that ended up leaving me feel so stressed out that I had 6 contractions last night, the longest one lasting 10 minutes long. For a short while, Jason and I wondered if I had gone into labor! Thankfully not, but that just reminds me how close we are to meeting our new baby! I'll share about my job news next post since this one's already too long.

3 comments:

Tracy said...

Thinking about you lots and lots! You've made it through almost another week now! Take it a day at a time-- you can do it!

Tracy said...

Oh, by the way, the poll about what to eat first...? I don't see bubble tea listed!!

Christa said...

You are woman! Roarrrr!