Diabetes life before pregnancy was more stable and required less changes but I am embracing this life and enjoying it a lot. A lot of that comes from the knowledge and confidence that I can make changes to my basal insulin requirements, carb ratio’s, insulin sensitivity factors on my own. Anyone can do this. You are dealing with your diabetes 100% of the time, you are the professional when it comes to your specific brand of diabetes and you know what works and what doesn’t. You know if your blood glucose levels are always going high at a certain time of day and you know if they are always going low. Make some changes but only by minimal amounts at a time and you will notice a difference slowly. You can make these changes every few days until you are getting the pattern that you want to see. Even in someone without pregnancy, basal rates, insulin sensitivity and carb ratio’s change at some different points during your life. Diabetes is not a static creature. It can be influenced by any number of things that happen in a normal day or week.
To have consistently good blood glucose numbers you have to be open to change and willing to manage your diabetes on a daily basis. If you are concerned about anything or overwhelmed of course, speak with your endocrinologist or doctor about it and don’t miss your 6 monthly appointments but be engaged with your diabetes at these other times of the year as well, because this is your future and your life is better with a healthy you in it. Take initiative, take control and make some changes.
At 21 week pregnant insulin resistance had definitely started! Breakfast time and lunch time was seeing me
do about double what my bolus wizard settings suggested just to bring my post meal readings down.
I am now nearing the end of 22 weeks and meal times are difficult to control generally but with corrections and some guesses it is working well. I will eventually get all my Bolus Wizard settings right but everything is just so changeable at the moment that sometimes it is just easier to do it the old fashioned way of picking a number of units associated with what I am going to eat, what I will be doing that day and what happened yesterday, a bit of wizardry goes a long way if you ask me. Reducing my Carb Ratio’s to any lower than 1:8 is a scary prospect but I must do it!
I have been feeling kicks now, since about 20 weeks. I think it feels like little bubbles under my skin. Although the kicks, elbow nudges and whatever else is hitting my internal stomach space are getting a little bit stronger now and a bit more cheeky. I swear he is kicking my bladder!! Not helpful at all on a long car trip!
As you can see from the graph below compared to the one above, my basal insulin requirements and profile has changed a lot in this short period of time. You can only imagine by seeing this how many small adjustments I have made to get here! No specific pattern shown on this graph compared to the other one but these changes, even though they are frequent, are required by me and my little midget at the moment. I make them as I see necessary and I do change them all the time to try and get the best result.
I finally have my night time basal insulin levels perfect for the moment which I am so so happy about and so proud of myself for! These little achievements get me through my day with Pregabetes! The rest of the day my BG levels remain largely between 4 and 8 with some constant willing by myself and manual insulin bolus’. This is the hardest after eating. My BG level seems to go up and remain up for longer periods after I have meals now. This means a lot more testing and a lot more creative correcting but if I am keeping myself happy and our midget healthy it is totally worth it.
I am always so interested to see CGM traces of other people with diabetes and I am sure there are numerous people out there are the same. While I say my BG levels are generally between 4 and 8, I do have BG levels up to 12 on occasion, I try not to let them stay there too long. I do float around the 8 or 9 sometimes and I have had some under 4. This is diabetes. My BG targets at the moment are between 4 and 7 so, judging by the graph below I reckon I am still doing pretty well. It is such a juggling act but as I have said before, it is one I have dealt with for 21 years and pregnancy hasn’t really made that any easier or harder, just different.
Just remember tomorrow is a new day and if today is not working out how you planned, re centre, re focus and tackle tomorrow with an open mind.