Type 1 diabetes at 25 weeks of pregnancy

I’ve reached that point in my pregnancy where my fabulous blood sugar readings have started climbing.

I’m 25 weeks pregnant with twins, and my sugars began to rise about a week or two ago. I’ve been told that this is totally normal and expected at this point in a diabetic pregnancy, according to my doctor and all the research articles on pregnancy and diabetes that I’ve come across. (Please note: I am not a trained medical professional. I am a Type 1 diabetic sharing my experiences. Be sure to speak with a doctor for medical consultation on all matters related to diabetes.)

My first and second trimesters have been marked by fabulous controls. According to all those same doctors and articles, low sugars are quite typical during the first trimester, and I had many of those. I could eat a cup of straight cane sugar, and my blood sugars would not rise past 80. Now, I eat a celery stick, and my sugar goes to 180.

Alright, maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit. But seriously, my last A1C was 5.8. I don’t remember ever seeing an A1C like that in over 36 years of living with diabetes!

And now I am struggling to bring down 180s, 160s, 190s, 210s….

Correcting sugars like mad. Faxing food and blood sugar logs to my doc on a weekly basis (more or less). Raising my basal rates, and giving myself more insulin at meal time. Changing my pump more often – going from every three days now to every 2.5 days (expecting, according to the doctors, that I’ll have to change it to every 2 days in another couple of weeks).

And, worrying about the health of the babies as a result of all this.

The only thing I can do is to continue what I’m doing – checking sugars, taking my insulin in a systematic, informed way, keeping track of it all, heeding the advice of my doctors. I eat healthy more often than not, and I exercise regularly. I do my best to keep stress levels low, and I try to rest with my feet up often (very necessary for me at this point in twin pregnancy).

The worrying part is the part that doesn’t help. I know this – logically. But sometimes, I can’t help but worry a little bit. Usually someone is there to make me feel better and lend an encouraging ear. And sometimes I am a total worrywart in my own little out of control tailspin world. Worrying is a totally normal emotion. I am becoming a mother, right?

I know it doesn’t help me though.

And that’s when I remind myself: The best thing I can do is accept that managing blood sugar fluctuations is a part of being pregnant with Type 1 diabetes. And act accordingly. The rest is out of my control.

I don’t know if the babies will be affected or not. I’ll actually probably never know.

By the way, the high risk doctor told me that high blood sugars typically affect the babies when you have sugars that continuously read 250 to 300, or higher. That does make me feel better since I don’t have those kinds of sugars.

So is all this worry for nothing? My experience in life has been that worrying usually is just that – for nothing. Especially worrying over things that are totally out of our control.

I’ve been told that motherhood is a lesson in letting go. How about motherhood with Type 1 diabetes and twins? I guess it’s time to learn the lesson. You can only do what you can do. Life does the rest.