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Trimesters and diabetes

If you know me, you know that I’m Type II diabetic with chronic high blood pressure. I’m also currently pregnant.

This is my current journey, my experience, and what recently went through.

Each person is different. Each mother is different too. With that being said, back in January 2023, I had to switch doctors, and insurance due to the acquisition from our parent company. I could not find a doctor at the beginning of the year and I was running out of meds. FAST. I tried to space them out but of course, that won’t improve anything especially if your meds were only from Kaiser. If you love Kaiser, yay I’m glad they worked out for you. But in my case, Kaiser was slowly killing me. I finally found a physician’s assistant who could see me. She focused on internal medicine which was what I needed. I always wanted to get pregnant.

I’ve wanted to get pregnant for the past two years. However, it felt that my Kaiser nurses didn’t believe me that I wanted to get pregnant so it just seemed to be put off longer and longer without seeing a possibility in the future. When my company was acquired, I had no choice but to look for another medical team. This was a huge blessing. I was able to meet up with an endocrinologist who worked with me one-on-one with my medications, diet, and overall well-being in regards to diabetes. I started out with my A1C at 11.9 at Kaiser. I was able to lower it to 9.6. When I started with the endocrinologist, within 5-6 months, I dropped my A1C to 6.5. this coming from other medication outside of the Kaiser group. Kaiser has a limited stock of diabetes medication and what they can offer clients. Outside of Kaiser, I was able to feel possibilities happening. The endocrinologist, suggested if I wanted to get pregnant, my A1C needed to be 6.5 to kick start getting pregnant. The one thing I will never forget is how uncontrolled blood sugar is a crazier killer to a fetus than drugs or alcohol. How crazy is that?

Once with the green light, I was able to get pregnant. Now if you have diabetes, chronic high blood pressure, and are over the age of 35, you’re considered a “high-risk pregnancy”. Sounds ominous doesn’t it? You need extra support as a pregnant person and have a more extensive team. I have a dietician, a maternal-fetal medicine [MFM] team, an obstetrician, from time to time my endocrinologist, and my primary doctor – however she is currently paused because the MFM team has pretty much taken over her care. Though this is my main team, I’ve had to face different nurses and tests to ensure my baby was growing accordingly and overall safe.

The first trimester I was just super tired. To be honest I didn’t even know I was pregnant until my friend and husband were counting my days in a period cycle and realized I missed my period. The next day, we took a pregnancy test it was confirmed. I remember that day I called my endocrinologist as soon as possible on a Saturday to make sure I stopped certain medications because I didn’t want them to harm the baby or little tiny orb. I remember that drive from SoCal back to SF where I was excited and also freaking out. My mind was more of “holy shit I’m actually pregnant” and at the same time in a worried tone…”holy shit I’m actually pregnant”.

Once my husband and I got home, we acted like nothing had happened since I didn’t feel any changes, however, that Monday, wooo wee since the first call from my doctor, it has been a whirlwind. Non-stop conversations with different doctors to ensure this test was completed. In one day I have 9 vials of blood drawn to check my entire panel. It was scary but also we have to just do if we’re going to create and protect this being growing in me.

Second Trimester: My energy was normal and was able to do my daily routine and go on walks, however I also was not sleeping the best due to my job, my sleeping position, and overall stress. Here’s the kicker though – as a diabetic with high blood pressure and a shitty work environment…its HARD to stay as stress-free as possible. Work I’ll break that down on a different post, but health was also a scare. I didn’t want to do anything to affect this baby. I wanted him or her to be as healthy as possible. my diet was really tight. NO CARBS, veggies, and PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN. If you’ve ever seen Aggretsuko, the yoga instructor that only says “Protein” would have been my motivational mascot.

Was it a struggle? Yes i craved burgers, pizza, and most of all TACOS…

Was it worth it? YUP and I would do it again!

Third Trimester: This was where the nerves came in overload. I had a request to take an echo test. An echo test is basically an ultrasound that checks the fetus for a hole in their heart. Unfortunately this happens due to the fact that I have high blood pressure and it can cause this. Diabetes if uncontrolled can cause the fetus major complications and even worse death. After the echo test and I found that my baby was fine, it was the monitoring of the baby’s heartbeat every two weeks.

To Be Continued….

My Name is Fluffy. Research is my Bestie. Food is my passion. Art is my heart, Creation is my hands. Let's talk!

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