24 weeks pregnant: Gestational Diabetes Real Life Diary Blog

A few weeks ago I received my glucose monitor and started tracking my after-meal and fasting glucose numbers and immediately realized that my fasting numbers were indicative of having gestational diabetes, (again). This didn’t come as a surprise because I have gained close to 35 lbs already and I had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy.

BACKGROUND STORY OF FIRST TIME BEING DIAGNOSED WITH GESTATIONAL DIABETES

In my second pregnancy, I failed the gestational diabetes test at 29 weeks pregnant and then confirmed it at 34 weeks with my 3-hour glucose test. Between the two tests I had, I started to “cut carbs” and monitor my fasting numbers at home with a glucose monitor. By cutting carbs I would just omit high-carb fruits and the amount of bread I was eating. That change alone did not help my fasting numbers.

I then remembered a tv news show I had watched about the Keto Diet helping type 2 diabetics get off of insulin and I thought to myself that perhaps that would help with my Gestational diabetes so around week 32-33 I started to implement the keto diet.

It took about two weeks to really ease into the keto diet and understand it wasn’t just about limiting carbs, but that also, I needed to add a lot of fat into my diet that I wasn’t used to. I used the carb manager phone and desktop AP to help track these measurements called “macros” and before I knew it, I had really gotten the hang of it! I was able to keep my fasting numbers below 95 for over 80% off the time with a few days where I would have random morning spikes (It would seem to be a 2-3 day period of random spikes to 98 or 100 ever so often), which I wonder if they were a result of hormones, stress, or lack of great sleep.

In the end, I was able to manage my gestational diabetes with the keto diet and was able to have a healthy home birth where I gave birth to a 7.8 lb baby.

Read about all of my second trimester blood glucose levels in one place!

Overview of last few weeks starting to manage GESTATIONAL DIABETES with the keto diet

Weeks 21-23: As I mentioned before, in This pregnancy I felt like I wanted more time to get my fasting numbers under control so I asked my midwife for the glucose monitor earlier. At week 21.5 I received my monitor and started testing my numbers just eating as I normally would. It was a birthday week in our household so normal did involve some ice cream and pizza and other treats. My after-meal numbers were always within a normal range, but my fasting was showing between 100-111 throughout the week without making any dietary changes. The next week I altered my diet to the keto diet and my fasting numbers shifted to between 88-98. At the end of the week, I went out for dinner with friends for a birthday and decided to not track carbs at dinner and had a few pieces of pizza. My fasting number the next morning was 120 which immediately put it in perspective that I needed to stick with the Keto

Week 23-24 Last week I was able to stick with the Keto diet pretty successfully and my fastings were between 79-96 with one exception. On Friday night we went to a friend’s house and even though I ate keto-friendly foods, I didn’t measure them so I likely went over my macros and my fasting resulted in 101 Saturday morning. On Saturday night I had a cheat night and ate Chicken Parm for dinner out with friends and my fasting was 115 on Sunday morning.

Week 24 I have realized from the last few weeks that I really can’t do cheat days. Even though I’m able to go right back on the keto diet the next day, I feel like crap after a cheat day! My energy is low, my head is foggy, and I have LOTS of cravings! This week I’ve been using the Carb Manager and staying under 35 NET carbs but it has been reflecting in my fasting numbers that I’ll have to go lower. Yesterday I hate 93 TOTAL carbs and 34 NET carbs (lots of keto treats yesterday), and my fasting was 100 this morning. Today my plan is to cut out all Keto treats (sugar alcohols), and see if those are the culprit (I am convinced they are but yesterday was just one of those days I treated myself!!

Intention

(week 25 tomorrow) My intention for this week is to be stricter with my net carbs and keep them under 30. I also am going to support myself by listening to keto podcasts to gather more information, use my bullet journal to track my fasting numbers, and be gentle with the process!