Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Book, 'Betes, Baby?

The book project has been steaming ahead this week, and I thank the women who have emailed me their stories and experiences.

Weirdly, it's been tough to find actual numbers of how many type 1 diabetics out there are pregnant each year. Every diabetes association I've contacted--and you know the ones--has responded that they don't keep these kinds of statistics on hand.

Well, why not?

I've been able to find some statistics through medical studies, and I've been in touch with researchers to see how the numbers in 2006 add up.

In other news, my period's due any day now, and while I hope this is the month it doesn't arrive, I feel pretty much the same as I always do. If you start feeling the sore boobs or the nausea, how soon does it usually show up?

Saw my endo last week, and had the usual battery of blood work done. My thyroid levels are actually a tad low now (last month they were too high, so I went on more medication for it), but my cholesterol and A1c levels are pretty awesome.

I went off Lipitor last year in order to start ttc, and thankfully, my cholesterol didn't soar. Instead, because I'm eating pretty healthily in order to keep my blood sugars on a short leash (and have laid off the French fries at dinner), I was psyched to hear my cholesterol is 149.

And because of my boring eating patterns (oatmeal for b'fast, grilled chicken sandwich for lunch, reasonable stuff for dinner), by A1c has responded well this year. I've been under 6 for months, and the latest A1c was 5.6, which was a repeat from my last test. I don't even get that excited any more. The numbers are great, but they've been great for awhile.

So to sum up, book project: chugging along. Diabetes stuff: textbook. Pregnancy schtick: still a waiting game.

8 comments:

Major Bedhead said...

I had the worst cramps in the world back in December. Thought for sure I was going to get the period from hell. Kept waiting and waiting and waiting and then the cramps just kind of went away. Still no period, but hey, presto, guess what? Pregnant.

In my experience, the first few days/week or two can feel frustratingly similar to how you feel before you get your period. Every month, my boobs would get sore and I'd get crampy and back-achey. Same thing happens when I get pregnant. So don't rule it out yet. But don't go drinking a gallon of wine, either. Just in case. :D

Erica said...

Fingers x'd.. the 2ww sucks more than anything I can think of :-(

Are you still doing acupuncture? My acupuncture lady said she can look at a woman's tongue and tell if they are pregnant or not. Isn't that insane? I wonder how accurate she is...

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Ditto what Julia said. When I got pregnant with Riley, I didn't think I was pregnant just because I felt just like I did before my period was about to start.

caren said...

I'll be thinking of you!

Lyrehca said...

Thanks, everyone.

Erica, I actually went to acupuncture yesterday right after I wrote this post. My guy looks at my tongue and takes my pulse on both wrists at every appointment. I'll ask him if he can see pregnancy on my tongue the next time I go. He did say my chi was getting better, tho.

Shannon said...

I pretty much ditto what Julia said.

Maura said...

Tell me more about the Chicken Sandwiches you eat. Are they home made? Do you do the chicken yourself?
Email me if you want
at mauracopeland@yahoo.com.
I usually mess up my day of blood sugars for a few hours with what I have for lunch.

Anonymous said...

Hi.

I keep meaning to send you an email from home, and then when I get home I forget. So I'm giving in to the temptation of leaving a comment instead:

I am a member of a few yahoo groups for women with t1 diabetes who are trying to be pregnant, are pregnant, or are moms. Because they're yahoo groups they're impossible to find if you're not already on yahoo, so I recently cobbled together a quick-and-easy blog-style website with links to those groups. I have two blogs of my own already, so while I'm planning on contributing a bit now and then, it's going to be pretty hollow if it's just my own project. So I'm trying to find a few other women bloggers who have t1 and are at some point on the ttc/pregnancy/motherhood continuum--like you!--who might be interested in writing up to one post a week (one post a month would be fine) on any topic related to t1 and ttc/pregnancy/motherhood. Could be links to studies, reviews of a book or article, notes on your own personal experiences, whatever interests you.

I am t1 myself (13.5 years) and have one daughter, and am thinking of trying again. The pregnancy was eventful, to say the least, so I must be insane.

In the interests of full disclosure, I too have been thinking of writing a book about t1 and pregnancy (I wonder how many t1 women do--I know of at least two authors who have tried to comb the yahoo groups for stories and interviews, so it's not uncommon, I don't think) (and that's why I didn't respond to your call for interviews--as much as I think the book is needed, I don't much want to be research material for someone else's project, at least not until I've given up on the idea myself). So if that fact would make you uncomfortable in collaborating on a t1 ttc/preg/birth blog, by all means say so. Or, you know, you're just terribly busy and you have no idea who the hell I am and what would make me think that you would be interested anyway? That's fine too.

The website, such as it is right now, is at http://www.athenadreaming.org/t1moms

My email address is andrea@athenadreaming.org . I'd love to hear from you.