Chapter One and Chapter Two: Want to Be Interviewed?

So book research and writing about pregnancy and diabetes is underway. I’m finishing up chapter one, which covers the early days about what to do when you’re trying to conceive with pre-existing diabetes. This is mostly complete, but I’d like to find people who can talk about the following:

1. Being type 2 and going from oral medication to insulin for the first time.

2. Anyone type 2 who may have continued with oral medication or strictly diet and exercise after she got pregnant.

3. The financial realities of pregnancy and diabetes—did you increase your savings before getting pregnant? Change insurance plans for better coverage? Start a health savings account? How were you able to pay for the extra doctor’s visits, tests, etc.? (For this one, I need U.S. based people only).

I’m just beginning chapter two, which talks about what to do immediately after you find out you are pregnant. I’m looking for people who can talk about the following:

1. What did you do if you didn’t plan to get pregnant or your A1c level was higher than you (or your doctor) wanted it to be?

2. Advice about not freaking out about potential complications for yourself or potential problems for your baby

3. How to handle high blood sugars, past and present

4. How you told people you were pregnant: did you wait awhile because of your diabetes? Who did you tell first?

5. Advice on being your own advocate and explaining diabetes to others

6. Dealing with people’s commentary about pregnancy and diabetes.

7. How to talk to your OB, your endocrinologist, any specialists you see, a nutritionist, and/or a certified diabetes educator.

8. How to weigh all their opinions.

If any of these are questions you’d like to answer, send me a quick email at Lyrehca AT gmail DOT com and I'll follow up with any specifics if I need them. Since I’m on a fairly tight deadline, I’d love to hear back from you by Monday, MARCH 23 for these chapters. I can't guarantee I'll have space to use every single person's insight, but I'm trying to include as many voices as possible. And I'm typically identifying people with their full names, locations, ages and kind of diabetes they have (type
1 or type 2).

Looking forward to hearing from you!