An Endo Visit and Fitness Concerns

I had a regular endocrinologist appointment yesterday, my first since trying to conceive.

See, Endo also oversees the diabetes and pregnancy program at my local hospital, so for the past two-plus years, I saw her as either a trying-to-conceive patient or one who was actually pregnant.

Yesterday, I was merely a patient with diabetes.

There have been some changes in the clinic where she sees her non-pregnant patients. I was able to find out my A1C within 15 minutes, instead of receiving the info a week later.

Much to my surprise, my A1c was 6.7. I figured it would be deep in the sevens, considering some of the highs I've had. I also test far less than I ever did during pregnancy, maybe four or five times a day instead of ten-plus.

Also, Endo asked me, as I entertained Baby L in his stroller while reporting what my basal rates were, when I was ready to start trying for Number Two.

Not coincidentally, I've actually been asked this by a few other people in the past week or two. Endo told me that since I'm the age I am, with the infertility history I have, six months post-first-baby is when the questions start up again.

The Mister and I are not ready to get back on the infertility/IVF/pregnancy bandwagon. I have no expectations of anything happening naturally. We have frozen embryos in storage and when the time is right, we'll call up the clinic and talk about unfreezing them and seeing what transpires.

We also talked about my post-dinner highs, which are an ongoing battle, and my need for more regular exercise. Now that I'm not commuting for my job, a daily walk to and from public transportation doesn't happen regularly.

I actually like working out at the gym. Unfortunately, I am leery of leaving Baby L with the babysitters there, since they're down a long hallway and the babysitting room is so big, and the Baby himself is still quite little. (Does anyone have advice on this? I know I'm neurotic about many things, but how can I feel comfortable about leaving my kid with people I don't know?)

I tried this boot camp fitness class for new moms, which was great. They had onsite babysitting, so I could keep an eye on my kid while I did push-ups and jogged and huffed and puffed. The flip side is that I have a heel with plantar fasciitis, so it kills me to run, despite ongoing stretches and such. I stopped taking the class.

"Walk 60 minutes a day," the Endo urged. And I can do that. I just don't feel like I'm getting a major weight-loss workout when I walk around the neighborhood pushing my kid in his stroller. I tend to think that, unless I am sweating on an elliptical trainer or pounding it out in a Spin class, my exercise efforts aren't doing much.

I mean, I know the exercise is good for the blood sugars. I have that pretty much under control. It's the excess weight I'm more concerned about.

I joined Weight Watchers earlier in the summer, and have lost a small amount so far. On one hand, I know the whole idea is about portion control, which I understand. On the other hand, I never want to write down everything I eat, and figure out points, since I'm already playing with numbers with carb counting and blood sugars. So I go to meetings and try to keep an eye on what I'm eating (more salads=good), I haven't been tracking points all that religiously.

And while I've lost about 30 pounds from my highest pregnancy point, I'm about 10 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, and another 40 away from Yummy Mummy.

At least my A1C is good.

Weirdly, my 508 pump started alarming in the middle of the appointment. My pump is about seven years old, a good three years out of warranty, but I haven't gotten around to updating it because I like it and it continues to work. During the alarm (A37, if anyone cares), Endo was worried she'd have to prescribe Lantus for me and I thought it would be ironic if my old pump died at the Endo's office. A quick call to Medtronic confirmed that the alarm was minor (a discrepancy between my pump's internal and external clocks; why that happened I don't know) and that after a quick reset, the pump was as good as new.

As an update from my last post, two months ago, I did not take the full-time job I was interviewing for earlier this summer. The main reason is because I wasn't hired for it (the search is ongoing), but I also thought it was just too early to return to a full time job if I didn't have to. The company has since sent me freelance work, and I continue to do work for two other magazines, so workwise, I'm still in the game.

Parenthoodwise, Baby L keeps me pretty busy. But that's another post altogether.