Diabetes Update

Well, I think I am settling into more of a routine and getting more comfortable with the whole thing. My numbers have been great. My highest was 114 after dinner the first night I checked. Yesterday we had our annual neighborhood Christmas party at our next door neighbor's house. He always puts on a nice spread, but I was very careful to eat mainly protein choices and veggies, but i did have some sugared almonds for dessert. My number after dinner was 106. Then today we had our monthly fellowship meal after church. I followed the same plan--half a piece of chicken breast, a few bites of 3-bean chili, salad, and green bean casserole, with a brownie for dessert--and my number was 101. Yay! Of course, as soon as we got home from both these events, I jumped on the treadmill, which brings me to the exercise part of my regimen.

I have been exercising at least twice a day. Most days I do my big workout on the treadmill in the mornings (at least 40 minutes), although some days I will do a pregnancy workout video. Then after lunch I either do my pregnancy pilates video, or I walk another 20-30 minutes, but this time at a more leisurely stroll. Sometimes we swim after dinner, although it's not like I'm swimming laps, just splashing around the pool with the kids. But I'm still active. Now you might be wondering when in the world I am fitting in over 1 hour of exercise a day. It has become a temporary high priority, so there are things that are not getting done, that's for sure. I'm glad this is December, when I don't have high expectations for doing tons of extra schoolwork, for example. Nathan and Luke are doing math, grammar, and Latin daily, and we are listening to Story of the World CDs in the car. Sometimes we do spelling and memory work, but not always. Caleb and Jonathan get fitted in, but not as regularly as they were. It's funny though--having a little bit of a breather for Jonathan in reading has helped him, and he's become a lot more confident.

With all this exercise, I am burning over 300 extra calories a day. Now remember, the dietician put me on a 1800 calorie/day diet because I was 10-15 pounds overweight when I got pregnant. Well, the first few days of that, I was starving! I think Carri is right--it's just not enough calories, especially with all the exercise. So I took it upon myself to increase my protein. Instead of the "6 almonds" that would be a protein serving for a snack, for example, I would eat a handful. Or have an extra spoonful of peanut butter, or a little more meat at dinner. That has helped. I'm also drinking a ton of milk, which is helping me feel full. Of course, with all this milk and peanut butter, I worry about allergies . . . and this will be an odd-numbered baby, which for us tend to be the allergic ones . . . but oh well, what can you do. I can't deal with anything else right now. I may switch to sunflower seed butter, but I'm not switching to rice or soy milk.

I am thinking that if I keep on this diet after I have the baby, the baby weight (plus the extra 13 pounds!) should melt away! That is a happy thought. But then I wonder if I would be able to keep up my milk supply . . . I guess we'll see. I know I won't be able to keep up this exercise schedule! At some point, real life (and a nursing baby!) will have to take priority!

So now we are preparing to go to my parents' house for Christmas. We'll see how I do with the diet and exercise there. I have an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday, before we leave on Thursday.