The Process: Part 2

So...no CGM to start, just lots and lots of finger sticks all throughout March and April (and continuing on through the rest of my life).

As an FYI, finger sticks are just that. You use a little tool and poke your finger with a lancet (think safety pin, only smaller). Hopefully it bleeds just enough (not enough or too much are both not fun) to allow you to leave a small sample on the test strip that is attached to the blood sugar meter. Then the meter reads your sugar and gives you a number. Hopefully it is a good number. Sometimes it is low, sometimes it is high. And you adjust your insulin, or eat something sweet, depending on what's going on with your body.

I am going to digress for another minute here, and say that many times in my life I have had people tell me they are impressed with all of the information I keep in my head concerning diabetes. In writing this blog, I am realizing that much of the information I work with on a day-to-day basis is completely foreign to those around me. I speak diabetic jargon. It makes perfect sense to me to talk about insulin pumps, CGMs, HA1Cs, blood sugar levels, and carb counting. Yet to the rest of the non-diabetic world out there, I am speaking a foreign language. I am going to do my best to explain stuff in this blog, or at least link you to an explanation...but if you ever have a question, just email me.

Okay, so back to the finger sticking. I will be the first to admit that prior to this time in my life, I have not been the "best" diabetic in the world. I do not purport to be perfect, or wonderfully healthy. I like to eat. I like to go out with friends. I do not like to stick my finger with a little needle, no matter how small. I have moments where I forget I am diabetic. I cherish the times when I get to take a shower without my infusion set stuck to my abdomen. I love all things carbohydrates. I have a sweet tooth. And my HA1Cs over the past years have run in the low 7s to low 8s. Not super bad. But not good either, seeing as how diabetics are supposed to run under 7 at all times. Oh yes...and did I forget to mention? I did this while testing only two or three times a day. Definitely not good.

Move over "easy" unhealthy life. There's a new sheriff in town. Pregnancy's the name. Blood sugar control is the game. When you are a diabetic trying to get pregnant...the doctors want your HA1C under 6...YIPES! I had never seen mine that low...and I thought, "Wow...it really is going to take a lot of planning and practicing to get this right. We have months before the doctors are even going to give us the green light to try to conceive!"

Um...nope. Turns out my body, when testing and working with a doctor, will get into ship-shape in under a couple of months. My HA1C went from a 7.3, to a 6.2, to a 5.9 in no time flat. By May we had a green light to try for a baby.