Diabetes Blog Week - I Can

Well it’s time for another year of Diabetes Blog Week. This marks the 6^th year that Karen from Bittersweet Diabetes has organized this amazing event. It’s also the 3^rd time that I've participated in it. As I mentioned last year, I’m a horrible blogger and as evidenced by the fact that the last time I posted was during blog week last year, really inconsistent. Diabetes blog week gives me a great opportunity to write about something I’m passionate about but lets me not have to think of topics (which is the part of writing that I hate J)

Each day, I’ll take on a post idea that someone else has come up with and link my page to the others that have written about the same topic. Please click on the banner above to see all of the info on Diabetes Blog Week including the participant and post list.

In the UK, there was a diabetes blog theme of "I can...”  that participants found wonderfully empowering.  So lets kick things off this year by looking at the positive side of our lives with diabetes.  What have you or your loved one accomplished, despite having diabetes, that you weren't sure you could?  Or what have you done that you've been particularly proud of?  Or what good thing has diabetes brought into your life?  (Thank you to the anonymous person who submitted this topic suggestion.)

It’s hard for me to think of something positive that Diabetes has brought to my life so I think I’m going to focus my post on something that I've accomplished despite having diabetes. I seem to mention it every time I post but the greatest thing that I've been able to do despite having diabetes is give birth to my amazing son.

I was diagnosed with type 1 in my early 20’s. At the time I wasn't really interested in having kids so it wasn't one of the first things that popped into my head when the Doctor told me what was wrong with me. I was more concerned with the fact that I couldn't just go out with friends, eat a pizza and drink till I had a happy buzz. I actually had to start planning out my food and reduce the amount of carbs I was eating.

It wasn't until I told my mom what the doctor had said that she brought up having kids. When I went in for my first appointment with the endocrinologist, she explained that it wasn't impossible but that like food, it would take a lot of planning and that the risks for something being wrong with the child were a lot higher due to the increased blood sugars.

And boy was she right. It took me two years to get my A1C’s to the right place to consider trying for a baby. It was also recommended to change from being on Lantus (a long acting insulin) because it hadn't had a lot of testing on pregnant women to going onto an insulin pump. Once I did get pregnant, the control that I had to have with my food and testing was amplified by what felt like a million. I had to go for appointments every week between my endocrinologist, obstetrician, non-stress tests, prenatal echo-cardiograms, ultrasounds, dietitians, diabetic educators, and the list goes on.

But at the end, I ended up with the most wonderful, funny, sweet, caring, little boy anyone could have.