5½ months.....

It started with 2 pink lines just around Christmas time.


About a month later, I spent an entire day at the hospital attending a handful of different introductory appointments. Two weeks later the first ultrasound checking for potential malformations was carried out, letting us see you alive for the second time.

This was also how you were introduced to the family weeks later. On purpose, we had chosen not to say anything about you for a long time because 1) we wanted to be sure that you were indeed there and doing well, and 2) minimize the amount of time that our parents would have to freak out in joy, worry and be ever-interested in mine and your well-being. My parent were the last to learn about you after almost 19 weeks. They have been more cool about it than I'd dared to hope and so far haven't increased the number of weekly phone calls to inquire about you and I. Jimmi's parents, on the other hand, have been overly interested - maybe because you'll be their first grandchild. Hence, their disappointment was quite noticeable, when you didn't want to reveal your gender at last week's second malformation-check ultrasound ;-)

Jimmi and I are just happy that you seem to be doing well, not bearing any signs of my diabetes.

I've now officially entered week 22 of your creation, and while everyone (doctors as well as other diabetic mothers) seem to say that insulin needs should already be going up-up-up, I haven't really experienced that yet. Sure, some of my basal rates have increased in the course of the past 21 weeks, but many of them have also been reduced, which was also the case for a number of them again at last week's appointment. My A1c - that has been very stable around 5.5 (+/-0.5) for the past 15 years - was 5.4 at the first check post-conception as well as 1 month later. In February, it had dropped to 5.3 and now it's down to 5.0. I would be very happy about this, not least regarding your health, was it not because of all the insane low bg's that I've been struggling the past few months. My basal rates are the very least possible the entire afternoon (0.05 u/h on a Medtronics pump), yet I can still drop like a stone when bike riding or walking. On typical workdays I'll have a 12 km bike ride in the morning and late afternoon, but because my employment contract just expired and I'm now "just" trying to finish a number of publications, my current schedule isn't as predictable. Yet, the hypos sneak their way into life every day. Yesterday, I spent the entire morning in front of the computer and on the phone, trying to fix certain issues, and still was 3.2 mmol/l (58 mg/dl) prior to lunch. A couple of hours later, I was at a very respectable 5.4 mmol/l (98 mg/dl) with the next-to-nothing afternoon basal rate in effect, and thought it was a good time for a walk with our dog. It didn't take more than 20 min to drop me to 3.1 mmol/l (56 mg/dl), though, and even though I consumed a total of 30 g of fast-acting carbs during the 75 min walk, I still was only at 2.7 mmol/l (49 mg/dl) afterwards. I used to assume that the low afternoon basal rates was a consequence of the late effect of my morning bike ride as well as part of the preparation for the ride back home from work, but yesterday's relative inactivity certainly doesn't support that notion.

I don't know. I'm not at all looking forward to becoming more insulin resistant, but I do wish that these unpredictable hypos will cease sooner rather than later :-)