Leaving on a jet plane...

I have mentioned in passing about an impending holiday but have kept tight lipped about it till now, think I have been too busy blogging about other bits and bobs but here it finally is, in true last minute style!

Tomorrow me and dad-to-be are off to Australia via Hong Kong and then Bangkok on our return. Some people don't blink an eyelid when I tell them this, others things we're mad! We honestly wouldn't be going if this was just a jaunt we felt like having for the hell of it before we become parents. It doesn't really mix with the fact I am 6 months pregnant and that for the next year or so we will be on a dramatically reduced income. The reason for this escapade is because my brother-in-law is getting married and we would very much like to be there, all three of us.

We haven't really known for definite if we would go until this week and I guess we won't know for definite until we are on that plane tomorrow! Although I shouldn't need any permission letter to fly out of the UK being just under 28 weeks (after this time you need a letter from your doctor/midwife to confirm you are healthy, have an uncomplicated pregnancy and confirming your due date) I still may be questioned about how pregnant I will be on my return. I have a letter by the way!

It feels like we have been planning and thinking about this for so long, I have been putting things aside - infusion sets, test strips, jaffa cakes - for weeks and preparing much more in advance than I would normally do for a holiday. I ordered a double prescription of insulin (both for my pump and for pens incase my pump plays up) aswell as test strips - 10 boxes in all. I've worked out if I tested on average about 14 times per day I would need about 242 for our trip, I know I have probably over estimated here but you never know, if for example I fell ill I might need to be testing this much.

My doctor has also prescribed blood thinning injections. I need to inject one of these the day before each flight, the day we fly and then for five days afterwards. So with four flights on our whole trip that's pretty much most of the holiday. Flight tights were also on my shopping list, I could probably write a whole post about those, perhaps another time...There is so much medical equipment that I need to take on board that it has its own designated suitcase. I don't think security will know what's hit them with all these liquids and needles!

When I am actually on holiday it will be all about trying to keep as healthy and relaxed as possible. Getting ill abroad is what I need to avoid as that could potentially mean I can't fly and therefore affect our whole trip and whether we can get back home.

I'm ready for a holiday now and by the time we return (hopefully with baby still in my tummy) we will be on proper countdown with just over 8 weeks to go! I'm hoping to do a couple of posts whilst I am away, if my good intentions fail there will be plenty of stories to tell when I get back...until then...

Fizz, Bang, Whallop!

One of the most exciting parts of my pregnancy so far has been feeling our little baby's first movements. I've been debating the best words to describe it other than amazing and exciting as it's also weird, surreal and strange to feel something actually moving inside you.

For me it wasn't completely obvious when I started to feel him move, it was more of a gradual process that started when I was around 18 weeks pregnant. This being my first baby there were plenty of moments of doubt whether it really was him moving or was it just gas in my tummy. Sorry for the detail but this is what it feels like!! At times like gas passing through your tummy and also like someone doing little flicks on your tummy from the inside. The movements gradually got stronger and more frequent to the point were I knew that it really was him moving without a doubt! And when I had my 20 week scan the sonographer was practically chasing him around my uterus to try and check his measurements. Which admittedly even led me to Google whether an active baby inside meant a hyperactive baby when born!

I can now see my tummy flinch when he does a big move but unfortunately so far daddy-to-be hasnt been able to capture the action as it happens. It's like he knows when Daddy's hand is there or when I expose my belly to try and get a clearer look. The usual tricks you hear about do help - cold drinks, fizzy drinks, the latter definitely sending him to a flurry of somersaults!

My midwife has mentioned about starting to count the movements soon, I should be looking for at least 10 movements a day and recommended I try the tricks above first if I was worried about him not moving (don't think I have to worry about that just at the moment, he can't keep still most of the time!) She also stressed that if I was worried about a sudden lack of movement to call or come into the hospital and mention I have diabetes. I've also just come across this website which seems to have lots of advice and links to useful apps to keep track of movements:

http://countthekicks.org.uk/

He definitely gets more active when there are voices, it seems particularly those of Mummy & Daddy-to-be. The other week I was working at home and so the house was very quiet and I wasn't having the usual conversations with my colleagues, meetings etc. But then as soon as my husband came home and we started chatting he went for it, spinning, kicking....whatever he gets up to in there!

I will miss his little kicks as he begins to get too cramped to perform his daily gymnastics routine. But I have a fair few weeks to go yet before that happens, I'm sure (and I hope) I have plenty of kicks and thumps and prodding to come yet!

Pic sourced from:http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieporge/3283174816/

The joys of morning sickness! (and lime pickle, kiwis and crisps)

I had a strange breakfast egg experience yesterday morning which reminded me I definitely needed to write a post about the dreaded and hideous morning sickness. (Warning - you might want to avoid this post if feeling queasy!)

I have been lucky enough to be 'MS' free since before Christmas (when I was about 12 weeks) but this weekend mid-breakfast a wave of nausea filled over me and my husband's lovely poached eggs on toast ended up straight down the loo. I felt so bad, five minutes before I had been nagging him to make sure the eggs were cooked properly when in the end it didn't really matter after all. My theory is it's eggs, a similar thing happened a few weeks ago with boiled eggs but that time I managed to ride it out.

My morning sickness, or for me 'morning nausea' started to kick in when I was about 6 weeks pregnant. It started very gradually and was probably at its peak between 8-11 weeks. Those of you who are pregnant or have been pregnant will know it has a very deceiving name as in fact it can strike at any time of day. Mine was definitely worse in the morning but definitely not restricted to morning only. I only vomited twice and both of those times it was before breakfast and was just retching bile rather than anything else, but I was still prepared and carried a paper bag (a Happy Birthday gift bag in fact) with me in my hand bag just in case.

As soon as the nausea started I stocked up on ginger biscuits and ginger tea, but these were short lived, what I found most about my morning sickness was I had immense cravings for certain foods, but come a few days later I had gone off them completely. Ginger biscuits were replaced with malted milks, which were then replaced by rich tea which were then replaced with dark chocolate digestives. I didn't really have any problem with eating during these weeks when I felt sick (unlike some people) in fact I was the opposite. For several weeks I absolutely loved crisps - tucking into a pack of beef monster munch one day at 10.30am I was trying to hide the crunching noises paranoid that my colleagues had noticed my weird eating habits. I would go to Boots in the tube station on the way to work and salivate over the selection - what did I fancy today? Salt and vinegar were a must at first then I went onto the more meaty flavours or sometimes the cheesy puff variety. I also strangely went off tea which for me was a big deal and again I thought would surely signal something odd was going on to the girls at work. But apparently they didn't twig.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues I had was that I also went off water. Plain water, just water, that I used to drink non-stop and never go anywhere without a bottle. This obviously wasn't good and probably led to this crisp craving, dehydrated and craving salt. I did find drinking ice cold water helped a little, but most of the time I just wasn't that thirsty. And when I was I wanted lemonade, orange, fizzy drinks. Even now I am definitely not drinking as much as I used to, especially in the evenings, but perhaps not such a bad thing as I would probably need two toilet breaks a night.

I read up about morning sickness a lot when it struck me and it seemed there were two theories about why it occurs - the increase in hormones and/or low blood sugar. I definitely found I felt more queasy when my BG was 4-5mmol/l and below, but this is the target you need to aim for pre-meals so it does make life more difficult. I don't know if women with diabetes suffer with worse morning sickness, it was never mentioned to me by any of my nurses or doctors but would be interesting to find out.

Most mornings when I was in the height of sickness I had a piece of banana before I got up properly which helped slightly, at least enough for me to function and get showered and then slowly force feed myself my breakfast - it felt like having a permanent hangover. Normally an hour after waking I would feel okay enough to leave the house but not always. Luckily I was able to work at home when I felt really bad and in the end I actually told a few of my colleagues earlier than I had planned (at about 9 weeks) as I was feeling really rough and lethargic a lot of the time.

I also read the horror stories on the internet about the poor women who suffer with morning sickness throughout their whole pregnancy and I thought please don't let that be me!! If you are one of them I sympathsise with you. I have already thought that if we have a baby number two I will completely dread going through morning sickness again - they say every pregnancy is different though so I guess there is hope yet. Luckily mine did ease off and come Christmas thankfully I was getting back into eating normal foods again.

When I started to tell people I was pregnant so many people asked me if I had started having cravings yet, I felt like a broken record repeating my stories about crisps and chip shop chips and lime pickle. Yes lime pickle! I had an urge for it combined with Pringles. And for about two weeks I really wanted a McDonalds burger (I hate McDonalds most of the time) one day I gave in and we pulled into a drive thru', it was heaven, especially the gherkin and mustard. It hasn't all been junk food though I also had a stage of oranges and a good few weeks of loving kiwis.

Now I feel a million times better and I hope the 'MS' leaves me alone for the rest of my pregnancy. I still have a packet of crisps a couple of times a week, but I'm not daydreaming of them like I was a couple of months ago. Biscuits are very firmly still on the menu though and of course a nice cup of tea!

17th week coming to an end...

17 weeks + 6 today, which means another day closer to the anomaly scan when we will finally find out if little bump is a boy or a girl, but more importantly that everything is going okay still. I keep thinking about finding out the sex and I forget that more crucially this will be a big moment in seeing how the baby is developing and whether it is healthy. Having heard so much over the years about the complications that can arise in early pregnancy when you have diabetes I feel like so far we have had too smooth a ride and keep expecting a hiccup soon.

I thought I would post a pic of my growing bump. Dad-to-be has been taking a picture each week since 12 weeks so expect a back catalogue and more to follow soon. Some days I feel massive (I know I will feel much bigger than this!) other days I forget until I catch sight in a mirror and I think wow this really is happening.

Blah, Blah, Blah

I was back at work today. I haven't shut up about the pump. Not that I mind, I don't hide the fact I have diabetes at work, but nor would I say I make a song and dance about it.

It was clipped to my jeans today, I knew a few people would want to see what it was all about so I went for the easy access option, no pulling it out my bra or pants.

A few people asked me if I had a good break, first I tried the reply 'not bad thanks' then I was faced with 'do anything exciting?' and then it just came out 'well I went on to an insulin pump...' I guess it is exciting if you're into diabetes.

Some of my colleagues know about diabetes and pumps as my company works with some medical companies so they were a bit more familiar, a couple of friends asked me how long I would have to wear it for, when I replied to one friend/colleague 'forever' she looked devastated. I found myself consoling her and saying it was all going to be okay.

I'm worn out. I think I might stop talking about it for now, maybe just until tomorrow...

Picture Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/3600301569

Spaghetti Sums

Don't you hate it when you make a silly mistake? 

After me saying I had nailed my evening meal bolus doses yesterday I woke up at 1am this morning with a blood glucose of 19.3!!

After I corrected and got back into bed I realised it must of been the carbs in my spaghetti, I had hardly took any insulin compared to what I normally take for pasta, the only thing I had done differently was I referred to the packet for the carb value (rather than my Dafne book).

When I got up this morning I checked the packet nutrition info:

As cooked per guidelines 

125g serving

Carbohydrate: 31.3g

Whenever I have pasta it's usually about 70g of carbs, but for some reason I seemed to forget this, I think I was too pre-occupied with telling my boyfriend how clever this pump was and trying to give him a demo as he was washing up. So then I checked my Dafne book:

Pasta - fresh - uncooked

100g = 55g carbs

So my 125g portion was near enough 70g of carbs. 

If only I was as on the ball as this pump seems to be! 

(Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mukluk/1034486730)

Little by little...

Third day in and I can't believe how much more sensitive I am to my insulin/how effective my insulin is now I am on the pump.

I have cracked the latter part of the day (I think!) Two evenings running I have had steady blood sugars from my evening meals to waking in the morning. I have been weighing my food and referring to my carbs book just to make sure I can get everything accurate. It's the rest of the day that's the problem! 

I am still going a little too low for comfort, like this morning when I got out of the shower I tested and I was 3.9, so it was jelly babies pre-breakfast, then some more pre-lunch...good job they are on buy one get one free in Tescos at the moment.

The first challenge for the next couple of days is going to be working out what I need to take at breakfast, today I did 0.5 units for 10g carbs, not enough I had to correct. But 1 unit for 10g carbs would have been too much as the amount I corrected by plus the bolus I took with my breakfast was less than the total amount I would of taken if I had done 1 unit to 10g carbs. Get it?!

It's going to be a case of tweaking each day and seeing what happens, a bit like a science experiment, just a very long one, but hopefully a very beneficial one!

(Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2798315677)

P Day!!!

Haven't been able to post since Thursday, been so busy with parties and more parties...(a little taster above)

I could do with a long lie in this morning, but not today, as P day is here!! (P doesn't stand for party, thank god) Today I'm off to the hospital for my pump training with my nurse and Animas trainer. 

I'm just eating my breakfast and have already took my Novorapid, I have been repeating in my head 'don't take my Levemir, don't take my Levemir' (I'll be going onto basal rates on my pump later today so must not take this insulin too!) I've remembered that part. I've also got my pump in my bag along with a couple of infusion sets and the manual, I'm wearing jeans for easy tummy access, so I think I'm ready to go.

All being well I will be up and running on the pump later today and back to post!

Adventures in the night..

Last night I had a dream, I can't really remember the full details, but I thought I was having a hypo (low blood sugar for those who are new to this) but a person in my dream was telling me I wasn't - 'it's just the same feeling as a hypo' they were saying - I believed them whoever this person was. But then suddenly I woke up, sweating and my heart was thumping, ah that wasn't just a dream I thought, I am having a hypo. 

I still tested myself just to make sure, waking up sweating isn't unusual this week...My meter read 2.9mmol but I felt lower. This was an unusual hypo, I glanced at the clock it was only 12.30am, I had only been asleep for 90 minutes. I knew straight away I had took too much insulin with my evening meal, I had over corrected as my blood sugar had been high. If I wake with low blood sugar in the night it's normally an hour or two before I am due to get up and I only need a juice and it's back to sleep within 5 minutes. This one felt different, I even contemplated telling my boyfriend (then thought he would just groan, roll over and fall asleep...so I didn't bother) I sat on the sofa in the dark and managed to pack away quite a hefty midnight feast (I felt starving!) - a big juice and a cereal bar and then after scrounging around in the cupboard, fridge and the empty biscuit tins I found the last packet of raisins in the kitchen cupboard and scoffed them down too. 

This morning I woke with a blood sugar of 13mmol - not too bad considering my 'adventure' in the night (that's my boyfriends new name for a night time hypo by the way...)

What I find most fascinating about this story is the beginning...it isn't the first time I have dreamt about desperately trying to get some food, trying to buy a drink but not having any money, trying to test my blood sugar but not quite managing to do it, to then wake and find my blood sugar low. 

It's clever don't you think? Even if in my dreams I'm still a diabetic I think it's pretty cool I have a built in hypo detector installed in me, no wires or batteries required!

(Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slighning/513835291)

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hot in London. Very hot, almost as hot as being on holiday.

So, if that's my conclusion why am I not reducing my insulin like I would do on holiday?

This morning on waking my blood glucose was 8.1mmol I took my normal breakfast dose and ate the same cereal and amount I always do. When I tested about 2 hours later I was only 7.6 (lower than usual at that time of the day for me), my morning snacks then consisted of 10 grapes, a small smoothie and a cereal bar - so near enough 50g of carbohydrates. Lunch time blood glucose, 8.2 mmol. 

Perfect, this sun has some bonuses. Plus it means I get to eat nice things like Fab lollies because I 'need' them!

Picture Credit: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldofoddy/339925295)

Getting to know you...

I would like to pretend that this photo of me was taken by someone else when I was actually deeply engrossed in reading the manual for my new pump, unaware I was being photographed. Sadly it wasn't, I put the camera on self timer and pretended I was reading the manual for the purpose of this blog...

So there we go. 

When I picked up my pump from my nurse last week I eagerly read the manual on the bus home and continued reading the manual whilst sitting on the sofa when I got home, in fact I had to prise myself away from it. Then things got busy and me and the manual haven't spent as much time together as we should have done. Pump has been neglected too, although from next week it will be a different story.

So far I've learnt how to set the time and date (that was without even referring to the instructions!), which batteries to use and not use, how to navigate through the menus, I even learnt that you shouldn't put your pump in the dishwasher nor should you use a microwave oven to dry it. 

4 chapters in, 14 chapters left, 6 days to go, who knows what other fascinating facts I haven't learnt yet. That's it, me and the manual have some catching up to do...

Welcome to my blog

I've decided it's about time I got into this blogging... 

So, I am going to give those who are interested an insight into living with diabetes and I'm sure some other aspects of my life so don't be put off if diabetes isn't your thing!

I've had Type 1 diabetes for 11 years and one of my main reasons for starting this blog is that on Monday 6th July I am switching from multiple daily injections to a insulin pump and I hope to provide an insight here to what happens and how I get on!

And yes that is ice cream, two of them in fact...don't worry I only ate one.