I Had Gestational Diabetes with Two Pregnancies

by Bonnie
(USA)

I did have gestational diabetes with two of my pregnancies. The doctor basically ignored it except for telling me not to eat anything white. I pointed out that would include milk, and he said, "No, milk is beige." Huh? We had a cow at the time, and her milk definitely was not beige. I did go on to develop Type Two Diabetes, as well as metabolic syndrome with all the trimmings. At present I weigh about 224, and I'm 5'1" tall--used to be 5'2" but I've shrunk. This coming Tuesday I'm going in for weight loss surgery. Although I am looking forward to the results of this surgery, I am definitely not looking forward to being deprived of almost all of my favorite foods, even lettuce. I can't help thinking that if the doctor had treated the gestational diabetes, I might not have gone on to develop the rest of the problems. The fact that my first baby weighed 9.2 oz and my second weighed 9.14 oz should have given sufficient warning to any doctor with good sense that I was already pre-diabetic and should have had nutritional counseling immediately. But my "baby" is nearly forty, and I suppose that in those days they didn't think of nutritional counseling. I'd have done as I was told. I never wanted to get this fat or this sick. It is my opinion that any woman who shows any signs AT ALL of gestational diabetes should be given nutritional counseling, and having your doctor tell you to stop gaining weight is not nutritional counseling. In fact, a friend and I were at the same state of pregnancy and going to the same doctor. One day he told us both to stop gaining weight, but offered no suggestions as to how. Outside his office, we looked at each other, and both of us with no discussion headed for the closest soda fountain, where we each enjoyed a banana split. If he had told us WHY and HOW we would have listened, but he treated us like daddy scolding a disobedient two-year-old.