AT nearly 30 weeks, I’m close to entering the final lap of my pregnancy, and I’ve had to learn really quickly how to manage my hypertension and gestational diabetes.
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At first, I thought, ‘This is daunting. It’s like having another job.’
I have to eat three well-balanced small meals a day with snacks in-between, consume no sugar at all, and have only one helping of citrus fruit per day.
This involves meal prep which I’ve become quite good at. I’ve always been the type of person who thought about my next meal while consuming a meal, so yeah, it’s second nature, I guess. Now I just have to plan a day ahead.
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I’ve had people tell me: “I don’t know how you do it – no sugar. I’d go mad.”
My reply is straightforward: “If I don’t cut out sugar, I’m putting myself and my baby in danger.”
And then it dawns on me how very few people actually know about the two conditions, especially during pregnancy.
Then there are readings which I have to record, for both the hypertension and diabetes, to show my gynae at every visit.
Pricking my finger at my desk, and strapping a machine to my wrist, to test my glucose level and blood pressure, have become the norm for me.
Even my colleagues eagerly ask what my readings are!
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It does get hard sometimes, especially on those days when all I want to do is munch on a chocolate eclair.
Thankfully, I have my husband to vent to, who’s been a gem to me through this entire journey.
He’s really turned into my complaints department – that comes with free back and foot rubs.
Now, my only hope is that he doesn’t go government on me and tell me the system is offline!
