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Boo with The D'betes! So sorry : (

I used to firmly believe that "if it ain't got real sugar it ain't worth puttin' in my mouth," but once I accidentally bought sugar free popsicles and I love love love them! Of course I'd rather be eating cheesecake but that can wait until that precious baby is here!

Okay, first off, if you can't control your blood sugar well with diet, ask your OB about Glyburide. It was a godsend for both of my diabetes-plagued pregnancies.

Second--get your hands on the South Beach Diet cookbook. Seriously. It's amazing. The recipes are awesome, and they're pretty much tailored for pre-diabetics and type-2 diabetics who don't know they're diabetic but just think they're fat. I've lost close to 20 pounds in less than two months and never feel like I'm being deprived. Do I sound like an infomercial yet?

Fish, fish, fish. Big fat piles of sauteed mushrooms and onions sop up gravy just as well as potatoes. Tuna salad with just as much celery as tuna, and lots of mayo. Canadian bacon and low-fat Laughing Cow (really, it doesn't taste low-fat). Anything made by Kashi. And I hate to say it, but Splenda really isn't that bad. I, too, was a "not real sugar? Bullshit!" kind of gal until I'd been fed half a dozen things that I thought were made with real sugar but were made with Splenda, instead, and my sophisticated palate simply could not tell the difference. But then, my problem was always bread, not sugar--never had much of a sweet tooth.

If you must have your bread, and can't stomach the whole-grain stuff, then sourdough is your next best bet. The acidity of it makes it digest more slowly, for some reason, and therefore spikes your blood sugar less.

And I hate to say it, but brace yourself for an induced labor. They don't let us GDs go a day past our due dates, and they usually induce us a week or two early for good measure. And don't think your a pussy if you have to get the drugs and the epidural--induced labors are a hell many times more awful than the natural thing.

Okay, I think I'm done.

What kind of blood sugar monitor are you using? I have a whole bunch of extra testing disks if that's what you've got, sitting around trying to expire. They're yours if you want them.

South Beach huh? I was going to say to google "Adkins recipes". Are these diets similar?

20 pounds, huh Misty? Sounds like I'm going to the library today. awesome.

South Beach and Atkins are both of the "carbs are bad, m'kay?" school, but Atkins seems to ignore that saturated fats are bad, too, and that vegetables are good. I have an aunt who, quite literally, gave herself a coronary on Atkins. South Beach puts you through a two-week total carb detox, then has you start gradually adding in whole grains and the higher glycemic-index fruits and veggies, the theory being that the harder your body has to work to release those carbs, the better your health will be. I was sold on it because I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic/metabolic syndrome at the ripe old age of 27, and I've seen too many of my family members disappear from the feet up due to type 2 diabetes. Also, I dislike being fat.

I actually like how I eat now, and I like how I feel. I'm tempted to go get my glucose and cholesterol levels checked at the three-month point, I have the feeling they've improved tremendously. Sure, I still cheat once in a while (usually while in the vicinity of Five Guys), but when I stick to it, I'm losing something like half a pound a day. Nursing is probably accelerating that, but still.

Megan, I'm afraid my suggestions did little for your sweet cravings. Sorry, I don't have much to add on that, since as I said before, I've never been really big on sugar--except for my Coke, which was really hard to break, but I make do with Diet Dr. Pepper these days (mixes really well with bourbon, btw). But the thing is, once you've gone cold-turkey from simple carbs, your cravings for them really do decrease after about two weeks--even when you're pregnant. It's like rehab for your pancreas. My big treat these days is a bowl of Kashi whole-grain granola with freeze-dried berries--yum. And I'm the last person I would have ever suspected of turning into a health food nut.

I've done low carb dieting to good results in the past. I figgured diabetic dieting would look similar.

What about flour tortillas? Because I can eat the heck out of some chicken or other lean meat if it's wrapped up with some spinach and other veggies in a flour tortilla. Do they make whole grain tortillas? Are they decent?

Mitzi - thank you so much for all the advice. I don't know yet how I'll be checking my blood sugar. I won't see my doctor until Thursday - just got the "big news" on Tuesday of this week. In the mean time, I'm trying to be super good on my diet. Then it is my delusion that I'll go in, check my blood sugar, and prove to them that the whole thing was a fluke. Ya, that's right. Delusional.

I"m actually pleased to know that I'll deliver on time or early. With Mr. Meat and POtatoes on the road so much, it will be nice to have a more "definitive" time frame. And don't you worry - I'm taking all the drugs they'll give me, thankyouverymuch and can I have another?

You are my inspiration. I want to lose all the baby weight (which so far isn't too shockingly much, thank goddess) and then about 35 lbs more on top of that. We'll see. I hope the wives' tales about nursing helping in that dept. are at least a little bit true.

By the time my first kid was nine months old, I was ten pounds lighter than when I got married, and I wasn't exactly a porker then. Skinniest I've been as an adult that wasn't the result of chemo. Nursing is teh bomb, yo.

Go, drugs! My advice is, go for the Versed for the first few centimeters, then get the epidural. I spent this last labor mostly napping and watching movies. Sure, drugs might not be the best thing for the baby, but getting stuck in the birth canal because Mom's too tired to push isn't great for them, either. Popped 'em both out in less than fifteen minutes of pushing.

Diabetes can be rough. Both my parents have it and my grandpa had it. I'm doing all I can through supplements and diet to not get it. I actually became a Shaklee wellness consultant and help others figure out what they need diet and supplement wise to stay healthy. If you are interested, I would love to talk with you sometime. I am also pregnant and due at the end of August. When are you due? From the sounds of it, you are due around the same time I am.

I am on a low to no carb diet as well since I am dealing with yeast issues. So I know how you are feeling. Some days will be very tough and others will be great. Especially with the pregnancy when you are craving things. Not fun. Just keep at it and you will do fine. You mentioned you've done the low carb diet thing before, so that is a good step.

You asked about tortillas. Those would probably be fine in moderation. Once a week or biweekly. Whole grains would work. Brown rice, bulgur, whole wheat noodles etc. Again, in moderation.

A good natural sweetener is xylitol or stevia. You can get both of them at the Merc. Stevia can have a little bitter taste if you put too much in or on your food. Xylitol is not good for dogs (it kills them. Kinda like chocolate is harmful to them.) but is a great substitute in baked goods.

I wish you good luck in this new adventure. If you would like to contact me, please do. Again, I would love to help out anyway I can.

I had the D'betes with both of my kids too. If your doctor makes you go to the dietician like mine did, they will teach you what you can eat. And then you'll go home and cry because what they have to say sucks.

I lived on roasted vegetables on the grill since I could have very little potatoes and bread. It was just whatever my favorite vegetables were or what I had around, marinated in some balsamic vinegar and oil. I think we ate these every meal. And since chicken and steak are low carb high protein, we ate a bunch of that. Peanut butter and almonds were also good friends of mine.

I learned to cheat the system and still squeeze in an occasional jaunt to Sylas and Maddys, so if desperation knocks on your door midway through your GD adventure, let me know ;)

And if you have to test your blood sugars, do it on the side of your finger...that way it doesn't hurt so much after you've had to test for a length of time. I had to do 7 times a day, and since there are only 10 fingers, my hands hurt like a B after a couple days.