Monday, May 21, 2012

Made of Steel, But not a Magnolia

Articles - Diabetes Articles
Thursday, 18 November 2010 03:21
If you haven't seen the movie Steel Magnolias, I'm about to ruin the plot for you.  So if you want, scroll past this paragraph, and I'll continue with my regularly scheduled blogging.  Basically, a type 1 diabetic woman dies from being pregnant and having a kid.  Everyone is sad.  The End.

Well, I had my first "Steel Magnolias" experience the other week when my parents were visiting.  Someone who worked with my mom asked her if the reason Trey and I don't have kids (yet) is because I'm diabetic.  My mom quickly rebutted that reason and said that I am perfectly

able and capable of having kids on my own.  And that our reasons for waiting were ours alone and had nothing to do with diabetes.  (Go Mom!)

Yes, it's true that Trey and I are waiting, but not on Diabetes.  My last A1c got the "green light" from my endo, and I'm aiming to get even lower.  But more importantly, I'm reading more and more stories everyday of type 1 moms having healthy babies.  The stories are so, so encouraging, but they still fade in the light compared to Steel Magnolias.  I really think someone should make a Steel Magnolias 2, where Shelby's granddaughter who has type 1 has like 1,000 healthy babies with her insulin pump and CGM.

But the point of this post is to say that I have every hope and intention of having kids one day, and not dying in the process.  I have no fear of the pregnancy process because I have researched and googled everything that's going to happen from preconception to birth to breastfeeding.  Those things, I can prepare for.

What I can't prepare for is someone seeing me all round-bellied, sporting an insulin pump, and thinking that I'm basically committing suicide by having kids.  I'm really not very patient when it comes to other people's ignorance.  Does anyone have that book, you know, "What to Expect When You're Expecting Comments from Ignorant People about Your type 1 Diabetic Pregnancy"?  Because I sure could use a copy about now.  I'm pretty sure those comments can bounce off of me like steel, but I'm not sure I can respond sweetly and in kind like a magnolia.  I can handle a type 1 diabetic pregnancy, I can handle the hundreds of doctor's appointments leading up to birth, and I can even handle all that while being called "Shamu".  But I can't, CAN.NOT handle other people telling me it can't be done. 

Perhaps is the southern woman stubborn part of me, but nothing makes me want to do something more than other people telling me that I can't.   

Of course, I still have some diabetic goals before getting pregnant, like achieving a perfect baby-building A1c like this here chica.  =) 

 
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