Happy New Year and…we're expecting!

Seeing as it's a new year, and things have changed dramatically in the last few months I felt the need to write a long post and let you all in on some spectacular news:

My husband Will and I are expecting!!!! Here are the little babe details:

Due date: June 26, 2014 (although I've also been told the 27 and 28)

*Note: because I'm Type 1 Diabetic and considered High-Risk, I'll be induced two weeks prior to my due date at 38 weeks

Today, I'm officially 17 weeks and 3 days pregnant.

I feel amazing, completely normal. All of my tests at the 3 month mark were normal and the OB said I have the health of a healthy 15 year old which made me feel really great! I've gained about 8-10lbs now and I can feel my mid-section expanding slightly, but I'm still wearing all of my clothes just some of my jeans are a tighter (and most of my bras) - I cannot wait to start sporting a small bump, should be about another month - let's hope anyway!!!! ;)

A lot of things have changed in my life not only due to finding out I'm carrying another person in my body, but since I started working at this amazing new job downtown my schedule has changed, my commute has changed and therefore my life has changed.

Unfortunately, I had to stop volunteering at the Power Yoga Canada Oshawa due to my new work schedule and life, and I had to stop practicing as well. Most pregnant women are not advised to practice hot yoga during any trimester, although depending on your level of experience some still do. Being high risk I was advised by both my OB-GYN and Naturopath to refrain from practicing hot yoga.

This was literally the hardest thing I had to give up - next to red wine of course! I have been practicing some non-heated yoga classes, and signed up for yogaglo.com again because they have some amazing prenatal classes!

I've been doing my own workouts at home and following this amazing blog fitinheels.com for extra at-home workout ideas. I've also been walking about 3km a day but I'm really looking forward to getting more of a sweat on - think spin class (but I will take it easy), riding the bike and I'm also thinking about doing some sort of swimming further along in my pregnancy because I love the water!

In terms of food, the only things I've been craving are salmon, spinach, goat cheese, apples and eggs. Actually, the week I found out I was pregnant I had eaten eggs 4 days straight for every meal - I didn't think anything of it until I reflected after the test was positive and something clicked…I had an aha moment!

I truly didn't have any pregnancy symptoms that were obvious like nausea or morning sickness. I was tired about a month in and the tiredness lasted about 6 weeks and normally hit around 9pm. Around 9 weeks along I felt a bit relieved and then at 10 weeks I felt normal again, I could actually stay up past 10pm!

My diabetes is another story altogether - my sugars are going in stages. Some weeks they are very controlled and I'm in the 4's and 5's, like a normal person, every single day. Then they will jump up into the 9's and I'll have to adjust my bolus rates a bit. I have my new Accu-chek pump and love it - and I am really trying as hard as I can to get my numbers perfect as it is the most important thing for me during this pregnancy. Not only does my health depend on it, but so does my baby's, and that is something I don't want to mess with. My A1C before I was pregnant was 7.6 and 3 months in I got it down to 6.9 which isn't too bad, but it needs to be much better. It is interesting though how my sugars were very low for about a month and a half which happens to non-diabetic women as well.

In terms of meals, I am eating the same but having more substantial breakfasts. My typical day looks something like this;

7am - Green Smoothie with banana, spinach, pumpkin seed protein, chia seeds, hemp seeds, frozen raspberries, fresh ginger and water

9am - amaranth porridge with cinnamon and home-made granola

11am - almonds, small apple with almond butter

12:30pm - soup, small salad, half a sandwich or quinoa salad

3pm - mary's crackers, carrots, celery with hummus

7pm - brown rice pasta with sautéed kale, olives, tomato sauce, veggies or baked salmon with baked sweet potato slices, steamed broccoli

10pm - small bowl of organic greek yogurt with granola

Supplements: I have to take 4-5mg of folic acid a day being diabetic so I ensure I get at least that amount in supplements but also consume healthy meals full of nutrients

- Pre-Natal Multivitamins (3 per day = 1mg folic acid and all other supplements required)
- Folic Acid (2 pills per day)
- Advanced B-Complex AOR brand (3 per day = 1mg folic acid and all B vitamins)
- Calcium/Magnesium Liquid (1 tbsp)
- DHA Nutrasea Oil

I'm going to continue some posts along the way mainly talking about my diabetic journey with pregnancy. There are so many things to discuss when it comes to pregnancy that every woman goes through - but the diabetic journey is different. I hope you will take what I write as valuable and helpful information as most of it will be encouragement for a happy and healthy journey!