My story: Candace and gestational diabetes

It's unclear why some women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, which is why it can come as such a shock. Candace recalls her time with the disease and why she had more than one reason to dance after the birth of her son.

Transcript

00:00

This is Abram. He's 10 weeks old. And so when I was 16 weeks pregnant, I found out I had gestational diabetes.

00:10

Abram is my third child. With my first pregnancy, I have a set of twins that are 11 years old, and I was not diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

00:17

So I thought I was in the clear with this little guy, but it's not true. You could be the most healthy person, the most active, most

00:24

fit person, and you still develop gestational diabetes. The first person I told would be my husband. And he laughed at first. And I was like, this isn't funny.

00:31

If a pregnant lady wants to eat ice cream, she wants to eat ice cream with no reservations and not feeling guilty. I don't think this is a laughing matter.

00:38

I was able to control my blood sugar through diet. I cut back, cut out the soft drinks, drank more water. Being diabetes conscious definitely

00:46

makes for a lifestyle change for the whole family. Following the reduced carb count, increasing the walks, and more water

00:53

doesn't hurt everyday life. So it's something that we've tried to adapt and keep doing every day.

00:59

He actually came out and had a little bit of low blood sugar. They gave him a little bit of sugar water, and it brought him right up.

01:06

And he's been great ever since. After the baby was born, I checked my blood sugar a couple days after he was born, and I

01:13

was starting to level back out. At six weeks, I went back in and did another two-hour test. I had completely got rid of gestational diabetes,

01:22

and I was not pre-diabetic. I did a happy dance in the living room the day that I got that phone call, for sure. I called everybody I could, or at least sent out a mass text

01:29

message. I got a lot of woohoos. [MUSIC PLAYING]