Why I competed in the Mrs. Idaho Pageant

What a great way to celebrate some major changes I have made in my life. Competing in the Mrs. Idaho Pageant was a great way to share  my story and help others.

Here is my story.

I was pregnant with my 3rd child at age 37. I went in for my normal check up. As I stepped on the scale and noticed I had a 10 pound weight gain. I simply could not believe my eyes. The nurse softly said do you have diabetes? I said NO!! She then started quickly looking through my chart and said that is weird I can't find your blood work from your gestational diabetes test. She then went on to say she would give the Lab a call. As she walked back towards me looking down I felt something wasn't right. She said I am so sorry to let you know but your test came back positive. I asked why I was not notified and she said somehow my test results did not come over from the lab.

She sent me right over for a 3 hour blood glucose test and I again tested positive. Knowing I only had 6 weeks until my due date I needed to work fast and learn all I could to know how to eat and what to do to better my health for myself and my baby. She gave me a load of paper work to read on gestational diabetes and also gave me food guide lines to follow. I followed the food guide and when I returned each week for testing my test were in range. I felt much relief.

I ended up delivering my baby 3 weeks early so I only knew I had diabetes for 3 weeks of my pregnancy. I had my post glucose tests after my son was born and the nurse said that there was no diabetes showing. I got one more my test the day we went home. Again I was told I could return to regular foods that the diabetes gone.

My son was very sick his first year of life. I was up with him nightly and was at the Doctor office many times to find out he had bronchitis and ear infections. It was really hard on my body because I wasn’t feeling well myself. I could not drop a pound no matter how hard I tried and I was having really bad headaches. I wanted to go to the Doctor to see what was up but my son was so ill I just kept putting it off. Finally I could not take another day of the headaches and I called my Doctor.

He got me in the next day and did a bunch of tests. He also ended up sending me home with a blood monitor. He taught me how to use it and said now don't get worried I just want to see how your blood sugar test's out. When I get the monitor in a few weeks we will discuss the results. He went on to talk about the different types of diabetes than he said with a smile I see you back in a few weeks. A few weeks past and I went back in to see my Dr. He asked how I was feeling? I told him I was not feeling any better. :-(

He took the monitor back and had it hooked up to his computer that printed out the results. He came in and said Well, Jill you do have diabetes. I froze and then began to cry. He said listen, I am going to give you a diet plan that will help allot and the pounds will start dropping off. He then said I need to do some type of aerobic program, machine or walking will do but you need to do it faithfully 5 days a week for the next month and then let’s have you back in and see your progress. He then went on to say that he would like me to test my blood before I eat and 1 hr after I eat 3 times a day.