all work, no play

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Cheryl Alkon speak about her new book, Balancing Pregnancy with Pre-existing Diabetes. The event was organized by ACT1, a great organization here in NYC that supports adults with type 1. In so many ways, it was a wonderful, eye opening and reassuring event for me to attend. Not only did Cheryl share her story, but there were many other type 1 mommies in the room who were kind enough to share their experiences as well. I’ve never personally known a woman with type 1 who has been through pregnancy, so to hear all of them talk about their experiences was really empowering—after all, these were real live women who had lived thought it and been blessed with healthy children.

While I left the event feeling more convinced than ever that I am prepared and can handle this journey, I had asked a question, well, several questions, but one of the answers really stuck with me. I’ve done a lot of research on what my diabetic pregnancy will be like, and I’m aware of all the work that will go into it, but what I wanted to know was whether any of these women were able to remove themselves from all of the checking, the tests, the doctors appointments, and the meal planning long enough to ever just enjoy being pregnant. To enjoy thinking about the life that they were creating, and the adventure they were about to begin. So often you read about pregnancy being a magical time for women, and I wanted to know if diabetic mothers were ever able to take time to just enjoy the ride.

Cheryl thought for a moment after I asked my question, and basically said, a short and simple “not really.” The other women in the group agreed and shared that it was all just way too much work to really be able to enjoy it (although they all unanimously agreed that it was well worth it in the end!). Many of the women shared that during their pregnancies, they tested 12 times a day (which if you think about it is every two hours—more like every hour if you cut out some time for sleep). They talked about going to the myriad doctors appointments that were necessary and subjecting themselves to the many tests that are performed throughout the pregnancy to make sure mom and baby are both progressing as planned (my jaw dropped when they talked about the 24 hour urine test and schlepping a bucket of urine on the subway—I’ll be in a cab that day, thank you very much). One woman I spoke to after the event even said that if she could have, she would have quit her job during the pregnancy because it is like having two full time jobs.

I wasn’t necessarily surprised to hear all the stories about the difficulties and challenges of the pregnancy, but I was a bit surprised that there was such a unanimous response to my question. I hope that even if it’s only for a few minutes here and there, I can enjoy my pregnancy (so to my friends/family who are reading this, you may have to remind me to do so!).  I know I’m in for a lot of work, and I certainly know that it will all pay off, but I hope too that I can step back from all of it long enough, even if for only an hour in between tests, to enjoy the miracle that will be growing inside of me.

By the way, I haven’t read Cheryl’s book yet, but can’t wait to get through it. I’ve heard great things and some of the excerpts that she read last week were great!