My First 18 Years With Type 1 Diabetes
I did pretty well with my disease for the next 6 or 7 years, then got married and became
pregnant the next year despite the protests of the doctors and my Mom. I was under the care of a physician who specialized in high risk pregnancies and I made a trip to the hospital lab at least 6 times a week to have my blood drawn. In the last trimester (or last three months) I collected my urine for a period of 24 hrs 3 times a week to have the estriol level measured and went every Friday to have mild labor induced for a fetal distress test. If the results were unfavorable they would decide to go ahead and deliver the baby so each Friday I wandered if this could be the day that I would deliver. I had an uneventful preganancy except for hospitalization for a kidney infection. I was overjoyed to be blessed with a beautiful little girl carried to term and delivered by ceaserian section. We were in the hospital for 7 days and when I took her for her first check-up I learned that she had a ventricular septal defect ( a hole in the left ventricle). She developed congestive heart failure and had open heart surgery at age 13 months because she had failure to thrive. The surgeon put a patch on the hole and repaired a patent ductus. She remained small through the years and it was learned when she was nine years old that she has hypopituataryism or idiopathic growth hormone defeciency. We gave her injections of growth hormone 3 times a week for 5 years which resulted in her growing 18 inches. Meanwhile my health continued to remain reasonably stable. I had the left lobe of my thyroidremoved due to a cyst when I was 19 years old. To read about when the complications set in and what they were click here complications To go back to the index page click here index page