Pregnancy with Gestational Diabetes (Part 1/2: Then)

How I Discovered I Had Gestational Diabetes

When I was pregnant with our first child, I felt incredibly fortunate: a textbook-smooth pregnancy, minimal nausea, working right up to the morning of labor (six days past my due date!). All seemed perfect.
But when we planned our second, I knew there might be added challenges: I was a bit older, already had a toddler, and life was busier. What I didn’t expect was how hard it would get.

The Routine Test That Changed Everything

My first trimester sailed by. At about 26–28 weeks I took the routine glucose screening for gestational diabetes (GD). You fast, have your blood drawn, drink the sugary solution, wait an hour, get drawn again, then again after another hour. I didn’t worry – I eat well, exercise, and rarely crave sweets.
But then I got that call: one of the three readings was out of range. I had GD.

I was in denial. How could I have it? I eat healthy. I move regularly. Yet, the diagnosis stood: I needed to enter the GD program. I figured it would be brief—“we’ll see you in a week or two, you’ll be fine” was my internal narrative.

What is Gestational Diabetes (GD)?

In the U.S., roughly 8 %–10 % of pregnancies are affected by gestational diabetes; globally the rate is closer to 14 %.
GD occurs when your body has a difficult time using insulin during pregnancy. Extra sugar circulates and crosses the placenta. This triggers the baby’s pancreas to make extra insulin and results in added energy stored as fat — which can lead to risks for both mom and baby.

The Diet & Monitoring Plan

First, the dietary overhaul. Six small meals a day. High protein, low carb. Two standout rules:

• A very small breakfast right after waking up.
• A high-protein bedtime snack right before bed.
  Every meal had a carb-protein-fat target. The biggest lever: carbohydrate intake.

Next: blood-glucose checking 4 times a day (after each meal) with a meter. Overwhelming? Yes. Stressful? Absolutely. But necessary.
After two weeks following the diet and monitoring, they reviewed the pattern. My fasting number refused to budge. No matter how I tweaked diet or exercise, it stayed high. That meant I had progressed to what they called “type 2 gestational diabetes” — meaning I would require insulin. I felt like I failed my body—and my baby.

Choosing Insulin

We met with doctors. We weighed options: oral medication (metformin) or injectable insulin. After research, we chose nightly insulin injections—I would inject myself in the stomach each night for the rest of the pregnancy. I hate needles, but of course I did whatever it took for a healthy pregnancy. I started at 8 units/night, and as the baby grew, that rose to 36 units/night.

Lifestyle Adjustments

I added a 10–15 minute walk after every single meal. I started maternity leave a few weeks early to reduce stress (because — yes — stress affects blood sugar). Timing of meals became rigid. Everything shifted.

Diet Tips That Worked for Me

Here are some of the go-to meals and snacks that helped me:

Breakfast 

Eggs + toast with butter or avocado. (No dairy or fruit in the morning → helped stabilize numbers.)

Snacks 

• Cheese sticks (easy on the go)
• Fresh salsa (5 g carbs or less = “free food”) + tortilla chip dip
• Whole-wheat Melba toast or Triscuits + cottage cheese + sliced olives
• Almonds (in my purse at all times)
• Plain Greek yogurt with berries + nuts

Dinner

• Edamame pasta + mushrooms + minced meat + tomato sauce
• Cauliflower rice + chicken or minced meat stir-fry
• Fish tacos (corn tortilla within carb limits)
• Turkey chili (beans & corn in moderation)
• Protein-rich salads: Taco salad or Cobb salad (lots of protein, limited starchy veggies)

Bedtime snack 

This was the toughest: they wanted ~14 g protein + ~15 g carb + ~5 g fat. I eventually settled on a protein shake (~30 g protein, 1 g sugar, 5 g carbs) plus a handful of almonds. Because once the numbers dropped, the relief was significant.

Why This Matters

GD isn’t about being “lazy” or “eating too many sweets.” It’s a glucose‐intolerance condition that develops during pregnancy when your body can’t use insulin as efficiently. Extra sugar circulates, crosses the placenta, leads to elevated fetal blood glucose → triggers the baby’s pancreas to make extra insulin → extra energy gets stored as fat (which is not ideal).
And when you see your own numbers consistently high, it’s frustrating and emotional: disappointment, shock, the feeling that your body isn’t cooperating. You feel like you’re letting yourself and your baby down—even though you’re doing everything “right.”

After I delivered her, all my numbers went back to normal and I celebrated by eating a sandwich with white bread! I cried happy tears when I ate, checked my glucose monitor and all was normal again.

Final Thoughts

If you’re reading this and facing GD—whether diet‐controlled or insulin‐needed—you are not alone. You are not to blame. This is a condition of the body, not a moral failing. With the right support, food planning, monitoring, movement and mindset, you’ll figure it out—just like I did.

Stay tuned for Part 2 (“Now”), where I’ll revisit this story from my perspective as a 40-year-old woman, now high‐risk pre‐diabetic, applying those lessons forward, bridging pregnancy past to present wellness.

If this post resonated with you, I’d love to hear your story. Leave a comment below or reach out on Instagram at @reshmasondagar

And if you want to watch the birth video reel I made when my little girl finally made it earth side and my diabetes magically disappeared you can watch that here.