Ever grappled with the complexities and uncertainties of managing diabetes, particularly gestational diabetes? We have a power-packed episode for you today! We bring you an intimate conversation with Katie Gilmore, a registered nurse, celebrated TikTok content creator, and a Type 1 Diabetic herself. Katie takes us through her remarkable journey from being diagnosed with gestational diabetes to developing Type 1 Diabetes, revealing her struggles and triumphs during pregnancy and beyond. Her story is indeed an inspiration for all those treading a similar path.
We kick off the dialogue with a detailed account of Katie's challenging transition from gestational diabetes to Type 1 diabetes. Through the narrative of her own experiences with pancreatitis and DKA, we gain insights into the complexities of these conditions and how they're diagnosed. As we move along, Katie shares valuable insights on effectively managing diabetes during pregnancy. The importance of glucose control, the risks associated with gestational diabetes, and the complexities of planning a pregnancy with a high A1C - we cover it all! We also delve deep into the significance of clear communication with your doctor and being in sync with your body.
As we progress, we discuss the experiences of Type 1 diabetic women during pregnancy. The discussion throws light on the value of therapy and support groups in managing mental health and the considerations of breastfeeding for Type 1 diabetics. Wrapping up our conversation, Katie underscores the need for better education about gestational diabetes and sends out a heartfelt message to all T1D moms or moms-to-be - stay inspired, and never give up on your dreams. So, tune in and get ready to be inspired and informed by Katie's journey.
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Ever grappled with the complexities and uncertainties of managing diabetes, particularly gestational diabetes? We have a power-packed episode for you today! We bring you an intimate conversation with Katie Gilmore, a registered nurse, celebrated TikTok content creator, and a Type 1 Diabetic herself. Katie takes us through her remarkable journey from being diagnosed with gestational diabetes to developing Type 1 Diabetes, revealing her struggles and triumphs during pregnancy and beyond. Her story is indeed an inspiration for all those treading a similar path.
We kick off the dialogue with a detailed account of Katie's challenging transition from gestational diabetes to Type 1 diabetes. Through the narrative of her own experiences with pancreatitis and DKA, we gain insights into the complexities of these conditions and how they're diagnosed. As we move along, Katie shares valuable insights on effectively managing diabetes during pregnancy. The importance of glucose control, the risks associated with gestational diabetes, and the complexities of planning a pregnancy with a high A1C - we cover it all! We also delve deep into the significance of clear communication with your doctor and being in sync with your body.
As we progress, we discuss the experiences of Type 1 diabetic women during pregnancy. The discussion throws light on the value of therapy and support groups in managing mental health and the considerations of breastfeeding for Type 1 diabetics. Wrapping up our conversation, Katie underscores the need for better education about gestational diabetes and sends out a heartfelt message to all T1D moms or moms-to-be - stay inspired, and never give up on your dreams. So, tune in and get ready to be inspired and informed by Katie's journey.
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Welcome to the Type 1 Unscripted Podcast. My name is Sean and we are pulling back the curtain on the true experiences of life with Type 1 Diabetes. Together, we will explore the highs and lows of living with Type 1, sharing stories of inspiration and triumph, educating and learning and, most importantly, fostering our amazing Type 1 community. As a reminder, anything you hear on the Type 1 Unscripted Podcast, or any episode, should not be taken as medical advice. So before making any changes to your diet, insulin or health care plan, please consult with your physician or medical professional.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of Type 1 Unscripted, and today we have a very special guest, miss Katie Gilmore. Katie is a content creator on TikTok and her whole story is about her having gestational diabetes that has turned into Type 1 Diabetes. We're going to talk about that a little bit. We're going to unpack what pregnancy looks like with being a Type 1 diabetic and just a lot of good stuff here. Katie is a registered nurse for a preschool, elementary school and high school and yeah. So, katie, thank you for being here. If you don't mind, share a little bit about your background and your story and let's get started.
Speaker 2:All right, so my name is Katie Gilmore, I am a registered nurse in the state of West Virginia and I currently work in three schools in West Virginia. I love what I do love my kiddos. I had gestational diabetes during my first pregnancy a little bit over a year and a half ago and unfortunately I failed my glucose tolerance test again, which led me to having gestational diabetes. I had a very bad case which led me to have multiple complications during my pregnancy. I was put on bed rest twice, I was put in the hospital twice and eventually my OBGYN induced me at 38 weeks pregnant, which I don't even know how I got that far, but he told me absolutely no more that he had to induce me. I'm very thankful I had no complications because of the gestational diabetes After the birth of my baby.
Speaker 2:Most people know gestational diabetes goes away after the birth of your baby, or it's supposed to. Well, I was told not to worry about it because I was a healthy 25-year-old female at the time. I was fit, I was active, I ate healthy. I was told not to worry about it. So I didn't. I went home. I was trying to navigate being a new mom, being postpartum, which I think all women can agree is difficult in itself, and I just noticed that I did not feel right. I was tired, I was weak, I was in a daze, I was severely nauseated and having projectile vomiting multiple times. Yeah, I mean, I feel like now that was like the biggest sign which I feel like I was probably going into DKA a little bit.
Speaker 1:Oh, no. Well, how long after your birth was this?
Speaker 2:This was after, and it was almost immediately after that. I just didn't feel good and I stayed nauseated, I stayed thrown up, I stayed confused in the days, tired, weak, and anytime I mentioned it to anybody that I just didn't feel good, they were like, okay, you're postpartum, that's normal, all moms feel that way, being postpartum. So I was like, sure, okay, but then it just kept going on and I kept thinking to myself this is how I was, how I felt when my sugars were fluctuating, when I had gestational diabetes. So I got out my glucometer, which I had tried to forget and adore somewhere. I got it out and, sure enough, as soon as I tested, I'm pretty sure the first reading was high. It wouldn't even read on the glucometer. Long story short, I started going back to the doctor.
Speaker 2:After that discovery. I was put on a really weird callback kind of schedule. They didn't want to diagnose me because I was having issues with my hormones. They were severely out of balance and that was their whole reasoning with not wanting to diagnose me, because gestational diabetes is a manifestation of those hormones created during your pregnancy and getting out of whack and causing an issue with insulin production and the use of insulin. So they said, if they could fix my hormone imbalance, that the diabetes would go away. The fluctuations in my blood sugar would resolve. However, that was not the case. We ended up doing that all the way from. I had my daughter in April. We did that all the way up to December of last year, of 2022. And I ended up with pancreatitis, with a touch of DKA in the hospital, and that was. I finally got my diagnosis.
Speaker 1:Oh man, so pancreatitis and DKA? Wow. So for those of us who don't know what pancreatitis is or have a vague understanding, can you elaborate on that for me?
Speaker 2:So pancreatitis is inflammation of your pancreas and it is extremely painful. The best way for me to describe it is it feels like somebody is stabbing you right in the gut and it comes along with nausea, vomiting, a fever, chills, aches. I mean you kind of feel like you have the flu.
Speaker 1:I was about to say can it be masked as the flu?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean people can definitely take it as the flu, because those symptoms go hand in hand. I never in a million years would have thought I had pancreatitis. A lot of new diabetics are at risk of developing pancreatitis because your pancreas is still trying to work its best and it causes inflammation. And that's what happened to me, and especially from where I wasn't getting the treatment that I needed. At the time I wasn't on any medicine. I had a little scrap of insulin I had left from my gestational diabetes that I would use very sparingly, so I'm sure that's what ended up causing my pancreatitis.
Speaker 1:So pancreatitis? Can that be diagnosed from a scan or an ultrasound? How do they come to know this?
Speaker 2:So they can do some lab work and they can test your pancreatic enzymes and your liver enzymes. If they're elevated, that can be diagnostic for pancreatitis. As well as an ultrasound and a CT scan they can see that inflammation that's going on with the pancreas.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, okay, so much to unpack here, because you were diagnosed with gestational diabetes and then, out of nowhere, you get slapped with having type 1 diabetes and an instant your life was just changed completely, which I can relate to, I know a lot of our listeners can relate to, because I was diagnosed as an adult as well A different way, of course, but it's still a rough experience to have to go through, and a traumatic experience at that. Now, if you don't mind, can you explain to us a little bit about the difference between all of this? What is the difference between gestational diabetes versus type 1 and type 2 diabetes?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so gestational diabetes is kind of like a mixture of both type 1 and type 2. Again, gestational diabetes is the manifestation of those hormones created in your placenta during the pregnancy. Those hormones people forget insulin and itself is a hormone go to your beta cells in your pancreas and it causes an issue with your beta cells to make insulin. Then it also causes that insulin resistance that we see in type 2. Now your body is not able to use that insulin that your pancreas is still trying to make.
Speaker 1:It's a combination of all of the problems. It sounds like.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is, it's not fun.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think it would be Now. If you don't mind, katie, I want to talk about this for a second. I really want to uncover this whole idea of diabetes and pregnancy and what that looks like. Maybe there's someone out there that's listening who has been diagnosed all their life and they still want to have kids one day, or someone who is diagnosed as an adult and now they're kind of scared to have their first child or maybe a second child. What does that look like for you and what does that look like for other women out there?
Speaker 2:Yes, there are a lot of risks that go into a woman already having type 1 diabetes and going into a pregnancy. Those same risks can be associated with the gestational diabetes because of those sugar fluctuations. For me personally, it does scare me thinking about being pregnant again and going through those complications because it is a little traumatic going through all that for sure. Again, those complications that can happen. It can range anywhere from preterm labor contractions to preeclampsia, acclampsia, gestational hypertension, as well as fetal abnormalities all kinds of stuff that a woman does not want to have to hear or deal with during a pregnancy.
Speaker 2:All women want a healthy, safe pregnancy, both for mom and baby. Definitely, type 1 diabetics can have healthy and safe pregnancies. Again, a lot of type 1 diabetics, I'm sure, go into pregnancy is just fine. It all depends on glucose control and how in control that they are. That's why a lot of doctors do recommend that most women that are planning pregnancy or are pregnant and have type 1 diabetes have an insulin pump as well as the CGM. That way they can have the best control of their diabetes.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I have a question. Actually, I have a lot of questions, but this one thing that's kind of running through my mind right now is someone who is planning on getting pregnant or they're trying to have kids. Let's say this person has a high A1C. I'm going to throw out a number 9.4. Does the doctor try to recommend to get that A1C lower or a better control of the sugars before even attempting to try to get pregnant? Or is it okay to go ahead and get pregnant, as long as if everything is monitored closely? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:Right. Well, definitely going into it with already a high A1C, and I'm sure that person in the scenario is probably having a lot of fluctuations in their blood sugar. They're automatically going to be at risk for those complications again, and those are nasty complications that no woman wants to have. I'm sure definitely that the provider that's overseeing that patient, the endocrinologist, would recommend for that person to try to lower their A1C. I know for me personally. All diabetics are different. Some don't struggle too much with lowering their A1C. I have personally very much so struggled lowering my A1C. When I first got diagnosed I was at 12.6, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's up there, man.
Speaker 2:Now I'm at 8.4. I mean we're doing better, but I definitely still have a while to go before I'm in good glucose control and I just I don't know when that might happen for me, as I know, a lot of diabetics are also in that situation. It's like you do everything right and your body just doesn't want to cooperate.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like to me it's a good balance of communication with your doctor, how your doctor feels, how you feel being in tune with your body and everything like that. When it comes to the idea of getting pregnant, if that's a choice that you want to make while managing diabetes, it sounds like it can be perfectly safe. It just needs to be well thought out and taken care of and monitored. Now I want to talk about the complications for a second, because I have a vague idea of preeclampsia and some of these other things. How do these high blood sugars affect these complications and what does all of that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know I'm sure you do know to some extent that blood sugar can absolutely wreak havoc on the body and the most general population doesn't understand that. But you know it gets in those little tiny vessels in your body and just absolutely destroys them and that's why a lot of diabetics, when they get older in life it can cause kidney damage, it can cause amputations. So just like that in a regular diabetic patient, those fluctuating blood sugars in a gestational diabetic patient wreaks havoc all over the body. Is essentially where a woman will have extreme blood pressure. It can cause the woman to go into full-on eclampsia and at that point you know you would have to immediately induce the mom or do a cesarean section. It has a lot of deadly complications if you don't. If a woman has it and isn't treated immediately. It can also cause, you know, gestational hypertension where your blood pressure just goes sky-high.
Speaker 2:A lot of diabetics have issues with blood pressure and the preterm labor contractions. That was a big one that almost immediately started after my diagnosis. I'm not sure why. I think it was a week later I started having preterm labor contractions and, like I said, it's a miracle I made it to 38 weeks pregnant. I had to take medicine six times a day, every four hours to keep my baby inside of me because of the preterm labor contractions. Again, I don't know how I made it to 38 weeks pregnant at all and people don't realize how much gestational diabetes can harm a pregnancy, and can harm not only mom but also baby. I think one of the craziest comments I've gotten on my TikTok video so far was I don't get what the big deal is. I had gestational diabetes and I did just fine, and I make it a point to say on my video some women do have gestational diabetes and they do just fine, but other women get gestational diabetes and it's a whole magnitude of problems.
Speaker 1:Well, it kind of points a light to why we do what we do in terms of content creation. We're trying to shed some light on this and graze awareness and educate others and advocate for ourselves, but also for the community as a whole. Okay, so we talked about the complications and how that can affect mom. Right, how can these complications affect baby? What are the risks for baby when mom is pregnant?
Speaker 2:So the biggest one that we see is macrosomia and that is a very large baby. You know what's going on with mom is also essentially going on with baby, and all that yummy sugar in there is going to baby as well and it makes them nice and fat and they come out and they are massive babies. But again, that doesn't happen in all cases. I had a very small baby, thank goodness. I had a six pound and three point five ounce baby. Another thing it can cause is it can cause a lot of abnormalities with the fetal growth again, not just with size, but it can cause some mutations. Sometimes the limbs won't grow right. I had a friend who had gestational diabetes and she was telling me her baby came out with really long toenails and fingernails like extremely long.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean it speeds up the growth for some reason. I'm not exactly sure on the science behind of it, but I mean, like they, they eat it up and it just it wreaks havoc on their little bodies. Another big thing that can happen when they come out is they can have rebound hypoglycemia because they were eating all that yummy sugar in mommy's belly. We're cutting off their supply and they immediately bottom out.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, is that? Because the prankiest goes into overdrive at this point?
Speaker 2:Well for them. It's because their their sugar supply is automatically cut off from mom when they cut that umbilical cord. That happened to my daughter and she had a pretty nasty rebound hypoglycemic event. When she came out her blood sugar was 30. So they had a rush her back to the nursery and she stayed in there for a few hours, which was okay because I was recuperating. But yeah, it happens in the majority of gestational diabetic babies that their little bodies don't know how to regulate without all that sugar going on.
Speaker 1:Well, there's so much stress to diabetes as a whole. To add on pregnancy on top of that, I'm sure it's a whirlwind of emotions. I don't know what it feels like. Personally, I have a husband side view of these emotions, if you will, but I can imagine it's a lot to take in. Let's look at it like this like layers of a cake. You have pregnancy and with that comes the hormones. On top of that, now you have diabetes and the stress of diabetes. On top of that you have the management of the medical side of diabetes. The stress and the anxiety have to be a really thing we have to look out for here. So what does this look like for these women, or how did this affect you personally?
Speaker 2:It was very traumatic for me, and you know I hate to use the word traumatic because it sounds dramatic. I mean, that's really what it was. It was an emotional nightmare. Not only again are you trying to navigate pregnancy and you know dealing with those hormones and that stress, but now you have this new diagnosis, or if you're already diabetic, you know you're managing your own pancreas and that's just really stressful. Pregnancy in itself is stressful and the diabetes on top of it is just a magnitude of stress and an emotional distress for the mom.
Speaker 2:For me, you know, one of the hardest things navigating after my diagnosis was the diet. I was put on a very strict carb counting diet, much like what a newly diagnosed type one would be on, and that was really hard because you know when you're pregnant you want to splurge a little bit. I was sick during my first trimester so I didn't get to splurge. And then you know, right at the end of my second trimester diabetes diagnosis, and they're like anything you wanted it's gone no carbs, no sugar, and that's kind of how my education went, which I hate. That's how it went because knowing now I know that that's not true that I could have had what I wanted in moderation. But a lot of women fall into that guilt and that shame that they can't have the things that they want, because they're not only harming themselves but, even worse, their baby. But again, that's not true. That's like saying any diabetic can't have sugar, and we all know that's not true.
Speaker 1:Right? Well, it's about quality of life, and let's unpack that for a second, because I just got done recording an episode it's the episode before this one, actually, and it talks about the idea of being perfect in our management of diabetes. We can't have this. We can't do that because we're constantly looking at the numbers, we're constantly watching the A1C and the charts and the graphs and it kind of becomes this obsession that weighs us down. So let's take diabetes out of the equation for a second.
Speaker 1:For a woman who is pregnant, they want that pregnancy to go perfectly. I don't blame them. They want everything to be smooth. They want to really enjoy the pregnancy and have fun with it, as they should. But then you throw on, you know that worry of it being perfect, and then now we have diabetes in play. The management of that it's a lot to take in, it's a lot to manage and think about, and if we get bogged down about all of these worries and all of the stuff that's going on and I'm saying we women, pregnant women who have diabetes the quality of life and enjoyment goes down drastically. What did that look like for you while you were pregnant? After you found out you're diabetes, did you start worrying about all the stuff. Did you have to control your diet Like? Did that change the enjoyment factor for you?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I was so strict with my diet. I hate how strict I was. Looking back now. I didn't even have a piece of cake at my baby shower. So I was so strict that I definitely regret being so strict. Now I'm like I could have had again what I wanted in moderation. So what is one piece of advice that you could?
Speaker 1:give to a woman out there who is a type one diabetic and they are currently pregnant. They just got pregnant or they want to get pregnant, but they are so worried about all of the stress and the anxiety that's going to come along with it. Yeah, so there definitely is going to be anxiety.
Speaker 2:There is going to be thoughts of is this the right thing to do? Have I done the right thing if they're already pregnant? But again, women that have type one diabetes, any kind of chronic illness, they can have healthy pregnancies. They're just going to have to take care of their health. They're just going to have to take those precautions that are. Next. Most diabetics are considering that C's so to the doctor on weekly basis to make sure that everything is good with baby and mom so they can navigate if they do start having complications early. So that's definitely a good thing with healthcare management that they're taking that initiative to go on and see them early and see them frequently.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm sure a carb counting diet would need to be in place to control those fluctuating blood sugars. I know for me now, you know I do a little bit of all three things that I can do. I take my insulin, I exercise and I still do a pretty strict carb counting diet. But the biggest thing to remember too, with the shame and the guilt that women feel with sugar fluctuations and pregnancy, is to live a little, take a deep breath. If you want the cake, have the piece of cake. Don't make yourself miserable because it's not worth it. You know, I made myself miserable to the point. Looking back now it makes me a little sick. I wish I would have been so strict on myself and harsh on myself. You gotta live a little because you know pregnancy is hard and again, adding that diabetic factor into it makes it 10 times harder. And you don't deserve to be miserable. Pregnancy shouldn't be a miserable experience. So have the piece of cake.
Speaker 1:Well, how can someone enjoy the pregnancy while having type 1? What can they do to help themselves out? Maybe it's therapy. Is therapy an option? I say that because I think that should be an option for, you know, any diabetic out there. But maybe therapy is a great option for someone who is pregnant and managing an illness on top of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, definitely. I am a full supporter of therapy. Before I was a school nurse, I was a psychiatric nurse for 5 and a half years, so I'm all about mental health and taking what you need to do to make sure that you're mentally healthy. I definitely would recommend a woman reaching out to a therapist, as well as support groups. I wish I had looked into some support groups during my pregnancy because it's such an isolating experience. You feel alone. You feel like nobody else could possibly understand how you're going through, when, in reality, there are a lot of other women out there that have went through the same thing and are still going through the same thing. So having that support, I think, is definitely key to being more mentally, you know, happy and being put in a better place with everything with the pregnancy and dealing with the chronic illness.
Speaker 1:Diabetes is so important and I don't care if you have type 1 diabetes, if you're pregnant with diabetes, if you're a caregiver of someone with diabetes just being able to talk about what's going on in your life and not keeping everything closed in is a game changer. It's something that I think we all need to do, and it's super important to our mental health, our emotional health, our well-being, and I think all that kind of plays into your physical health as well. It all interconnects, it all intertwines and it all goes together. So don't discount therapy. I find that it's great, and I think that you will too. So, katie, I want to talk about a topic that was asked to me in a group chat not long ago and unfortunately I just did not have a lot of knowledge on this and that is the whole idea of breastfeeding as a type 1 diabetic. What does that look like? What does that look like for mom? What does it look like for baby? Is it possible for a type 1 diabetic to breastfeed their child?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's definitely possible for a type 1 to breastfeed. Again, whatever mom chooses to do for baby, whether it's breastfed or formula fed, is what's best for whatever works for her, but it definitely is possible. The only thing that we, what we want to worry and concern ourselves about with one diabetic breastfeeding is we don't think about it being such an energy using issue with our body, but it is. It takes a lot of our body's energy to produce milk and for us to breastfeed, so mom could face some hypoglycemic events. She wants to make sure that she eats a good carb as well as protein before she breastfeeds, as well as probably have some good snacks and juice vodka readily available. She, you know, go low during the breastfeeding event.
Speaker 1:So is it safe to say that mom can lose glucose by breastfeeding?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, definitely. It would be the same as exercising. If you know somebody exercises that's a type one diabetic. We know that we have to take a little bit extra precaution because we can have a hypoglycemic event.
Speaker 1:So how does this affect baby? Can glucose be passed through the breast milk to the child? How does this affect the baby, or can it?
Speaker 2:It shouldn't affect the child. The only thing that could affect the child is sometimes type one diabetic mothers have an issue with milk production, so that can be an issue with breastfeeding in general, because some moms don't know that they're not making enough. It's hard to tell what baby's actually getting, so that could possibly be an issue that baby's actually not getting enough milk.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm glad you said it's safe, because I feel like a lot of people worry about that. Is it safe for me? Is it safe for baby? And it sounds like more or less it's about the mom and making sure she's got her sugars under control, keeping her safe when she's breastfeeding so nothing happens to her as far as like a severe hypoglycemia attack. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, that is.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about another concern I hear a lot about, and that is the idea of us passing diabetes to our kids, because we do know that it can be genetic and that can be a really big fear for a lot of parents out there. I know I'm concerned about my two kids and their risk for diabetes. So let's unpack that a little bit, if we can. What can we do? If anything, what did this look like for you and your child? Were you concerned about the risk of your baby having diabetes? Is there a risk?
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely. My child does have some risk factors. Now, with the type one side, I believe the percentage is 20 to 30 percent, as well, as any baby that's born to a gestational diabetic mother has a 50 percent. So one and two in their lifetime will go on to develop type two diabetes. It is something that I have mentioned to my pediatrician that I did transition to a type one after my gestational diabetes diagnosis as well, as she was a gestational diabetic baby. But as of the moment, our pediatrician hasn't said anything about taking any special precautions or doing any glucose monitoring to see if her levels have fluctuated. So I'm not sure if that's the standard protocol. Being a nurse, I would feel like we would want to take an initiative to possibly watch and be more preventive in that matter. But again, I don't know exactly what that protocol is. I guess it's different for every pediatrician, but right now they act as if it's not that big of an issue.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I have this fear myself as a parent. I think if you're a parent, you know this feeling. You want the best for your children, right? You want them to be safe and taken care of, and you know I have the. I have the concern of them having diabetes as well, because of the whole genetic factor, like I mentioned before, and I want to ask my pediatrician all of the questions like should we be checking their sugars at every appointment? Should we be doing these things? And again, I think that border aligns on the whole idea of obsession, which we don't want to do. We don't want to go down that road. It's very hard for us as parents, because we want the best for our child, we want them to be safe. All right, katie. So here's what I would like to do now. I want to put a bow on this whole package, if we can.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Welcome Sony from Texas. What advice can you give to someone out there who they have type 1 diabetes but they want to get pregnant, but they're just scared to even begin to try. They shouldn't be held back from their dreams. What advice can you give them?
Speaker 2:My advice would be if this is something that you really want, yes, you can and certainly can have again a healthy and normal pregnancy. You just have to be prepared that it's. It might not be a normal pregnancy. You might have some complications, you might have a few bumps in the road because you're not a normal patient going into it. You have a chronic illness and most diabetics already know that there comes a lot of implications with their chronic illness in their lifetime. Definitely know that it's possible. Definitely start looking into support groups for other people for that support. That support is so very important to know that you're not alone in this and just know that it's all going to be okay in the end. Knowing that things are going to be okay and having that positive aspect to it, I think, brings the mom into a more positive tone with it.
Speaker 1:That's really well said and well put. It will be okay in the end. Yes, there are complications out there. We have no control over this, as much as we want to, we don't. This goes to the whole idea of again being perfect and that I believe success is not measured that way. Success is measured with the quality of your life and you again, just give it, it your all and putting your best foot forward and doing the best you can.
Speaker 1:Well, Katie, thank you so much for being on the show and I appreciate you being here and answering all these questions. You definitely educated me some, so I hope we were able to educate others out there as well. If you enjoyed listening to Katie, we're going to have her back. We already have a whole episode idea of preparing your children for school for those of you who are parents out there who have kids with type 1 diabetes, because Katie, once again, is a school nurse and she is on the front line and I think we have a lot of insight there on what you can do to get ready for the school year or handling some troubling situations during the school year with your kids at school with type 1 diabetes. So I'm really excited about that Now, before we go, Katie, I realized there was a question I did not ask you early on and that was this whole thing of you getting on TikTok After you were diagnosed with gestational diabetes and now you have type 1, you got on TikTok and started making content to advocate and to educate others out there.
Speaker 1:What inspired you to do this and go this?
Speaker 2:route. So what made me start creating content on TikTok about gestational diabetes was I really felt like I didn't have the greatest educational, help promotion, advocacy experience during my gestational diabetes. I had a little 30-minute educational setting with my OBGYN and that was it and a lot of things that I know now he did not mention and I don't know if that's because he knew I was a nurse I'm not sure again exactly what, but it just made me think if that happened to me, I'm sure it's happening to other women. And again, even being a nurse, I felt confused. I felt like I didn't know what was going on with my body and I just wish again I would have had more education, more help promotion, and I didn't want another woman to feel the way that I did. So I started branching out, making content and trying to reach those women so that they can feel more confident and more powerful with their gestational diabetes diagnosis and take back that control, because education is power.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, education is power and empowerment is powerful. I know that sounds kind of funny to say, but it's so true and it's the reason why we do what we do. We're here to not only spread awareness and to advocate for the community, but to also educate, because education around diabetes as a whole is severely lacking. I think you said a few minutes ago that your educational session was what? 30 minutes? I know mine was 45 minutes tops, and we could have more conversations and create more appointments, but we don't always know the questions up front, and a lot of my education actually came from YouTube and TikTok. I don't know about you, but that's how I learned a lot about type 1 diabetes, to be honest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mine too. I want to say that in nursing school you go over diabetes a lot, but you don't. You go over a chapter, you take a test and that's it. So before this happened to me as a nurse, I knew the basics of diabetes, but I absolutely did not know in depth what all diabetes was about. And again, learning it in a book and then experiencing it and living it Two different things.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, learning is one thing, but to live the life and walk the shoes, it's a whole another ballgame. Well, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Type 1 Unscripted. Make sure you go give Katie a follow on TikTok. Her handle is Nurse Katie, msn-c-n-e-r-n. And I do want to point out we do have a Facebook support community. I will put the link in the show notes or you can go to Facebook and search Type 1 Unscripted. You can't miss it. We have a great group of people there who are just loving each other and lifting each other up, so I hope to see you there real soon. Well, this message is to all of the T1D moms or moms to be out there. Your journey is, and will be, a story of hope and determination and strength, so don't give up on your dreams and, as always, stay inspired. I love you guys and I will see you on the next episode.