We tried for 4 years before going to the doctors and discovering I had diabetes. I can't wait to meet this little one in person to say "thanks"!

acloren

New member
My wife and I had been casually trying for a couple of years, hoping for a "surprise", but it never came. So we decided to get serious, and downloaded a bunch of apps, so we could track the optimal window of opportunity. We tried for 2 years, but nothing happened.

In 2017, we decided to find out if there was something biologically wrong with us. Before this, I hadn't had a family doctor for a good 10 years. Whenever I was sick, I'd just visit a walk-in clinic, and that was it. We signed up with a new family doctor, who immediately sent us off to get a full suite of tests done.

A couple of days later, I received a frantic call from my doctor. Apparently, my fasting blood sugar levels were dangerously high: 13.0 mmol/L. She quickly ordered another set of blood tests done, just to see if it was a fluke or not. It wasn't. I had diabetes, possibly for 10 years or more. Thinking back, I had a bunch of the symptoms, such as constant thirst, or sudden weight loss, but just brushed it off as nothing, with excuses such as "drinking lots of water is good" or "I must have a high metabolism".

Having untreated diabetes for 10 years caused a ton of internal nerve damage, which ended up making it a lot harder to conceive. I was put on Metformin, I cut out carbs cold-turkey, and then I switched to the ketogenic diet. This helped me get my A1C down to 5.5 after a year. Even though the diabetes was now under control, the damage had already been done.

We were still determined to have a baby, and so we started looking into alternative options, such as IVF or TESE. My doctor referred us to a urologist and a fertility clinic. It was there that I discovered that Metformin had the unfortunate side-effect of decreasing sperm quality and motility. So I was prescribed some vitamins (Cerebrovital, Acetyl-l-carnitine, and N-acetyl cysteine) to help counter the side-effects.

I wasn't too confident about it, but in October, as my wife and I were about to leave for vacation, she started freaking out. She had been feeling nauseous for a couple of days, and her app told her to take a pregnancy test. We were in a rush to head to the airport, but she decided to do the test anyways. It was positive. She tried 3 more times. Still positive. We finally got the "surprise" we've been hoping for so long!

Yesterday, we went for an NT ultrasound and actually saw it moving! 2019 is almost here, and I can't wait to finally become a dad!
 
@acloren Congrats!! I graduated 3 months ago myself, thru IVF. I'm similar in that I never really go to the doctor, although I did get a physical for work at least. FYI, that all changes with the baby..you'll be sure the LO gets to all their appointments!
 
@acloren Amazing! All the happy news. And also amazing that you have a handle on your health!

Pro tip: go to all the education classes they recommend. I’m married to a Type 1. The things that change over time are amazing. Also beware getting sick - a bladder infection put my husband in the ICU for a week because his body started breaking down tissues to fight the infection, driving up his blood sugar, and literally overnight he went from poorly controlled for a couple weeks (that he chalked up to a cold/flu) to off the charts incoherent ketoacidosis.
 

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