"I met my husband when I was 34 and we got married pretty soon after we met. Both of us wanted children and rather faster than we thought we got pregnant.
We went for our introduction appointment and they asked me lots of questions and then wanted a urine sample. The nurse said not to worry it's just standard, however when reading the results, she said oh its this and oh no it's that, This continued for some time, at which point she said we needed to speak with the doctor.
They asked me if I was diabetic, I said no, and as I was only 12 weeks pregnant they thought it too soon to be gestational diabetes so they referred me to the diabetes clinic. At the same time we then went for our scan, shock horror we found out we were having twins. Neither of our families had any previous history of twins, that was until my father found out that four generations before, the last female born into the family had twins but died at childbirth...
So with our happy news we trotted down to the diabetes clinic thinking they were going to give me a lecture about healthy eating etc The nurse tested my blood and was very surprised to get a reading of 18. She immediately called the consultant and before I knew it I had a bag full of insulin, needles and a crash course on what to inject with each meal.
I walked out of the clinic in even more shock not knowing what was going on. I then had to visit the clinic every week during my pregnancy where my consultant repeatedly told me I had to keep my sugar level low at all times,
I watched my diet as best I could being pregnant, and two months early had my two beautiful baby girls. It was then that they tested me to confirm if I had diabetes as opposed to gestational diabetes, after continuing to use insulin and having to start from scratch again, taking 30 units with a sandwich was no longer applicable! I was then diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, something that no-one in my family has previously had and my third shock in seven months....
Time has flown by and to be honest having kids takes your mind of most things and it is only occasionally I sit there thinking 'why me'? My children have just turned three and they are aware that I take medicine with my breakfast, lunch and dinner and occasionally they see me drinking orange juice, but life goes on and I am constantly on the watch of any more surprises."
Words by Emma
