I-Search Paper

In my English class I decided to have the students all write an I-Search paper, which is like a research paper sandwiched by two sections where students write out their thinking processes and feelings about research.

To choose topics students had some sentence stems to fill in. I decided I would do it along with them to model the process. I chose as my research topic "How can I manage my blood sugar to reduce the risks of a diabetic pregnancy." Not exactly thrilling to the students, but I wanted to demonstrate the idea that the topic has to be something you are very interested in or really need to know about so that you can stand to work with it for two weeks.

This is in alignment with what my doctor had a nurse call and tell me, that I need to work on controlling my blood sugar better because my A1C number is not in the ideal range. As I researched, I began to realize that while, for the past almost-year I have been espousing the idea that having type 1 diabetes doesn't really change my eating habits, that is not the reality for being a woman wanting to have a baby in the next few years.

I've been filling out worksheets for the past few days of my eating, insulin doses, blood sugar readings 2 hours after meals. It has been frustrating. My numbers do not do what I think they should. After two hours some meals I seem to be way higher than I should be. It's hard to control.

Today I tried a new sort of diet, which is basically a low-carb diet. It's so lame. For breakfast I ate a yogurt. At 10 I ate a hard-boiled egg. For lunch I ate broccoli salad with a bit of dressing, an apple and peanut butter. On the way home I was hungry, so I ate a handful of almonds. I tested my blood 2 hours after lunch (85) and then again after I got home and ate 3 peanut butter M&M's (98). Success!

I have been hungry all day. If this is what it takes to get pregnant healthily, I'm going to feel like whining a lot. I already feel like whining a lot and it's only been 12 hours. Woe is me! But not really. I still get to live. God's grace is good.