Jen Robe Writes

Stress is such a frequent occurrence in our modern lives.  We have so many stressors that build up.  De-stressing techniques are extremely important to our lives so that stress does not build up and cause negativity in our lives and relationships.  A lot of people default to things like wine, coffee, and comfort food for de-stressing.  But what happens when those methods are not available? Either you are cutting back for health reasons, or have just decided that you need to find other ways to deal.  For me, my favorite de-stressor is having a nice cup of hot tea, especially while sitting in the sun.  Being pregnant in the winter, during a pandemic, that is not always an option. So I'm going to share with you some of my favorite alternative de-stressing activities.  Some of these are great short term strategies, and some of them are more long term strategies.  I use a mixture of both in my everyday life.   Long term strategies are to set you up for success in the stressful moments. 

Gestational Diabetes comes with a lot of supplies that you need or are very helpful for managing your blood glucose levels.  Luckily, it isn’t as many and is fairly cheap to obtain most of them. The medical supplies will depend on your area and insurance situation.  My biggest expense has been testing strips since they are covered under medicare here, but I am not, so I pay full price.  Supplies Testing Kit Lancet device Lancets Glucose meter Testing strips Carrying pouch Cotton balls or tissues Kitchen Scale Protein Bars Glucose Jelly Beans Water Bottle Insulin if prescribed Exercise clothes The first thing that you should acquire with Gestational Diabetes is a testing kit. Your team that diagnoses you should work with you on acquiring this or give it to you.  The testing kit should include a lancet device, lancets, a glucose meter, a few testing strips, and a pouch for carrying them all.  The lancets and testing strips are single-use items and so you will need to buy more of those. Y

Getting a positive pregnancy test is such an amazing and thrilling thing!  I was so happy when I found out I was pregnant.  Like many people I had been seeing negative tests for a few months and wasn't very hopeful. So I was thrilled.  My husband and I had been planning a trip for Christmas Vacation and was just waiting a few days to book the trip.  So I told my husband by walking into the living room and announcing that we are not going scuba diving at the great barrier reef.  I don't think I've ever seen someone so happy to have plans canceled.  Outside of my husband, our announcements were divided into 3 different categories.  I'm going to share our announcements and also give you some other suggestions on how to announce your pregnancy.   The first part of pregnancy announcements is deciding when you want to announce.  Many people wait until after the first trimester because most miscarriages occur during the first 12 weeks.  Unfortunately, because miscarriages are

Hypoglycemia with Gestational Diabetes is a concerning event. It is not common, but you need to know how to handle it when it happens.  Hypoglycemia is when your blood glucose level drops too low.  For me, this is when my blood glucose level drops below 4.0 according to my endocrinologist.  For the most part, hypos are only a concern when you are on insulin, but it can happen to those not on insulin as well.  If you are not on insulin you only need to worry if you do not feel well with low blood glucose numbers.  I have been fortunate and only had a hypo once.  Hypos can occur when you do not eat enough carbs, or take too much insulin for your blood glucose level and the carbs you are eating, or if you exercise without sufficient carbs.  The last one is what happened to me.  I did not eat sufficient carbs before a hike and went hypoglycemic on the trail.  Luckily I had a hypo kit with me and knew what to do.  Hypo Kit- these are the tools you will need if your blood glucose levels drop

Growing a new life is hard, but one of the hardest parts for me was coming up with a name. It is such a huge responsibility that I was in a bit of shock that I suddenly had this responsibility.  As a child, I had a golden retriever named Goldie and a cat that walked into our garage during a storm named Stormy.  My husband and I had a black fuzzy cat named Fuzz.  How am I supposed to name a human? Am I really a good person to have this responsibility? I feel like there is not a good track record!  Even worse is this needs to be a name that will work for all stages of life and my husband and I have to agree on a name.  We used several strategies that worked for us for narrowing down a name.  We are not finalizing the name until our baby is born, but we have a good idea of what we will use.   Keeping track of name options We wanted a central location where my husband and I could both input names and strike things off the list as necessary.  Like a lot of people, we have our phones attache

Food is a huge part of the budget and with Gestational Diabetes can get really expensive, so this is my second budget weekly meal plan for Gestational Diabetes.  The first plan can be found here.   Having two weekly meal plans gives some variety and makes it less monotonous.   If you followed my 1st-week Budget weekly meal plan, you may not need some of these groceries, or you may just already have them on hand.   Shopping List Almond flour/almond meal 12 eggs A large container of yogurt Granola  Onions Mushrooms Ground Beef 2 Kg potatoes Taco shells and seasonings 1 loaf of bread Trail mix Lettuce  Tomatoes Cheese Other taco toppings  Breakfast Side note- I really like my eggs for breakfast. So I have eggs with toast for breakfast every day.  I’ve provided some other options, but feel free to do what works best for you.   M Yogurt with Granola  T Scrambled eggs - 2 eggs, diced mushrooms, diced onion, 1 piece of toast, cheese W Yogurt with Granola  T Yogurt with Granola  F Scrambled e

I was very nervous to try cottage pie with my gestational diabetes, but after a while of craving some comfort meals, I decided to try a small portion.  I find that I can eat 1/6th of the pie without going over my goal bgls.  (Pregnancy hunger is real).  I wanted to share this recipe for anyone else who needs it.  This is my mom’s recipe, adapted from my grandmother’s recipe.   I always add lots of vegetables to my ground beef as it is cooking.  It helps stretch how far the meat goes while adding flavor.  Ingredients 1 lb Ground beef 1 small onion 1 carrot 1-2 stalks of celery ½ cup of mushrooms Ketchup Worcestershire sauce Frozen veggies 1 lb potatoes Shredded cheese if desired  Instructions  Start potatoes boiling Brown ground beef- drain While the beef is browning dice the onion, carrot, celery, and mushrooms.   Add the onion, carrot, celery, and mushrooms to the beef. Cook until the onion is translucent.  add squeeze or 2 of ketchup and 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce When potatoes are s

Food is a huge part of the budget and with Gestational Diabetes can get really expensive, so I'm going to share a budget weekly meal plan for Gestational Diabetes.  I'm not sharing prices, because prices vary so much in different areas, and I know my prices in Australia are vastly different from what I was paying in the United States. This is one week of how we eat cheaply with Gestational Diabetes.  I plan for each meal to serve two adults and to have occasional leftovers to freeze. You should be able to easily adjust to your family size.  My meal plan repeats dishes because that is the best way to save money by limiting how many different ingredients you buy and eliminating as much food waste as possible.  From this list, I often freeze extra bacon and ground beef for future weeks. Feel free to alternate the meals and eat them in a different order to help with the monotony if it bothers you. Grocery List  1 package bacon 3 dozen eggs 1 loaf of bread 1 package mushrooms 1 bag