My dad has been a type 1 diabetic for nearly 40 years now. I grew up watching him deal with this disease day in and day out. I was a pretty healthy kid-no major health problems at all. I never knew how good I had it!

When I was pregnant with my first child I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. They assured me that it would go away after the pregnancy and I just needed to diet and exercise daily. No big deal. I hardly gained any weight with the pregnancy, I felt great and wasn't afraid of anything serious happening.

The baby was born in October 1999, healthy baby boy! I was never tested after the pregnancy to see what had happened with my blood sugars and I soon forgot all about it.


About a month and a half later I was starting to feel quite sluggish, thirsty, tired and sick. I was losing a ton of weight but figured it was just because I was breastfeeding. But it was a little excess- I am 5'9" and I got down to about 115 lbs. One day I was supposed to meet my parents for lunch downtown with the baby. But I couldn't get out of bed. I was soooo sick! And the baby just lay in his crib screaming his head off! I couldn't even muster enough energy to get him. My parents got worried when I didn't show and stopped by my apartment to find me in this condition. My dad instantly knew what was up and tested my sugars on his machine. The reading said "HI". Time to go to the hospital. At the hospital my BG levels were 800+.

From that moment on I was a type 1 D. My life changed forever.

I have my good days and my bad ones. I've dealt with all kinds of other health issues (some related to diabetes and others not). I now have two healthy kids and my husband and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary earlier this year.

So, that's a little bit about me, if you were interested.

Oh...and I'm an artist. Check out my work at www.artbylydiamartin.com