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Episode 18: Life, Birth & Blood Sugar: Emily Viles on Her Type 1 Journey
64 Plays10 days ago
In this episode of the Type 1 Club podcast, Jacqui is joined by Emily Viles — known to many through her Instagram page @emilysdiabetes. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a baby, Emily shares her powerful story of growing up with the condition and how it shaped her approach to life, pregnancy, and now parenthood.
Emily takes us through her journey of preparing for pregnancy, managing her diabetes during those intense months, and navigating birth with confidence. She also talks about her current role leading the PDC Mums & Bumps project, where she supports and connects other women with type 1 navigating the same path.
Highlights:
- Growing up with type 1 after a baby diagnosis
- Preparing for and managing diabetes during pregnancy and birth
- Leading the PDC Mums & Bumps project to support others on the journey
This is a warm, informative conversation filled with real-life insights for anyone thinking about pregnancy with type 1 or just wanting to hear a beautifully honest story.
Connect with Our Guest on Instagram
Further Resources:
Type 1 Foundation Website
Follow us on Instagram
Join the Facebook Group
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
The content provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
00:00:14
Speaker
Reliance on any information provided by this podcast is solely at your own risk.
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club. Whether you're a parent grappling with a new diagnosis, a caregiver seeking guidance, or simply someone wanting to learn more about type 1 diabetes, this podcast is for you.
00:00:36
Speaker
Together, let's dispel myths, break down barriers, and build a community of understanding and resilience. Join us as we embark on this journey together, because with knowledge, compassion, and support, no one should ever feel alone in managing type 1 diabetes.
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club.
00:00:59
Speaker
Hey everybody and welcome to the Type
Meet the Hosts and Guest
00:01:02
Speaker
1 Club. I'm your host, Jackie Kidman. I am a mum to Harvey who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes back in June 2022, just after his seventh birthday.
00:01:14
Speaker
I'm very excited. i know I say that every single episode, but I just continually am excited when I have the honour of having guests on this podcast. this podcast. I always find it so inspiring for personally and at the end of it I think that maybe I get more out of it than anybody else. So today i have a special guest who is Emily.
00:01:38
Speaker
She will do a little introduction of herself but Emily I'd like to welcome you to the podcast. Thanks Jackie. Emily can you please tell people who don't already know you, I feel like you're quite well known in the Type 1 community, can you please tell us a little bit about you and then we'll go into your diagnosis story as well. Okay, I'm Emily.
00:02:00
Speaker
I am 28 years old. So I've been living with type 1 for 27 years. I live in Perth. I have an eight-month-old daughter um and I run an Instagram page called Emily's Diabetes.
00:02:13
Speaker
A very active Instagram page. yeah I discovered you actually, how long ago did you get married? um oh gosh over two years I think so that's I think must have been when I first discovered um your your Instagram account because I remember you were trying to figure out where to put your like my um pump in my dress yes oh my gosh that was stressful yeah it turned out to be like so easy but it's just one of those things that you don't want it to fall out or you know yeah
00:02:44
Speaker
not be able to be reached. Well, I know. right And it was sort of one of those things I think you probably just to the average person, we wouldn't really think like, yeah, you know, you've got to kind of still access that. And yeah long that's from when I first sort of um discovered your your Instagram account and then have seen you being like married and then becoming a mum and it's been beautiful to watch but we'll hear more a little bit about that.
00:03:08
Speaker
So Emily can you just start by telling us well you probably won't remember much about your diagnosis story.
Emily's Diagnosis Story
00:03:17
Speaker
It's okay mum gave me the full rundown.
00:03:19
Speaker
Maybe give a little idea just a little snapshot of yeah um of yeah your diagnosis. Yeah definitely. So I was 14 months old when I was diagnosed so I just a baby.
00:03:30
Speaker
Mum noticed that I was wetting through all my nappies. I was like thirsty all the time, very lethargic, which was a big change in activity for me um because I was a very active kid and you know she took me to the GP he ran some tests said look it's just a virus it'll pass but in the coming days I just got more and more lethargic I was like sleeping all day so mum with her motherly instincts um called up the you know you can call like an after-hours nurse like a nurse on call or something yeah yeah yeah
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, and they said, take her hospital, like, right away. it sounds like she's got type 1 diabetes. And mum thought, oh, like, um you know, the doctor tested her glucose and everything and, like, he said, it's all fine, it's just a virus. But they said, like, no, you need to take her now.
00:04:23
Speaker
And, yeah, when we got there, it was like, bang, straight in. If you had a left it any longer, you'd be in a lot of trouble. You know, it was just horrible for mum.
00:04:33
Speaker
And dad. um Yeah, so i was in hospital, I think, for a week. They had to kind of give mum and dad a crash course on how to care for someone with diabetes, which ah can't I actually can't even imagine how hard it would be to manage a baby's diabetes because they can't, you know, like communicate with you. And there was no CGM back then either. So I don't think they got much sleep for about...
00:04:59
Speaker
10 years. Yeah. so once I got out of hospital, mum sort of, you know, followed up with the GP, like, you know, what you know what the heck?
00:05:10
Speaker
And they had very conveniently lost the paperwork. So, but it all turned out okay in the end. And yeah, I'm just very grateful for my mum's you know, sort of advocating for me.
00:05:22
Speaker
oh And you will be able to easily connect with that mother's intuition now you are a mother, of course, which I will ask you about in a minute. But did you have anyone in the family with type 1 parents?
00:05:37
Speaker
no No, one. After I was diagnosed, I think maybe 10 or 15 years after I had some like distant cousins diagnosed, but no one really knew anything about diabetes in my family. So it was a big shock.
00:05:51
Speaker
I think it's a big shock anyway, but you're right. I think that a 14 month old baby and, you know, now we have so much data with with everything, that but not your parents' It's kind of a double-edged sword, though, I think, the data. Sometimes it's sort of... Oh, 100%. Maybe it was kind of good that they had had the data every four four hours or something.
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. But, yes, we have chatted on the podcast with Leah about Violet's diagnosis. She was, i don't know if you're aware, but Violet was diagnosed at I think it was nine or ten months ago.
00:06:25
Speaker
Leah shared some really, really sort of interesting struggles there, you know, even around what sort of the hypotreatment that they had to give because... Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, it was so different.
00:06:38
Speaker
So as I mentioned, I've met you, I've followed your Instagram a couple of years ago when you were just getting married. So, um and then ah a year or so, less than a year after that, you got pregnant.
Pregnancy and Type 1 Diabetes
00:06:51
Speaker
Now, getting pregnant doesn't just happen, particularly getting pregnant when you're a type 1 diabetic. I am sure that there was a lot of work that went into you for that. So maybe tell us a little bit about some of the main things, if there's heaps, but we're only kind of going to keep this episode short.
00:07:08
Speaker
um But first of all, actually, can I just say that I have had some people contact me asking for a discussion with a type 1 who has had a baby because I feel that there is this myth around how hard it will be. but i followed your journey and cheered you along and I've also followed a couple of other women um on Instagram as well.
00:07:33
Speaker
um But i I guess it's such a beautiful story of hope, I think, that you offer. Well, I mean, like, as you said, it is genuinely the hardest. It's just the hormones make it so hard to manage. Like it's the hardest and most work I've ever had to put into my diabetes. But you're like very well supported through the whole thing by the healthcare team. And like when you hold the baby in your arms at the end of it, it's just like you just completely forget about it. Like it's all like just so worth it. So it is hard.
00:08:11
Speaker
um i ah will say like from when I was a kid, doctors were always pushing that narrative on me. Like if you want to be get pregnant, you need to do this, you need to do this. So I also thought it would be like challenge sort of struggle, but it was, a while it was the hardest thing I've ever done, it was a lot more manageable than I thought, if that makes sense.
00:08:34
Speaker
thinking, okay, we we want to have a baby. where do we Where do you start? So it started before I got married because I i always knew I wanted to be a mum.
00:08:45
Speaker
I basically said to my diabetes educator, like, what do I need to do to have a baby within the next period? year or two so first thing was i had to turn off control iq because i was on the t-slim pump and that is an approved for pregnancy that um control iq so we turned that off and then i worked it was like six months i reckon with my diabetes educator just making sure all my manual settings were really good.
00:09:13
Speaker
um And I tried to get that 70% time in range most weeks. So I did that. I also had to get all my kidney function checked because I've had some protein leakage in the past.
00:09:26
Speaker
And that can be exacerbated by pregnancy. So i had to make sure that was all clear. Then I had to start taking high dose folate. fo like acid I think that was about 30 months before we started trying.
00:09:40
Speaker
But, yeah, those were the main things. Did you say 30 months or 13 months before trying? three months. right all Three. Oh, three. Oh, sorry. I thought you said 30. And I was like, hang on. No, that's a long time. Three. Okay. Yep. Yep.
00:09:54
Speaker
Yep. Okay. And that's, so that's with your, Diabetes, so you recommend having like a diabetes educator that is particularly, is there strength pregnancy? is that Is that your or just in general?
00:10:11
Speaker
My diabetes educator is like, I'm pretty sure she's the best diabetes educator in the world, Teresa DeFranco. Yeah, she well she's my boss now, but I've known her for like 10 years, I think.
00:10:25
Speaker
She just completely has changed. my diabetes like management. She's basically a wizard. She's the wizard of the guru, isn't she? Yeah. have I've heard her mention. And she'll embarrassed.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yeah, she'll be so embarrassed that saying this. But she actually was the 2020 National Credential Diabetes Educator of the Year. So that's how good she is. Like she just knows everything.
00:10:48
Speaker
She does work in the pregnancy clinic at PDC now. So I knew that she... would know what to do but yeah she's been my diabetes educator for I think five years maybe more yeah you but you just got to find someone that you connect with because I've had diabetes educators in the past that kind of tried to push a certain maybe like a lifestyle on me which just doesn't align with how I want to live my life but like when I met Teresa
00:11:19
Speaker
I was like, look, I'm half Asian. Like I need to be able to know how to bowl this for like my dad's cooking. And she's like, yep, okay, we'll try this, we'll try this, we'll try this.
00:11:30
Speaker
But, you know, other diabetes educators have been like, oh, well, maybe try those like low carb noodles. My dad would not cook that for me. um Yeah, so I just I think having a good team behind you is probably the most important thing.
00:11:46
Speaker
So hang on, i'm this is me. This is my, I'm a bit naive. So we're, for example, with Harvey, we're in the hospital system at the moment. So I'm assuming you were like that as until you got to like, I think it's, is it 18? Yeah, 18. Yeah. And then you get...
00:12:03
Speaker
and then you get sort of discharged from the hospital. Into the wild. Into the wild. Yeah. Yeah. Did you then have to find your own endocrinologist and your diabetes educator? Like is that is that what the next step is?
00:12:18
Speaker
Yeah. So it's a really hard transition and in WA they try to make it easier by having like a transition clinic when you're a teenager. um So it's still at the children's hospital but it's just a separate clinic to sort of help you be more independent and like gently move you into the adult system.
00:12:39
Speaker
But as soon as you turn 18, you go into that adult system, you can either go, they'll refer you into the public hospitals and those diabetes clinics um can have type two, every type of diabetes in them, or you can go down the private path.
00:12:55
Speaker
So I was in the public system for a few years. I still see the endo private publicly, but sometimes you just need that sort of little bit more continuity of care.
00:13:07
Speaker
And that's why I chose to go private with the educator. Okay. It's just something, isn't it, for some, people to think about particularly if their kids are in those teenage years that are moving sort of of what happens kind of next and it's so tricky because you know it's all it's kind of all of a sudden you they they're like okay be independent now make your decisions but they sort of break up with you it feels like it's like a breakup isn't it Yeah, and it's a vulnerable time in people's lives, you know, when you're in your teens. Like, I feel like that's when you need the most support. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, thank you for clarifying that. I'm sort of, we're still something forward to.
00:13:43
Speaker
Something to look forward to. Absolutely, yes. yes um Okay, so you're prepping for to have to have a baby and then you obviously ah you're on certain vitamins and additional things trying to keep a certain target range.
00:14:00
Speaker
And how often are you checking in with your diabetes educator? Oh, gosh. would have It would have only been about every two or three months because we got it pretty – because we started so early.
00:14:11
Speaker
We were pretty set, like sort of – six months beforehand. We were just fine-tuning. Was there a HbA1c? hate to be a one oneing yeah. Yeah, so they recommend that you are 6.5% or lower um with as few hypos as possible before you start trying.
00:14:36
Speaker
So let's just fast forward. You're pregnant. Yeah. yeah We don't have to get to go into the details. No, it doesn't. I'm sure you know how that works. And... and Then once you got pregnant, did you notice a change straight away? or i don't You always think about being pregnant, like, oh, yeah, it must be like this, it must be like that. But like there's nothing that can prepare you for the feeling of finding out you're pregnant anyway.
00:15:00
Speaker
And then immediately after feeling like, oh, my gosh, I need to lay down. Like it was, it was, a, like I never threw up in the first trimester, which was so lucky. Like i feel so grateful for that. But I was just so tired and I was, you know, it was quite hard to manage my blood sugars because you' insulin sensitivity can really skyrocket during that first trimester. So I was having a lot of hypos, which wasn't easy because I was also feeling like a bit nauseous.
00:15:32
Speaker
It's just very unpredictable blood sugars in the first trimester. So I spent a lot of time walking around the block. I was lucky it was summer holidays. Well, not lucky because it was like pretty gross to feel sick in the heat, but um I was a teacher. So I could kind of just lay on the couch for six weeks, which was nice.
00:15:50
Speaker
But yeah, it was Super unpredictable until about, I'd say, 16 weeks. Then the insulin resistance started to ramp up. And, yeah, I think I went into... So in WA, you go to King Eddie's, which is a public hospital here, if you have diabetes. They have, like, a specialised diabetes pregnancy clinic.
00:16:11
Speaker
um So I was in there from about eight weeks pregnant, I think. And then they kind of take over everything from there. And how did you find that process?
00:16:23
Speaker
Like were you there? Did you have more appointments than normal or? It's a lot. it's It's a lot more appointments. So you have...
00:16:35
Speaker
The first appointment is sort of just like an induction, sort of getting you in the system and getting all your details, checking your eyes. It's just a whole bunch of tests and education.
00:16:48
Speaker
And then from the second trimester, you go every month. And then towards the end of the third trimester, you're there like every week, sometimes twice a week. And through those checks, what are they? Are they doing different things are they mainly just checking the baby or like, do you recall?
00:17:07
Speaker
In those appointments. So um we would have... um An ultrasound at every check just to check that the baby was all good, that my amniotic fluid was at a good level, that my placenta didn't have any issues because that can happen with diabetes.
00:17:25
Speaker
It can kind of calcify a bit sometimes. So they just check the blood flow through the umbilical cord. And then I would see a physician to talk, like check my basal rates, check my carb ratios and everything.
00:17:38
Speaker
um I'd see the obstetrician who would just check up on everything with the baby. A midwife, they would check my blood pressure. I would do a urine stick test.
00:17:51
Speaker
And then sometimes I'd see the dietician. it was a lot. It was just a lot of trials. The only bonus is you have to do the diabetes test, the gestational diabetes test. Yeah, exactly. That's literally the only bonus.
00:18:07
Speaker
And then towards the end of the pregnancy, they like you to come in and get, like, CTGs every, well, twice a week. So just to check the baby's movements and heart rate and everything.
00:18:19
Speaker
So, yeah, a lot of appointments.
00:18:24
Speaker
Don't ignore the four. The four early warning signs of type 1 diabetes. Excessive thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue.
00:18:35
Speaker
If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, don't wait. Get checked by a healthcare care professional. Early detection and treatment are key to managing type 1 diabetes effectively.
00:18:48
Speaker
And then coming to the um I'm a birth doula, so I'm very curious about your birth story, but um ah won' I won't make you tell it all. So coming to to the like the the end, where you was there sort of kind of guidelines of what they wanted you to sort of do, like around induction?
Birth Experience and Newborn Health Concerns
00:19:06
Speaker
or Yeah, generally they don't like you to go past 38 weeks.
00:19:11
Speaker
just because, you know, the risk outweighs the benefit there. But for me, I had a little bit, I had a lot of hypos towards the end of my pregnancy, which can be a sign that the placenta is starting to deteriorate a bit.
00:19:25
Speaker
So i had that and some swelling in one leg, which, There was no DVT, like i had to keep getting ultrasounds on it, but it was just, you know, all those factors combined that were like, we need to induce you.
00:19:38
Speaker
So I had to go into um the hospital and get like a blood pressure study done urine sample, like just a lot of monitoring. And um there was no preeclampsia. It was just, they just weren't sure, like if my placenta had a clot on it, it was just safer to get her out. um I was 37 weeks and two days when they induced me. So had the balloon, which is anne Had that. Yeah.
00:20:08
Speaker
the The balloon is an experience. Yep. It's um definitely, I think that was probably the most painful part, to be honest, because I had an epidural the next day.
00:20:20
Speaker
So I... i sort of, yeah, had the balloon, had my waters broken the next morning, laboured for a couple of hours and then um had the epidural.
00:20:32
Speaker
And then after the epidural, it was, I was just chilling all day. i was like having a nap, just having a chat. It was quite good. And it all went really, really well until it came time to push.
00:20:45
Speaker
And I think I was just delusional about what birth would actually be like, which is not like me because I've done a lot of research about birth. But when you're in the moment, it's just so surreal that I don't think I probably expressed what I wanted well enough.
00:21:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I ended up pushing for like 45 minutes and um nothing. Well, she was coming down, but, you know, 45 minutes was a long time apparently.
00:21:13
Speaker
um And so they got the senior midwife in and they sort of repositioned me and, you know, pushed me around and stuff. And she was still quite stuck in there.
00:21:27
Speaker
She was a big baby. She was 4.2 kilos. had... so she had Yeah, bigger than average. But my husband's 6'6", and he was a giant baby. I'm also, I was also a giant baby. So when the doctors were doing the growth scans, they kept saying, like, oh like, you're diabetic, like, this is a diabetic baby, like, big baby.
00:21:53
Speaker
And so I started just bringing my husband to the ultrasound so they could see how, like, tall he was. I'm like, no, like, this is what, this is the stock we're breeding. Yeah. So, yeah, she was just big and her shoulder got stuck. So we had her a shoulder dystocia and basically then there was just like 20 people in the room.
00:22:14
Speaker
um We had episiotomy, which is... In that moment, I was so glad for an epidural. And then they used the forceps and, yeah, she was born.
00:22:26
Speaker
She was all healthy, just very, very bruised. So she doesn't, I like i can't even recognise her in the pictures from, like, the couple of weeks after she was born because she was just, you know, she had, like, a little cut from the forceps.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah, was... pretty full on. So through your labor, who's monitoring your sugars? So I had my mum because i knew, like my husband, God bless him, hasn't grown up. He hasn't had, you know, 28 years of being my mum diabetic, like taking care of me.
00:23:03
Speaker
So I had him in there for emotional support and I had my mum in there because she knows like how to take care of my diabetes, like in and out, inside out. So she kind of just had my Dexcom and she was looking at it.
00:23:17
Speaker
If I needed to eat, she would just hand me something and like wouldn't even need to say anything. I had a lot of Sprite in labour. I didn't realise how much, this is going to sound so stupid, but I didn't realise how much exercise labour is.
00:23:32
Speaker
So I was having a lot of hypos. Well, not hypos, but like I was having food without insulin and then still kind of dropping. So I drank a lot of Sprite and the midwives were saying, you know, like your body is using heaps of energy. But I'd had the epidural, so sauce was kind of just chilling. I was like, I'm literally just laying here, but, um you know, body is still doing all that work. So, yeah, it was so good to have mum there because,
00:23:57
Speaker
I didn't even need to tell her. She just took over. Amazing. That's actually um amazing to have like your mum to be willing to go into. And for sometimes it's great for birthing support partners to have a job. So that's great that your mum was like, I know exactly what my job is and that your, like you said, your partner was there for that emotional support and then he knew exactly what his job was.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And then once... Your little girl was born. Yeah, your little girl. Is it Gia? Gia, yeah. So once she was born, did you notice like a change in your sugars? and Yeah. And like how quickly was that?
00:24:38
Speaker
um Oh gosh, I'm going 100% honest and this is no judgment zone. What? So I had a hemorrhage um when the placenta was being birthed.
00:24:53
Speaker
So they gave me, I think I had three shots in my leg and it made me like quite nauseous. So I threw up. I was very out of it in that period of time. My mum was worried that because I'd thrown up, I would go low and then I would keep throwing up.
00:25:10
Speaker
So i kind of, I think I just had some Sprite and sort of didn't pay any attention to my diabetes because I was just more focused on Gia.
00:25:21
Speaker
And then a couple of hours later, my mum reminded me to change my um basal rates back to what, like my pre-pregnancy ones. And my brother bought me five packets of hot chips.
00:25:35
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. Because they were so nervous at home. Apparently they were just sitting there waiting for mum to let them know what was going on. and Because everything was so... Is this the first baby in the family? is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah i can...
00:25:49
Speaker
We were the same with my sister. We were all waiting around going, oh, when are we going to, you know, get news? Yes. Yep. Yeah. it's special, isn't it? But I think because mum just went radio silent for so long, when everything went kind of pear-shaped, I was very worried. So I told him like months before, like, I want to have hot chips right after I give birth. So yeah.
00:26:09
Speaker
He just went, okay, something's obviously gone a little bit wrong here. I'm just going to heaps of hot chips. So I had a lot of hot chips straight after Gia was born. And then I was like obviously high after because chips. Yeah. you know yeah about And maybe an element of like the adrenaline, the dopamine.
00:26:28
Speaker
Yeah. You've got a factor to factor all that, like and all that hormone. Just stress on your body. Yeah, yeah absolutely. Yeah. And I think I also had antibiotics during pregnancy. labor because I had a fever. So sometimes they'd make me go high, but you know, it was just a combination.
00:26:44
Speaker
And to be honest, I was happier to be high at that time than low because I had this little tiny baby to look after. So yeah, when my milk came in a couple of days later, it was like, yeah, just to like straight back to actually less than I was on pre-pregnancy.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah, drastic. Probably because your body is still working, making milk, versus walking or running around the block. Yeah, exactly. Just doing it And then what happens baby Gia? twenty four seven and then what happens with baby gr Any tests have to happen with her? Yeah, so they always, um so they did the APGA test when she was born and she was like fine, just bruised.
00:27:28
Speaker
um But then they do the, they heal prick for her blood sugar level because i'm I'm not sure how much you know about like the blood sugars sort of of the mother.
00:27:39
Speaker
Basically, when a mum with diabetes is pregnant, she has that little bit of extra glucose in her system and that glucose can cross the placenta. So the baby gets that extra glucose and they can produce insulin. So they're producing a little bit more insulin than they normally would be just to metabolise that extra glucose.
00:28:01
Speaker
That's sometimes what can make babies a little bit bigger as well um when you have diabetes. But um So when they're born, they're disconnected from the placenta so that extra glucose isn't coming in but they're still producing a little bit more insulin for a little while after birth.
00:28:17
Speaker
So they can have quite severe low blood sugars after they're born. So they i think they test tested Gia's blood sugar an hour after the first feed that she'd had and then two hours after that. And um they like it above a certain number. I think it might even be like...
00:28:36
Speaker
two point 2.6 like it's quite low but the the threshold for a hypo in babies is a lot lower apparently in newborns so they checked her and she was fine both times because I had all this colostrum that I had expressed beforehand so they were giving her that and yeah she was fine they said it was actually quite remarkable though that she didn't need to go to special care for like any like low blood sugar because of her like you know trauma on the on the way out but i think my colostrum
00:29:12
Speaker
you know, really helps with that. That's amazing. That's a good little little tip there. And then you your discharge, there's no further tests that have to happen for GR.
00:29:24
Speaker
I just recall because i have an autoimunion I have Hashimoto's, I've got an autoimmune disease. So I remember that Harvey, I don't think it happened with James, but I remember that Harvey had to have a heel prick blood test. I had to go in like maybe 10 days later or a week later, go back to the hospital hospital And that was something, I wish I'd got more clarity of what that is now, but it was something connected to my Hashimoto's.
00:29:49
Speaker
So i'm what I'm not sure about the link there of what, like whether it was producing antibodies or something or maybe, don't know, maybe i need to do a bit more research into that myself. Yeah, I don't think G had any extra tests.
00:30:03
Speaker
um She was just jaundiced. So we had to stay a little longer. in hospital and then come back to get her heel prepped just to make sure she was clearing up.
00:30:15
Speaker
And so Jiga is now months. Eight months, yes. That's wild, isn't it, that you how quickly that everyone ah be to everyone says to you, ah you know, it goes so quickly and then when you're in it you think, oh, it's not going to go quickly, but it does.
00:30:30
Speaker
It really does. So you're now becoming this amazing mum but then some other opportunities have come up for you to keep sort of talking and educating people.
Support for Diabetic Mothers
00:30:43
Speaker
it's Once an educator, always an educator, Emily. Talking to people around pregnancy and who have had had babies so do you want to share what you're what you're doing now yeah awesome so after I had Gia they tried to put like recommend that I join the mothers group and I just I didn't I felt like no one would understand sort of the nuance of diabetic pregnancy and then
00:31:09
Speaker
having a newborn while you're trying to also manage your diabetes. So I ah just didn't join one. But um when she was a couple of months old, I got to the point where i was like, oh, I really wish I could talk to some other mums who've been through the same thing.
00:31:22
Speaker
So I went to my diabetes educator, Teresa, and I said, I want to make a mother's group for people with diabetes. And then I kind of just had a big brain dump and she said, do it, we'll back it. So that was awesome.
00:31:35
Speaker
We started up PDC Mums and Bubs, which it's a it a peer support group for people with diabetes who are planning pregnancy.
00:31:47
Speaker
currently pregnant or postpartum. We're going to start up our educational events next month. So we'll have online seminars for whole range of topics and they'll be run by um members of the Diabetes ah in Pregnancy Clinic.
00:32:03
Speaker
um And then we have monthly catch-ups too. So we had our first one on Monday and honestly like it exceeded my expectations because Like everyone had, was like a completely different person. Everyone, completely different ages, walks of life, everything. But everyone had something in common and that was that they'd been pregnant with diabetes.
00:32:25
Speaker
We like just had awesome conversations about, you know, what we went through, how hard it was, but how worth it it was. And yeah, I'm already excited for the next one, but really proud of the group because ah feel like it's something that's very needed.
00:32:41
Speaker
Did you model it off hearing about other ones or? um No, I actually haven't heard of um any other groups like this, but, you know, I've seen on Instagram people having diabetic meetups and stuff um in America and the UK. And I just thought, I'm sure there's people in Perth who want to catch up. So, yeah, was just sort of.
00:33:09
Speaker
ah mix of ideas. And how long did it take to set it up? So think about about two months of background work and then we launched the Instagram page which is ah great hub for resources um if anyone's interested and then yeah first event this week. So was it took a while, a while in the making but Yeah, we're up and running.
00:33:36
Speaker
And the referrals are coming from like mainly the Teresa, the diabetes educator. Is that where? Well, most people are finding us on Instagram. So um yeah, you don't have to be part of the PDC pregnancy clinic to join the group.
00:33:51
Speaker
um It's for anyone anyone who's, you know, planning for a baby or has a baby um who's living with diabetes. Yeah, but, yeah i mean, Teresa has a lot of clients who are planning pregnancy. So, you know, it's they're coming from everywhere.
00:34:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's amazing. I can imagine it would be such a great sort of resource and also that element of, I guess it's kind of similar. at The end is, you know, i often, Harvey is, everybody kind of knows with the podcast how Harvey is very,
00:34:23
Speaker
active really into his, you know, basketball and AFL, footy. Oh, awesome. And, you know, he's always asking me, like, do you know anyone that's, you know, a basketballer that's got, you know, yeah type one, um you know, or um a football player or, you know, that sort of stuff. So we're always looking for those sort of inspirations and those icons. Yeah. And that would be, i would feel, for you young women or women planning to get pregnant to have, like,
00:34:53
Speaker
these you know the same it's the same kind of thing really isn't it it's like yeah someone's done it before you know and I really think mothers are the real icons but um yeah anyway but um you know of of how someone else has done it before and what the you know to show that when we talk about it can totally be done um yeah yes there is a little bit more support or a little bit bit bit more work that needs to be done but you know it's it's so achievable also not just for those women that are wanting to have babies i think for any mum or any parents currently that have young like young girls that are type 1 diabetics to see that this is also possible it's possible for their future yeah that's
00:35:37
Speaker
That's one of the big reasons why I sort of share what I do on my own page because I know when I was growing up, my parents wondered what life might look like for me um as a grown-up. And to be honest, I didn't know if getting married and becoming a mum was going to be part of my package. But, you know, seeing so many other women online thriving with diabetes was amazing.
00:36:03
Speaker
huge inspiration for me. So I kind of wanted to create a community of people who could be role models, you know? Yeah, absolutely. And you do such a great job on your Instagram of sharing. I mean, I don't understand. We're not on a pump, so I don't understand some of that stuff.
00:36:17
Speaker
But that's fine because I do, so like so sometimes someone says something and I go, oh, yeah, I remember saying something about that on, you
Postpartum Insulin Pump Transition
00:36:23
Speaker
know, like. Yeah. So, you know, even though that stuff is not for us, not kind of directly for me right now, it's certainly kind of,
00:36:33
Speaker
yeah I think you give so much information, you know, particularly about how you' you you've converted over to a new pump. Maybe you just want quickly touch on that, that transition. So ah would not recommend changing pumps six weeks postpartum, but that's kind of when my, well, actually my warranty expired when I was, I think, eight months pregnant. So yeah,
00:36:55
Speaker
I had to put it off for a little bit. um But, yeah, big change. I went from T-Slim to Ipso and I've just started on Fiasp with, sorry which has been just a game changer but yeah it's a completely different pump to anything I've had before because there's no basal rates when you're in auto mode it sort of um looks 20 minutes ahead and then it's reacting and pre-empting what your blood sugar will do so it's a very different system to learn but I think now that I'm on Fiasp it's like working amazingly so I'm happy with the change yeah well that's good
00:37:35
Speaker
I normally wrap up by just, um well, first of all, just wanted to say thank you so much for your time. I'd just like to finish up by asking all our tight ones, what is your go-to hypo treatment?
00:37:48
Speaker
Honey. I'm a honey fiend. Oh. Yeah, I've always been a honey fiend. I think because when I was younger, um if I was low in the middle of the night, my parents would make me like a cup of hot milk with honey in it.
00:38:01
Speaker
sorry um because it has like the fat and the protein in the milk to kind of sustain me overnight. But ever since then, I just, i love honey. Just have a spoon of it when I'm low.
00:38:11
Speaker
Yeah, perfect. It's good one. Yeah. very Very good. Awesome. What's Harvey's favourite? He kind of rotates between snakes, Skittles. Oh, yep.
00:38:23
Speaker
A classic. Hard to stop. Yeah, yeah. and ah But during the night we normally do a little bit of um apple juice and um the glucose kind of powder. I put a couple of heaps sugars in there because he doesn't really remember it. So that's easier than getting him to chew anything. So, yeah.
00:38:40
Speaker
I can imagine that would be a pretty strong heap of sugar. Yeah, ye yeah, yeah. You've got to kind of, when you're half asleep, doing that the dump of, yeah you know, you're like, it's either hit or miss. It's either too much or not enough sometimes. I know, it's tricky.
00:38:56
Speaker
It's very tricky. Yes, yeah. yeah All right, Emily, thank you so much for your time. We hope that everybody enjoyed listening to emily Emily's story and um all the positivity that she brings to the Type 1 community.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:39:10
Speaker
We will obviously add everything to the show notes and you can continue seeing all the all the wonderful things that she's doing.
00:39:17
Speaker
So thank you, everyone. We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode and we look forward to bringing another episode to you very soon.
00:39:25
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Type 1 Club podcast. We hope you've enjoyed today's episode and gained some valuable insights. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on all the platforms so you never miss an episode.
00:39:38
Speaker
We also appreciate it if you could leave us a rating and review. It really helps us to reach more listeners just like yourselves. For more updates, behind-the-scenes content and to join the conversation further, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, the Type 1 Foundation, or visit our website, type1foundation.com.au.
00:39:59
Speaker
Thanks again for listening, and we will see you next time on the Type 1 Club.