Hypoglycemic shock is also everything it's made out to be. I was blessed with a mother with hypoglycemia, and a long line of diabetics, and so this whole gestational/maybe-pre-existing diabetes is something of a "meh" moment for me. Of the umpteen complications I faced with this pregnancy, this comes under the category of "given".

So yesterday I shot the full amount of the quick acting insulin as instructed, ten minutes before eating dinner. And I tried extra hard to stay within the carb allowance. And I'm not sure what exactly happened in my body, but 30 minutes after eating my heart started pumping through my ribs and 90 seconds after that the room started graying and cold sweat poured through my body. "Ah", I thought to myself. "So this is what the full-on shock feels like. Let's make a note of it, and not do this again."

Since I keep my monitor kit ready to pop open for the next testing at all times, it was a snap to pull it out and check. Yep, the glucose read 55. No, 54. No, something sinking a bit below that. Off to my mom, who could quickly provide the needed sugars in the right quantities for bringing those numbers back up with what we had on hand. Which was, incidentally, black walnut ice cream with chocolate syrup. Not necessarily the recommended procedure, but given my condition it works. 15 minutes after consuming the sweats have cooled. 20 minutes later my heart has completely returned to normal. 60 minutes later my glucose was chillin' at a cool Normal Average Number.

Tonight I ate like a real person, and had a small helping of an actual dessert item. My post-dinner reading? Normal Average Number.

And tomorrow I'll call the doctor and report in on this. Oy. If I had not had all that family experience, I would have seriously freaked out. Thank God for family.