Rachel lives a full life while living with type 1 diabetes. She is working part time, studying part time, and has two young children. She wouldn’t have it any other way. Rachel and her partner spent almost a decade of planning, preparing, and focusing on her diabetes management to reach a place where they felt comfortable trying for a baby.  

During the pregnancy planning process, Rachel was using a blood glucose monitor to manually check her levels, which meant fingerpicking up to 12 times a day. By the time Rachel did fall pregnant with her first child, the government announced that continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices would be subsidised for women with type 1 diabetes who are actively planning pregnancy, pregnant, or immediately post-pregnancy.   

“I’m extremely thankful that I had the CGM. I instantly had access to seeing what my levels were doing throughout the day. Reducing the burden of doing manual checking was really helpful and immediately, the calluses on my fingers healed up.” 

After welcoming her second child, Rachel enrolled at Western Sydney University to complete a PhD that looks at lived experiences of diabetes and pregnancy.  

“Currently if you have type 1 diabetes, you can access the subsidised continuous glucose monitoring technology to help you with planning a pregnancy. At this stage, if you have any other type of diabetes, you don’t have access to this subsidy. And it’s really inequitable.” 

Through her research, Rachel is committed to helping people with all types of diabetes have a healthy pregnancy like she was able to experience thanks to technology.  

Watch Rachel’s story: