Induction due to Gestational Diabetes – Practical Advice Please

[zoobaby]

I have gestational diabetes and have been booked in for an induction at 38+2.

Does anyone have advice re: preparing for and going through the induction?

The info from hospital is all very clinical ? this pessary, that gel, this procedure at that frequently, etc ? but nothing PRACTICAL really. It?s also very generic with no info relating directly to managing GD.

On another thread, I?ve read that I could potentially expect to wait 3 days and that the ward will probably have no ?good? diabetes food. How on earth do you control your blood glucose in that time? I feel like GD is just adding a little extra edge to the whole procedure and would appreciate advice.

I was induced due to GD almost 6 months ago. The induction failed. I had 2 pessaries, a sweep, waters broken and then 13 hours on the hormone drip before agreeing to a c-section. I don't want to be negative but I would say be prepared mentally for a long and boring few days with nothing happening. Food wise I chose what seemed to be the best options from the menu but made sure I had plenty of snacks to keep me going. I took things like Oatcakes, cubes of cheese, sugar free flapjacks etc. I also kept sending DP out to the supermarket to get fruit and veg as I found there was very little on offer. My last meal was at 5pm then breakfast at 8am so a long stretch between meals. Obviously it's easier to control your blood sugar if you eat regularly so make sure you have something suitable for supper, I got dp to bring me hummus and veg sticks in. I couldn't have eaten a meal by the time I was on the drip as I was in a lot of pain so snacks were very important to keep my energy up.

When I started having contractions I had to do a finger prick test every hour so make sure you have plenty of testing strips.

You are likely to be kept in after the birth for monitoring so plan for that too, again plenty of suitable snacks. And as soon as you have your blood test and it comes back normal get dp to go to the bakery and buy the biggest chocolate cake he can get his hands on

Also, make sure you get your water jug filled every evening because you might be stuck on a drip and a monitor and you will get very thirsty.

Take stuff to do too, magazines, easy books, puzzles, Ipod - it was very boring!

Good luck!

I had 2 inductions due to GD, first one I didn't really have a clue, which is quite normal for DC1 I guess.
Pessary at 8.30pm - ish, laboured during the night and had DS1 at lunchtime the next day.
DS2 - slightly different! Had the pessary in the morning I think as No2 is expected to be quicker - that was a Tuesday, sweeps, pessaries, internals, monitoring, threats of a C-Section and no action by Friday.
They offered me a C-Section which i declined, as there was absolutely no indication that anything was wrong with the baby. They sent me home for a rest (I had to sit on a cushion I was so uncomfortable from all the messing about).
Back in monday morning - no choice but a section by Tue if the next tranche of pessaries didn't work. Luckily DS2 put in an appearance before dawn. On his due date and a week after they wanted him to arrive.
DD (No3) arrived 2 days before her induction was booked, throwing all my plans into turmoil, which ispretty much how she's proceeded with her life ever since!
So really be prepared for the longest dullest and probably uncomfortable wait of your life - and anything else will be a bonus.
Trust your instincts but be guided by the medics, lots of snacks and good luck

I only know about my experience, not sure if it's typical or not - I turned up on the Monday morning for induction and had the pessary. 24 hours later I had another pessary. Nothing much happened, I was having a few minor but irregular contractions, like bad period pain. I walked a lot and had magazines/puzzle books/ipad/tv etc to keep me entertained. DH was sent home overnight and I was comfy enough to sleep. On the Wednesday morning they took me up to the delivery suite and then later that morning they broke my waters before hooking me up to the drip a few hours later. DD arrived early hours of Thursday morning.

Mostly it was boring! So I recommend taking lots of things to do. The other main concern was eating properly as hospital food is not great, and the hospital canteen just sold junk. DH brought a lot of 'normal' food in from home, and I really felt the hospital didn't have a clue what to tell me about food. For example, I got up to the delivery unit on my own before breakfast only to be told that they had no food there except toast (one thing I couldn't eat much of!) as most women obviously didn't want food there. Luckily, I was rescued by DH again when he arrived an hour or so later. So make sure you have supplies of food at home and in the hospital. Eat little and often to keep a steady blood sugar level.

By the time I was on the drip/epidural, I wasn't too hungry, but wasn't allowed much anyway. If you can't control blood sugars in labour, they'll put you on a sugar/insulin drip and adjust these for you, so actually at this point you don't need to worry too much.

I was the one who said about food choice on the ward being poor - I should say that they did actually have a 'safe' diabetic choice, but I'm veggie so it often wasn't suitable. And I found it hard to know what to pick as didn't know what was in the food (names like "thai veg curry" or "spicy veg bake" meant I had no idea whether they were stuffed with potato or pasta, or full of tofu instead). So all that coupled with the fear of going hungry and/or the fear of messing up my blood sugars was a bit of a pain to deal with at that time. If you have hospital appointments, you could always ask ahead of time what you can expect, and to see an example menu before the induction?

This is a bit of an essay, and perhaps your hospital are better at handling the food issue than mine, but hope it's better for you to consider these things ahead of time!

Thanks zoobaby for setting up this thread, i too need to be induced. I have controlled the GD with diet and excercise alone throughout so they are letting me go to 40 weeks but not a day over!

I heard the hospital food was crap and vending machines obviously a nono, let alone the burger king downstairs - disgusting really that they make such a deal over this but dont support your eating. I did enquire about this saying I don't mind bringing food in but do you have a fridge as don't want sweaty bits of cheese and meat but they said no i'll need to bring a cool bag (on top of my hospital bag/partners/babies and my frozen colostrum i need to bring in!) (poor husband/donkey!!)

I wondered if anybody has tried acupuncture to kick start things off - ideally i want to go naturally as possible without a whole influx of chemicals?

Interesting thread, thank you OP. am booked for induction because of GD day before my due date and am really worried. Was wondering about the likes of acupuncture to start things off too! really don't want induction to go ahead but not sure I have any other options...

Hello, I didn't have GD, but have been induced twice, 2nd time at 38+2.

My 1st pregnancy I was induced at 42w, and I think my body likes to hang on till then, so being induced at 38 wasn't easy in the sense it took 2 days to get me going - I had 2 pessaries then they offered me a CS, I declined, as like the OP the baby was in no danger and I would rather not undergo major surgery. I had my 3rd, and they had to call a specialist to break my waters (only cos my body was still hanging on in there) Being induced was not the greatest, but once I was going, it was fine, 1.5hrs (my first was 6), no drugs and out he popped. I would say Hypnobirthing really helped me and I would advise others to try. If I had to do it all again tomorrow, I'd go skipping in.

Can't offer experience on GD, but the hospital I was in, the food was very good, there was a fridge in the mothers day room where women put their food.

Good luck hope all goes well

Many thanks to the ladies who offered their advice. Unfortunately unable to get on here for a whole week to read replies due to last minute running around for bits and bobs (yikes, is this what it'll be like when I actually have a baby to take care of?). Glad a couple of others benefitted from this info also.

So basically I will now start to mentally prepare myself for a really long and laborious time... and then labour will start.

I'm struggling to decide exactly what to take re food and entertainment. As mentioned, sweaty cheese and ham is not fun any day of the week. Also, it wouldn't be so bad if you could trust your various gadgets to not grow legs and walk off.

Monday at 8am is showtime. I actually had an existing booking for a 3-hour breastfeeding class that morning and the midwives have encouraged me to still go down to the class. Hopefully I won't need to dash out early. Or actually, if I did have to dash out early, that'd be a bonus. Been having crampy feelings, which have gotten my hopes up but since they only come on when horizontal, perhaps it's just wishful thinking (drats).

Been talking to baby every night, doing a countdown, discussing what's coming up, motioning with hands the general direction I expect him to travel, asking him for his co-operation and reminding him to keep his hands away from is face (haha). Time for him to prove that he listens to his mum!

So... I'm sure it'll be a case of sneezing and then it'll all be done and dusted by noon of Monday .

Good luck to al the ladies who are going to be doing this themselves!

Zoobaby on the GD thread MrsV was induced on Fri morning and had her baby boy at 00:30 on the Saturday - so didn't take too long :) Hopefully you'll be the same. Good luck :)