Gestational diabetes and terrified

[bev26]

Found out today, I'm 27+5, that I've got gestational diabetes.

My fasting was 6
1 hour after drink 13.3
2 hours after drink 8.9

I'm terrified beyond belief, especially after seeing it can increase chances of preeclampsia. Midwifes didn't give me any advice on what to eat/do, just said that I will have to change hospitals and that a specialist will ring me in a few days to see me next week.

Too scared to eat, don't know what's right about it on the Internet. I'm scared of baby dying, scared of getting preeclampsia. Just scared in general. Really upset and feel like all this is my fault.

[ILiveOnABuildsite]

I had gd on my first pregnancy, I was referred to a dietician which really helped, so maybe you could ask the consultant when he/she contacts you wether that is an option. In the meantime, if you follow a high fat/low carb diet and avoid refined sugars you will be fine until you speak to consultant about more details. Particularly avoid fruit juices and if you want to eat fruits have them as part of your meal rather than as a snack, that was a helpful tip from my dietician. I had no complications other than elevated blood sugar throughout the rest of my pregnancy and the consultant care I receive was next to none and I couldn't have asked for more support from my hospital so hopefully all will feel more manageable for you once you have spoken with a consultant. You will also have more scans for the rest of your pregnancy so many opportunity to catch anything that may develop early and deal with it safely.

It's really scary when you get that first diagnosis but really gd can be very well managed now and consultants/and midwives who have dealt with diabetes know so much more about it that you should be in good hand. It's a shame you have to wait to hear from the new hospital though, do you know how long you will have to wait and do you have a number you can call to ask about consultant referral that was made for you. It could help put your mind at ease.

Hope you feel a bit less stressed once the shock wears off.

[bev26]

Hey

What do they look for in the scans?
I'm not sure how long I have to wait, I'm going I ring up the hospital where I've been going to and ask them I theyve refered me already and then if they have ask them what department of the new hospital it is and give them a bell.
Did you struggle with the new diet? How was your baby when born? Was he/she big? Only 12 weeks left but it's going to feel like 112 weeks lol xxx

[SaggyAndLucy]

Don't panic.
Gestational diabetes is irritating but not so bad in my experience.
The worst part was the diabetes midwives who ragged my arse for not sticking to the diet!
As has already been said, you want more fat and protein and less carbs and sugar.
Bread, potatoes and all the other lovely pregnancy comfort food is only allowed in very small quantities!
If you can't control it with diet, they will give you pills.
I don't know much about the pre elcampsia risk, it wasn't mentioned to me at all, but I was told that I'd be induced by 39 weeks as routine.
I know that GD can affect the size of the baby, but Dd was full up 39 weeks and was 7lb.
What I definitely recommend is in a few weeks, start expressing colostrum and freezing it. Then take it with you when you go to deliver.
GD can affect the baby's blood sugar, and being able to give them colostrum from the get go can be very helpful.
All in though, try not to stress. If the HCPs aren't running around screaming, you probably don't need to either.

[ILiveOnABuildsite]

The extra scans are growth scans just to keep an eye on baby's size but don't panic about them they can be very un accurate, I was predicted a 9 1/2lb baby but dd was born just at 7lb13, so fairly standard there. She was fine and her blood sugar did dip dramatically after birth. I wasnt able to express or breastfeeding and dd was bottle fed from the start and she did absolutely fine. You probably will have to stay in hospital for 24 hrs after birth as they will just want to make sure baby blood sugar are high enough and stable but that wasn't an issue for us as I said dd sugar levels where fine and stable very quickly.

Gd is very manageable and you will be in good hands so all should be fine. No one mentioned the risk of pre-eclempsia to me either so I wasn't aware of that and didn't have any other issues other than having to stick to a pretty boring diet but it's only for a few weeks really, so manageable as well.

[zoobaby]

Bev, I'm sure you'll be very well cared for at the new department. Your care will be given by Obstetrician and Diabetes Consultant and specialist midwives. They will monitor you closely - and they'll expect you to do your fair share of the monitoring too (pin-pricks galore).

Yes the diet is annoying, but it's just something you have to get through in order to have a healthy baby at the end. While you're waiting for your appointment, look up LOW-GI foods as this is what my dietician advised. Often it's about making substitutions - like basmati rice instead of long grain rice, wholegrain pasta instead of white, brown bread, roast potatoes instead of mashed, that kind of thing. It's all about choosing foods that make the body work harder to break down. Once you find something that works, you'll probably just stick to it to make life easy for yourself.

You will probably be put onto Metformin tablets which makes the insulin in your body work more effectively, and thus helps with breaking down sugar. Chances are you may move on to insulin because your body needs more of it when pregnant and if you can't produce it naturally then you inject it. Once again, it's a hassle more than anything.

As for the birth itself - I was induced at 38 weeks (so something to consider when booking your Mat Leave) as they say this is safest for baby and mother. I had a midwife with me the entire time, quite a luxury, and they onitored DS' vitals the whole time too. When DS was born we had skin-to-skin and then he was put in a warm bed thing, and brought out frequently for breatfeeding. After 12 or so hours they did a heel prick test on him to check his blood sugar levels. He went into a regular crib after that.

The best part was the fact that it's the placenta that causes you to have GD. Once it's gone, you can go back to normal. It does make you more prone to GD again (I've been monitored since about 12 weeks this time around) and possibly proper diabetes in the future. But it's good to have that knowledge and be sensible.

Good luck! Try not to stress, but take some tissues with you for the first appointment - if you're anything like me, you may need them.

[zoobaby]

Re: the pre-eclampsia, I think that's why they look for protein in your urine.

[TinyMonkey]

I was diagnosed with GD at 28 weeks. Worst thing was having to stick to a fairly dull diet, but the silver lining was that I didn't pile on weight in the last few weeks and was back to pre-pregnancy weight 3 weeks post partum.

The extra growth scans were nice, but totally inaccurate. They were predicating a 10-11lb baby, she was actually 8lbs 3. Her blood sugars were all fine as well.

Remembering to test blood sugar was irritating, and I was a bit lazy about sticking to low GI foods initially, until a scan showed that the baby's abdominal measurement had jumped up, then I started to monitor 4x a day instead of just twice and got a lot stricter. I ended up taking Metformin for the last 4 weeks, but had no side effects. All the extra monitoring was quite reassuring and the care I received was excellent. Not being allowed to give birth in the MLU would have pissed me off, but my baby was breech so I had a c section anyway.

I felt exactly like you when I got my diagnosis, right down to being too scared to eat, but it's honestly not that bad as long as you are careful with your diet. Good luck.

[sophspot]

Hi bev 26,
Firstly try not to blame yourself I did for couple of weeks and felt very tearful and guilty. The advice you've been given on here already is great. I'll tell you my experience so far I'm now 36.6 so only 2 weeks left max. I was diagnosed at 28 weeks due to high bmi ( I have lost 9 lbs since diagnosis without trying to just keeping sugers low) I didn't want to go on medication if I could avoid it. So have stuck to a very strict diet any potatoes \bread\ rice\pasta sends me above. Low sugars only and I read every label read the carbohydrate which is sugars level and aim for Iess then 5 per 100g. I'm a veggie too so eat lots of quorn, salads, puy lentils and veggies. Lots of cheese and eggs too. Sugar free jellies are fab and I have couple a day. Dark chocolate if fine too weirdly and couple digestive biscuits/ryvitas are low too. I've so far had scans every two week s and his weight is perfect it did dip slightly but he picked up again. I loved having extra scans. I saw the diabetic consultant as well only for tens minutes to check my book of recorded sugers and he was happy to let me carry on diet controlled only. I have probably been over twice a week

The diet is a pain sometimes I crave chips ice cream etc... and have a quiet strop lol. But I have a jelly and get over it as its not that long its probably been a good thing for me as it has really made me look at my diet and what I eat I eat so healthy now which can only be good for my baby. It will certainly affect the way I see food in the future but that's just my own personal view due to being overweight. Many ladies I've spoken to have fantastic diets anyway and are on insulin everybody is different so please don't blame yourself.
Hopefully will be induced 39 weeks so not long. I am nervous about it I would much prefer to start naturally but they won't let go over 40 weeks. There is an old very long thread on here which is useful to read it helped me alot and a more recent one on page 3. Oh the appointment s at the hospital are always an hour behind so take something to read. I've also seen a different consultant every time which isn't great but they have all been good. They check urine and blood pressure every two weeks too which I found reassuring as I was admitted at 28 weeks with suspected P E. but I didn't have it just have high blood pressure. The extra care has been great. Hope this is useful. X

[TarkaTheOtter]

Don't panic.

Firstly I don't think the risk of pre-clampsia increases that much. It is still very unlikely you will have pre-eclampsia. I've had severe GD in two pregnancies and it's never been mentioned when they've discussed the risks.

Good thing about GD is it is totally controllable. Maybe just by diet but I expect in your case by either metformin and/or insulin (because your initial levels are quite high and GD gets "worse" the more pregnant you get). The dangers associated with GD are caused by high blood sugars. If you keep your blood sugars controlled you aren't at higher risk. Some people can do that by controlling their diet, others find their sugars remain high whatever they eat

All the blood sugar testing, scans, consultants etc will seem really daunting at first but you'll soon get the hang of it.

I think it's just correlated with future diabetes, if that makes sense. It's a sign that you have an increased risk of future type 2 rather than making you more likely to get it.

I expect they'll contact you within a week max. If not, definitely chase it up.