Scared mum with gestational diabetes + big baby

[Jemeraldx]

Okay so I'm 37 weeks pregnant today only known I have gd for the last 3. My sugar levels have been up & down & I've been told baby is on the large side, as well as all the complications that come with both of these. So I've looked everything up on the internet about gd, large babies complications etc & have now scared myself shitless. My biggest fear is 'shoulder dystocia' I saw it the other day on one born every minute, as well as on the internet. I had a scan to 'guess the size' which was about 8lb - seeing as scans are unreliable at guessing the size of babies in late term (another thankyou to the internet) It hasn't reasured me in the least. It doesn't help that I'm fed up with watching my diet & testing myself constantly, although what I hate the most is my diabetic nurse. I feel like I'm sat before a jury everytime I go, having to explain everything that I've eaten. The first time I saw her she made a comment about how (& I genuinely think it was intended as a joke - but when your hormonal & the size of a whale it doesn't help) I probably finish my kids meals off!. I'm not a dog (or a bottomless pit) I don't go around scoffing off everyones plates. They share my meal - not the other way around, yeah once or twice I might have pinched a chip of there plate while I was dishing it out (who hasn't)but afterwards it goes in the bin or the dogs bowl. The last time I went it was a different diabetic nurse & she flipped when I told her I had an hypo. I'll explain: I've been having these 'do's' has I'm now under strict orders to call them since I was in my teens. To start off I start feeling shaky, then I feel 'weak' & lethargic & can basically include the following: sweating,poor concentration, feeling 'emotional' like I want to cry my voice & lip tremble & I generally feel ill. I once had one @ work & they tested my blood. It was 3.8 I told my doctor & he said it was nothing to worry about. I knew I had gd before I was even tested because these 'do's' had been worse while I've been pregnant. I pointed out to the nurse that this was just something I refer to them as, but she kept going back to it & bringing it up & told me in no uncertain terms must I call it a 'hypo'. I also forgot to mention that when I get these mty body screams out for something sweety (usually milk & bisquits - I don't like them otherwise. I'm always asked so was it hard, have you had to give loads of things up' they probably don't mean it that way but it feelks like they're saying 'can't eat chocolate & chips now fatty!' lol, I think people have a stereotypical view of overweight people. Actually the diets not been that hard I just swapped my bread & cereals. They're are things I miss, but I love the foods I'm eating right now. - My apologies I didn't mean for this to be so long but I needed to get that out. So nurse aside I'm now crapping myself that something will happen to the baby because its so large & have already been looking on the internet for tips on getting things going (note: I definitely won't be trying casor oil). - Oh yeah also forgot to mention they want to start me on insulin! I can only just use the pen they gave me theres no way I'd be able to inject myself, this just adds to wanting to get her out faster & dbnurse not believing what I eat - I laways make a note when its high. Today all I had for dinner was a sandwhich & it was 6.9 & the other morning I had a bowl of porridge for breakfast & it was 7.9!

P.s as anyone else had a db nurse they actually liked?, my sister had 4 diabetic (well one was borderline) pregnancies & she said there was only 1 that was nice.

Hi :) try not to worry too much, im sure the shoulder distocia is not that common and they will probably keep an eye on you during labour to make sure everything is okay, knowing that you have got gd.
also sometimes their size estimates can be innacurate so you never know your dd may not be that big. i had diabetes with my last baby but he was only 6lb so not massive at all and delivery was all fine, they just worry cos in some cases the babies may become really big but doesnt mean it will apply to all!
atleast you have not got too long left now and your diabetes developed quite late in the pregnancy.
if you do have to have insulin i personally found the injections not as painful as the blood sugar finger prick thing! injections sounds worse but it doesnt actually feel as sharp as the other one, so wasnt as bad as expected. but hopefully it wont come to that.
as for the nurses comments im sure they dont really mean it like that so i would try not to read too much into it, i think they just have advice about healthy eating etc that they have to give to everyone so they will say things like 'cut down on junk food' to everyone regardless if u actually do eat well already or not. its easy to take things too personal and feel upset at that stage of pregnancy though, i remember i started crying in the diabetic midwife office because i got really busy moving house and missed taking quite a few blood sugar so i thought they were gonna tell me off & that it was gonna be a major problem - felt like a right idiot about that
anyway, good luck and i wouldnt google too much about the complications as you might just freak yourself out!

Have a look at www.diabetessupport.co.uk

Lots of really helpful people who have been through similar and will have tips and reassuring words would post more but off to work

Hi
I was diagnosed with GD at 28 weeks - I tested 7.8 so was only just on the chart but since then I've been doing the blood testing. First few weeks were fine - no high readings but over the last week I seem to be getting high readings but can't see where I'm going wrong. I had a chicken salad and got an 8.1! Like you I haven't had to make major changes to my diet as I ate fairly healthily anyway its been small changes - like sweetener in my porridge instead of honey, not having an OJ at lunchtime if I'm having other fruit too. My Diabetic Nurse (who luckily is very nice and non judgmental) has said that blood sugar naturally reads higher later into pregnancy but I'm worried that now I'm getting the odd over target reading that they will want to start me on insulin which I really don't want to do. I don't mind needles but I prefer not take medication generally unless I have no choice - not a fan of pumping myself full of chemicals. Have you been told you will have to stay in hospital for 2 days following the birth? That's one thing I really don't want - I can't wait to be at home with my baby and my OH hates the idea of leaving us there and going home alone without his little family. Try not to google too much - my friend was recently told before xmas that her baby was very large and as she's a tiny 5" she scared herself silly googling about big babies. She now has a gorgeous little boy who was just under 7lb!

Stay away from Dr Google! It will only scare the shit out of you.

I had GD and extra scans because they were so worried that DD would be enormous and I'm only 5ft 1 etc, etc - she was 7lb 7 when she was born at term so perfectly normal sized.

Please don't worry - it might all be for nothing and then you would have ruined the end of your pregnancy for no reason.

I had gd in both my last two pregnancies, though it wasn't diagnosed until I was 36 weeks with dc2. DC3 I was diagnosed at 28 weeks. Because I was diagnosed late with dc2 I hadn't done anything to control my diet, and ended up with a huge (11lbs) baby. But then I have big babies anyway (no diagnosis of gd in first pregnancy but still had 9lb 6 oz dd, and was 9lbs myself at birth so clearly runs in family!)

I had dc2 (the 11 lb baby) at home. Yes - did experience a shoulder dystocia. No - it was nothing, nothing like a horrific as the OBEM one, even though it lasted as long and ended with my dc needing to be bagged and masked. I was absolutely fine. No tears. No shock. No trauma. And ds was fine.

The diet I was given by the diabetic nurse was crap, so I ignored it and made up my own in my third pregnancy with the help of my private midwife, who's very up on nutrition. Protein with every meal. MINIMAL carbs, masses of vegetables and fish, no fruit. Porridge for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch would have sent my blood sugars soaring. I had kippers or yogurt or eggs for breakfast, nuts mid morning, chicken salad for lunch, another yogurt mid afternoon, meat and three veg in the evening. No potatoes. No rice. No bread.

Christ it was horribly boring, but my third baby was only 9lbs 3 at birth, despite having the biggest head circumference and being much longer than either of the other two. That's small for me!

Anyway, wanted to recommend you to this site for HELPFUL and not scary information on diabetes in pregnancy. Good luck!

here