pregnant and an insulin dependant diabetic - any advice ??

[sparkle1977]

Hi there,

My sister is currently about 11 weeks pregnant and is also an insulin dependant diabetic and I am wondering if anyone has any advice on how to keep as healthy as possible etc ?

She is not great at stabilising her blood sugar levels normally let alone now.

I am just trying to find out as much helpful info as I possibly can for her. I have had two children so understand pregnancy etc but not really the diabetes side of it.

My sister is type 1 and having her first. Generally she has been fine, she had a few hypos at the beginning, she is now 20 wks. However, the last week, her blood sugar has been between 15 and 19.7, and it is taking her forever to get it down.
She is on 'Dafne' not sure if your sis is or knows anything about it, but her obst. said that regardless of how healthily you eat, and how well you manage your blood sugar, you can just wake up one day and it is off the chart. He said sometimes the ratios she is on have to be dramatically changed as it's just one of those things when pregnant and diabetic.

Sorry I havn't really been able to give you any actual advice, but maybe check out a forum specifically for type 1s who are pregnant. Hope everything goes well for her

www.diabetesforums.com/forum/type-1-diabetes-pregnancy/

hi sparkle, can't really offer any advice but my friend is 19 weeks and insulin reliant she has had a few hypos with me which scared the living shit out of me and last week crashed her car after going into a hypo, she was told she must always carry maternity notes with her and also have a med alert in her bag/purse.
is your sister under a specialist diabetic clinic now she is pg?? Sorry if i have scared you but it has messed her sugars up and has found it quite difficult to control it.

LouM10 - Thanks, I have now checked out some specialist sites, all seem to give pretty much the same advice.

sam26oscar - Yes my sister has already had one hypo and was taken into hospital for a few hours to get it under control before they let her out again. She is also finding it hard to keep them under control. Its worrying me wondering what it can all be doing to the poor baby ??
Yes my sister has been told she will see a normal midwife and also a diabetes specialist in pregnancy.

Hope your sis is ok after the car crash. God that's scary. I think the only problem is the size of the baby as just because it is bigger early, doesn't mean it is healthy, as the only reason it is is due to excess sugar, which is just fattening it up.
My sisters mw and obst. have been really good and she can ring them any time with any problem. She now has to wake up at 3am and 7am to test her blood, and if she needs any correctives, she has to take them at 7am at least half an hr before she eats, and she has been fine today. When she was here earlier it was 7.3.

My sister also said she was 3.9 at beginning of preg. and was really worried as normally she would feel ill and shaky and know to take her dextrose but she said she didn't feel a thing, which obviously is what happened to your sis. Just make sure she is checking her blood more regulary than she normally does so hopefully nothing as serious as a car crash will happen again. Good luck

Hi Sparkle,

Hope your sister is doing well. There are several online resources for women with type 1 who are pregnant. Besides the pregnancy boards on diabetesforums, check out the boards (particularly Oh Baby!) on tudiabetes.org, and the site diabeticmommy.com. There are also two great Yahoo groups, PositiveDiabeticPregnancies and DiabeticMoms, both via free subscription.

I blogged about my healthy pregnancy three years ago and my current second pregnancy on my blog, Managing the Sweetness Within (www.thesweetnesswithin.blogspot.com).

For your sister, how often does she test her blood sugar? She would likely benefit from testing before every meal, an hour after a meal, two hours after a meal, anytime she feels low, anytime before driving, and before bed. Carrying a juice box, glucose tabs, or some other form of fast acting sugar would help her treat lows immediately so that she doesn't have another car accident again.

Lows are really most tough for the mom-to-be; lows don't typically affect the developing fetus unless her longterm blood sugar control, measured by a Hemoglobin A1c number, is quite low--under 4.6 or so. Research has found women with GESTATIONAL (NOT type 1) diabetes have had babies with lower birth weights with such low A1c numbers, but it is very tough for a type 1 to get that low.

And finally, I wrote "Balancing Pregnancy With Pre-Existing Diabetes: Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby" specifically for women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who are concerned about pregnancy. It's available on Amazon and other online retailers, and I'm selling them directly through Paypal if people want autographed copies. Email me for more info at Lyrehca AT gmail DOT com.

Good luck!

--Cheryl Alkon
author, Balancing Pregnancy With Pre-Existing Diabetes: Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby
Lyrehca AT gmail DOT com