Support thread for those diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes

[HighFibreDiet]

Hi, it seems there are a few of us around and I wondered if you wanted to start a support thread? There seemed to be a good thread going through 2010 but I can't find one running at the moment.

My due date is 17 July. I took the OGTT at 30 weeks (not realising that the best time for diagnosis is supposed to be 24-28 weeks). I was only diagnosed last week, given my blood glucose monitor on Thursday and have been trying to tweak my diet to bring down the readings since then. Seeing my midwife today and have to phone in my readings next week to see what they make of them!

My main problem seems to be the fasting blood sugars and the endocrinologist I saw on Thursday said if I couldn't keep them consistently down, I would go on insulin, with 'no negotiation'.

Would love to hear from other pg women with GD, or those who have been through it before. I'd also like to compare how the antenatal 'care' varies with country, as I am in Australia and it seems extremely strict over here (e.g. my fasting blood sugar levels have to be under 5.0 mmol/l).

Looking forward to getting some responses

3kids not sure why the levels are stricter during pregnancy, maybe because there's no real research on the effects so they like to play it safe? Enjoy your week away!

hubba how did you get on with the nurse phonecall?

belfast am jealous of you being on leave already! I've been spending my weekends making batches of suitable low GI food :)

midori sorry to hear about the hypo, but glad it was all sorted ok. Hopefully the first time is the worst, and if it happens again you'll be better prepared :)

I've had quite a good week here - after them being very keen to put me on insulin last week, I've had a whole week with 'normal' readings just one high reading, so hopefully they'll be happy for me to carry on with diet and exercise for now. I'm not sure what I've done differently this week, but I think I'm adjusting to the different sized portions now - quite tough as I love my carbs!

Hope everyone had a good bank holiday!

3kids I've had the same thing ? even when I've eaten the same meal, the readings can be different. And my lowest readings have been when I've eaten a nice big bowl of white pasta ? go figure!

midori fingers crossed for no more hypos :(

squirrel the nurse called me back yesterday, asked for a couple of days' worth of readings and said, "oh, they're all fine then", and that was it! I've got a hospital appointment with a doctor on Monday, anyone got any idea what that might entail? Been to the midwife today and she didn't seem to have a clue (although she never has much of a clue about anything?)

How are we all doing today?

hubba not sure what the doctor's appointment will be like, but I have seen both an obstetrician and a diabetes doctor so far. The diabetes doc was only concerned with keeping sugar levels under control, and the obstetrician appointment was hardly worth going to. But, I think the obstetrician makes all the decisions later on, so it was probably too early for her to say anything conclusive.

I'm doing well, I think the low GI diet is great for my energy levels (anyone else think this?) but after a few high lunchtime readings I started today on the insulin at lunchtime. Breakfast and dinner both seem to be fine, but my highest readings are at lunch when I've been sitting at my desk all morning.

I've been started on 2 units of insulin - anyone have any idea what effect different amounts of insulin have on sugar levels? I still got a post-lunch reading of 7.3 with the insulin, so I was wondering what it might have been without.

Hi everyone. Have had a bit of a rollercoaster week. Had a very unsatisfactory appointment with the endocrinologist on Thursday when she said she wanted to start me on insulin overnight. When I said I wanted all the information to make a decision but didn't want to start on the insulin straight away, she refused to answer my questions (saying there were no 'numbers' to back up her recommendation) and walked out of the room! I've encountered doctors who are condescending before, but never one who just refused to have a conversation.

My main concern is that as soon as I go on insulin I give up my hope of a home birth. Also the stress of all the hospital appointments is not making my blood sugar levels any better. I'm trying not to rock the boat in the hospital, but still do what seems right for me,. But it's hard because the hospital just expects everyone to go along with what they want. It's not necessarily a straightforward decision and this doctor didn't do herself any favours. Who knows, if she'd chosen to enter into a dialogue with me I may have been persuaded.

I am trying to do what I can to improve my sleep quality and minimise stress, as I think those are both huge factors at the moment. And I am still monitoring my blood sugar levels - I will have to reconsider if they steadily increase. I'm trying to be responsible and definitely not going for homebirth or nothing, I'm just unconvinced that, at the moment, the recommendations they are making are really absolutely necessary in terms of reducing my risk of the undesirable outcomes.

I have a midwife appointment this morning so I'll find out what her take is on this, and whether she's still happy to support my homebirth despite me going against the doctor's recommendations.

squirrel, regarding insulin levels, they wanted to start me on 4 units overnight, which they said was low, so your dose sounds very low. I guess they will adjust it if it doesn't seem to be working. The nurse (who had the courtesy to talk to me after the doctor had walked out) said that women who go on insulin overnight typically find their levels reduce from something like 5.9 to 4.5 which seems like a large difference. I get the impression that it all works rather differently during the day, though.

Squirrel, I think 2-4 units is the 'starting' dose of fast acting insulin and they take it from there. Everyone has different levels of insulin resistance though, so there are no set doses for insulin like there are for other meds. I started on 3 units of fast acting (Novorapid) prior to each meal and am now on 17 before breakfast, 4 with lunch and 8 with dinner, so only my breakfast has signifigantly gone up. My endocrinologist did say 17 units was a 'fair whack' (technical term?! ) but a friend who is type 1 said she went up to 27 units with breakfast when pregnanct. My slow acting insulin, the one I take before bed and that slow releases over 24 hours and was to bring my fasting/pre meal readings down was started at 12 units and is now 56 units.

This morning's fasting reading was 5.0, the lowest I have ever got. My post breakfast readings are still often in the 9's, never lower than 7.8 and because my readings are dropping so low before lunch with the 17 units of fast acting they don't want me to increase that any more and are hoping that by increasing my slow acting instead and therefore lowering my fasting levels, that will have a knock on effect on my post meal readings.

I have a date for my induction too. It's provisional as it depends what happens between now and then whether they need to get baby out before then, but if all else is OK I am booked in for 24th June, although I go in at 4pm the night before to get monitored and started on pessarys. They have also said as I had my last baby's at 38 and 37 weeks, they will check my cervix and offer me a sweep if I look favourable and want one.

Baby hadn't grown at all at the last scan on Weds. The doppler looked fine and there was normal fluid around her, so they said they will keep an eye on things and obviously to go in if any lack or reduction of movement prior to next week's appointment. If anything, movement has increased, by quite a bit, so I wonder if she's starting to engage and has more room to move?! Hopefully the next scan will show she has grown, although even if she hasn't I think assuming everything else looks OK the plan will be extra monitoring and to keep her cooking until 37 weeks.

I've had to go out and buy some smaller sleepsuits and vests as she is only estimated at 5lb10 still now and everything I got was Newborn up to 10lbs, which will swamp her!

highfibre that's bad of the doctor not to even try talking to you properly about it. I do think that doctors who deal with this every day forget that for someone who's just been diagnosed, starting on insulin is a big step! I posted a link to the NICE guidelines earlier in the thread, which is full of information about the research studies they use to come up with recommendations for treatment - maybe you can find some of the information you are after there? How did it go with the midwife and talking about homebirth?

midori I hope that no growth turns out to be a false alarm (I've heard that growth scans can be quite a bit out) and that everything is ok :) How many weeks are you now?

Thanks for the insulin information too! I am not sure that 2 units is high enough, but I will see how tomorrow goes and phone in next week. I am finding that post-lunch readings are on the high side, but also that I'm quite hungry still. So maybe I'd be happier to eat more and have more insulin, instead of feeling like I'm starving myself. It's a tricky balance, eating enough for the baby, but not too much that my blood sugar gets high!

hi again, meeting with midwife went really well and between us we are sticking to the NICE guidelines (which are very well explained in that link, thanks squirrel). So we are still aiming for a home birth, but will reassess in 2 weeks if I'm not managing to keep my fasting levels below 5.5 mmol/l. I had my lowest reading ever this morning, 4.9! .

My impression of the medical system over here, is that the medics are just used to people accepting whatever they say, without question. My midwife wasn't surprised at all by the doctor's response to me. I think there's a big gap between people who just accept the 'system' with no questions, and people who go for all the alternative stuff, and very little in between. I'm on a forum for home birth where loads of the women do 'freebirthing' (birthing with no medical attendant at all) and most of them just said I shouldn't have gone for the GTT at all and they were surprised that my midwife had arranged the hospital appointment. That's even on the basis of my results, which are clearly outside the normal range (for women without GD). Personally I think to refuse any medical help is very dangerous but I can see how it happens.

Midori, the tiny baby stuff is so cute . Ds3 was so huge that he hardly wore the newborn clothes at all. I'm glad your little one is still moving around and I hope everything goes well for you in the next few weeks. I'm also hoping this one comes out early as all my others have been early too. Ds2 and ds3 both came at 39 weeks, ds1 at 38 weeks. Although I did have an induction with ds1 the midwives think he was ready to come out anyway as it went so smoothly.

Evening everyone.

Am back from my week away. Had a bit of a delayed start, as had a midwife appointment the morning we were due to go, and typically had problems, wasn't sure if baby's heartbeat was decelerating, so ended up having to go to hospital to get checked out. Fortunately all seemed fine (was having a bit of a panic, as I'm 28 weeks so way too early at the moment...!)

Was a little hard trying to stick to the whole proper diet thing with being away from home, normally we would just grab stuff on the go, but was having to be a lot more planned with the eating! Don't think I did too bad - did have 1 little slip, and had an ice-cream, but would normally have eaten lots more bad stuff on holiday!

Wow Midori - 24th June isn't that far away! Must be quite strange being given a definate date, rather than just waiting for thing to happen naturally!

Highfibre that's terrible. I think they do expect you just to do as they say - no questions asked! I have to admit when I asked about the Metformin tablets they were putting me on, the diabetic nurse was really good, which made me feel a little better!

Highfibre I totally agree with you ? hospitals just aren't used to people questioning them. It's not as if we're necessarily going to argue the toss, it's just that we'd like to make an informed decision about our own bodies and those of our babies. Sometimes I feel that their attitude towards pregnant women is that we just can't be trusted. Hope you can stick to your guns and have your home birth.

3kids I've had chocolate and strawberries and cream this weekend? oh, and a couple of ice lollies. Readings are still absolutely fine. I'm starting to wonder whether I even need to be doing this flippin' monitoring!

Squirrel I think it's an obstetrician I'm seeing today. DH is working so my mum's taking me to the hospital ? should be interesting as she's VERY outspoken. Not sure whether that'll be a help or a hinderance!

Fingers crossed for goos readings for everyone today :)

Well, back from two and a half hours hanging about at the hospital, during which I spent 5 mins telling the diabetes nurse what I ate (she was horrified that I was only having three Ryvita at lunch, although I tried to point out that it wasn't literally ALL I was eating? that would be insane, plus I'd be starving!) and another 5 mins having an ob measure my bump and tell me that my readings were fine. Duh? that's half a day gone then. I was also given a blood test envelope to test for thyroid conditions, but by the time I got away from the antenatal clinic I didn't have time to have blood taken too, so will have to go back another time. Bah.

Growth scan in three weeks?

Hello! Just popped on to let my fellow GD peeps now that we had a surprise arrival on Friday. Wee Rudy was born on Friday at 37 + 3. He was 7lb 13oz so I am super glad he was early! Got to hospital at 10.30am and was 5cm without realising I had actually gone into labour. Denial is a funny beast! He was born at 17.54pm, I got the waterbirth I wanted and all is well. I was out within 24 hours, my blood sugars seem to be getting back to normal and his are perfect. Good luck to all you guys :-)

congratulations!!!! lovely news, glad to hear you are both doing well

highfibre freebirthing sounds a bit scary! Don't think I'd be happy to avoid all medical help.

3kids glad the scare turned out to be nothing, and good for you sticking to the diet on holiday! I find it hard enough planning meals at home, I'd fall apart on holiday!!

hubba sounds just like my hospital! I have wasted two afternoons there so far for the sake of a few minutes with the doc. It's really annoying that they can't keep to schedule and don't care about wasting my time (but, I guess better than no treatment).

Congratulations Belfast :) glad things are going well for you both!

I spoke to the diabetes nurse today who suggested increasing my insulin dose slowly (one unit at a time, for 2-3 days to see the effect). I had my highest post-lunch reading of 9.4 today, after what seemed like a small portion of rice. It feels like I almost had it under control with diet, but the past few days have seen my readings go slowly up :( oh well, on the plus side I'm almost 35 weeks now, so not that much longer to go, especially if they induce me early because of being on insulin :)

Aw Belfast that's brilliant news! I can only hope we all have such quick births! Although now I'm scared as I'm 33 weeks? it's all becoming a bit real!

I haven't had induction discussed with me, I presume they'll do the growth scan first and go from there?

Thanks ladies..I can't stop smiling!

highfibre what is the homebirth forum that you are on???

Congratulations belfast - and no horrible induction then!

hubba that sounds like a nightmare. I have hospital appointments coming up - dietition tomorrow and then scan and consultant on Tues. Have been warned that the Tuesday clinic can take ages - only good thing is that I won't have any kids with me - otherwise that really would be a nightmare!

Other than that readings are just over now I am taking 2 lots of metformin with breakfast, so am hoping this is ok for the time being. Am also starting to feel a bit less crap than I have for the past few weeks, so don't know if my body has finally got used to this massive drop in sugar intake!

Congratulations to belfast! I thought we hadn't heard anything from you for a while! I think midori is the next in line if I've got it right?

hubba it's such a pain when appointments waste so much of your time. I remember when pg with ds1 I had a midwife who used to make appointments in the surgery for something like 2pm and it would take me about an hour to get there from work so it really wasn't worth me going back in again after the appointment. She used to refuse to book anyone in for 5pm unless she'd filled in the earlier appointments - just so she could get home early! I ended up changing hospitals and then ended up with community midwives who would come to my home when convenient for me. I agree with 3kids that it's even worse if you have kids with you. I had to take ds3 to my hosp booking appointment but (luckily) it didn't take too long and he was an angel. I'm not sure he would have coped with my first 4h appt at the GD clinic . Last week there was a poor woman there getting really annoyed with her little boy because he was whinging about being hungry or something.

I am jealous of you being able to eat icecream and suchlike. I haven't dared do that, just in case it affects my readings. Mind you I am still having fruit (apples or pears) at snack time whereas I have heard some people say they have had to cut out fruit altogether.

My growth scan was fine except the baby had a slightly large abdominal circumference compared to the other measurements. That's a sign that the increased blood sugar has made her put on more fat around her abdomen. But at least they can't say I need to be induced because of the baby being too big - apart from the AC she's measuring absolutely fine for dates and on target to be about 3.6 to 3.7 kg at 40 wks.

Jill72 I'm not sure my homebirth forum will be very useful for you as I'm in Australia and I suspect you are UK based? I'm sure there's a UK-based group if you have a look around. There might be one listed on the homebirth.org website.

And yes, I think freebirthing is quite scary but a surprising number of women do it in Australia. I think the priority for me will be to keep the midwife on my side - mainly by keeping blood sugar levels down - so she doesn't get scared and want me to go into hospital 'just in case'. I've had a few high-ish readings in the last couple of days (6.8, 6.9 and 7.0 after meals and one 5.5 this morning) so I'd better keep on top of the exercise regime.

Best wishes to everyone.

Huge congratulations Belfast! You must be thrilled, I am glad your birth went well!

I hope I am next!!!

I had my appointment yesterday. They weigh me each week at the endocrine clinic and I actually let out a gasp when I got on the scales! I had gained 1.7KG (so over 3lb) in a week! My blood pressure was also on the high side and I do have some swelling, so I think they're a little concerned about pre-eclampsia, although my urine is clear and I have no other symptoms. According to the scan yesterday, baby had gained approx. 1lb 3oz in a week, and is now weighing approx. 6lb 13 (at 36+1 yesterday) so I offically give up on the growth scans! I'll just wait and see what she weighs when she gets here. She certainly won't be bigger than DS2, who was 10lb at 38 weeks and I had him with no problems, so I don't need to worry about the birth.

They sent me for a trace and blood pressure series just to be on the safe side and I have to go to my midwife for blood pressure this afternoon (didn't even realise I had one! Haven't seen them before) and then back to the hospital for another trace, blood pressure series and doppler on Saturday. I'm glad they are being cautious as I am worrying a lot now.

highfibre, I was too scared to eat anything sweet at all except low GI fruit in small amounts, diet yoghurts and sugar free jelly at first. Then once I started carb counting it got much easier and I found that if I had something like a salad with meat and only a few new potatoes for dinner I could have a scoop of something like Ben and Jerrys (I look for the lowest carb flavours though) and get a really good reading, better than if I'd had the same carb value of wholewheat pasta in a meal but no desert. Also, chocolate eclairs can be as low as 10g of carbs each and I suspect maybe partly due to all the fat in the cream in them they don't affect my sugars negatively, but I do have to have them with a meal, not as a snack on their own. Things like 85% cocoa dark chocolate is also really low in sugar/carbs, so you might find that OK? Or chocolate peanuts in small amounts I find are good as a snack too.

Hi ladies, can i join for some advice ?

i was diagnosed with GD three weeks ago, put on metformin last week which didnt make any difference, and have now been started on 4 insulin injections a day - 3 fast acting with meals and one slow acting before bed- was put on the lowest dose on tuesday, midwife called me yesterday afternoon for my blood sugar level readings and they have doubled the dosage now, although todays readings have still been high (9.5 on wakening this morning- 10.2 after breakfast- still to do the reading for 2 hours after lunch)

I am at my wits end as eating wise i have followed what the dietician has told me and feel like nothings working.

I am 36 weeks preg tomorrow - booked in for a section on 1st of July - which by then i will be 39 weeks, although consultant did say that its likely that will be brought forward to an earlier date - growth scan states that baby is above the 95th centile (my DS weighed 9lb 110z born at 38 weeks- and i didnt have GD during that pregnancy) so this one looks like its gonna be a big giant !

I thought i had been doing so well watching my weight during this pregnancy, as i have high blood pressure and was told to be careful of loads of weight gain and try and keep it to a minimum (i was 15 stone 4lbs when i fell pregnant - thanks to me stopping smoking before i concieved and enjoying the taste of food again - and i am now 15 stone 7.5lbs)

is this normal to only have gained this amount ? really feel a bit confused with everything and need some reassurance .

Hope all you ladies are well xx

Highfibre your first midwife sounds like mine ? I can't book later appointments until the earlier ones are booked either! Both the hospital and the midwife have been quite huffy with me when I've expressed concern about having to get to appointments, telling me I need to prioritise baby over my job ? erm, that's not the situation at all, but I do have commitments at work y'know! And I can only imagine what it's like for you ladies with other DC already?

Welcome Mummyswee, I'm not on meds so don't really have any advice for you, but I'm sure one of the other lovely ladies will be able to help!

My blood glucose came back high last week so I am getting my OGTT tomorrow morning.
I am glad I spotted this thread and will take the time to read all the posts later this evening.
I just thought I would join for a little bit of moral support for you all as well as me for tomorrow.

Evening everyone,

Midori sounds like they are keeping a close eye on you. I had pre-eclampsia with baby no.1 and it can come on quite quick, so I guess it is good to have lots of monitoring to check it.

Highfibre I also had this silly system when booking appointments with baby no.1, when my work was an hours drive away and I worked full time. I'm sure my work didn't believe me when I said the only appointment I could get was 2pm, so ended up finishing for the day at 1pm!

Welcome mummyswee and eviepoo - well fingers crossed you don't have it, but it's not the end of the world if you do - just takes some getting used to.

Mummyswee I have lost about 10lb since getting pregnant. Was told this morning I should aim to only put on about 2 stone! I was just thinking at least I might not be overweight once I've had the baby (all this diet stuff has got to have a good side!)

Well had my appointment with the dietician this morning, which seemed to go ok, said I was eating the right things blah blah. However then had a not so good call from the diabetic nurse who said my levels are still too high, take more metformin (not that it seems to be making a great deal of difference), but they will need to review with the consultant on Tues. Do just feel like whatever I eat makes not alot of difference - some days it seems ok, and other days my readings are way over, even though I am eating roughly the same things!