If I have GD can I still have a normal, natural birth?

[LaTristesse]

Being sent for GTT tomorrow after 2 lots of glucose in pee, recurring thrush and bump measuring 38cm (I'm 35+2). Worried that if I do have GD it'll put pay to my plans for natural no-intervention birth. What do you think?

DS was only 6.14 btw and came naturally at 38 weeks, with no GD in that pg...

Thank you ladies. Just had a melt down infront of the HR woman at work . I just need to get my head round it...I feel very shocked.
I was so excited and looking forward to giving birth, and now I'm scared and dreading it.

I'll keep re-reading the comments you've all made about choice and keeping control, they help no end... And there's not a chance in hell anyone's going anywhere near my baby with formula, I guarantee you! weakly

sorry to hear that LaTristesse. thats not a very high result at all though so hopefully something that can just be managed with a few diet tweaks? Just out of interest tho, that cut of point you mention, was that the first or second bllod test after drinking the drink?? the reason i ask is that i have my results here in front of me and the cut of point after the first blood test when you've had the drink is 12.8 and the second cut of point for the second blood test after the drink is 9.5. just wondered if they maybe differ depending on area?? as looking at my results you would have passed?

I was borderline for GD and had to monitor by blood sugar levels a few times a day. I managed it through diet alone. I was induced at 40+5 as they didnt want me to go any later - I was on a drip to help with contractions. I had dd normally with some gas & air and diamorphine (similar to pethidine) - no C Section, forceps , etc. She was 7lb 11oz so not enormous. I breastfed in hospital but ended up using formula by week 3 but that was nothing to do with the GD - just the way it worked out.

Please don't panic. I have had GD from very early on in all 3 of my pregnancies (started early on in 1st trimester each time) and my 3rd pregnancy I needed insulin from 11 weeks! However, I had worse things to worry about as had severe preeclampsia in my first two pregnancies resulting in stillbirth for my first DS and prematurity with my second DS. With my 3rd pregnancy I just had much more severe diabetes but no preeclampsia, thank goodness. DS (now 5) was taken straight to the NICU after an EMCS so I am not sure how they monitored his sugars (he was on a drip for first 48 hours or so anyhow). However, with DD, despite being on insulin I was offered a normal delivery. I needed to be put on a sliding scale (basically a drip with insulin which carefully controlled my blood sugars before the baby was born and during my ELCS (which I opted for for unrelated reasons). When DD was born she was tested a few minutes after borth and was fine. We initiated breastfeeding in recovery outside theatre and it went ok. Even though breastfeeding was not something I found easy she tested fine after every feed and after about 24 hours they stopped testing. There was no policy to feed formula as a standard response let alone 'force-feeding' . If the levels were low they would have recommended breastfeeding more often and if the next one was also low they would perhaps recommend some dextrose to bring the levels up a little. It can be serious if your baby has a hypo so please remember they are only trying to keep him/her safe. If the baby is having real problems they can be admitted into the neonatal ward, particularly if you are unable to breastfeed right away (maternal illness etc). This is why often people will go with formula to bring the levels up (to avoid it getting so serious the baby needs to go to the neonatal ward for a couple of days).

PS. I did have problems feeding DD as she wasn't doing so effectively and I had expressed and bottlefed DS all of his breastmilk for 6 months and I think the midwives saw me as a low priority for breastfeeding help as they assumed I was better able than I was. By day 3 DD was clearly starving and not able to latch for more than a few seconds and they only started flapping about when I asked for a breastpump to stimulate supply as DD was sleeping through feeds. It was then that they pushed formula and made a veiled threat to staying in longer and getting paeds involved and at the time DP and I just thought let's do whatever it takes to get us out of here asap and sort out the problem at home. I did not want to give formula and it was totally down to the lack of support in the first days that I needed to, but I went on to express and partially breastfeed DD for over 6 months when we got home.

fee, I measured 8.8 two hours after drinking the drink. They only took the one lot of bloods (in addition to the control ones before the drink iyswim). Interesting about maybe differing per area... Another thing I'll ask at my consultant appt (which is 2 weeks away- I guess I could go into labour spontaneously before then anyway (here's hoping!).

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences needing, It's a good reminder to me not to let my mw's assume that because I've breastfed DS I won't need help with this baby. I may look into expressing colostrum as mentioned by Ozzie above. I'm so desperate to avoid formula so early on.

And hi mango (sorry meant to say hello sooner but events kind of ran away with me today). Very up for handholding through this if you are!

They only said I should give my DS some formula because his sugars were low and as mentioned above, it's to avoid the baby going into hypo, which, weighing up the pros and cons, is a hell of a lot worse than giving a baby a little bit of formula.

If you can breastfeed immediately, OR the baby's sugars aren't low, you would be able to avoid the formula anyway.

If you do need to, I found that thinking of it as medicinal helped - after all, you would give medicine to your baby if they needed it and this was "needed" to avoid the hypo and until I could provide him with enough breastmilk.

I'm sorry to hear you have it, but 8.8 is a low result - mine was well over 12, which came as a surprise as I have no risk factors at all.

I actually tried to see it as a positive thing; I didn't balloon in weight and had lost all the baby weight (and an extra 1/2 a stone for good measure) within a month, the baby got an incredibly healthy diet (although this was more relevant as I was tested at 24 weeks), plus I have a "heads up" that I may be more at risk for diabetes in the future so I can monitor this to avoid any future health risks.

Sticking to the diet is a nuisance, but you haven't got long to go anyway. I found I had to cook everything from scratch, take food out as I could never find anything out that didn't send my readings sky high. Again, I had it really badly so you may be able to be a bit more lax.