Anyone else got gestational diabetes? Top tips welcome!

[Angelico]

Hello all

Currently 35+2, got diagnosed with GD a couple of weeks ago after repeat GTT ('passed' the one at 25 weeks for raised BMI, seems to have come on around the 30 week mark). Got finger pricker etc last week so 6 days in to blood testing and aiming to control with diet only as due for CS at 38+4.

Have't seen dietician yet and struggling to find conclusive info online. Certain foods (pure orange juice, sweet stuff - even a couple of bites! - mashed potato) seem to send blood sugar high (highest reading ever today 9.3 after mash and literally 2 bites of DH's banoffee! ). I was wondering what other people have found useful foodwise? Any good suggestions for meals?

A typical 'good day' for me (ie super low blood sugars)...

Breakfast:
Slice of brown toast with either cheese and beans or scrambled egg. No orange juice.

Snack (11am or 4pm depending on what I'm doing):
2-3 oatcakes with cheese / hummus

Lunch:
Bowl of leftover dinner from night before (see below) or homemade lentil and tomato soup with cheese and ryebread.

Dinner:
Steak stir fry with noodles, spag bol with wholewheat spaghetti, stuffed chicken with roasties and veg, oven cod in batter with oven chips and plenty of veg.

I would love to hear some other good suggestions for meals or any warnings about particular foods. Or if you just want somewhere to vent feel free to jump on board :)

Hi guys and welcome to new peeps too! Just sending a wave and wondering if any of you are still checking bloods post-bean? I did a check an hour after breakfast today and got a 7.4 - I have no idea if this is good or bad? I seem to have largely lost my taste for sweet stuff but have been eating more fruit again. Still sore after CS but had acupuncture on Mon and was advised to use heat along the sore 'retraction lines' (NOT on incision) - both have helped a lot.

Also BabyFjord has arrived safely by CS - my turn to hope not stealing Fjord's thunder! A DD :)

Angelico......I was told to test 2hrs post meal and aim for a reading below 10.5. So I'm sure your 7.4 is fine.

That's great MrsV thanks :) Were you on insulin? And what was your post-meal range before? Can't remember now.

Yes I was on insulin and had to have a 1hr post reading of 8.5 or below but everything over 7.9 was circled at clinic as high.

Hello Angelico! Glad you are doing well, the bloods sound good.

Had my hospital appointment today, they are pleased in general although suggested taking breakfast insulin up to 12. Scan next Tues 9th, sweep following Thurs 18th, induction the Tuesday after 23rd.

Started having some very odd feelings very deep down, hope it's the baby moving into the right position (but not too quickly please, I still have lots of stuff to get!)

Hey ladies got some info today from diabetic nurse - bear in mnd I wasn't on any medication, diet only. My range now should be 4-7 pre-meal and less than 8.5 2 hours after a meal. They have suggested I do a fasting blood and a random post-meal blood 2 or 3 times a week only.

Anyone else REALLY tired???!!! Our bean is 10 days old but has a 'maggot' phase once a day where she fights sleep, gets exhausted and wails for 2-3 hours. My tolerance for it waxes and wanes depending how much sleep I've had...

Hi Angelico.... Yes shattered here too, George suffers with wind and screams for 2-3hrs each evening. Won't settle in his cot will only sleep with us. dH and me bed swap in the spare room.... I go to first feed whilst dh reads etc and then I have George for the rest of the night. A jealous toddler in the day doesn't help much either

Hey MrsV - sympathy on the wind and screaming! We were at acupuncturist today for my C-Section recovery and asked him about wind and evening screaming. He showed us some massage stuff for wind so we will give it a try and report back if it's any good... Going to go and grab some sleep here for a few hours to prepare me for maggotry later this evening...

Another evening screamer here, perfectly fine if I hold her but will not lie in her cot for more than 20 minutes, bf all night long, what to do? Was going to try Infacol tomorrow, really miss having 'time' in the evening, strange we're all going through similar things!! Massage sounds v interesting let us know Angelico, hope it works!

Happy we have realised that it is when Bean needs a poo and can't get it out - she settles beautifully for other naps. Poor wee thing was writhing in pain earlier was really upsetting :( What helped in the end was swaddling her in a big muslin swaddle and letting her feed for 5 mins - just soothed her over to sleep. Just felt so sorry for her :( She seems to be doing all her poos overnight, just has wet nappies all day. They are the right consistency but not sure if this counts as constipation in a baby?

Definitely sounds similar, when I feed her in the day she falls asleep and is generally really calm, but all wriggly and distressed in the evening, which is when I'm most tired too, so stressful times! Bought some Infacol today as it helped with my others, but not started it yet, feel a bit reluctant for some reason... going to try 'cycling' her legs and doing some massage later on after bathtime, see if that helps. Good luck this evening!

Beanie passed a tiny little 'solid' of poo this evening About 1 cm long and 0.5cm wide. She's BF so this was a surprise! She got windy and strainy again so again did swaddle and 2 min feed - bam, out like a light. Please God let it keep working!!! Good luck tonight Happy - are you on a PN thread? Come join our Oct thread if not - lots of tip sharing!

Hi to all! Me and baby Fjord are home and doing ok (I won't lie and say 'fine' - it's been hard going). I had a c-section in the end after over 48 hours of induction so I've only been home a few days.

Baby Fjord's blood sugars were immediately ok and mine seem to have been good. Deliberately ate a meal in hospital with jam on toast and this kind of brown cheese we have here that is like caramel, and got a 5.9 for my troubles so I'm guessing I'm ok.

Despite saying that I would stick to the low GI diet after baby was born, for her sake, I'm currently lapsing - having big breastfeeding problems anyway, which in turn is making me feel shit about myself, which is turn is leading to me feeling the need for pizza, chocolate and various other foods that should not be top of my list. It's nice to be able to eat bread again though. I'm determined to back to low GI, at least loosely, to help lose baby weight both just for myself and to lower my future risk of diabetes. Preparing food ourselves seems to be a fantasy at the moment though and we are currently reliant on takeaways and stuff with toast .

Having big feeding problems with baby Fjord so I'm kind of transfixed with that but I'll try and catch up with you all more thoroughly in the coming days. x

Congratulations Fjord, glad you are home and on the right side of GD but sorry to hear you're having tough times on the feeding front, are you getting some good support from health visitor or midwife etc? Hope you've had a better day anyway, it's so tough in the early days!! My evening screamer has settled in a firm swaddle this evening, I listened to my Hv who said not to swaddle, and now feel stupid because she's had a really good sleep, should trust my instincts!! Still, it's early yet, better not count my chickens! Hope everyone else is well :)

Congratulations Fjord!

I just wanted to share that I got back into pre-pregnancy jeans today!!! Gestational diabetes truly was a blessing on disguise as there is no way that would have happened if I'd continued going as I was...although I've now fallen off the wagon and am eating so much rubbish while using breastfeeding as an excuse! All those good intentions out the window already!

Hope you're all doing well.

That's great news Fjord. Happy I have bought some large muslins for swaddling as a friend found it really soothed her baby. I think as long as care is taken it should be fine.

Smicha I know what you mean - although still pg, I have lost 6lbs since the GD diagnosis, the baby is gaining healthily so it's all come from me. I don't think that would have happened without me taking more care about sugar and I'm sure I would have continued to gain more (as would the baby). As it is I'm now 1st2 heavier than at the start of the pgy which is right for my BMI.

I'm getting my last few bits ready before the induction a week on Tuesday. Sweep next Thurs so will be interesting to see what happens following that.

Hey ladies! Just saying hello - hope all is going well with new beans and growing beans :)

And swaddling is your friend...! :) Bean is 3 weeks old today and we swaddle her at night so we can all get some decent sleep. White noise helps too - either Ewan the sheep or last night a radio detuned so the static blared - she LOVED it! :o

How lovely to hear from you. I've sneakily been snooping lurking in the October threads to keep up to date with you and get an insight of how life may be in a week or so. I am having a sweep on Thurs and then induction booked for next Tuesday so you can imagine I am getting a bit jittery!

Thanks for the advice re swaddling, it does seem to make sense. Bloods have been ok, scan was fine so hopefully all will be well. I've bought every labour-inducing item on the market so am bouncing on balls, massaging my bits and bathing in oils while eating curry in the hope that things kick off as naturally as possible. Really don't fancy the syntocin but given how things have gone, I'm trying to be sanguine about the possibilities.

Look forward to hearing more on Mini Angelico's progress.

Just one-handedly popping in whilst feeding...Smicha congrats! I too seem to be slimmer already 2 weeks post section than I remember being pre-pregnancy. I suspect a little over-tucking during my c-section sew-up though as after all, being EMCS, they didn't know how fat I was before!

I continue to struggle with feeding but I feel I'm winning the war now with syntocin-enticed milk supply & a more laid back approach to keeping baby on or near the breast most of the day.

I too have fallen 'off the wagon' after encouraging post-birth bloods. I'm so damn hungry all the time with breastfeeding & after enjoying the 'breastfeeding flapjacks' my LC gave me, I'm craving biscuits and bowls of cereal (as well as chocolate and copious orange juice). Should really do another random blood sugar soon. Still intend to go low GI as want to keep up post baby weight loss and ensure baby fjord isn't at risk of obesity but right now takeaways & biscuits r us . Good to hear how everyone's getting on post-babies.

Fjord I am intrigued by the syntocin-enticed milk supply! Please explain as I am quite anxious about the bf issue so would love to know.

Having a sweep this afternoon, wish me luck!

Oh good luck blonder! Actually it's a nasal spray of syntocin that I take before each feed that encourages milk flow. I was prescribed it by my doctor here in Norway. I've never heard it mentioned by any MNers so I don't know if it's available in the UK. It seems to work.

Hope your sweep brings things on gently & naturally! I'll be thinking of you!

Wow I have never heard of that. Something to ask about if needed.

Thanks for the good wishes x

Good luck blonder, won't be long now! Just checking in from my new home, has been a chaotic few days, still haven't got a name for baby because we've been so focused on packing, manic trying to pack and unpack when breast feeding but unbelievably we've done it!

Thanks Happy, wow well done on the house move, what a time to be doing it. Glad you are doing well with the BF.

I've had a show tonight and having some mild contractions. So maybe I won't need the induction on Tues, who knows. Am going to try and get some sleep but it all feels quite strange and exciting. I feel like I've done the wrong homework - I only know about inductions!

Oh wow, thats a really good sign, will keep my fingers crossed for you and wait to hear news, sending lots of good labour vibes your way!