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 :)

Smicha that sounds very tough - - when I saw consultant she was just delighted my morning readings were all under the 5.5! My range is 4.2-5.1 pre-brekkie over the 10 days I've been finger pricking.

Hope you don't mind if I mark my place - I have a GTT coming up at 28 weeks (only 17 now) and I'd like to be able to find this thread again if it is positive.

My main risk factor is that I previously had a 10lb baby.

Does anyone know about birth options if you are having a big baby? I.e. do you have to be induced early or have a CS? Or are you allowed to go to term and deliver normally?

Right a cereal for Smicha - from Patrick Holford Low GL Diet Cookbook. Friend swears by it.

Disclaimer: haven't tried these this side of GD so no idea what the effect will be on blood sugar - you might need to reduce the serving size as it is quite generous.

Low carb muesli (to serve 2)

100g whole oat flakes
50g ground almonds
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
OPTIONAL: 2 tsp xylitol (his preferred sweetener)

Mix it together and serve with berries, fruit compote (recipe below), live natural yoghurt or milk / soya milk. It's actually naturally quite sweet so to my surprise didn't need sugar or xylitol when friend made me some.

Apple compote

1 Bramley (cooking) apple, cored and diced - leave peel on!
.25 teaspoon ginger or .5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tsp xylitol
2 tsp lemon juice

Heat in pan covered for about 10 mins, until apples stew - stir at intervals to stop it sticking.

Bon appetit!!! :o

Hi Limeleaf. Think it really depends on how well controlled your blood sugar is. I was already having a CS anyway at 39+2 but because my bean was growing madly in undiagnosed period I am now getting taken at 38+4. Even with blood sugars well controlled she still seems to be getting big so slightly worried they will take me even sooner...

Hope your GTT is clear :) But even if it is if you start experiencing a) big baby b) weight loss c)severe thirst d) ketones in urine then do go back and ask for re-test. Your time (28 weeks) sounds good - I had my GTT at 25 weeks which I think was just a few weeks early as mine seems to have kicked in around 30-31 weeks, diagnosed at 33 (by complete fluke), started finger pricking at 34+4.

Thanks for the recipe!! Sounds yum as I ate muesli almost every day prior to diagnosis, so I've added the ingredients to my shopping list! Will give that a go tomorrow with some yoghurt (milk doesn't like me!)

Hi limeleaf..... At initial diagnosis @ 28weeks I was told I would not be allowed to go over due date die to increased risks if placental failure, once insulin was introduced to maintain sugars induction at 38 weeks and I'm booked for 37+6.
My Pre breakfast readings ate always high.... Always between 5.2 -5.9 despite slow release insulin at bedtime. Without they were above 5.7.
I have risked cereal this morning....1.5 Weetabix ( I know 2 is too much) with half a grapefruit.

Simcha...... Best yoghurt for carb/sugar is total yoghurt or if you can face it goats milk yoghurt

Thanks MrsV - I actually quite like the total yoghurt so will get some more of that...not sure I can stomach goat's milk though as I always feel goat's cheese tastes like a goatshed smells! (Yes, I'm odd!)

Rang nurse this morning and she is more than happy with my readings, especially as I've introduced more carbs to every meal and I feel full each day, so I've just got to continue with the small doses before bed. Phew!

Got away with the second slice of toast! 7.4 post-brekkie.

Interestingly a girl on my AN thread had GD and is in Scandinavia where they have really low guidelines - must check but I think all post meal readings were to be under 7 rather than 8. Must be a nightmare!

Yes I got away with my Weetabix too....7.8 :-)

Good work on the Weetabix and toast!

Angel that's what the diabetic nurse & cons seemed to want last week, any score over 7 was scrutinised. It was quite a relief yesterday to be told I was actually doing ok and not to worry about a few higher readings unless they became a pattern.

Had a nice lie in this morning as I don't start work till 12 so I am yet to have a breakfast reading but hopefully it will be a good morning for all of us.

Hiya, I'm new to the thread. Am 37 weeks today and was diagnosed with GD at 30 weeks. I've got 2 DD's already but didnt have the GD with them.

Managing to control it through diet pretty well. I'm only struggling in the mornings but they don't seem worried. My targets are under 6 pre meal and under 7.8 an hour after food.

I usually get about around 5.8 before breakfast but since Saturday I've had a 6.0, 6.1 and a 6.4. Yesterday was 4.7 though, today 5.2.
I can't tolerate any kind of cereal for breakfast and can only have toast if it's the Burgen Soya & Linseed stuff and only if my pre breakfast reading is low enough.
I've been living off cooked mushrooms and scrambled eggs in the mornings. Luckily I seem to be ok as the day goes on and havent had any high readings after my evening meal.

I've got another growth scan and consultant appointment on Wednesday when I'll be 37+5. I should get a date for induction then I think. Both my DD's were born 2 weeks late so this not going overdue business seems strange to me!!

Welcome...meltedmoments sounds like you are doing fabulously controlling on diet alone, well done you. I am in the opposite situation to you and am struggling with being this pregnant as my DD was born at 29weeks. Roll on next Friday for induction :)

Thanks for the advice!

Angel I will watch out for those symptoms. Funnily enough I did loose about half a stone during the last month of my last pg, so perhaps I did have GD then, without knowing.

mrsv that is encouraging - hope I can get induced as I'd really like to avoid a CS. This is my 4th child and I need to drive to get the others around!

melted, like you, two of my others were very overdue, so an early delivery would be strange for me too.

The food tips on here are great.

Well, finally got speaking to dietician this morning - going to see her next week so was just confirming appt. She is out of my area but sounds lovely and very encouraging. She said as a rule of thumb avoid anything that is more than 10g of sugar per 100g and that kiwis are good for Vit C for taking iron tablet, in absence of evil BS raising orange juice! :)

Blonder the mystery of the different guideline figures... apparently they want under 7 if you are on insulin but as I'm not on insulin they are very happy with under 8 as it can be hard to stay below 7 without insulin. I'm now pleasantly surprised so many of my readings are in the 6's post meal with the odd 7 after hefty portions of 'good' carbs.

Welcome Melted - hope you find the thread useful, I'm finding it so helpful even just getting food tips plus it saves poor AN thread from hearing every boring detail of my lunches etc :)

And speaking of which... today it was lentil and veg soup (Baxters 'Healthy') plus a slice of Burgen toast with reduced fat cheese and ham. Followed up by raspberries and some cherry yoghurt - the yoghurt is the gamble of the day as when I looked it had 14g sugar per 100g...

Off to GP for prescription for more test sticks etc... trying not to think about each one of the buggers meaning a stab in the finger!

That's a really useful guideline about the sugar Angel. I seem to be spending ages reading packets in supermarkets at the mo but not sure what exactly I'm looking for!

I've had a couple of bought sandwiches at work this week so just picked the most wholegrainy and proteiny which seems to have been fine, but I'll use your tip in future.

Hi meltedmoments!

These targets really do seem to differ from hospital to hospital. I have to be under 5.5 in the morning, but then when I rang the nurse today she said they really like it to be under 5.3... and then I hear that some people can have 8 after meals, some just 7 and some 7.8... hmmm.

Good day for me today, after a mini panic at lunchtime. Was enjoying my first day of mat leave with a haircut and wander round the shops and had lunch in Pret, one of their superfood salads, and was happily munching through the half tortilla in the box when I remembered that white tortilla would send the blood really high so I worried for an hour, but then it was just 6.5! Phew. Must have been all the exercise I did walking around John Lewis baby dept trying to decide which cot sheets to buy

Made chicken with spinach curry tonight www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chickenwithspinach_90047 and hope that will work well with wholegrain rice... ate it about half an hour ago, so we'll see!

Also bought my ingredients for the muesli recipe and got some soya milk to try, so I'm looking forward to that in the morning! Can you tell that food has taken over my life!?!

Good day for me..... All readings been fine and I've been really picky but nothing too bad. Bought some cinnamon and raisin malt loaf which we had as a snack this pm and it was lovely. Tea some made up sausage/ pancetta, tomato sauce and gnocchi with z post reading of 7.2 on my 6 units.
It is wierd all the different guidelines, I don't have to monitor Pre meal other than Pre breakfast

How was the curry Smicha? :) See how you get on with the soya milk, I think it is quite sweet sometimes unless it's the unsweetened version. If you get a high reading might be worth swapping for ordinary milk, not sure which one has less sugar and more protein.

Cinnamon and raisin malt loaf sounds yum mrsv

We got our Fri night chinese tonight (even though had it earlier in week because of visitors). Had my chicken skewers and a third of a portion of fried rice plus prawn crackers - got a 7.9! Think it's the prawn crackers which makes sense as I guess they are basically some kind of white flour. Still, just beneath the dreaded 8!

Is anyone else getting really fed up with the finger pricking? So far I've done all mine on last 3 fingers of left hand but might have to start doing a few on my right hand to give poor left hand a chance to recover... 7 stabs a day by 10 days = lots of pinholes!

I use 6 fingers.... Last 3 of each hand and always on the side not the finger tip. It's not too bad. I stab 5x a day and have been for 9 weeks. I find my Abdo is very bruised from injections so when I am at home I try to use my thigh.

Oh we are off out to the canal cafe for a full englander this morning :-)

I'm going to stalk this thread if no one minds, even though I am not pregnant yet. I'm hoping to TTC around Christmas time and suspect I will be diagnosed with GD again as I do still check my blood sugars from time to time as I still have my monitor and even now not in pregnancy my fasting readings are between 6.1 and 7.3, post meals (2 hours after, I had to check 1 hour after in pregnancy) are anything from 6.something to 11.2. I had my first yearly GTT on Thursday, so I'll know a bit more about what's going on next week.

Angelico that's interesting about your clinic liking under 7's if ladies are on insulin. I very rarely got a reading under 7, despite quite large amounts of insulin, usually low 8's after lunch/dinner, but rarely under 9 post breakfast, often over 10 and it really bothered me a lot, but the clinic kept telling me my readings were good and not to worry.

I know a couple of women in RL who have had GD around the same time as me and one was told similar to me, the other had to test 2 hours post meals, but get similar results, which obviously would make it much easier!

Midori - stalk away! :) The guidelines do seem to vary a lot, don't they? I'm happy enough if they are happy with my readings.

Just went to a food market in town and bought lovely breads, houmous, pesto, sun dried tomato... nom nom! Family are coming for lunch so have defrosted some homemade lentil and tomato soup to help keep things under control ie save me from the bread. Also got a really dense heavy rye bread to see if that helps.

Also got very cool glasses in case anyone is interested - thank you GD for the free sight test :o (every cloud and all that...)

Full english at the canal cafe and 1 slice of cheap bread white toast.......obviously with my usual 3000 units ( oh ok my 15units) that i have at breakfast and a post reading of 6.0.
No lunch for me and then BBQ possibly tonight with some tasty sausages and potatoe salad and corn.
Just ordered a graze box as a snack treat for my hopefully last week of GD

Your last week MrsV - sounds awesome! as does your fry :)

Had a little feast there - some tomato bread with houmous, rye bread with cheese and ham, lentil and tomato soup and then some nice berries (raspberries / strawberries / blueberries) with cherry yoghurt. Post-lunch came in at 7.5 - not brilliant but probably the mix of yoghurt and bread and under the dreaded 8.0.