Any pregnant Type 1 diabetics?

[dieciocho]

Hi,
I'm looking for other pregnant Type 1 diabetics in London, just to have someone to keep in contact with and share advice/horror stories/support each other etc.
I don't actually know anyone at all with Type 1, despite having had it myself since 1989

My last hba1c was 5.9 my diabetes consultant said I have no excuse now when I'm not pregnant!

Baby estimated 4lb10 and at the top end of the scale for everything apart from leg length! OB said he's chubby. Will book induction date in two weeks. Ummm also with my first morning wee there's always some ++ glucose but today it wasn't first morning and it was clear?

Yay - go Spotty! SO chuffed for you. Now you can scoff a few Roses to celebrate - first thing I do after a good hba1c (and yours is blimming outstanding).

Well done for all the hard work you've put in to making sure that your baby is healthy. We all know what a slog it is and you should feel very proud!

Aww thanks puds

Good news Spotty!
I can't wait for my 3rd trimester to be given an idea of how big my baby is - then I can prepare myself more.
I'm hoping for an 8lb-er max....am I being unrealistic?

DS1 was 9lb at 37 weeks with hba1cs all 5.9 and under...

Dd was 8lb at 36 weeks with really good control....

Eeeek! Don't tell me these things people! There was me thinking I'd have a nice, neat baby as long as my control was good.... [hshock]

Fat babies are the nature of the beast I'm afraid! All the cuter for snuggling though.

Dd was in size one nappies and newborn grows until twelve weeks she just had a big head

DD was 9lbs 8oz at 39 weeks, she had a big head too spotty and was in newborn size clothes for about a month,then into 0-3. Last HbA1c in that pregnancy was 5.5... :o

The HV also tried to refer us to paeds because she dropped down the weight centiles after birth, from 90th ish to 25th - I did try to explain that it wasn't her fault she was fat at birth... and in the end just went to the GP who had words with her so she gave up. She's followed the 50th centile since she was about 6m old, and at 5 1/2 is still following it.

With DS, I just never took him to be weighed :o

Yes, well, no one like a skinny baby! Maybe my 'huge' baby dreams are going to come true, though... Am also worried because both DH and I are tall (6'4" and 5'10" respectively) so the baby could be huge in all respects!!

Oooh - another question. I am thinking we're NOT going to find out the sex next week at the 20 weeks scan. For those who have done it before, did you find that you ended up finding out anyway because of all the extra growth scans? Was wondering whether it was pointless holding out at 20 weeks if it becomes quite obvious anyway later in the process..? Are boy / girl bits just obvious by the time you are scanned at 30, 32 weeks etc?

Bona the bigger the baby is the less you see. If I didn't know already I would have no clue as to the sex. Also even the 4d sonographer can hide that part of the baby if you decide to get one done. I did get a great image of a little foot yesterday

We had bloody loads of scans and DS was still a lovely surprise

Bona - you and your hubby are the same height as me and my hubby...weird. So don't worry about that. I reckon as my control was so good last pregnancy DS could have just been a big baby anyway (obviously the diabetes will have had some impact but maybe not lots). He's always been in the 90s height centile wise. He's never been fat - just cute and squidgy when born, not out of proportion at all.

Do any of you lot get stressed when you know your blood sugar is lower than it should be, and stress until it's back at an acceptable level? I'm having real problems with this as it's really upsetting me. I suffer from anxiety and when it starts to drop it really sets me off. It's almost as if I've convinced myself I face death day to day with diabetes...Sorry to be depressing but I'm hoping if anyone understands one of you might?

Bona, we announced that we didn't want to know the sex as soon as we walked into the room at the 20-week scan. We were told that she'd let us know if we needed to look away at any point - we didn't.
We've got the 28-week (blimey!) scan next week and will be announcing the same thing!

Re: weight, well I'm only 5'4" and DP is 5'11" both with healthy (non-pregnant) BMIs, so maybe we'll still get an 8lb-er....please thank you.

At the 20-week scan, all measurements were absolutely average bar the head-tummy circumference (s), which was/were slightly bigger.

Non-diabetic-specific topic, but I feel that we know each other well enough now to discuss such things: breasts.

I'm now 27 weeks and as it's half-term, I've been to visit my parents. Each and every night at their house, my boobs leaked. Now we're back home, they don't seem to be leaking. How odd.
I have read that it's not unheard of to leak from around 20 weeks, but I find it odd that it only happened at night and only at my parents' house (my childhood home...)
My colostrum won't run out, will it?

It won't run out no idea why it only happened at your parents, hormones are funny things!

Ha! That's a bit weird! Perhaps that's where you're most relaxed? Mine started leaking early on too. Can't remember when but I can remember being freaked out it was bright yellow in the end! I remember having dreams that my milk was spurting upwards one night (sleeping on my back). Lo and behold I woke up and it actually was. Not high but still spurting upwards. I shit you not. Very bizzare happenings.

I'd be interested to know if you have had/ have an oversupply of milk and if it's anything to do with being diabetic as I had way too much, would squirt in DSs face and led to several bouts of mastitis.

Hmm I had loads too puds well for the few days I expressed. I could get 3oz in twenty minutes on day three

puds - I get a bit stressed with hypos, but I don't think to the level you are describing. I don't worry about dying or anything... Have you had some particularly bad experiences or something which make you worry so much? I tend to be keen to get it over with because I feel yucky, but don't really think more of it than that...

Eeeek! Can't believe milk production would be so liberal even as early as 27 weeks!!! Mind you, if we are all meant to be harvesting colustrum, maybe it is no bad thing?

I get really panicky. I think it's because I'm so insulin sensitive when they drop, they drop fast and it can be a struggle to get them back up. I never used to worry like I do about going low - it's ever since I have had DS as I worry about what would happen to him should I couldn't bring it back up again.

Does anyone else tend to peak and then really drop, or do your levels tend to rise and fall pretty steadily? No matter what I is I have (low GI or not) if I hit target I can pretty much guarantee a fast and for me scary drop in sugars at around the one and a half hour mark. 9 within 2 hours sits much better with my mental health! I'm sick of it TBH. If I get it wrong by 1 unit it can really make a huge difference. Sorry I always seem to be moaning...

Don't apologise that sounds really rubbish. I never get sudden drops unless I really overdo the insulin so I have no advice really I guess I'm lucky. It also goes back up in about 15 minutes and I always catch it fairly early.

If everyone hits the target do you need to have a snack at that point or do your sugars then fall gradually to say 5 and stay level? If I was to hit target and then 'do nothing' I'd have a major hypo on my hands. So at the moment I'm facing this 3 times a day which is just making my anxiety 10 times worse. I don't know what to do really as its driving me crackers.

Hi puds - what are you are describing is I think completely natural for the very tight targets we are set during pregnancy. Without eating low carb, if you have enough insulin to get you to 8 within an hour, you are almost certainly going to hypo within the following hour. Novorapid has an active profile of two hours which means that even if you are 8 after an hour, the insulin will keep working for at least one more hour after that.

That is what is frustrating about the targets AND about the medics' constant banging on about hypos. With what they are telling us to do, hypos are ineveitable....

What I would suggest is either eating lower carb and so having less insulin which makes it easier to avoid hypos as your levels stay far more steady OR plan to have a snack at the point you usually go hypo.

The other option you suggest of amending your targets is also a good option - as long as your levels are otherwise consistently in range, I would imagine the ramifications are very minimal.

As spotty says, you don't need to apologise for anything. This is TOUGH.

With breakfast I have a perfect post eating reading if say 6 then I have to eat something else or it will drop but I like it that say because I'm hungry again by then and dd and I will have a snack. I don't get it in the afternoon though