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

Hello ladies! Sounds like everyone is having fun and games with the big D!!

Was at clinic today, which was fine. For the first time I got to listen in to baby's heartbeat. Was told I would have to wait til 16 weeks (am 14+6) but they gave it a shot and his / her heart was in there hammering away. Little one also decided to kick the doppler a couple of times which sounded like a big THUMP. Wee scamp!

I also got my latest Hba1C which was 5.5% which I was delighted with.

puds - there are only 2 ways around the hypo issue you describe: 1) eat significantly lower carb meals - this makes it much easier to stay in range an hour after eating because your levels are simply less likely to spike; or 2) inject enough Novo to get down to 8-ish after an hour but then PLAN to have a snack within 2 hours of eating to stave off the hypo. It's a fun game, right?!

I lost you! My level was just 2.8 after my dinner so now I feel crappy. It was 3.8 before but I stupidly can't remember what I gave myself insulin wise. I had white rice and then a malted milk. Now I'm all confused and have no apple juice or anything will have to tuck into dp's milk tray

Bona! That's fantastic! You should feel so proud of yourself! I'm dreading my first one.

Oh Spotty. Just tuck in and enjoy - it's medicinal after all!

I have medicinal wine gums and/or jelly babies with me at all times - unfortunately trying to keep such tight control means I've eaten 3 packs of wine gums over the last 10 days...eek!

Bona that's a fantastic result, well done!

I'm so worried :( my levels have been far from perfect and I just feel so guilty and scared. Does anyone else have these moments of convincing themselves the baby has been put at real risk? I needs some reassurance from you lovely ladies (real reassurance not DH repeatedly saying 'it was okay last time so it will be okay this time

Once again my levels have hovered around 9 all evening from around 5pm despite three seperate correction doses. I'm so worried and upset I feel like crying.

Oh littlepuds, it is so hard and I don't think anyone can understand apart from other diabetics. Have you called your diabetic team to tell them about your BS to see if they can help? What I would say though is that 9 is not that bad so try not to beat yourself up. I don't know what insulin you are on and how many weeks you are but I read that your insulin requirements can shoot up massively whilst pregnant, especially 2nd trimester? I think you can also become insulin resistant so combined, it isn't going to help but I really think your readings aren't that bad. I have days when I have no idea why my sugars go up so quickly and are so hard to bring down and the only way I control it now is taking BS readings every couple of hours so I can try and understand how certain foods affect me? Appreciate that is probably excessive but maybe try that for a few days to see if you can spot any patterns? Either way, you sound like you are doing everything you can and hopefully your diabetic team can offer some help too as well as others on here. The diabetic support forum is good too?

X

Thanks newbie :) me and DH have just had a lovely long chat and it's helped calm me down, have also text my lovely diabetes nurse. It's so so hard not to beat yourself up isn't it? I just can't remember it being this stressful and my DS is only 18 months! I think I must have blanked it out. My HBa1c was 7.5 at conception and I just don't think it's improved massively. I was so much tighter last pregnancy and I just feel so guilty! That coupled with nausea and only fancying daft foods (not veg!) is just hard. Big moan over. I'm sorry I'm always the negative one needing reassurance! I'm supposed to be the experienced one! Thanks so much for replying - I really do appreciate it :)

puds when do you take your basal dose (lantus or levemir or whichever)? Just wondering whether you could split your dose as it sounds like its maybe not covering you till bedtime (if that's when you take it). Even tho they're both meant to have a flat profile for a whole 24 hours I know of lots of people who get better results when it's split.

Re high levels, with DS I was given steroids at 23 and 31 weeks to help his lung develop, my readings were over 20 no matter how much insulin I took, for nearly 5 days! He was fine. Just do tr best you can.

For hypos, do you do the 15/15 rule? Test, treat with 15g fast acting carbs (equal to 4 jelly babies), wait 15 mins and test again, treat again if reading no better with another 15g fast carbs. If not, might be worth a try, otherwise please ignore the granny sucking eggs nature of the post

I second splitting your basal dose if you're not already, what time do you give it? I've woken up to 10.2 I didn't test after my hypo episode last night because I fell asleep.......for nine hours

Remember that long-acting insulin isn't a 24hr does, despite what manufacturers might say - Lantus and Levemir both tend to be 20hrs.

My hospital says to adjust doses only if you've been having high/low readings for 2 days straight, basically, can you see a pattern?

I've never heard the 15/15 rule Rue, I might try it.

Sorry, not "does", but "dose"

Splitting the dose only really works with Levemir - Lantus is much slower releasing and so it doesn't really work to split it. I'd say if you're on Levemir, definitely give it a shot. I'm on way more overnight than during the day.

And don't beat yourself up. It is just extremely hard and also gets so so tedious to be constantly worrying.

I kind of think to myself if I am in range and where I want to be 90% of the time, then that will have to be good enough. It is not an exact science and you WILL be higher or lower than you want to be at given points, you just have to keep tying.

I would definitely think about cutting down on your carb intake. It is really the most straight forward way to keep things steady (not saying it is easy!).

People in dc2 or more can we talk about breast feeding? Dd was in SCBU for a whole and for various regrettable reasons I only expressed for about a week. In that time the hypos were pretty bad was that down to the expressing or just post baby hormones?

Aldo is anyone planning in expressing prior to the birth? Is it inevitable baby will be in SCBU? Is their any argument in saying their sugar levels are more likely to regulate if they stay with me/on boob constantly? Umm think that's it for now!

If you BF or express it eats sugar! I had to reduce my daily insulin levels down to about 75% of pre-pregnancy rates and even so was eating sweets at an alarming rate - every time I fed the baby I had to feed me as well. So likely it's that more than the post-PG hormones.

I'll plan on hand expressing colostrum from about 35 weeks, my MW mentioned it last time round but then DS arrived at 31 weeks so I never actually got round to it :o he was in NICU for 5 weeks but only due to being prem rather than anything diabetes related.

DD never went to SCBU at all, she stayed with me throughout - she did get cup fed some formula on the 2nd night, as her sugar levels were slightly low, but nothing too bad. So definitely not inevitable. Not sure whether being with you would make them more likely to regulate or not though tbh. And since DD (and DS actually) was a C/S delivery she was sleepier than they would have liked - seems common for sections though.

PS I BF DD for a year, and mix fed DS for a year (he was on prescription formula for weight gain for a while). So it's totally possible but bloody hard work!

Thanks Rue that's really helpful dd was so sleepy too people think its lovely but it's really hard work especially when they just want to sleep instead of feed!

Thank you ladies for your lovely pick me up and admivr yesterday. I was at work so couldn't reply but felt quite teary!

I do need to go back to basics with the 15 hypo rule but with the hypos I've been having its do hard not to panic!! Will def ask nurse about splitting long acting as my levels seem to be randomly starting to rise around bedtime - perhaps just running out of steam?

I BF DS for 10 months. My levels were great actually but there was the occasional 'whoa' hypo, nothing serious though. I think I was about on 75% of pre preg insulin too.

DS wasn't at all in SCBU but he too had low BS that was rectified by formula.

Advice!

Is there not more sugar in breast milk than formula?

I had no idea you could get any milk before birth Spotty and Rue; that would be a way of avoiding any formula that the hospital may think necessary to raise baby's sugar levels, assuming colostrum contains enough... -
who was worried about that a while back...? BonaDea?

I had my fundal height done for the first time yesterday - it's perfect, right in the middle of the graph, so I will stop asking Qs about weight gain : )

Also, doctor said that my occasional 8ish readings when I get up in the morning could be because the stress of getting up raises blood sugar levels - this sounds far-fetched to me.
Has anyone else ever heard this?

It's colostrum rather than milk - a really thick yellowish colour, they only need minute amounts of it. It's what you produce before your milk comes in (which happens on about day 3 give or take). The feeding before that is to stimulate your body into producing some for them to take.

The Kellymom website (can't link on phone) has tons of really good info about BFing.

I was adamant I wanted to EBF, which I did for 10 months but the hospital were adamant I must give DS formula top ups in order to boost his initial BG. I didn't question it to be honest as was just getting to grips with BFing. And in the first three days it's just your colostrum. I'll certainly ask the question today at my clinic and report back!

Diec - I get the same thing. Perfect throughout night and then at about 7am they start to rise. I think it could be stress you know.

Funnily enough they rise faster and quicker the busier and more stressed I am!

My nurse said its the morning hormone surge which makes them rise