Pregnant type 1 diabetics, step over here...

[RueDeWakening]

I seem to have filled up the old thread and thought I better start a new one! Still got ages to go, don't leave me now...

Am currently sat waiting for my 16 week antenatal appt, been here an hour so far and just had BP done and that's it.

Oh was 26 weeks 4 days when they were taken

Bona - I developed polyhydromnios in my last pregnancy. It's excess amniotic fluid and related to T1 diabetics (baby drinking more fluid and weeing more?). That combined with the fact that DSs stomach went off the measurement scale by LOADS meant I was induced at 37 weeks rather than 38.

When my waters broke they'd never seen anything like it. It just kept coming and coming. However if you had this condition it would have been diagnosed officially - not just that it was getting on the high side. But they might keep a closer watch on it. It's nothing to worry about.

That's interesting puds as the mw said I had a lot of fluid. Obviously not enough to be a concern but I didn't know the two were connected

Ashamed if myself. Was perfect after dinner and then had chocolate. Anyway I'm now 13 before bed. Why do I do it to myself? Why cause myself unnecessary worry and stress? Not to mention my lack of thought about the baby. Feeling thoroughly guilty.

• of myself

puds not been good on that front lately either took an extra cpl units and had a ripple after dinner however now hypo which will mean eating and high during night no doubt

Glad it's not just me Hoping. At least you're on the low side. I feel I'm forever high! It's like I want to stress myself out! I MUST start being stricter - it's just not on. I can't expect to eat a normal person's diet a get away with it, having what I fancy whenever or whatever!

I hope you don't go high Hoping - I have literally three wine gums and then test 20 min after.

I've just had a 3u correction dose out if frustration, which is a lot for me so had to set my alarm to test. Fun times.

lol oh i will go high as was getting to the dizzy stage and had 2 c

Stupid phone 2 cookies and a after 8 itl be 3am tho as i fall asleep soon n wake up for alarm the joys

bona high fluid sounds good to me, but that's because l had low fluid after about 32 weeks and this was blamed on my diabetic placenta and was one reason why baby was yanked out 2 weeks earlier than expected induction date.
Looks like everything gets blamed on our T1

Off to register V today...then she'll be officially here! Can't be arsed to wrap us both up like mummies and go out in the snow, but as DP and l aren't married, l have to go. Hopefully, it won't take too long; don't fancy feeding/pumping in town hall.

diec - how lovely! I think you are in London? Honestly, it looks worse than it is out there. When you get onto the more main streets and pavements there's hardly anything lying any more.

URGH - mornings! I am starting to get really down about this. Was 9.1 before bed, which was okay-ish since it was only about 2 hours after dinner. Took a correction dose which should have sorted me out. Upped my Levemir by 2 units as I'd decided it clearly has to go up. Woke at 10.2 Took 6 UNITS of novo, no breakfast except a cup of coffee and 2 hours after that still hovering around the 9 mark. These mornings are a nightmare. It basically takes me all morning to get on an even keel, then I am starving and want to eat all the wrong things for lunch (which I'm not doing all the time, but feel very hard done by!). Just feel like I am on a constant cycle of battling to bring the BG down at the moment. Before, it was usually lower and then just had to deal with the occasional spike which was easily sorted with a correction dose. Feel like the Novo is not really touching the sides any more and am taking incredible doses (36 units last night to cover a bit of cous cous with my tagine and a modest bowl of fruit salad).

puds and hoping - I am DEFINITELY eating way more carbs and sweet things than before I was pregnant, although I know that sounds daft. But I am finding I am very hungry and starchy carbs are really good at making me feel full. Before pg I was pretty much low (or at least moderate) carbing - normally no breakfast, salad for lunch, protein and veg for dinner (rarely had potatoes, rice or pasta for dinner). I'm eating LOADS of fruit now which I love and ovbiously are full of vitamins, but is definitely a challenge BS-wise - apart from berries which tend to be quite low carb. But the yummy things like pineapple, kiwis, mango, nectarines are tough to deal with!

bona if it makes u feel any better i am craving chocolate all the time managing to stick to just one bit a day is actually me managing to control myself as well as that i want to eat like all the time! Ive had to increase my novo dose by about 5 units for same food and my bg is erratic sometimes the increase only keeps it below 8, others for no reason it is like 10-11 or im hypo wtf is going on lol you are very well behaved i always have carbs with meals but stay away from chips at dinnertime.

I was hypo at about 10pm but by 12 was 8.9 so took small correction ended up 4.4 at 3am thought that given it had been rising after that time id be fine but nope 3.0 at 6am a little bit choc 7.2 at breakfast i think my diabetes has decided to take the p* out of me for a while

Well last night I gave in and let dp give ds a formula feed. I couldn't carry on as I was I was barely functioning. I feel human today and actually hoovered and put some washing on. Still feed bad though. Maybe now I will have the energy to concentrate on the diabetes again...

Spotty you're doing fantastically, don't worry. And mix feeding (if that's what you decide to do) is a perfectly well recognised way of feeding a baby! As is BF and FF, of course. We mix fed DS until he weaned, I did about half BF and half FF roughly, it worked fine and meant that I got a rest and DH got some quality bonding time with him :o

He's trying to climb up onto my shoulders from the back of the sofa at the moment, clearly hasn;t done him any harm! Makes typing a bit difficult though... :o

Spotty - I don't want to go into BF negatively this time but I don't think I'll last long without help from DH and formula this time.

DS was exclusively bf for 10 months but I too was barely functioning. I had bad post natal anxiety (an offshoot of PND) and I'm sure it was made 100 times worse by the fact I was getting no sleep or rest away from DS at all...not helped by the fact he refused a bottle.

This time I'll do whatever it takes to survive - having a toddler too will mean I NEED sleep to deal with him and I can't be the zombie I was. Don't feel bad. Are you going to combine feed? Don't forget having diabetes is like having an extra child too!

Hoping and Bona: I think it's the dawn phenomenon messing us up. Like you Bona I'm struggling to get things 'right' until before lunch when obviously I'm starving due to a down right pathetic breakfast. I then also have a sandwich and crisps (the poor baby needs SOME sustenance!) and then of course I'm high again just as things were settling.

The only way I have been managing to wake up at a reasonable level (7ish) is injecting 2u of novo at around 3am when I can see it randomly starting to rise. Have either of you tried this?

In other news I got my dreaded HBA1C back today: 5.7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To be honest I'm not thrilled like I should be as it just hasn't reflected things accurately. My CGM says I'm at 7.5 average for the last month, and normally my HBA1s is exactly 1mmol under it, so 6.5?

Has anyone else had experience of a HBA1C not seeming to reflect reality?! I know I shouldn't moan but I'm just totally confused. I was actually shocked when my DSN text to tell me.

puds - well, first of all congrats on the fantastic Hba1c. Hey, have a bunch of flowers (for what it's worth I'm pretty sure the 5.2% I got can't be right either!!)

I'm like you - my Hba1c tends to sit around 1% point under the average on my meter for the last month. However, I'm sure that is just a rule of thumb and not scientifcally proven! Mine was definitely at least 2 points under my average.

Things to bear in mind: you are testing WAY more often which I think means we are seeing a lot more 'bad' readings than before when we may only test before the next meal. That will nudge up the average on the meter, but won't necessarily reflect the fact that overall your control is much tighter. Also, there are times of day when you are not testing at all - so from 10pm to 3am - so that is 5 hours that your meter is not taking into account when you might have very good, low readings.

As for waking at 3am to inject a couple of units. I have definitely toyed with this idea - I've seen it suggested before on another board I post on infrequently and for some seems to be the only solution for DP. I am sooo reluctant to start waking myself up in the night - I am so dog tired at the moment... But I think I seriously need to think about it and not be so damn lazy.

Good news is that I am finally sorted today- had salad with leaves, avocado, peppers, cucumber, mozarella and some salami plus some melon and a greek yoghurt and was 4.2 after 90 mins. PHEW! If I can keep it up for dinner and not splurge I hope to goodness I might have a better night.

Mmmm Bona you're making me hungry!

Puds that's a great result, you should be proud of yourself!

Thanks, I think at most it will just be one bottle of formula at night, see how it goes. If he doesn't sleep better then I won't bother. I'm just worried that it's a slippery slope and I will be tempted to give up, or that breast milk won't fill him up enough after having formula... I wasn't coping though, I actually wanted to run away!

Bona - aww thanks :-) I am chuffed but very cautious of celebrating as I've not really been very well behaved - and some of the spikes after eating have been shockers! I'm also not hitting target regularly. More like 9 after two hours...I should just pretend that I'm fab though and be happy!

My nurse said similar. Cos I'm on the CGM I'm hyper aware of things at all times and I suppose in my head the highs stick out far more than the 'normal' periods.

The only reason I can drag myself out of bed is I have a ridiculous bladder and need to go through the night several times. I do have to force myself to wake up a bit and put the needle on etc.

Ah glad you are on more of an even keel today. Healthy eating IS the key but I find it sooo difficult to sustain. It makes me feel so much less stressed though, happier and virtuous and so I should really make the effort!
x

Totally true, puds, totally true! I guess I could put my testing kit and Novo pen in the bathroom and then test/ inject whenever I get up for the loo (which I definitely do!!)

spotty my ds was taken to baby room about an hour after birth (no good reason they just didnt have enough staff to check his bs before feeds while he was with me!) so due to lack of skin to skin with section and not getting him back till next day breastfeeding just did not happen he is 4.5 now and a cheeky little boy so dont worry ur doing so well!

bona and puds im either taking a small correction at midnigt or 3am but im so used to testing at this time im starting to wake up then. I dont know how u guys do it if i had a carb free dinner my belly would be grumbling all night lol i also doubt my last hba1c is a real reflection of my control 5.1 is not the average on my meter

Oh that's rubbish Hoping. At my hospital (and NICE guidelines I think) it's two hours after birth for testing blood sugar and that's after a feed too. We only got ds for an hour before they whisked him to SCBU where we weren't allowed to see him for 24 hours.

Thanks spotty i know if he had needed to go i would have been a little better with it but he was fine just their policy was to test prior to every feed, i hope this has changed! I was put in a 4 bed room where the other 3 ladies had their babies with them too so was really unhappy the whole time i plan to bring up these issues prior to birth this time in the hope they dont happen again

Definitely bring it up this time. If the baby needs special treatment and needs to go to SC fair enough but not having enough staff is a terrible reason for separating you! I would probably discharge us if they tried it!

I'm having a weird problem - almost hitting target (lunch and then dinner about 8.5 after 90 mins). I then think 'yay' but then it just sticks...so lately my days have hovered around 8. It's not the fatty meal problem as it's happening with all kinds of foods. If I correct it kinda keeps me 'there' too. Arggghhhhhhhh just weird! Anyone else?