The All New And Shiny Gestational Diabetes Support Thread

[midori1999]

The old thread seems to have died a death, so thought of start a new one for anyone who wants some support or just to chat about GD.

I'm 9 weeks pregnant now, had GD in my last (5th) pregnancy and had my GTT today, expecting to be diagnosed tomorrow as my levels are already silly.

She was 10.5 lbs. But both her bloods and mine were fine straight away and all readings or the next 48 hours stayed fine.

She lost 2lbs straight away though which was scary in the first couple of weeks and the health visitor was really unhelpful. At her six month check she hadn't doubled her birthweight and they again, were really unhelpful and rude.

She's not a big eater at all, never as been, and out of all my friends children is the smallest and has always been in or under the right age clothes... So maybe birthweights don't matter but if I'm honest it made me feel like a bit of a freak and I was embarrassed telling people her birthweight.

With the exception of when the dog jumped on my stomach from the back of the sofa, and I couldn't feel her move for ages and had 2 glasses of full fat come and a crunchie to get her moving, after beig diagnosed I never had high bloods, and they never put me on metformin or insulin. So part of me thinks no matter what I do I can't win.

Coke!

That was an unortunate typo

curiousgeorgie... That's odd about your baby losing 2lbs straight away. Could they have made a mistake with the birthweight? I know someone whose baby was 12lb when born and then the next morning in SCBU was weighed again and only 10lbs. They felt there must have been some mistake.

Stiffy, I am so sorry you're feeling like this. Fasting are the hardest levels to change, it must be so incredibly difficult for you.

I have to admit, I get quite a lot of comfort from taking my blood sugars, I feel it gives me some sort of control, even if I need insulin to keep levels down. I get very anxious when pregnant after the loss of my twin girls and anything I can do to help things go smoothly I have to see as a good thing.

Midori, I can absolutely understand why you feel like that. I am lucky to have had one trouble free pregnancy apart from horrid SPD, and to be resenting madly this level of intervention when I feel perfectly healthy.

I think if my clinic's attitude had been less severe (very patronising doctor who was determined to make me 'see reason') I would be happier. I don't massively mind the blood monitoring through the day. In fact, seeing that it's well within normal makes me feel more confident in ignoring the morning readings a bit, but their approach was that 80% of their patients are on insulin, I had almost no chance of controlling by diet (bearing in mind I was borderline) and that it would just get harder and harder, and so I feel that I've been set up to fail. That's where the pressure lies and why I'm getting so upset at the constant reminders of it all.

I think I've said before, if there is a next time, I will refuse a GTT and keep an eye on things myself. That way I have control of when I ask for medical intervention.

Hmm, how long did you ladies have to wait for GTT results? I've rung the surgery and my results aren't back yet. I'm very frustrated. I just want to know so that I can either carry on as normal or get on top of things. Having said that, from what you are all experiencing maybe not knowing isn't do bad after all!

I got mine the same day but was told a few people had to wait a day. Hopefully no news is good news!

I didn't have one this time but my test with DD was on a Friday and I got a call on the Tuesday... So quite a while. That was Epsom.

I'm in Manchester - had GTT on Monday and was told I would get results by end of week, but only if I have GD. So far no news, so fingers crossed that I get through tomorrow without getting a call.

I've been told it could take anything before 3 hours and a week for the results to get back to my GP (who requested the test and where I had the test)

Hi everyone. Had to have a fetal weight and growth scan on Tuesday and saw my midwife today. She said the results were good and baby weight at the moment is normal. Weighs just under 4.5lbs which is right on track for me at 33 weeks apparently. She also measured my belly which is bang on at 33cm for 33 weeks. At my last midwife appointment two weeks ago I was measuring about a week ahead so not sure what's happened to slow down the growth but she didn't seem concerned. I asked her what it meant in terms if induction and I didn't really get a clear answer. From the googling I have done it seems like they won't let you go over your due date if you have GD, and that they will induce at 38 weeks if the baby is measuring large. But if the baby is measuring normal then you are more likely to be allowed to go up to and maybe a little beyond the due date. I have an appointment tmrw with the consultant who apparently ultimately makes the decision so I shall find out then what the deal is and report back.

Good luck with those results, Mumbai. Remember it's actually YOU that makes the final decision, not the consultant. A larger baby (on scan predictions) is not necessarily an indication for induction if you don't agree. My last baby was predicted to be 'at least' 10lbs on a scan four days before she was born. She turned out to be just 9lbs1oz and looked a pound smaller.

I also have a scan this morning so please keep fingers crossed for me too!

And I am on a bit of a high. My fasting level was well within guidelines this morning. I had a small bit of cheese at 2am and that seems to have made all the difference. I know that means it wasn't quite a 'fasting' level but if the aim is to keep the BG levels down, it works. Better cheese than insulin!

I've just been told I may have GD and posted about it in another thread too. Off to the hospital next week for further tests but I'm 32 weeks so wondering how long I've had it and what damage has been done. Feel awful. Radical diet overhaul needed...any advice really welcomed, better food and exercise? Oh and I've been diagnosed with anaemia too so I feel totally broken and useless!!

Hi Mamabrownbear. Thought I would share a typical days food with you for ideas.
Breakfast: porridge with sweetener and a slice of cheese or boiled egg on the side. Sometimes I'll have a slice of wholemeal toast and peanut butter or on a weekend I make breakfast sandwiches with egg, cheese and tomato and ham all in a wholemeal muffin. That's always the lowest reading I get.
Morning snack- raw undated almonds
Lunch: lentil salad with tuna or feta cheese or today I'm having a small wholemeal pitta and hummus with Greek salad.
Afternoon snack: oatcakes or whole grain crackers and cheese
Dinner: pretty much same as normal and I limit the carbs to a quarter of my plate. Last night was sausage pasta made with wholemeal pasta and a huge salad.
Evening snack: no added sugar cherry yoghurt.
What does everyone else eat?

Stiffy I'm glad your fasting was good this morning. I think you're right the attitude of your team makes a difference. Mine last time were pretty relaxed about seeing how things went, no real 'rules' for induction even though I was on insulin, although they wouldn't have liked me to go past due date.

mumbai i eat similar things actually...

Breakfast: porridge with a small omlette or two slices of seeded toast with two poached eggs.

Lunch: oatcakes with cheese and veg sticks or pitta filled with greek salad or toasted with cheese and salami and a side salad or veg sticks

Dinner: wholewheat pasta dish, small jacket potato, something with wholegrain basmati rice but half the plate piled with salad or a roast/meat and two veg type dinner, but with a few boiled new potatoes or a baked sweet potato as my the carb. I do avoid veg like sweetcorn as it affects me. Sometimes I am naughty and skip any carbs with dinner in favour of a scoop of Ben and Jerrys after, which keeps my sugars in line.

Snacks: piece of fruit (not banana) packet of quavers (10g of carbs per pack) oatcake with cheese, small packet of unsalted nuts, veg sticks and humous, low fat/sugar yoghurt.

Please don't worry about damage, bear. The only real problem caused by GD is a bigger baby and that doesn't happen to everyone. Even if your baby is a bit on the big side now, it could still move closer to 'average' over the next few weeks. Things will be fine.

Scan was fine. Baby average, fluid normal, walked the four mile round trip so feeling very virtuous. The only annoyance was the doctor who gave the usual (for my hospital) pessimistic spiel about how I'd almost certainly need insulin, but also added that it 'might well not go away'. Would it kill them to be just a bit encouraging and supportive?

In a normal day I eat:

Breakfast - bacon and sodding eggs. I can add a bit of (Burgen's) toast but it sends me to 6.5 and over, so I usually leave it out.

Lunch - Staffordshire oatcake (like a pancake and really lovely) with protein filling eg smoked salmon and cream cheese, ham and cheese

Snack - rough oatcake and cheese. Can also get away with flapjack by mid-afternoon

Dinner - meat or fish with pulses, green veg and/or salad and pretty small amount of complex carbs. I find celeriac a good potato substitute. I can get away with small amounts of potatoes and wholemeal pasta but my body isn't keen on rice full stop at the moment. My worst reading ever was after some Turkish flatbread.

Before bed I have another cheese based snack.

Thanks everyone, menus are really really useful! Especially breakfast as I find I eat loads then! I'll stock up on wholemeal goodies at the weekend, up the proteins and veg. Must be able to help the anaemia too! Sigh x

I can tell you mine for some variation? :)

Small bowl of Cheerios with skim milk.

Carrot sticks with Philadelphia or some cheese for a snack.

Tuna in wholemeal pita or carrot soup or broccoli / cauliflower cheese for lunch with salad if I can be bothered.

An apple or a tangerine or some cheese for afternoon snack.

Aubergine and mushroom chilli with a massive ple of broccoli on the side ( no rice) Fajita wraps and sauces seem to be just fine atm, so vegetable fajitas 2/3 of them, a tuna / vegetable pasta sauce with the tiniest amount of pasta ever and a huge salad on the side.

I never have a before bed snack but might introduce some cheese!

So far all good... :)

What's swede like? Is it as carby as potato? Or could it be an alternative?

I know that sweet potato is OK but squash isn't. I'm not sure where swede sits!

Cauliflower is good - you can cook it for longer than you might normally and mash it to replace potato mash, or you can cook cook it til it's al dente and mash it and it resembles rice! Goes great with a curry...

Good to hear scans have gone well! Mama try not to worry too much - better to know you have GD and manage it now than go full term having been clueless. If you'd done anything "bad" up until now it would have been picked up through urine tests and the like I'd have thought!

Brekky for me depends on day - weekdays is half a bowl of bran flakes and sultanas, soya milk (don't like taste of cows) and a raspberry activia (lowest sugar yogurt I could find); Saturday is wholemeal roll, split and toasted, each half topped with a veggy sausage and hard poached egg; then Sundays is
a full one - egg, beans, roasted tomato, hash brown, veggy sausage and veggy bacon.

Lunch is quite boring - oatcakes or crackers with cheese and a couple of easy peelers.

Tea varies but often pasta and sauce or curry and rice type meals with less carb and more sauce than usual. If I want pudding then frozen banana and cream works well.

Snacks are biscuits - a digestive or a reduced sugar Rusk - or snack cheese.

I do eat so much cheese now... I've even smothered pasta sauce in it with the sole aim of getting away with having some garlic bread with it

Oh and I've managed a nice bit of puppetry this work... went to NCT class from seven 'til nine, was ten pm by time finally got home and had tea, waited an hour for testing and only then realised I'd left my bloody meter at work

Uh... muppetry this week, not puppetry this work!!

Think it must be time for bed...!

Had my appointment today with the obstetrician who was really very refreshing and relaxed. She basically said that coming to see her was a formality purely because my diabetes is well under control with diet and also that the scan showed a normal sized baby. I asked her about induction and she said that she would happily let me go a week over my due date. Interestingly enough she said that doctors are often divided in how to proceed with women who are not on insulin or other medication and managing to control it with diet. She said some of her colleagues would insist on an induction at 39 weeks or on the due date. In her opinion though if all is fine she sees no evidence to suggest it is necessary to induce early. Having said all that though my baby is currently breech at 33+3 so unless it turns the I could be facing a c-section in any case. So for now I'm concentrating all my efforts in turning this baby! It would be Sod's law to have a relaxed obstetrician only to have a breech baby.