Just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes

[Jojo3737]

Hi all,

New to this forum and hoping I can find some ladies who are in my position!

Had a GTT test and didn't think for one minute I would fail it. Midwife phoned a few hours after the test to say that I had been referred to the diabetic clinic.

Fasting bloods were 5.6 cut off 5.1
2 hour test bloods were 8.0 cut off 7.8

I started straight onto a low GI diet (my dad is an insulin dependant type 2 so have a good idea about what I can and can't eat). I'm at the diabetic clinic on Wednesday, now sure what to expect?

I have a phobia of blood tests but not needles - I'm fine with injections! - so not sure how I am going to react to the blood monitoring :-(

I am now 29 +4 weeks, I had a growth scan at 28 +3 for other medical reasons and I've already had a letter through for a growth scan at 31 +1.

Just looking for a bit if support and an idea of what happens now. Thanks for reading.

Jo

Hi Jo

Have a quick hunt a couple of pages back and there's a GD support thread going on. It's been a bit quiet recently but lots of support and advice available.

What happens next seems to vary wildly! My own experience has been that I've diet controlled with a small amount of creative reporting to the clinic and at 36+4 was discharged from the diabetes clinic and returned to the low risk population. So it has been a rather stressful experience but ultimately not a barrier to much for me. Other people on the GD thread are using metformin and insulin so can offer advice on that too.

It's an upsetting diagnosis but you'll be fine. Just start dreaming of that post-birth carb fest now.

I had gd but mine wasn't found until 34 weeks. I had to monitor bloods (finger prick test) 4 x a day and take metformin but that was only because it was too late to try diet. I was told if medication was needed they wouldn't let me go past 38 weeks without induction but they booked my induction for 39+5 even though my medication had been doubled since diagnosis. But I went into labour at 38+6.

Make sure you talk through birth options with your consultant. At my hospital they tried to rush appointments through but I always made sure I had a written list of my questions and took notes.

The plus side is I put on my less weight with this pregnancy as I had to watch what I ate at the end. :) try not to worry, a lot of people get gd, and although its a slight pain it's not the end of the world.

Stiffy - creative reporting? What on earth is the point in that?

OP - I had GD, fasting sugars were always normal and my 2 hour bloods were rarely raised. I made moderate changes to my diet and tried to exercise a bit more (mainly walking) to keep my levels stable.

Thanks ladies! Off to find the thread x

Hi ! It'll be fine , i had GD with two of my pregnancies. I was monitored throughout and the babies had blood sugar tests when born to see where they were: DS2 was hypoglycaemic, but all ended well. Was freaked out when i first found out, but made a few dietary changes which were a bit of a pain at first but soon got used to it x good luck !

I was diagnosed last time at 24 weeks with a fasting of 6.1 and 2 hour reading of 8.1. I couldn't diet control and was on stupid amounts of insulin by the end. I went into labour at 37+6, before induction and DD was born fine at 6lb 15oz. Her older brother (when I didn't have GD) was born at 38 weeks exactly weighing 10lb exactly. I now have GD again and was diagnosed at 8 weeks. I'm almost 15 weeks and on metformin and insulin already.

If you keep your sugars controlled then everything will be fine. Eating low GI is right, but you still need to keep the carbs at a reasonable amount for foetal growth and health, so don't drop too many carbs and eat carbs with each meal. I'm on the other thread too, so I'll go and find it.

Alibaba, not as bad as it sounds. My fasting level occasionally went above the level they wanted for diet control but remained below the NICE level for medication. My clinic has lower cut offs for everything from most places. I asked my midwives and they said not to confess as I was worried about hypos on meds as all my other levels were fine. So I didn't, baby is normal size etc. And as soon as I stopped stressing about them, they dropped back to normal levels with the occasional random high one. But I was completely honest about 99% of my readings and my HBA1c dropped consistently at every check.