T1 diabetes - bumps, births, babies & beyond!

[RueDeWakening]

New thread, form an orderly queue here please >>>

:o

ginger yeah google is not a friend I had to stop googling retinopathy as I was scaring myself silly and the american websites are the worst lol ive been toying with a pump too as dp can be bad last 2 mornings all good 6.5 and 5.6 but today was 5.7 at 4am then 11.7 by 8am!!

I thought it was really hard to get a pump? Pretty strict criteria?

Ginger what I do is work out the grams of carbs per 1 u of insulin, then just divide the total carbs in the meal by this to get the dose for that meal - much easier than messing round with half units and things. So if you are having 1.5 u per 10 g of carbs this is apx 1 u per 7 g of carbs, so just divide meal carbs by 7 and that's your dose.

spotty it may well be as I haven't really asked for 1 yet but the dsn did say that dp is 1 of the things that a pump would help tho I probably won't qualify on that as its fine for a few days then hits again n ive no idea why

Re: pumps, I am only at the first stage, but...I have been told that I'm an ideal candidate as I am a 'good' diabetic who is still having problems and who has occasional debilitating hypos - key word 'debilitating'.

diec but if you say they are debilitating doesnt that call your driving licence into question? Obv I have no idea it was just my dsn said the only thing they could do for dp was a pump?!

I'm pretty sure you can google the criteria (might be in the NICE guidelines?)

Hmm, when I did my DAFNE course they made it sound like the pump option was there if we wanted it. I might just enquire when I go back to my post-baby appointments. Especially if we decide to have a second baby (I said IF!!!)

So I got my induction date today. I'll be 38+1. I felt in a daze after it had been booked. I had a wobble where I wanted to say no, he'll come when he's ready but I went with it. I know it's the sensible thing.

If anyone wants to share their induction stories, feel free! :)

X

ginger thats the impression I got from my dsn too that it was an option if I wanted to but the reality is prob different also as im in Scotland myb its different? Im sure you will be fine and for that reason I wont tell you about my induction with ds (who was 1st dc) ellie was an elcs

I will tell you about my induction with ds (I won't tell you about dd as I was so, so ill kidneys failing etc it was all very rushed).

So I went in at 35 weeks with only my hand bag and they didn't let me out I had to have steroid injections etc. on the Sunday morning the out the 24 hour pessary in and dp and I hung around being bored. By bed time I was getting mild period pains. They increased over the night and by 4/5 am I was in a fair amount of pain but able to breathe through it. I asked for pain relief but was told no. Then it all stopped and I slept for two hours. Woke to them being ten times stronger. At about 8:30 I went for a wee, came back and was sick that's when the mw came back and agreed I was probably in labour so she would take the pessary out (as I'm writing this ds is eating my toes ) anyway she took it out and said I was 4cm and could go up to labour ward. By the time they had space (labour ward was closed) my contractions were 7 on 10 and I went a bit crazy until I got the gas and air that really calmed me down. There was a couple of hours of me begging for an epidural and shouting at them because the were making me lie on my back.

Dr came in they said baby needed to come out now so got the ventouse and gave me episiotomy. Then I needed to push so they let me and ds was born in 20 minutes I would do it all again tomorrow but dp said no

My friend had GD and she was induced at 39 weeks. She had a good labour/birth too

Thanks Spotty. I've got an appointment next week with midwife to talk it all through but good to hear from others who've gone through it. I am scared but trying to mentally prepare.

Oh also before things went wrong and I was hoping to get to 38 weeks my specialist mw said I could labour in water (early stages).

Here are things I would recommend looking into/discussing with your mw:

How are they going to induce you?
Refusing CFM so you can move around
Will you consent to forceps?
Will they put you on a sliding scale? (I did first time not second)
Delayed cord clamping if baby is well

Does your dh know how to test your sugar level? They will want it done every hour and you won't be able to do it yourself towards the end

Thanks spotty. I certainly will take those questions along with me.
DH does know how to blood test me though hasnt done it for a while. That's a good point though. I'll get him to do some practise ones

I called dp stupid because he took so long the meter switched off

:D

My induction story wasn't so great - got to around 4 inches dilated after 24 hours, lying there high as a kite off the diamorphine, loads of medics rushed in saying there was a problem and to lie on my side, baby was in distress. His heart rate was plummeting where the cord was being squeezed by the contractions, so they switched off the syntocinon and rushed me into theatre, he was out within about half an hour. So...worst half hour of my life but he was absolutely fine and happy ending. Kind of ruined the birth experience so that's why I'm having an elective section this time.
Sorry to put anyone off, but ginger did ask for stories. I'm sure this is a pretty unusual occurrence though, most people are fine.

I would refuse syntocinon I have to say. I would say I'm happy for pessaries and if need be broken waters but if nothing happens after that I would want a CS. I would have synto if I got really far along say 8/9cm or even in the pushing stages and things tailed off but not otherwise.

I've read a lot of negative things about induction. It would be nice to hear some of the more positive stories as i am feeling pretty anxious.

I'm not overly keen on having the oxytocin but also want to try to avoid a c-section as I want to be out of hospital as soon as poss. It's hard to know what to do.

I've been through an awful lot during this pg with heavy bleeding, diabetes, hypothyroid, cervical surveillance due to previous cervical surgery, an unsupportive employer, anxiety, OCD and Pelvic Girdle Pain. I feel like I've fought every step of the way! So I'm frightened about what awaits me with induction but I'm also frightened what could happen without induction.

Hi Ginger

They will keep you in hospital for the baby's sake as much as yours - even if you have a completely trouble free labour they need to make sure the baby can regulate its own blood sugar which I think needs at least 24 hours observation after the birth.
I was out 48 hours after my c section so not sure it would have made that much difference if I'd had a normal delivery, maybe shaved off a day (although my LO had low blood sugar at first) but it's not like you'll be out within hours with a vaginal delivery and have to stay in for days on end with a c section.
Having been through it all I have to say it's put me off induction, and if I can't have a natural birth I just want to go the section route. There is a 67% chance you will need a section anyway ifyou are diabetic, according to my midwife. Sorry but those are the stats. but if you want to try for a vaginal delivery I wish you all the luck in the world.

Hi magpie

"it's not like you'll be out within hours with a vaginal delivery and have to stay in for days on end with a c section."

I actually though this is how it worked. (Shows what I know!) Ok. Well, now I'm reading up a bit more on inductions I am feeling a little more accepting of a c-section if that's the way it goes. Its encouraging to hear you were out 48 hours after yours. I think I should ask my MW what my hospital stats are too.

I suppose I just don't know how my body will respond to induction. So instead of fretting over the worst-case scenarios I need to just see what happens.

Well I didn't need a CS either time, with dd (36 weeks so not near term) I only ended up with forceps because they had to deliver her before I had the chance to properly push, otherwise I'm quite sure she would have been born vaginally too. I was discharged less than 24 hours after having DS as he was in SCBU. I agree with just seeing how it goes. Have a search for the threads on positive inductions I think it will help you.

hoping you may be right about debilitating putting your driving licence at risk, but I don't drive so not sure. Sorry.

Thanks spotty. Yes I have been looking at threads on positive inductions. It's good to know it works for some. With any luck I'll be one of them.

ginger if it helps I was out within 48 hours both times with both an emergency and planned section and that was with ellie needing help with her bg.though I would agree if it gets to needing pitocin id just go for section. Obv every hospital is different but with the planned section I was 1st on the list due to being diabetic which also meant I was back first and got a private room(all planned sections/diabetics went to same ward and was a seperate theatre from emergencys) I can tell you about the induction with ds wasnt all bad but ended in emcs

Ginger - I felt very like you when I was expecting DS and was desperate for induction to work so that all would be as 'normal' (haha) as possible.

For me, induction simply did not work. Absolutely nothing happened at all. My cervix was so closed that they couldn't even give me a sweep and the pessaries over 2 days did absolutely nothing.

So I ended up with my worst case scenario of a cs. However I want to stress that this was in no way traumatic, it was pretty 'easy' for me and DS suffered absolutely no ill effects. It's such a truism but when you have dc in your arms who cares?? My main fear had been him being taken away from me due to being hypo - but his bg were perfect at all 6 readings they took in his first 24 hours.

The other thing to bear in mind is that ,for some, induction can be the start of a series of interventions. So you have a pessary, then have waters broken, then a drip and the stats are much higher then for an instrumental delivery. Not great either. In an ideal world we diabetics would just be allowed to go into labour naturally with our non giant babies and get on with but sadly that's not the case.

FYI I would have been ready to leave hosp after 2 days but DS lost a bit of weight so we stayed. For me, the hardest thing about the section was that my milk took 4, nearly 5 days, to come in. Thankfully I had banked colostrum to give him which I would highly recommend.

Anyway I hope some of this helps!