Gestational Diabetes and a Water Birth

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Hi
I'm 14 weeks today and I have GD. I have it under control with the diet plan they have recommended for me and I have good blood levels. I'm just wondering, will his be an issue for a water birth? This is what I would like.
Thanks in advance x

I had gd with my second because you are under consultant led care you are classed as high risk, this usually means you won't be allowed to use midwife led unit which is usually where the pools are.
You are advised to have an induction at 38 weeks because of risks to the baby that gd can cause. Of course it your body and your choice but if you go for the induction you can't have a water birth as you need to continuously monitored.

Hi

Can you explain more about the induction.? Thank you.
I was literally .1 over the required glucose sugar level testing. If I stick to the diet and baby grows normally, surely that shouldn't b a problem?

My consultant led unit does have a water birth pool - so it is possible but will depend on the monitoring you will need when it comes to labour.

I would like a water birth but am willing to take the advise of my consultant as well as I am high risk - not due to GD.

You might well be allowed a water birth and intermittent monitoring. It will all depend on how your sugars are, how the baby's growth is, and if there are any concerns about you and the baby.

Some units have waterproof telemetry for monitoring that you can wear in a birth pool so still have continuous monitoring.

Induction is usually recommended at 38 weeks for mothers with GDM as the risks of placental failure and stillbirth. The risks for mothers and babies in well-controlled diabetes (as it sounds like you are doing, so well done!) are only slightly increased so, depending on how things go, your obstetrician and diabetologist might consider leaving induction to 40 weeks a possibility.

A good place to start in terms of thinking about things is the NICE guidelines, which might give you some questions to speak to your diabetes team about as things progress.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG63/chapter/1-Guidance

Thanks guys xx