Gestational diabetes support thread

[NoRoomForALittleOne]

I thought I'd start a support thread for those of us being tested, just diagnosed or being treated for GDM.

So collapse on a sofa, grab a low carb snack and come and chat about blood tests, finger pricks, diet changes, medication and birth plans...

Mini - really helpful info re monitoring..was wondering about that. Managed a couple of crepes tonight in honour of Shrove Tuesday and was a happy 7.1 after so fingers crossed levels are remaining manageable.

Thanks mini pie for the monitoring information. It sounds pretty grim although probably if my blood glucose seems to be erratic based on lifestyle versus food I do wonder what it is like during labour.

elizardo - glad it isn't just me that seems what they can get away with whilst monitoring.

started to get 3rd trimester insomnia. so now wondering whether to do my fasting levels now and have a snack or hold on till morning.

Awful night's sleep last night courtesy of DD, got a 5.0 this morning so just on the edge of ok... I do think the morning readings may be linked to sleep so thanks for mentioning that Working. Midwife wasn't too concerned with my morning readings hovering around the 5 level.

Ellizardo I was ok with a couple of pancakes yesterday too, but had them as a pre dinner snack and then had a v low carb dinner. I got a very low post dinner reading (5.3) so I guess that means pre dinner snack is when I should sneak in anything naughty I'm sure that wouldn't be the official advice though...

LIG hope you managed to get some sleep!

Hi all

I hope you dont mind me posting here. I am 18 weeks pregnant and quite overweight. This is my 3rd dc and with every pregnancy I have had to have a gtt test. Im currently waiting for mine at 28 weeks. Ive never had gd before but was wondering if any of you had any symptoms prior to being diagnosed and if so what they were?

I have lost quite a bit of weight in this pregnancy due to awful monring sickness and now all I crave is healthy foods so I no longer can eat bread or anything fried, chocolate or anything with much sugar in. I also now only drink water and milk with the occasional cup of tea.

Ive recently had some symptoms and am wondering if I need to get checked out. I cant get in to see my dr for 2 weeks so thought id get some advice first.

I have started peeing an awful lot .. getting up in the night a lot and also in the day. I have also started to get exhausted after my lunch at work which is always pretty much a jacket potatoe with beans. I have also noticed a little bit of blurry vision. At first I put all this down to normal pregnancy symptoms but a friend at work suggested it could be gd and I dont know how true this was/is?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi hopefull and welcome. I didn't really have any symptoms prior to diagnosis so can't help a lot with that.

However I would definitely say you should report your symptoms now to a midwife. It may be a wait to get an appointment but in the meantime you should be able to have a chat with a midwife over the phone? Have you been given a midwife team to call - if not then call your hospital and they can transfer you to the right team. If the midwife thinks it is urgent she will get you in for an appointment quicky.

Thanks for your reply Minipie,

I have a number for the midwife but can only call between 9.30 and 10 in the morning so I may call that tomorrow and see what they think. Maybe im panicking over nothing but now someone has suggested it ... I know it will play on my mind. I have some ketone sticks at home and they have the glucose urine test strip on so I shall try and do one of them when I get home.

Yes do give them a call (that's a bit rubbish having those restricted times!) - in the meantime nothing bad will happen between today and tomorrow even if you did have GD.

You could ask to do the GTT early if you want, the only thing is you would probably have to re-do it later even if the first one was negative, as gd tends to get worse the later pregnancy goes on.

Hello can I join?

Nice seeing some familiar April faces here, even though I shall have my section at 38w so week commencing 28th March...

I had GD in my previous pregnancy 3 years ago controlled by metformin and insulin just for the last month (bedtime only)

I am now also on metformin (2 at breakfast and 2 at dinner) and started insulin this week - 4 units monday and tuesday and today will go up to 8 units at bedtime.

DD was fine, born on the 50th centile (which was huge for her as she then settled on the 9th) but this one now seems to have a larger AC from the scans...

Another growth scan on the 26th Feb and they will book my section then...

waves

And I am a bit pissed off at the midwife as I did a GTT at 16w this time and she told me all was fine... then at a regular endocrinologist appointment (i have thyroid issues too) the doctor saw the numbers and said I was so borderline I should have probably been monitored straight away even before my official GTT at 28w he told me to monitor things...

so i wonder if i had been more strict from then, the AC wouldn't be so high with this one...

I am 32+4

Hello ladies, might I join you?

I was diagnosed yesterday following a GTT on Monday. I'm 35+4 and wasn't meant to have the GTT as I didn't meet the criteria in this area, although according to NICE guidelines I should have been given the test (my BMI is 33, NICE say >30 but my consultant said >35 in this area!). They still weren't going to do the test even after a placental site scan last week showed baby with a large belly compared to the rest of him, but my One-to-One midwife suggested I have it.

Went to the hospital today to be taught how to check my sugars and have to go back after a week of monitoring them and amending my diet. It all looked so easy at the hospital but when I got home it took me 3 needles and 4 test strips to get it right! Oops!

I've been starving throughout pregnancy and particularly have wanted chocolate all the time, so this is going to be hard for me! Any good tips on snacks? Other than this I've been really healthy all the way through and had no symptoms whatsoever!

to TinyTear welcome! I can't keep up with the April chat!

That is annoying about the late diagnosis, it does seem like there is a big variation in what is deemed over the borderline or not - my diabetes midwife said yesterday that some trusts wouldn't even monitor me with a result of 8.1, apparently some have a cut off of 8.5. Not sure whether to be pleased my trust is stricter or not...

interesting you have thyroid issues too... it seems like PCOS, thyroid and GD all seem interlinked. Some day they'll figure hormones out...

Oh and welcome coaster! Another demonstration of how much variation there is from place to place!

Snacks: I am eating a lot of

• nuts
• cheese, sometimes with 1 or 2 nairns oatcakes
• avocado
• fruit, eg one apple or orange
• salami (not recommended for weight loss but good from a GI perspective!)

Getting a bit bored of these though so would love some other ideas.

Babybel and cheestrings are my go to snack

And Muller light yogurts

Brilliant, thank you! Going shopping with the husband in a minute so that will keep me going for now. Just can't bear the thought of not being able to snack because I've been constantly starving for the whole pregnancy. And of course, now I'm thinking about my diet, it makes me feel even hungrier.

Also waves at tiny!

Coaster girl - I also had something similar when I got back with my kit. I think I just don't bleed very well and didn't get much blood. Now I make sure there is enough blood and so it is everywhere.Â

Mini - when I looked into it, it was very country dependent on what they gd diagnosis is. I think in Australia you would have a more thorough test with a fasting and 1, 2 and 3 hour tests and in the US the cut off was 8.5. I do think the pcos has alot to answer for. Whilst my pcos is mild and would never have been diagnosed if it hadn't been for a scan during a mc, I think it explains alot of things such as my bad skin, irregular periods, blood hypos (from too much sugar) as a teenager and early 20's and my 2 mcs. However, when I switched to a low gi diet back in 2011 it all got better after a few months. I think it is the reality that I will need to stick to this for the rest of my life to avoid diabetes.

Hopeful, never had any symptoms although since testing I have had a couple of high readings and felt a bit light headed and drowsy at the same time so not sure if that is a sign. I also used to get that feeling if I ate too much before. (Not sure I am describing it right as it is more a feeling 'a bit odd'.)

Finally got a growth scan today and looking forward to seeing the little guy. Is the main thing for gd is looking at the abdominal circumference relative to the other measurements? Or are there other things I should be looking at or asking at the scan?

main thing is Abdominal circumference... my girlie is 50th for most measurements and 90th or something for blooming tummy!
hence sun roof at 38w... (sun roof because I asked for it, otherwise would be normal induction.)

Cheers tiny!

After 10 days of no spikes, I have now had three big ones in the last couple of days so I am upping my metformin dose from tonight (as per doctor's instructions) and will be discussing with the team tomorrow.

I feel so disheartened. The first two I assumed were my fault - I thought I'd made a mistake on my calculations but today there is no way I had too many carbs at lunch - I was at Yo Sushi, ate mostly the salad/veg options and the carbs were entirely in the form of two portions of avo maki. So not a lot. White rice I guess but still. And I was late to take my readings and it was still 8.1

Had to go to bathroom to cry for a bit. I am trying to tell myself it's because I'm now 36 weeks and everything is harder. But I just want to curl up into a little ball somewhere.

working. It is so tough when you figure out what works and then your body keeps changing the goal posts. not long now!

my growth scan was very average according to the sonographer and I definitely wasn't having a whopper of a baby. Left feeling pretty happy but then checked the scan details and the tummy was quite big (and I remember dd never had a big tummy) it was 80% centile and everything else was just over 50%. (Well the head was below but that was more because he was so low down she couldn't get a proper view.) However his weight estimate was exactly 50% despite the big tummy.

lig sorry just seen! no was never tested despite showing symptoms and a family history. Turns out I have GD :/ I've been I'll throughout this pregnancy with low iron etc. I'm bring induced in the next two weeks. I'm motitoring sugars just now it's so confusing. I was 7.9 before even eating or drinking anything this morning then by tea time it dropped to 4.5 I don't get it x

Hi Coaster, fellow Marchie, hope the first days of testing are going ok?

Working - exact same situation! Ten days then two spikes yesterday apropos absolutely nothing! I did eat out at lunch and I guess 3rd parties can out sneezy stuff even in salads etc but even so, 8.8?! Nearly had a meltdown...though fine an hour after that and this morning.

Was told it will get harder (great!) and now nearly 36 weeks so...wow am I so ready to get the little Buddha out of there!

Er, sneezy?! I meant sneaky

Hello, joining this thread.
Went for a GT test (fasting) this morning and had a call from the MW this afternoon to say my sugar levels were higher than they should have been considering I was fasting (5.7) they like it below 5. Tbh diabetes is in my family already (most of my dads side, also my granddad from mums) I have a bmi of 41 & also was suffering with PCOS but got pregnanct naturally & am 17wks today. So far all is going well. I'm very worried about this GD now, what do they do, now would things change for me? Danger to my baby?

MW has called me in on Tuesday to go & collect a sugar testing kit from her. Abit worried so thought could get some advice on here. All would be appreciated xxx

Thanks elizardo. Yes, doctors were v nice today and said its common to increase at end and that it's not unusual to even have to convert to insulin for last few days or week of the pregnancy. So I felt a lot better. Turns out my blood pressure is super low which probably explains the almost constant feeling of illness. Am just glad it's not something more serious and related to gd.

On plus side, I find diabetic midwives a lot more helpful and careful than my community midwives. And I am enjoying seeing the same two people every time. Community midwives are great but you do rather get treated like a number!

Mum2be, I am not sure about overall issues but I would say in first instance start reducing sugars and carbs if you can. They will give you a blood testing kit and some dietary advice then review, probably after a week, to decide if you need medication.

But if you are in the habit of eating chocolate and cake etc probably best to cut those immediately. It can be hard. I would have killed for a slice of cake today! It was that kind of day!