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...

Oh, wow! Congratulations LIG and Coastergirl. It's so good to hear about all of these babies doing well after birth.

Aw, congratulations coastergirl!

lol for some reason mil has won a free taxi ride in a taxi full of lindt chocolate and has offered to share. Quite fancy a lift home from work but don't think I can hack the temptation so have declined.

Going on holiday next week and determined to have half a portion of fish and chips. Is that allowed if I forego ice cream all holiday? The idea of a holiday with no treats is a bit miserable though I will be able to have lots of crab and grilled fish at least, yum

I've managed a modest portion of fish and chips. If you don't eat too many chips and maybe not all of the batter then it helps a bit. Also ketchup isn't your friend right now.

Oh wow so many births all at the same time. Congratulations Lig and Coastergirl, great to hear it all went smoothly for both if you.

Gosh congratulations lig and coaster!

LIG your story sounds so similar to mine! I was 9-10cm when they first examined me in triage and barely made it to the delivery room. Paed just made it.

However my hospital wanted Dd's sugars to be 2.6 or above, and to test four times - the fourth one one was at 2.4 so that's why we had to stay another 24 hours. Sounds like your hosp is less strict... Although, my hosp didn't test my blood sugars at all... Just another example of the variance in GD approach.

Just come backf rom my last antenatal and growth scan, been given my induction date in exactly 3 weeks when I will be 38+4, I'm quite happy with that. Baby is measuring fine and my sugars are fine, still diet controlled so I've been told I won't need monitoring during labour, other than random Really happy with that. So excited, 3 weeks seems so long to wait and at the same time it feels like no time at all!

Good to hear ilive and exciting to have a date. Can I ask - did you choose induction or was it recommended? I thought if diet and growth were good they would let you go a bit later? Sorry for nosey q. Just trying to build a fuller picture of my likely options. Worried my levels are a lot worse this week though and they may put me on metformin on Friday. Would that mean definite early induction?

Check out the new NICE guidelines Lurker for the official advice. How are your growth scans going? And the Doppler part of the scans? I believe that induction is meant to be based on that rather than medication now.

I'm 35 weeks today and booked for induction at exactly 38 weeks. This baby is measuring as aprox 94th centile for weight even with insulin treatment keeping my sugars in check.

Lurker I've been having other issues unrelated to GD, I went in preterm labour at 31 weeks which luckily was stopped but I've been having constant cramping and mild contracting since as well as regular blood loss which they can't find a cause for so I was told I could choose when to be induced between 38-40 weeks, I chose 38+4 because the discomfort of the cramps is quit extreme at times and is only getting worst as the pregnancy progress as is the bleeding. I was strongly advised not to leave it too late and told she could not recommend going past 40 weeks so I felt 38+4 was a good compromise. My daughter was born at 38+3 after early induction because of insulin depended gd so that timing felt familiar and okay for me. If I remember correctly before the other issues developed I was told that if I remained diet control I could go to 40 weeks before being induced but that they wouldn't recommend going any further. Hth.

Thanks ilive. That definitely sounds a sensible plan then. My hospital said I could go to 40+6 if I was diet controlled and growth was normal but i would be induced at 38 weeks if i was on insulin and growth was in any way concerning but were less clear about the in between scenarios.

noroom I have only had one growth scan so far and everything was perfect - 50th percentile for everything and normal doppler graph and fluid but it's early days (I was just under 289 weeks then) and I have noticed a definite rise in my readings this week.

29 weeks. It just feels like 289.

Tell me about it. I think that I'm week 385 today!

Less than a week to go for me. I will be 38+3

37+4 today...

How exciting Tiny, it's all coming up so fast now!

Hello

I have posted here a while ago about going for the PGL testing and my result being borderline, but still normal. MW said it was ok and not to worry, but now she send me to retest PLG and also do HbA1c test.

The next day I got call back from diabetic midwife to come to see her tomorrow. She said she will take me to monitoring and she also said some value 7.7 and that the docs like to see people with 7.7 Can anyone tell me what will happen?

In the meantime I have been independently on my own monitoring my levels over couple of days and getting values like:

fasting- 3.8, 5.0, 5.2, 5.4 (on the morning of second PGL), 3.2
2 hrs after lunch 6.6, 8.2- heavy carbs- pasta
one day 3hrs after lunch had only 3.1!!!
2hrs after dinner-7.3, 7.1, 7.2

I was midwife-led low risk until now (35+3). I was planning on water birth in the birth. Is this going to change now?

Are they going to change me to consultant? Does it mean induction earlier?

Also

anyone has any tips and tricks how to prick the finger effectivelly?

I dont seem to be able to get enough blood from one prick and sometimes have to do up to 3 different ones to get enough on one strip. I am definitelly doing something wrong and its getting annoying.

Zahrah have you been given targets? Have you been told to test two hours after a meal? I test one hour after so I don't know what a typical two hour target is but 8.2 will be too high. Your other post-meal numbers may or may not be on target, I'm not sure. Your fasting BGL is only high enough for diagnosis on one occasion (the 5.4) but that is still within my personal target so I don't think they'd do anything other than diet treatment. All of your numbers under 4 are officially hypoglycaemic (too low!). I wonder if you stick with the diet that you might even out some of your results and not get the lows and highs in the same way? I know that I get less hypos if I stay within my target than if I end up having a high post-meal reading. I've had to inject insulin to be able to sort that but most people manage with diet alone.

Noroom zahrah - my fasting glucose always hovers around the 4.0 mark and is sometimes 3.9. The mw said this was absolutely fine and even when I had a 2.4 (!) they just said they would only be worried if I was on insulin. I agree the post-meal numbers seem high for 2 hours after but I also have to test 1 hour after so don't know exactly what the 2 hour target would be.

I had the same problem on the finger pricker zahrah and have found it works best on the highest setting and if you run your hands under warm water first. It is technically supposed to hurt more on the highest setting but is far preferable to having to do multiple tests.

In my personal experience, they probably will be quite strict about not letting you be on the mlu now. It came as quite as a shock to me too that one high reading could lead to such a definitive result, but I suppose a safe birth is the most important thing.

NoRoom

thank you

I have not been given anything, as they said my first result was OK and they did not pursue it further.
I haven't been officially treated for GD yet. So I guess they will give me all that tomorrow. They dont know I have been testing, not sure if I am going to tell tem or not, I really want the waterbirth.

I am eating bad diet, I was eating very healthy until 6th month but then it all went down the drain. I got obsessed with carbonara pasta and McDonald double sausage breakfast. It is amazing to be able to do this testing to see what it actually does to your body!- after the pasta I had 8.2 and after McDonald 7.8.

Now I am eating bean salad for lunch.

Hopefully I will get some more information about the diet tomorrow. Gosh I have been always having sugar cravings, I dont know how will I fight that.

longes

I can start testing after 1 hrs, so my numbers are comparable to everyone else. :-)
I have been doing 2 hrs as my dad told me that is the most representative measurement in diabetes, but he is regular type 2 diabetes and not gestational and it might also vary by country. The values he tells me for them seem to be higher than for gestational.

What is funny that previously I wanted either CS or epidural so I did not want to go to MLU. And I changed my mind recently and totally set on waterbirth. Now I might just get what I originally wanted because the baby is also transverse and doesnt seem to move. But it came all as a shock.

Zarah - For some reason the midwife told me that for gestational diabetes it has to be one hour after - she told me to ignore the references to 1 hour in the little notebook as they were for non-gestational diabetes. I don't know why there would be a difference but that's what she said - I suppose it's even more important to monitor because of the effect on the baby, which would explain the lower targets too.

Some labour wards still have birthing pools and some have waterproof and mobile monitors so you can still use them if you need constant monitoring. Mine doesn't have the waterproof monitors but my mw said I probably only need hourly monitoring (though it's early days) so could use the pool in between as long as I actually gave birth "on dry land". A couple of people on here have managed to persuade the MLU to take them and one person I spoke to got discharged from the diabetes clinic altogether but those seem to be rare experiences. I wasn't up for a proper fight on it as my risk appetite with this pregnancy is not high but I did question whether it was a definite thing that I couldn't use the MLU as I had a great experience there with dd and a textbook birth and was told it was .

The diet is tough but with a proper incentive you can resist, and the sugar cravings should lessen as you get more used to the new diet. I actually feel healthier on it and feel like I have lost some weight so that is some consolation. You're nearly there anyway at 35.3!

If you manage to keep your levels under control with diet and the baby is growing normally you shouldn't need to be induced before 39+6 but obviously that's independent of any other issues such as transverse lie. Though my dd was transverse till nearly 36 weeks too and turned just in time.

Baby Edward (teddy) finally arrived Sat 21 March at lunchtime via ELCS weighing 8lb10. Both of us doing well sugar and everything else wise.
Am uncharacteristically speechless and thrilled with him and the world.
Hope you're all doing well too folks, final stretch! X

Congratulations!!!!!! How long were you waiting for your c section in the end?

Just over 24 hours. But like everyone says, worth it in the end. My only regret is OH spending most of his paternity leave waiting around in hospital. But we're home now and just about taking it all in!

Congratulations elizardo!