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...

I just thought i would let everyone know induction date turned out to be useless after all, waters went on Wednesday and baby arrived on Thursday at 35+6 weeks. He's in nicu for now (for help with breathing and keeping warm) but he is doing well and should be able to get cuddles soon.

good luck to everybody else due soon!

Congratulations Ellizardo! Glad it all went well for your section in the end.

Congratulations Iliveonabuildsite! I hope that you get lots of cuddles soon and that your time on the neonatal unit is relatively smooth and painless.

Congratulations both of you! I hope you get your cuddles soon ilive. Did you have a ds or a dd?

Thank you noroom and Lurker. We had a little boy, he is a good weight, 5lb8 he is doing well except for his immature lungs. No cuddles yet but in a few days i hope. Good luck to everyone else. His sugars are absolutely fine by the way and have been fine since birth, comfortably in the normal range, but as he is not being fed yet (only on glucose drip) i don't know if its something they will have to monitor later on. I don't think so.

Aw. Lovely. Glad he is doing well. Hope he is home with you soon.

Had my appointment with diabetes midwife. Am still diet-controlled but have to try a bit harder again to keep numbers low. Morning and after-breakfast numbers all fine, and hgc1a (is that the right acronym?) was 4.9 which is good I think but I have had mostly borderline after-dinner numbers and 3 in the past fortnight have gone over. Another scan on 21st April.

Congratulations ellizardo and buildsite!

buildsite gosh another early arrival. he's a good weight and sounds like he is doing well. did they manage to get steroids in, or no time? hope you get cuddles v quickly and home soon.

zahrah if you look up the thread, I posted a link to the latest NICE guidance on gestational diabetes. From memory that says you need to aim for 5.3 or less as fasting level and 7.8 or less one hour post meals. You should have extra scans at 28, 32, 36 weeks (though I only got one at 36). If you can keep diet controlled and off meds and scans look ok then they will recommend induction at 40+6. they will want to do continuous fetal heartbeat monitoring and regular blood sugar tests during labour which pretty much rules out the MLU sorry (even if you go into labour naturally without induction) and they will want you to stay in for at least 24 hours after birth to check the baby's blood sugars.

Yes, sorry zahrah there was a typo in my post to you - 39+6 should have said 40+6.

Congratulations to all the new babies!!

I just had my section pre assessment and all is fine. Not long for me now...

Have to admit I am being a bit more careless lately with the odd ice cream and biscuit. But meal and fasting levels have been good...

Thank you minipie, i did have the steroids 4 weeks ago when we had our first scare with preterm labour but i guess it wasn't quite enough to get his lungs nice and ready but I'm sure it helped loads.

Good stuff tiny. Which exact day is it booked for?

Tuesday

So update

My results were just under the diabetes cut off, but higher that last time. They have decided to monitor me as diabetic for some time but dont class me as diabetic or high risk yet.
So I am do do monitoring, was told to do fasting and 2 hrs after meal, targets 5 and 7.

Im getting growth scan now and with that and week worth of monitoring I will see a consultant who will decide.

Congratulations iliveonabuildsite. hope he gets out of nicu soon.

just did a bit of a post partum experiment in the name of science obviously - just had a carb and sugar heavy meal that would have sent me over whilst pregnant and did a 1 hour and it was 5.1 so looks like my blood sugar is already back to normal levels.

a 1 hour test even...

Update- had growth scan, baby' s abdominal circumference is off the chart. Fluid level is also high, just under the upper range limit. They told me baby is too big and together with the high amniotic fluid it shows to diabetes.

Im trying to get good sugar measurements before I see the consultant but its hard, im having the ups and lows and dont really know what food to eat.
And HUGE sugar cravings!!!!

Zahara - sorry it wasn't good news.

The key is to get your blood sugars stable. everyone responds differently to different foods but you want to avoid processed white carbs and sugar so things like white bread, fruit juice, sweets etc. tend to be bad for every one. increasing protein and fat and decreasing carbs will also help to stabilise your blood sugar. vegetables are a good source of carbs and I could eat most fairly freely but you may need to watch your portion size with starchy carbs like potatoes, pasta, rice and bread. fruit can cause problems for people but I found apples and satsumas ok.

The frustrating thing is that lifestyle and hormones play a big factor so a meal that keeps levels low one day may cause a high reading the next. I found if I was ill or stressed my sugar levels went up and if I was very busy my levels went down. A walk after meals helped to keep them down and was a good cheat if I ate the wrong foods.

Also around 32 weeks my levels went up from a hormone surge.

Zahrah I was only just over the cut off for diagnosis but when I started testing, my fasting numbers were consistently high. I was already following a fairly low GI diet and as I'm slim the dietician was worried that I would start losing weight if I got any stricter. I was put on insulin after 3 days of monitoring. I still had a growth scan showing abdo circumference off the scale four weeks later. My post breakfast results were just above target on a few occasions but as I had such a big baby on board, they decided to add in another type of insulin. My next growth scan was better (still big baby but not growing ridiculously rapidly). Some babies grow very big with minimal extra glucose floating around apparently.

I guess what I'm saying is don't beat yourself up and if you need some medication then it's not the end of the world. I'm much more well now that my insulin dosage has been sorted and baby seems to be doing better too.

I really don't feel like going for my appointment later. I feel really nauseous and tired. I also don't want to know the growth scan results. I get the feeling that they aren't going to help my confidence...

noRoom

sorry you dont feel great today.

how far are you?

I know i definitelly have sugar issues as even with the diet I am still not much under the limits and that is minimum sweets and fruits etc.
I ate 2 scoops of white rice and some little potatoes with meat yesterday evening, my after meal level was under but this morning fasting level was over 5.2.

Did they tell you anything about the birth, what can you expect with large baby? Do they still insist on vaginal birth?

They don't insist on a vaginal birth but only because DD3 was 9lb 13oz and had a shoulder dystocia. I really don't want a c section though (although I'm not keen on the idea of giving birth either!!). I have been told that I can have a c section purely based on not feeling like facing giving birth again after a shoulder dystocia. We'll see what today's appointment brings. I have an orthopaedic appointment to go to first though. I broke a bone in my foot when I was about 24 weeks pregnant and it hasn't healed perfectly so I'm being threatened with a couple of operations for that. I may be a bit busy at the moment though...

So, estimated weight today at 35+5 is 8lb. I've had my induction date brought forwards...

No room

Do you have also other proportions out of line, is the abdominal circumference off as well.

Good luck, when is your induction booked for?

Abdo circumference is off the scale. All measurements are big (as in around the 90th centile) but the abdo circumference pushes up the weight. Induction is booked for exactly 37 weeks which is 8th April. Only 9 days to go...