Type 1 Diabetes Pregnancy Support Thread

[MrsNuckyThompson]

Wow - with a catchy title like that, who could resist? I was part of a lovely supportive thread like this one during my last pregnancy which was nearly 4 years ago now. I'm currently around 6 weeks pregnant with my 2nd DC. DS is 3.4

Anyone want to join me?

That's good news Esker. Hope the next few weeks go smoothly.

My hospital actually has an M&S food in it so will be handy for those times when hospital food isn't up to scratch. The actual canteen does decent stuff too better than the patient meals so DH can always get be something from there.

Brilliant Esker! Really glad to hear the situation has settled down. Obviously still bit uncertain times, but it mostly sounds positive. And good to have made contact with the lead obs consultant.

Busy week here: had both the heart and the anomaly scan, seen a midwife, my endo and one of the obstetricians. All good, except will need to do anomaly rescan due to uncooperative baby.
Hba1c is 5.7 which is an insane number for me. I'd normally go for a very celebratory pint or 2 after that, but will just have to settle with a virtual pat on the back. Tho it is mainly reflecting the hypos of 1st trimester I think. Levels have been a lot higher the last month or so... ugh. Been bit too careful upping ratios.

Hope you enjoy your time off Esker & that everyone else is good too.

Great news esker - I'm really pleased for you. Encourage you to really relish the time all work albeit it must be a bit scary. Trust me, once you have kids you never ever get to do just nothing again!!! What a luxury!

ripley well done on the hba1c. Really hard fought and we know how tough it is. I had mine done again this week so will find out in two weeks how it's doing.

Have had several night time hypos on the last week which I hate and which scare me!! At least I'm waking up. In not going to bed low and whenever I try dropping Levemir I wake high. Clinic keep telling me to have a bed time snack but I eat dinner late - by the time I get home from work, play for 30 mins with DS and do bedtime it's 7.30 so I rarely get to eat before 8.30. Having a snack at 10 is not a high priority for me!!!

Morning. Hope everyone is well. Just checking in but little to report! Community midwife tomorrow and back to hospital diabetic clinic next week. 16 weeks tomorrow.

Hi teainbed. Glad to hear all is well with you.

I logged in this morning to post my woes to the only people who will understand. Got to work this morning to realise I have only TWO UNITS of insulin left in my pen. Haven't even had breakfast yet (DS up half the night ill, I didn't have time this morning).

It takes me about 45mins to get to the office, and I have a packed diary until at least 1.30, so there is no possibility for me to get home until at least 2.30. So in the meantime I either have to eat anyway and let my BGs go sky high or just starve. So frickin depressing! I could WEEP, I'm so hungry.

Hope everyone else is well. I'm 21+2 today and feeling lots and lots of movement tho still feels very gentle at the moment.

Oh Nucky how horrible! Can pharmacies offer an emergency supply in a situation like this? Or can you walk a couple of laps around the building to make those 2 units work a bit harder? It's horrible, but don't worry, a couple of high hours won't hurt your baby. Episodes like this underline the fact (as if we didn't know it already) that being Type 1 is absolutely RUBBISH.

Tea congrats on the landmark of 16 weeks. Nearly half way now!

I'm having an extremely uneventful week at home. Thankfully no worrisome bleeding (just ongoing 'old' bleeding which is the remnants of the original bleed and I have been told is ok). I still feel worried about the baby, but it's lovely to have made it to 21 weeks now, and feels like something to celebrate as the scary hospital admission was 2 weeks ago today. I can feel plenty of movement now - all very gentle, as you describe, Nucky. It's so lovely and reassuring, particularly as I got a bit addicted to listening to the heartbeat about 4 x per day when I was in hospital!

I've been increasingly bold with eating and even had some (whisper it) - p-i-z-z-a - on Sunday, which turned out ok. Had to limit myself to 3 slices though, even though I could easily pile through a whole pizza if I let myself. Blood sugars were ok afterwards, which was encouraging, although I don't think I will make a regular habit of it!

Hope your day improves soon Nucky!

Once before I got a pharmacy to lend me a cartridge, but it was such a faff because they had to call my GP, then the GP had to fax through a prescription - it took hours! Bothered that time as I was away overnight (what an idiot - took a spare of levemir, not novorapid!) but not sure I can be bothered today...

Have had a black decaf coffee and three babybels so far. Going to have a diet coke shortly and then hopefully drive home at 1.30. At least I can work from home so not a complete and unmitigated disaster!!

Esker - glad to hear all is going well with you. What a relief! Did you get the results of the scan they were doing?

Oh Nucky that sounds crap! So easy to do when you're busy and tired.

Esker pleased to hear things have settled down.

I was at community midwife this morning and got to hear the heartbeat so that was nice. Thankfully I don't have to go back there but it was nice to say hello as I'll see them after I suppose.

Well got home around 2.30 and was 8.4 do not terrible I suppose. Was so hungry tho that I had tomato soup and a sandwich and was about 12 afterwards ffs. But I was ravenous. Imagine what it must be like to just pop something in your mouth without thinking!!!

In other news the baby properly jumped earlier at a really loud noise. I know (from
What to expect or similar) that they can hear by 18 weeks but it was really funny when it happened. To be fair the noise was so loud I also jumped!

Everyone ok? I'm just checking in as I'd fallen off Threads I'm On. Some of you must be getting to the business end of this pregnancy soon? I have diabetic antenatal clinic tomorrow, got four weeks off for good behaviour which was like a lovely holiday.

Hi tea - all ok here. Enjoy clinic tomorrow - hopefully you'll get to listen to heart beat?

Have fatal heart scan tomorrow, so be nice to see the baby. Then off to clinic afterwards... Only issue is they're at two different hospitals, so I'll spend the morning in the car and a fortune on parking!

How is everyone else? Esker - any news?

Hello everyone, I'm well and hope you all are too! Have had a grumpy day as all post meal readings have been well above target. I finally decided to go for a short walk, which brought me down to a lovely low of 2.8 . Now in the anxious build up to my post-dinner test, so we shall see if I managed to mess this one up as well...

But aside from that things have been fine. So reassuring to feel baby kicking. I still have a small amount of dark bleeding, but nothing worrisome.

I also went to have a private blood test to determine the baby's blood type. As I am rhesus negative, they have had to give me some anti-d injections due to the bleeding. However IF the baby is rhesus negative as well, then I won't need further anti-d, so my obstetrician recommended getting the test. (Apparently it may become available on the NHS at some point but not yet). There's a 50/50 change of him being negative as well, so fingers crossed for a win on that count. It would be nice for something not to be complicated for once!

Got follow up scan on Wednesday and then clinic on Thursday so then I guess I'll have more clarity on the work situation.

Good luck to all with clinic appointments and scans!

Hi all - sitting in my second waiting room of the day. Had fetal echocardiogram this morning which was all fine. The baby was being awkward and the consultant was struggling to see past her spine so I was sent out for a cold drink and walk / jump around to make her move. She did eventually and they got what they needed.

As someone else mentioned upthread the consultant was TERRIBLE. she was so quietly spoken and seemed to mumble - when she was telling us she couldn't get a good view through the spine she was so unclear we both thought she was saying there was an issue with the baby's spine and panicked. She also just explained all results as 'normal' with no explanation of what she had checked or the results.

Thankfully there was a fetal heart specialist nurse in there who was lovely, came out with us and stood in the corridor explaining all the results. Talk about bedside manner...

I'm now at my normal clinic appt, seeing DSN and obstetrician. At least she'll be able to see the heart report hot off the press! Getting updated hba1c today fingers crossed.

Esker - good to hear all is still calm for you. Guessing at this point you'd be quite happy to get back to work??

I'm also in the waiting room Nucky! Seeing midwife, obstetrician and endocrinologist. I don't think anything exciting is happening today though. Good luck for your HBA1C.

Esker glad things are going ok.

Wow! That was epic. Ended up being at clinic nearly two hours, mainly twiddling my thumbs and looking on mumsnet!!

Hba1c was 33 so very pleased with that. To celebrate I have just eaten a giant bar of chocolate. I usually allow myself something like that after clinic days. It's like I'm cheating on them and they'll never know! . Am bound to feel terrible about it shortly but for now I can report that it was bloody lovely!

Wow amazing HBA1C Nucky! That definitely deserves much chocolate! I am insanely jealous of you! After yesterday's debacle of highs and lows I am on the straight and narrow

Great news on your healthy scan as well. Glad you had a least one person able / willing to explain things properly.

Hope you haven't been stuck in there too long tea!

I am keen to be cleared for work. I've missed SO much now! (Having said that I have been working all day planning lessons at home so keeping my hand in... but it would be good to be able to actually see the students myself!)

Brilliant A1C Nucky well done! I also have a little treat after clinic, feel I deserve it. Chocolate biscuit today.

All fine here except my scan dates were wrong, had been booked for the 20 week scan instead of 18 and no cardiac scan booked. I don't think that was diabetic clinics fault I think someone just churned out the standard ones for non diabetics so I've got to phone tomorrow for new times.

Hope you get cleared for work soon Esker I'd be climbing the walls if I were you!

esker - in that case fingers crossed they sign you fit to return. Take it easy though!

tea - yes it can be a bit of a mess sometimes trying to ensure that you're booked in for all the 'extras'. They also mucked up my cardiac scan, so ended up having it today at 22+2 instead of 20. But apparently up to 23 weeks is just fine.

As a further mini celebration I've just ordered some baby things online! Haven't bought a single thing up to now, but decided to push the boat out and buy some teeny tiny clothes (I remember doing the same thing on the day of DS' cardiac scan - bought two vests and a pram blanket from Cath Kinston - lovely!). Went a bit mad on a pram suit and some sleep suits. Not too much pink - tried to buy girlie but not pink where possible! :D

Antenatal clinic was fine. Not back for another 4 weeks. They've sorted the scans so anomaly scan next week and got cardiac one just after Christmas.

I was just reading about people's weight on my other antenatal thread, I've not put anything on! I think in my non diabetic pregnancies I ate a lot and consequently put loads of weight on but this one since I can't graze constantly or indulge much it seems to have avoided too much for now. Fingers crossed.

I haven't ordered anything yet for the baby, I'm a bit superstitious, I'll obviously need to get the basics in nearer the time but I can never believe there's really a baby coming until they hand it over to you after the birth!

Evening all. Happiness is fleece joggers on the sofa watching Gray's Anatomy. Just got back from first day back at work and it was good! Lovely welcome back from everyone and I'm basically only going to teach a half timetable (10 hours instead of 20 per week). They've also just given me two sixth form classes so they're really small and I can just teach with us all sitting round a big table so can avoid standing up. Really happy with it as a solution.

Had clinic yesterday and all was well with nothing much interesting to report. Guess that's good then!

Also got blood results back from foetal blood test and baby is Rhesus Negative too so I won't need any more anti-D. PHEW

That's good news Esker. Enjoy your evening.

Yay esker, really nice to hear you got cleared to return and that it also felt good to do so 🙂. And the blood tests too.
Ooh, 33! Pretty amazing nucky! Definitely a giant chocolate bar for that.

Almost 23 weeks now and starting to feel it. Have succumbed and ordered a 'baby on board' badge, which I avoided last time round despite at times hellish central line route. Not a fun commute now either but it's much more humane and not long till xmas break so not sure if I'll bother with it till after new year...
When I am sure I'll be waddling. Found some fairly ok low alcohol mulled wine (and no alcohol too), now just need to get over brie. Snif.
Or try it cooked...

I feel like I have thrown all caution to the wind this pregnancy:

• have been having Parma ham / salami very regularly (last pg cured meats were OK by NHS, this time they say to exercise caution due to toxoplasmosis)
• have had goats / blue cheese several times in salads
• have had a glass of wine most weekends after I was about 16 weeks or so. On Christmas Day I fully intend to have TWO glasses of champagne. Sod it!!!

Those baby things I ordered appeared. Even DH was going a bit gooey. Won't buy too much more til closer to the time but Petit Bateau had an event and their stuff is brilliant, especially their mutlipack vests. It is such nice quality and just washes and washes so nicely. Also got an extortionate pram suit and some sleep suits. We have plenty of unisex newborn stuff from last time as we didn't know what we were having.

Hope everyone else is well. sugar coma - are you still alive and kicking??

Hello! I am indeed - glad to hear everyone seems to be doing well. I have still been lurking but been feeling a bit too overwhelmed by diabetes to contribute much - it just feels like it's my life 24/7 especially since I work from home so there are days when I just find myself obsessing over blood glucose readings...

Generally things are OK and am right in the middle of switching from St Mary's to Royal Free at the moment. The care at St Mary's has just been so disappointing and RF has been the opposite in every way: consistency of care, checking baby's heartbeat during visits, booking me for fetal heart scan (going next week at 23 weeks - a bit late but it should still be fine), willing to see me once a week or fortnight rather than trying to palm me off for a month at a time...

The main thing difference is I would come in with reams of BG readings (and bolus readings from my pump) and no one at St Mary's was interested in looking at them whereas at RF the diabetic nurse studies them, monitors the patterns and advises me to make adjustments based on what she's seeing, which is exactly the kind of support I've been longing for this entire time.

Also St Mary's were so adamant I shouldn't have the fetal heart scan they spent every appointment trying to talk me out of it culminating in a meeting with three doctors - obstetrician, fetal medicine specialist and junior doc - who told me the scan isn't necessary. And it turned out the fetal medicine specialist - who was visibly pregnant - had recently had one herself! I told them every other T1 diabetic woman in London I knew was having it, it was obviously a financial decision taken by the trust and the resources would have been better spent sending me for the scan rather than wasting three doctors' time telling me not to have it.... aaaanyway, rant over. It was the last straw and fortunately RF are being great.