Gestational Diabetes

[MummyToBeAgain1]

Hii

Posting this for support..

So I had my 28 week midwife app today who told me i'v got gestational diabetes. The normal score is 7 and anything above means you have it. I scored 7.9..

I won't have anymore midwife apps now.. i'll just be having hosp apps.

The baby is measuring exactly to its date.. everything else is fine. My BMI is normal.. more on the bottom end of the scale - I'm thin and tall.

I'm now at home stressing about labour :/ Dr Google is not helping. I don't want to be at risk of getting induced or having a c-section etc. Whats the likelihood? Has anyone been through this beforr and turned out to have a normal labour etc..

I had gestational diabetes when i was pregnant with my DS. They say its more common if you have had a lot of children (he was number 5), the older you are (i was 40) and if you are overweight (i was).
I started off diet controlled and then took metformin. I was induced at 38 weeks and he was tiny at 4lb. I expected him to be huge given all the fuss.
The birth was fine despite being induced.
The problem that his blood sugars were very low after birth. He was too exhausted to breastfeed, ended up in NICU with jaundice. After a week or so i gave up on bf and moved to ff. He picked up and did well from then on. We are now 4 years on and he is totally fine.

My little GD baby is 8 days old. I was induced at 37 weeks due to worries that the placenta wasn't functioning well, but she is perfectly healthy (as was the placenta). 6lb 9oz, whereas my last baby, where we realise now I must have had GD undiagnosed, was a massive 11lb 14oz (and unwell with low sugars).

It can happen to anyone - high BMI puts you at greater risk but it's the placenta that chucks out the hormones so it's not necessarily that. At the meeting I went to I was the only overweight one.

It's a very high maintenance way to be pregnant if I'm honest and I got so frustrated, but I promise you it is absolutely 100% worth it. I was doing blood glucose tests 4x daily, and during labour it was every 2 hours - it is extra important to keep them steady during the last bit because this is what affects baby's sugars at birth (if your sugars are too high then they will overproduce insulin in the womb and then struggle to regulate once born) - baby will have sugar tests themselves after birth.

There is a Facebook group called Gestational diabetes UK, it is absolutely brilliant and really kept me sane since diagnosis, I would highly recommend joining.

My GTT level was 8.1 and that is only slightly over the safe level here (7.8) so I do think mine was quite mild. But I put a lot of effort into my diet (I even lost weight although I was far too heavy to begin with so a more desirable outcome for me!) - I got told off at first for cutting carbs almost entirely, but then found a good balance where I just decreased the carbs in meals and increased protein/good fats, and cut out anything with refined sugar. Thankfully this was enough to stay diet controlled throughout and baby passed her sugar tests first time - despite usual hospital protocol for GD mums we were discharged well within 24h of the birth.

I have learned a lot from it TBH and although I am very happy to be able to have stuff like cake again :o I am planning on continuing with a lower carb way of eating - it's been surprisingly easy and I really don't feel deprived, I'm sure it helped me have more energy and feel fuller.

Just to add with my DS, who as I said was massive, we had a huge amount of difficulty after the birth. Because I had passed the GTT at 28w we had no idea I had GD (must have developed it later) and so I had no idea my blood sugars were too high. Him being so big was a hell of a shock (although the birth was fine, easiest of the three actually) but then his blood sugars stayed low for a few days and he was jaundiced too.

So no matter how hard it was dealing with all this, I know it was worth it and I just kept reminding myself how awful that time was, and I'm glad we caught the GD this time as it made it easier to prepare for any problems.

AUI I am autistic and my consultant who diagnosed me (I was already seeing her due to BMI and the history with DS) said about avoiding certain things so I took it literally and got really quite ill 😳 Thankfully it was only a few days until I saw her again and she told me to go and eat something with carbs for dinner before I gave her a heart attack from worrying about me 😳 It was much easier to find the balance after that! 😁😁

Aw thank you! I am somewhat in love 😍

Yes it is really a heck of a lot to take in isn't it, I did have an awful lot of anxiety over it and I'm glad not to have to check food labels anymore now! But it's not forever OP, this too shall pass (literally - as soon as you have passed the placenta you are no longer diabetic and that post-birth toast is literally THE BEST FOOD EVER :)) and it's just keeping baby safe. More scans are a bonus too :)

It's shit, Op - I cried for about 3 days! But then I got on with it and actually ended up losing weight because of the diet. However 2.5 years later I am now pg with number 2 and think I am at least prediabetic (which is basically v early type 2 as far as I can tell ).

Anyway what I wanted to say was, I ended up with a c section, which I was terrified of, and honestly it was really easy. Done in an hour; i was walking a few hours later and was in the pub having lunch with friends within the week. So obviously do your best with diet and exercise and hopefully you won't need a section, but if you do, try not to dread it!

On the plus side you get:

More checks and scans
A better diet
More exercise

Other piece of advice - don't think about what you can't eat, think about what you CAN eat. Cheese. Fish. Meat. Avocado. Eggs. Nuts. Look up fathead pizza - low carb and extra cheese, yum!