Am I in early labour?

[mum2bemay22]

Help! Last night I woke in the night with really bad stomach pain and back pain, I felt nauseous and had sick in my throat (sorry if TMI) but wasn’t actually throwing up. This morning my back is really aching and I’ve had really bad diarrhea. I’m also diabetic and my numbers this morning have been extremely high in comparison to normal. My waters haven’t gone and I haven’t had a bloody show. I’m 34 weeks currently but I get scanned regularly and know the baby’s head is engaged and really low down. What’s the advice?

Call the maternity triage and ask for advice.

It could be! Might be worth getting checked out. My first sign of labour was the runs

My advice is to always always call your midwife x

Definitely call the midwife. My labour started with back ache and diohrrea

Is your diabetes usually well controlled? Could it be DKA? I definitely think you need to be checked out.

I’m on insulin and metformin for my diabetes and usually the numbers are in control but not this morning, they are the highest they’ve ever been and I haven’t even eaten. I rang labour ward and spoke to a midwife but she was not helpful and said that BS could be up because of the acute ‘illness’ I have contracted? Ermmm?? So I have no answers!

Insulin dependant diabetics are high risk pregnancies and you need to present yourself at the hospital for assessment. She is talking dangerous bollox and you need seeing.

Have you got ketone test strips? As a diabetic with high blood sugars, I think you ought to be seen. Go to A&E.

I'm assuming your diabetes is gestational diabetes? If so, illness can cause blood sugars to spike. Your body does weird stuff when unwell. Your blood sugars could also be up because you need to up your nighttime dose of insulin - GD is progressive so this wouldn't be unusual. Morning blood sugars can be up without eating because the body thinks it's being starved and dumps glucose. I used to have a high protein bedtime snack to try to control my fasting blood sugars. I would have something low carb, high protein to eat, drink a lot of water and try to have a little wander round the house then retest an hour after. All of that should help bring BS down. I would also call your diabetes team - they may want to check you out for ketosis.

I know BS can spike especially at 34 weeks onwards, things get harder to control and I know I may need to up my insulin in the next few days if it carries on high. I would have thought BS may have dropped with an ‘illness’ but I do not have an illness! I’m going to wait until 11:25 this morning and test again as that will be after my breakfast, if still high then I’m going straight to the unit rather than ringing again. I don’t want to take a risk, especially as diabetic ladies are higher risk!

Could you have a bug of some sort, causing the stomach cramps and diarrhoea or eaten something that hasn't agreed with you?

BS is now 9.4 so I’m having to go in! No, haven’t eaten anything out of the ordinary. They do say that metformin can cause diarrhea but then I’ve been on that a while now. Hopefully all will be ok but better to be checked!

Best of luck. I had GD with my second pregnancy. Was diet controlled until about 32 weeks then metformin and then finally a bit of insulin. Baby is now 5 months and napping happily on me. I got a lot of great advice from this site and the associated Facebook group: www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk. It's evidence based and you'll get great support from other mums. I found the NHS advice to be outdated a lot of the time - my dad and sister have type 2 and they have found the same.

Oh and if you think it might be the metformin giving you a bad tummy, ask for the sustained release. It's much gentler with fewer side effects but they don't prescribe as standard as it's 10x more expensive than the standard non-SR stuff.

Oh and if you think it might be the metformin giving you a bad tummy, ask for the sustained release. It's much gentler with fewer side effects but they don't prescribe as standard as it's 10x more expensive than the standard non-SR stuff.

Diarrhea was my first sign of early labour. Hope everything went ok for you OP

Hope you're ok op

Thank you all. I was admitted yesterday after coming in, my BS haven’t come down at all. My contractions were coming and going but things seem to have stopped now and I’m just being monitored. Hurry up Thursday when I see my consultant to discuss when baby is finally going to arrive!!