gestational diabetes question

[kalidasa]

I have just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 29 weeks. I'm in France, though, where the levels that "trigger" this diagnosis are apparently quite a bit lower than in the UK; they do constant blood tests here and mine have all been fine apart from one fasting test which was 0.04 above the cut off (5.14 mmol/l with a cut off of 5.1). As a result I have been told to follow a strict diet (again, much stricter than comparable NHS info!) and to test my blood 6 times a day, before and after every meal. I've been doing this for a few days and my levels all seem to be fine. Does anyone have experience of this scenario? On the day of the fasting test, I did take anti-emetic medication before the test (because otherwise I would def have thrown up the glucose drink), and I have noticed that there is a bit of sugar in the pills I took. Could this have been enough to put me just over the limit do you think? Obvs will try to ask the doctors too but I haven't been seen at the hospital yet. I speak good French but we only moved here in the summer I don't know all the medical vocab so sometimes feel a bit at sea!

Hello kalidasa, I'm in France too and was borderline on the fasting glucose tests I did. I'm 33 weeks and seeing my midwife tomorrow so we'll see what she says. The cut off seems to be 92 here, and I had 90 at the beginning of my pregnancy, 91 during the glucose tolerance test and 87 last week.

Are you being treated by a gynaecologist/obstetrician or a midwife? I only see the hospital midwives for the mandatory appointments (booking in, then at 35 weeks and 39 weeks) and otherwise see an independent midwife in my town. She seems to be a bit more relaxed, and I'm finding it a lot less stressful and bossy than when I had all the appointments at the hospital with my last baby. Then they put me on a weight loss diet in third trimester because I was gaining too much weight and send me to a cardiologist because they thought my heart rate was a bit fast.

If it's an option to book an appointment with a midwife and have her do the main appointments, I'd really recommend it. If you're in a large town or city you can usually find good ones on doctolib.

Thanks @badalmond, that's really helpful. Yes, I'm with an independent midwife too, she is really nice but she is linked closely to the hospital I'm registered with for the birth and obviously felt she had to follow protocol and refer me to the hospital / prescribe all the blood-tests and diet etc because I was technically just over the level. She did say she thought I'd have no trouble controlling it. I had become very anaemic too without realising (which is now being treated) and I think when I did the test I was so exhausted from the anaemia all the time that I was probably eating more sugar than usual to try to get a bit of energy. I'm not following the diet plan they gave me absolutely strictly, but I have made sure I'm eating sensibly and my levels all seem OK so far. Anyway thanks for getting in touch -- really good to hear from someone else navigating the French system! This is my third baby but the other two were born in the UK, so totally different.