Being induced due to gestational diabetes

[Tyler2015]

Hi all, I'm going into hospital next Friday to be induced due to GD. Just wondering what snacks to take in?

Do you want opinions/advice about being induced because of gestational diabetes or just about the snacks?

Both would be very helpful as I'm actually so scared to be induced but I know it's for the best for my baby as his growth dropped on my last scan x

Okay, well full disclosure I would probably decline induction of labour in the majority of circumstances, just you knows that’s my start point 😂

I would not see gestational diabetes alone as reason to induce in fact I think it’s pretty counter intuitive if the reason for it is a ‘big baby’ when the risk of shoulder dystocia is much higher for inductions anyway.

If the GD is controlled the baby wouldn’t be getting anymore sugar than normal anyway as for it to be controlled you would have to by definition have brought sugars into the normal range.

If baby’s growth had dropped I would look into how this is being measured, have you had a series of growth scans to compare between? Especially in the last few weeks growth scans have a really wide margin for error, I think it says what it is on the scan print out. When babies get squashed they get much harder to measure so I would question if there really is a problem in the first place. This brings me onto the last point -

If they really thought there was a risk to baby’s health they wouldn’t book you in for an induction which is over a week away and could take 4 days to actually get baby out. That really isn’t doing something urgently because it’s in babies best interests. If they were really worried about baby you’d be sent for a c-section asap or at the very least they’d have said they want to induce you straight after the scan.

On the snacks front I can’t comment too much, I never got round to eating mine! Take lots, you could be in for a few days and enough for your birth partner too.

I was induced at 37 weeks due to gestational diabetes, and reduced movements. GD can apparently lead to placental problems (it wasn't due to the size) and that made them want to get him out early.

I was scared but it actually was fine. I had the drip and it was pretty painful, but okay. Breaking of the waters wasn't painful at all (I'd been worried about this). And I didn't have to have forceps or anything - once it got going things went pretty quickly.

I was however on the ward for a while waiting for a spot, and the hospital food wasn't okay for for the diet. I took a cool bag with peanut butter sandwiches, nuts and fruits, nut bars, cheese, yoghurts etc. Once in labour, I was I allowed only a few spoons of plain yoghurt.

I had GDM that I managed to control with dirt only, was booked for induction on my due date but went into labour the night before naturally.

I would take the same sort of snacks that you've been having during pregnancy, my faves were babybels and pots of olives!
Your blood sugars should settle considerably by 24hrs after delivery so it should be safe to have a sweet treat around that time too

No idea on snacks but just wanted to share a positive induction story.

I was induced at 37+6 with first due to reduce movement episodes through pregnancy.Pessary was inserted at 8:30pm and things started very quickly for me.Pessary was removed in the morning & I was taken to delivery suite.No drip was needed.Waters were broken by doc & I had a beautiful labour & delivery with no further intervention.Gas & air was used. Was free to walk around & use the yoga ball as I pleased etc.

I would recommend the digital hypnobirthing pack from The Positive Birth Company if you haven’t already done any hypnobirthing.

Good luck!

I also wanted to share a positive story. I was induced at 39+6 due to GD. They wanted to induce at 39 weeks but I asked for a little bit longer, so my body was as ready as possible.

Prior to induction, my cervix was low and soft but closed. After one round of prostaglandin gel, it had opened slightly and after the second round I went into full blown labour. There had been a plan to break my waters and put me on the drip if needed, but none of that happened, I went the rest of the way quite quickly. Had an epidural at 9cm and delivery was lovely and quick. The whole process took about 24 hours (including the 7 or so after the first gel where nothing was really happening and I just watched Netflix on my ipad with my husband and chatted to some other ladies. Labour was intense and overwheming but I feel overall it was such a positive experience. I had heard so many scary stories and was terrified of a "failed" induction, but there are great outcomes too,

I also recommend hypnobirthing for staying calm and my TENS machine was a lifesaver.

Snackwise, I brought in some home bakes from gestationaldiabetes.co.uk (the almond ghriba and brownies) and some babybel in a cooler bag, but the hospital was really good at having GD friendly stuff for me too.

Also, not sure if you've considered harvesting colostrum but it's worth a go if you're up for it! It can help prep your body for labour a bit and the stash can help stabilise your baby's blood sugar if they need it.