Gestational diabetes support thread Sept 2023

[Fairylight102]

I was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes and wondered if there are any others out there in a similar position and would like chat about it.

@HoneyBunnii spoke to you on another thread and @TTCX2 I noticed your post about GD in august if you’re still here?

A bit about me, I’m 33 and just over 30 weeks pregnant with my first baby. My risk factor for GD was family history.

Started finger prick testing this week and it’s been quite stressful but I’m starting to get the hand of it now. I’ve had one spike of 9.3 but other readings have been ok so far.

Best wishes to anyone else out there experience this ❤️

@HoneyBunnii yeah, I think that is what is happening and potentially a spike in cortisol levels as well - work and teenage son are causing lots of stress, which doesn't go well with trying to control blood sugar!

@Fairylight102 thanks 😄i will check the website out because i wanted to take a break for the weekend alone with my hubby before the baby arrives and was feeling alittle down thinking about the limited options i would have as we would be eating out for the two days.. but i guess there is some hope now!

Yeah i guess chapattis are better than naan because they contain less ingredients (water and flour) and i think it uses a different flour whereas naan uses full on plain white flour so does make sense. Or you could make them at home with wholemeal flour and freeze them and just order the curry😃we do that with the certain moroccan breads

@Farcry66 i can barely cope with my toddler son so i can imagine just how stressful it would be with a teenager and the extra worries that come at that stage, but hopefully not too long for you to go now :D

I had GD - first pregnancy and as I didn’t want to get induced, I went for an elective c section last month (in 39th week as that was only date available). Baby was just over 7 lbs.

I was diagnosed at 28 weeks and went to the end diet controlled. I had about 3 over the range readings in that time (all fasted and maybe max 6.4 or so), but as these were spread out they didn’t seem concerned.

I found the GD UK website previous poster shared really useful.

I was fairly strict with my diet. Still ate loads but I mainly ate veg and protein with small amount of grains/bread etc. Tried to walk after every meal and lots of water. I made myself a meal plan and ended up having similar meals week on week to keep it simple. Had a few gelato trips offset by a long walk there and back which didn’t seem to spike sugars.

Good luck to you all- I found GD a bit of a mental strain with the nutrition, exercise, testing BG 4x a day….however I came out of the pregnancy fit and had lost weight (sounds a bit superficial but a silver lining for me). Post partum I’ve relaxed the rules but still keeping some of the habits to avoid type 2 later on. This thread is definitely a good idea to have a support group x

In the club guys!

Got the call this morning. They said if my second blood test was 30mins too soon they would do it again but they will accept it being 20 mins too soon.

So I’m in! 😭

I’m currently in hospital - not gd related. But they are checking my blood sugars every now and again. Their monitor and mine are showing different results. And the weird thing is there’s no rhyme or reason to it. Like sometimes mine will show higher. And sometimes theirs will. Done at roughly the same time too. Strange.

@PeakedTooSooon welcome to the club 😁 wow didnt think 10 mins would make a massive difference.. hopefully it will be over soon and we can all indulge in the treats we miss

My own monitor can show very different results in the space of 5 minutes - I feel like it is quite imprecise.

After a weekend of crap readings, I have started metformin today, so hopefully that will help with my fasting glucose now.

I find that if i dont wash my hands thoroughly before testing it affects my results.. wierd i know.. like today when i gave my hands a quick rinse with warm water and then tested and it was 8.4 which blew me away and then i remembered i was preparing food for my toddler so went and washed my hands with some handwash and did the test again and the result was 6.4. Made a huge difference. The downside is that there is now a huge red dot on my chart from the previous reading showing i was off target even though it was probably caused by something on my fingers ò.ó

I had been washing my hands throughout preparing the food so thought my hands were clean enough to just go ahead with a rinse before the test :/ i guess i must have picked up a trace of something from his highchair or something .. idk

This is really interesting what people are saying about variable readings.

Something I’m finding quite annoying is the app I was told to log results in has different targets that the midwife told me. So for example I was told for first morning test, 5.3 or less. Therefore a reading of 5.3 should be the top of acceptable, but my app is set up to class 5.3 as a high reading (and I can’t change the setup) 🙄

I took my first metformin last night and this morning my fasting glucose was 4.6! So it obviously did its job - I've got to take increasing doses slowly over the next 9 days, but hopefully that'll fix me!

@Fairylight102 that's really annoying! I only have a hand written record that I have to photograph and send in every week unless I'm worried about a pattern of results.

Hi everyone! Looking for some advice. Second pregnancy, didn’t have GD in my first . Did test last week was sent due to high bmi. No one mentioned I should sit for the whole 2 hours but since then have seen that advice online and that walking can affect the result. Haven’t had a call yet and now panicked that I’ve possibly affected the result - I went for about a 20 min or so gentle walk around to some shops (mainly to buy pastries for straight after 😂) I’m 24 weeks so thinking if I do have it should be picked up in urine sample with midwife or should I mention it at my next appointment in case I should do it again?

Definitely worth mentioning. I didn’t have GD in my first pregnancy, and didn’t have it when I tested at 28 weeks, but then tested again last week and I had since developed it. Not sure when I developed it but in my last urine test after the GTT test at 28 weeks, it wasn’t spotted.

@Teachermum99 might as well mention it because even a 15 min walk can reduce your blood sugar results greatly

Is anyone losing weight as a result of the GD diet?

Been on it for less than a week and already 1.5kg lighter on the scales. Am worried that I’m not doing it properly but, tbh, as long as it’s not affecting baby, then I’m not complaining.

My diet is no sugar at all (but did have a couple of Guylian sea shells on one day, but at separate times), and small amount of carbs with 2-3 meals a day (eg fist sized amount of pasta, two small slices of bread, etc. Did have 3 chunky chips with one meal…). But just a little worried about how the weight loss affects the baby. I don’t feel hungry or as though I’m starving myself, but surprised at the scales.

@PeakedTooSooon I have also lost about a kg over the last 2 weeks. I mentioned it to the diabetes midwife and she said it could be related to the dietary changes and not an immediate concern, just keep an eye on it.

I have a quick question, if my blood glucose levels have been stable all day and even after my evening meal its like, idk.. around 6.1 lets say.. could i have a sweet snack before bedtime? Nothing big i was just thinking like 2 squares of dark chocolate (70% cocoa).. im currently addicted to those Hu dark chocolate bars with the crunchy quinoa and craving them massively before bed idk why😣i did it a few times before and did feel abit guilty but my blood sugar levels were low the next morning and even after having breakfast they were still on target..

It’s only been 6 days for me, but I’ve done that a couple of times.

On Friday I had a very healthy lunch and then had a chocolate seashell as a snack, and took an additional reading an hour later to see how I reacted and it was normal. I had a second seashell a couple of hours later 🙈

Today, I had a small slice of homemade cake and then a couple of hours later, had a chicken wrap for lunch, which has previously caused my levels to spike (think it was the tortilla wrap I used). I walked for 15 mins and when I tested it an hour after eating my lunch, it was 4.5.

So as long as it’s under control, it should be fine (I think!).

If you’re not sure, I would say do an additional reading after you had the chocolate to see how you reacted.

@PeakedTooSooon i might try the additional test after i have had it.. i doubt it would make mich difference i think my spikes are caused mainly by drinking whole milk.. had 2 slices of pizza along woth some cranberry juice the other day and my results were really low surprisingly.. i might wait to try the additional testing after my appointment this week though incase it causes my sugar levels to go above target and get loaded onto the app 😬

How is everyone doing? I’m 32 weeks now and I started on metformin a couple of days ago as I kept getting high fasting readings first thing in the morning, despite my after meal readings being in range.

The tablets seem to have solved the issue with the fasting readings, but now I’ve started getting high readings after breakfast (even though I’m eating the same foods that didn’t cause a spike previously)

Can’t wait to get to the end now and have baby safely delivered!

ill be 33 weeks Saturday and still diet controlled. Had a growth scan today and baby girl is estimated at 4lb 4 oz and is measuring (slightly smaller than) average which they were happy with. They seem happy to let me go a month now without any diabetes check ups, though I am seen weekly for other complications.

@GreenAventurinee that’s great! Sounds like it’s well under control for you.

Seems like 🙂! Has anyone had growth scans yet? What are your estimates so far?

I had one at about 30 weeks and baby was bang on average size at that point, then another coming up at 36