Gestational diabetes and labour

[flyingbeet]

I am 30 weeks pregnant with gestational diabetes and I'm trying to plan my labour. I know things may not always go to plan and I may be recommended an induction or c-section but as of now I am able to control my blood sugars with my diet and hoping to go into labour naturally. If that is the case I would like to try and unmedicated birth. I would like to move around but I'm not sure if that is possible. I don't know if I'm going to have to be stuck in bed being monitored the whole time. I was wondering if anyone can explain the additional monitoring that needs to be done during labour because of gestational diabetes and if it's not achievable to have an unmedicated birth with gestational diabetes

I also have gd and have so many questions, im 37 weeks Monday but I dont see someone till Tuesday about my 36 week growth scan, seeing what my options are then im worried about induction as everyone mentions how bad it ia but I dont think they'll offer me a c section as im diet controlled :/

GD mummy here, baby number 2.
It varies from trust to trust.
But generally the Labour/induction is your choice.
When it comes to GD, to my knowledge if your GD is diet controlled you can proceed to full term 40/41 weeks.
I was told if you end up on metformin it's 39/38 weeks induction.
Then finally if you end up on insulin it's 37/38 induction.
(As mentioned this can vary trust to trust).
I'm 36+1, induction has been booked for next week!
I also have hypertension and a small baby under 10th centile (which can pose more risk).
I was induced at 37+1 with my first, she was born at 37+4.. I had a vaginal birth and I was a positive experience for sure.
Facing hopefully similar this time, I have second time worries like will my body do it again! But I'm so determined not to have a c section if possible!
I would just say don't get your heart set on anything, be open to all possibilities. Nothing worse than regretting or resenting how birth went.
I went in to my first saying 'I'll do whatever I need to do to so we are both ok'.

You've got this xxx

Have you expressed your concern to your midwives?
It might be worth asking about Labour, options and what monitoring is needed

I know I had monitoring.. but depends on how Labour is induced really. I know is pessary your monitored. I had a balloon which was really good and worked great first time.

But things like this are great to discuss as the midwife should be able to tell you.

If you have like an epidural your monitored, I'm certainly pushing for another of I can as it was fantastic... exactly what I didn't want but it's fantastic damn tastic!

@flyingbeet I was in the same boat when I was pregnant with my son and wanted to have minimal interventions. I ended up on Metformin at 37 weeks (for fasting numbers) and my consultant wanted to induce at 39 weeks, but following a chat we agreed on 39+6 to give my body every chance to go on its own.

I didn't go into labour by myself but was "favourable" for induction and went into full on labour very quickly after my second round of gel. Because I was induced, I had to lie down for an hour after each gel both to allow the gel to set and for monitoring. What I didn't expect was that I'd need to do this again a few hours later while I was in labour and it was not pleasant, so I would tell them they will need to have portable monitoring equipment ready for you if monitoring will be required. This was actually in my preferences, but they didn't expect me to progress so fast and I was still on the antenatal ward without portable equipment available.

In the end, I took all the drugs, my baby was back to back and it wasn't manageable for me. However I found hypnobirthing and TENS machine were still really the most helpful things up until the point of my epidural, so they are worth including in your plan if you want to try unmedicated. My actual delivery was very fast, smooth and beautiful and my baby passed all his sugar readings.

So much about labour and birth are unpredictable, but I hope you have the birth experience you wish for and are happy with the outcomes.