Anyone want to join in a support thread for those with gestational diabetes?

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Since it seems to be reasonably common, I thought maybe we could have an ongoing thread where we could discuss issues relating to it, and maybe share ideas of meals that work for us to keep blood sugars down.

I was just over the threshold on my GTT nearly 3 weeks ago, and have been monitoring my bloods 4 times a day since last Thursday. Had my first visit to joint diabetic/obstetric clinic this morning, which I found thoroughly impersonal and demoralising, so am feeling a bit low about it at the moment.

I am nearly 20 weeks, so still have a long way to go. Am hoping to control it just through diet, but consultant gave me a prescription for insulin 'just in case I need it'!

Am having the most problem with my after breakfast reading. Have been told to keep it below 7 one hour after eating, but even with the cereals they have recommended, I am getting around 8-9. Dietician has recommended trying baked beans on toast for breakfast instead. Is anyone else struggling with this one, as they said it is a common one to find raised due to steroids produced by the body in the mornings?

Ladies dont rise to fatback and give her the satisfaction of being a troll - I have just done a quick search and she has only ever posted 6 messages, so is either a name changer or a troll or both! People like that are the ones that give MN a bad name.

You are all entitled to have your own thread on GD in the Pregnancy section - where it belongs - is she anti all the other threads for anti-natal mums to be, or special needs, or any other sensitive subject that people are concerned about......

Just ignore her posts and carry on with the valuable posts that support each other through this process. She is not the only other Type 1 diabetic who has ever got pregnant, and wont be the last, but she obviously has not come to terms with the condition herself.

Oh and it is a myth that diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar -

Myth #1 People with diabetes can't eat sweets or chocolate.
If eaten as part of a healthy meal plan, or combined with exercise, sweets and desserts can be eaten by people with diabetes. They are no more ?off limits? to people with diabetes, than they are to people without diabetes.

Myth #2 Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.
No. Diabetes is caused by a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors. However, being overweight does increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes. If you have a history of diabetes in your family, eating a healthy meal plan and regular exercise are recommended to manage your weight.

So there!

Think you're right andyrobo237.

Today I started off really well with my BS. Then it all went pete Tong. I honestly have no idea why as I've eaten properly and watched the portion sizes.

Did anyone else who had early diagnosis of GD notice it start to rise at 23 weeks? The diabetes clinic told me that sugars start escalating around this time so I wonder if this is the cause (although I have had my insulin increased on Friday)?

Does our own troll make us even more famous than being on the daily discussion list?
Clearly we've made it ladies!

Haven't reached 23 weeks yet jw, but will let you know when I get there! Good to be forewarned though, thanks.

Scored over 7 just for jacket potato and salad at lunchtime, which was rather a . Had a good tea with virtually no carbs and got 5.2, so made up for it a bit.

johnworf, I'm not sure re the 23 weeks bit, but it would make sense in that normally they don't test anyone till c28 weeks so presumably that's when the sugars are more likely to be at levels that your insulin can't cope with?
CSWS, well done on tea, I seem to recall jacket potatoes being my undoing once or twice - it actually makes a difference whether you microwave or oven cook them apparently!

Which is better pr? Mine was oven cooked.

I knew you'd ask me that & I've been desperately trying to remember.
If i were guessing I'd say microwave as less cooking time for carbs to break down and therefore slower/more work for your body to do. But that could be codswallop.
Am typing fast as internet connection keeps dropping as I type

JW mine started to rise a lot from 24 weeks i had a growth scan at 26 weeks and he weighed just under 3lb then but i expected this
im having another growth scan tomorrow il let you guys know the outcome
im 32 wks tomorrow i know they are going to do something earlier cos of baby,s size and head problem,the longer he is in there the more fused his bones get
i am anticipating a bad day tomorrow
im not a pushy person at all and kinda easily led but this is a very sensitive issue for me
in my mind as soon as hes big enough and ok to cope in the outside world i want him out for his sake not mine

of disneystar, we'll be thinking of you tomorrow. good luck, have they given you an earliest date for having him or do you just play it by ear each visit which must be very draining?

Good luck tomorrow disneystar. Can I ask if they know what causes the bones to fuse? I presume it's totally unrelated to the GD.

go to

www.headlines.org.uk/

thats what my baby has i have 2 with crouzons syndrome

we were told this baby didnt have it but at 26 weks scan his head started to change shape

please dont worry its totally unrelated to the GD

1 in 300,000 are born with this each year so i have done loadsa print out for consultant tomorrow as i douby he will probably never had a case before
my son 8 years ago was the first one they had ever had
hence why tomorrows such a big day for me i need answers tomorrow need my mind at rest
thank you for asking about me and wishing me luck its very appreciated

Are your sons badly affected disneystar? Is it 'just' a physical thing for them, or does it affect them in other ways too?

one has very delayed speech slow auditory processing severe psoriasis 80%
he cant walk far needs a wheelchair as he bleeds when he walks he has had a double heart bypass hes 7
charlie is having heart surgery next year he has been fed via ng tube and pump machine till 18 mth ago he eats now weighs 2 stone 2lb hes 6 hes doing ok
they both attend hospital 3 times a week every week without fail
school twice a week home tutor the rest of the time
they have had complete head reconstruction i wont be graphic ok but basic
its an 8 hour operation they cut them from ear to ear in a zig zag shape
remove the face and reconstruct from scratch the affected areas eg bone behind the eyes replacing with metal pins there whole face is different and new skull has to be enlarged and broken to enable brain to grow to relive pressure on the brain or they would of died
they are wonderful boys very happy in there own way 7 year old has a daily gruelling tasks he cries a lot but it has to be done
this is as basic as i can be theres a load more to it than that.
i do have another son hes not affected hes 4
this baby who we are going to call samuel i hope and pray he hasnt but i guess i know in my heart of hearts he has and that saddens me and makes me feel so guilty
he was fine till 26 week scan no probs hear scan fine all looking good
dont get me wrong i will love him as much as the others it just saddens me what he will have to endure to have a normal life
so tomorrow is the day to know
this is why i want an elective section its bad enough knowing what you have to do during birth without the stress of how much you unborn baby is going through during labour
lets hope consultant in a good mood and says yes,and sees my point of view
sorry for long post

disney - good luck with everything today. Im sure that considering the circumstances there shouldnt be a problem with you having a c-section. have to say looking at your explaination/link I think you're amazingly strong

re increase in blood sugars after 23(?) weeks, I know that in the final trimester the body finds it harder to produce the insulin which is why they dont give the glucose test till then (unless you are flagged up earlier by midwife/dr)

on the troll front - I just wanted to say that I found out about my GD on the tuesday, was told that someone would ring to explain it all and book appointments for me. I didnt get the phone call till monday. I was therefore on my own with no explainations and only google for information. I quickly realised that Carbs were also a no-no (something that had NEVER occured to me before as I believed Diabeties was just about sugars) and therefore spend the best part of a week utterly devistated that I had spent 6 months of my pregnancy basically posioning my child from what I could understand. The risk of still birth/ complications played on my mind constantly. I was a mess. I had thought before the diagnosis that my pregnancy diet was very good and I now felt that every bit of rice/pasta/bread I had eaten had been damaging my unborn child. As far as I am concerned if this thread helps just 1 person to not feel like that and know that it can be managed in a positive way then its invaluable.

disneystar I will be thinking of you today and hoping that everything is good I am sure that your consultant, once he/she has all the facts to hand, will give you an elective CS. If it was me (and I AM a heavy handed creature at times!) I would give him the option (but only if he was awkward about it) that I would sue the hospital if anything went wrong. But that's just me and I am not advocating you adopt my 'up front' approach

I have never heard of the cooking method affecting baked potatoes . Yet another lesson learnt from here (stick that in your troll pipe eh?) otter1980 it's a bummer finding out the facts after the event isn't it? I know, I did it too. But, I shouldn't beat yourself up too much as I'm sure that your scans and checkups are showing that LO is absolutely fine. I think we forget that babies are quite resilient to a lot of things.

disneystar thanks for confirming that yours started to rise about the time mine are. I think we can become a tad food obsessed and when the BS results don't reflect this I know that I become a little donwhearted. If I was stuffing my face with allsorts then fair enough but I put a lot of thought into what goes into my mouth these days

I'm on an after day today so I'll let you know what I get when I've done them. I've gone back to good old porridge today and hoping that'll bring them down.

Yesterday wasn't a very good day in the way of readings. I was on a before day and I got the following:

B/fast 6.2, Lunch 5.9, Tea 6.3, and bed 5.1. So I finally got them within the range before bedtime but the rest of the day, albeit not way out over 5.5, are not brilliant. I'm checking in with Diabetes clinic this morning with the weekends readings so we'll see what they say. The current trend is they're upping my insulin units twice a week.

I'll let you know what happens later

disneystar can I just ask, how come you had growth scan at 26 weeks? Was there a concern then? I'm not booked in for my first growth scan until 28 weeks.

very breifly before i get ready to go out
i have scans every 4 weeks throughout my whole pregnancy had them from week 11 as serios heart disease in 2 boys
like i said this one samuel was fine got the all clear till 26 wks its very unusual to get probs at delayed stage but has happenend to others
keep us posted on your readings
sorry shortish post of to wake boys and get ready doula will be here soon

Sounds like an awful lot to cope with, for both you and them disneystar. Best of luck today.

jw - my first growth scan will be at 26 weeks too. It would have been at 24 weeks if my standard 20 week scan was actually happening at 20 weeks, but it's at 22 weeks, and they said to have one every 4 weeks after that.

i have GTT this week. am dreading it tbh.

Which day misdee? How are you feeling? Any symptoms that make you think you might have it?

Had one slice of beans on toast this morning, and got 8.3, only 0.2 lower than when I had 2 slices .

apart from raging thirst, and feeling like poo if i eat anything sugary, nah not any symtoms

its on thursday.

i am utterly confused with all my appointments tbh, far too many to take in. i have to co-ordinater a 28 week GTT with anti-d and need to make sure one is booked before the other and right now i cant remember which and i put my notes away safely lol.

Well it sounds like you won't be needing the 28 week GTT, so I would just book the other one for now. Good luck for Thurs.

am really not looking forward to finger pruicking again, and am not optimistic i can control it with diet alone. am dreading it.

Am becoming less optimistic that I will manage with diet alone too .
The finger pricking isn't as bad as I thought it might be though.

I got a fabulous 7.1 (just under the radar) after my porridge today. That's after my 10 units of insulin

misdee come on in, the water's fine We've all got fingers and legs like teabags on this thread so you're in good company!

CSWS wonder why your growth scan is before mine? I had my 20 week scan at 21 weeks and I asked about growth there. Sonographer just said they're all about the same size at that stage so I'm waiting until end of June now for first growth scan. Not sure what is magical about 28 weeks and scanning though. They've said that I'll get one at 28 and one at 32 but didn't say I'd get any more.

Tis all very confusing

Good luck once again disneystar and I really hope everything is ok

Baby is wriggling around today more than has done before. It's like having a belly full of snakes. I wonder what is going on in there