Gestational diabetes?

[lazylion]

I'm about 34 weeks and I went for a scan today. The baby has a high abdominal measurement so I have to have a glucose test next week.
Does anyone have any experience of this? I'm worried stupid here. If I have diabetes would I have symtoms? What happens if I do have it? Or are these measurements always accurate?
The hospital was short staffed because of swine flu and full of medical students so I didn't have the chance to ask much - and I'm too scared to google.

I had GD with DS3 - i had high sugars in my ruine (I think) and was sent for a fasting glucose test at about 30 weeks. It came back positive and i was sent to the GD clinic where i was given a blood testing kit - test yourself an hor afer each meal and your results have to be within a certain range.

So basically if you are careful you can control the diabetes with diet without having to move onto the next stage.

I had a scan that told me that baby was off the scale and therefore absolutely huge! I then had regular scans and after controlling my blood sugars the growth of the baby calmed down and was normal.

I would suggest you go to homebirth.org.uk - look at you cant have a baby because you have GD and read my story - (Rachel) it tells you all the things i was told.

I had DS3 at home with gas & air weighing a massive 7lb 13oz! So please dont panic about GD

lazylion, please try not to worry - there are a few of us around on here who currently have GD - have a look at some threads in pregnancy o nthe pas tfew weeks. i was diagnosed at about 30 weeks, and same as racmac, have to blood test and control with diet. my baby's growth has now calmed down and other than close monitoring by hospital for me and baby when s/he arrives, not too much to worry about regarding GD. a single scan is not as accurate as a series of scans, i believe, especiall this late on. i didnt have any symptoms, just measuring a bit big.

I was sent for the test routinely at the end of May, due to my age, and it came back with GD. I controlled it with diet for a week, though a lot was trying out certain things (bran flakes is a no-no for me, unfortunately), so I was put on Metformin - which I've been on since. I know during the test I did see "bits" in front of my eyes, which apparently can be a sign - I think my GTT came in at around 8.6 initially - though this has come right down now, and I'm averaging 5.3 on most tests now.

The main thing is, don't worry too much. There's foods out there you can live on (and it isn't for long!) - I've loved having 0% jelly with 0% greek yoghurt - and companies like Nairns do ginger oat biscuits which are low-GI (and some fruit ones which are medium-GI -and some oat crackers which are a bit like crisps - you can get all these in supermarkets easily), so are ideal for this kind of diet.

Like Olivo says, there's a few threads on this on here. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies. Olivo - what does close monitoring of the baby involve? Does this mean staying in hospital for a long time?
Thoughtforms - I have my test on Friday so I'm going to do the diet starting now. Thanks for the tips. And Rachel, your consultant was rubbish, I always wanted a homebirth but I have had just about every pregnancy complication there is and unfortunately this will be my 3rd c-section. I'm needle phobic too - no wonder I'm up at 3am!
Off to search the threads.

lazylion - they'll want to test your baby's blood sugar after it's born (about 3 hours after i think) because GD in the mother can affect its own blood sugar regulation at first. different hospitals seem to have different policies on how to deal with this - the one i'm going to is v pro breastfeeding so (they say) they'll encourage that + hand expressing and cup feeding until the baby's blood sugar is stable, with formula feeding as a last resort.

most important thing, as olivo & thoughtforms have already said, is not to worry too much - my blood sugar has definitely been worse when i've been stressed out. also, a bit of gentle exercise will help keep things under control - i have SPD so can't do much, but 20 mins bouncing on the gym ball after dinner seems to help, as does a gentle walk at some point during the day.

good luck with it all

Thanks Beksy, I have SDP too so I have been avoiding walking much for the last couple of weeks, it makes it so much worse. Gym ball is a good idea. I'll have to talk to the hospital about bf, I'm not happy about formula. good luck to you too.

lazylion - I was told to follow a high carb diet prior to the test, so I would definitely follow any dietary guides they give you, so you don't give a false reading.

One thing I've constantly mentioned in these GD threads, colostrum harvesting - my hospital does this, there's posters up, I had my first appointment about it last week (I did call it a clinic, but apparently nobody has taken it up, and I was the first person the midwife had talked to about it, which was a bit weird - posters have been up for a good couple of months too) - basically I have to express colostrum, syringe it (quite difficult), and freeze it - then when I go into hospital I have higher blood sugar colostrum supplies to help baby, as my levels are likely to drop. It's worth asking to see whether your hospital does this or not, anyway.

Also, I've been told I'm not going to be allowed to go beyond my due date (three weeks today), but will find out more on Tuesday at the next diabetes appointment. I'm armed with a lot of information - if they say the same to you, this thread may be helpful - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/797249-Gestational-Diabetes-a-couple-of-questions

Thanks thoughtforms. It is a whole week before my test and I'm so far along I feel better starting now. I'll tell them what I've done but the hospital didn't give me any advice.
I'm having a c-section so I don't have the same issues as you, but if they try to give my baby formula I will throw my slippers at them. I'll ask about the colostrum harvesting, sounds like a good idea.