Gestational Diabetes

[lemontop]

Hi

Just had results of my GTT come back high and have an appointment to see two doctors next week. I think one might be a consultant and the other a dietician. Has anyone had any experience of GD in pregnancy? If so what's likely to happen at my appointment?

I'm a bit concerned that I'll be 31 weeks when I have my appointment which seems a bit late.

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Hi there - this thread is a little old. [[https://www.mumsnet.com/pregnancy/gestational-diabetes
If you want to read more about gestational diabetes, we’ve got some information here]]. MNHQ

MrsKitty that is soooo annoying! I had that at the beginning as well - why they have to scrimp and only give you a couple of days worth or test strips to start you off is beyond me! you can't be without them now either. I have a repeat prescription contract with my little local Boots now, where I ring them up and say 'I need more of...' and as long as its something I've had on prescription before they will have it in their system, they go to my GP, collect prescription, fill it and I can collect 3 working days later - its just a little form to fill in at Boots... has been well worth it as my GP insists on only prescribing 3 pots of the strips at a time and of course I get through them really quick cos not only am i testing before and after every meal but also getting-up time and bedtime AND several time inbetween on days where I have a hypo (Which happens often when you're on injections).

lemontop hello! hope you're feeling well my diabetic nurse has told me to eat at approx 11am and 3pm and even 9pm as well as my meals, IF I feel hungry (so I don't do this every day), but you shouldn't go too long between eating apparently... fruit is generally fine I find - except I've been told not to eat oranges as they will send you too high (& avoide fresh orange juice, in fact all fruit juices are a no-no) and to eat some of my faves that are juicy, i.e., grapes & pineapple, with other food - so I often have grapes as a dessert so it is kept in line by the starchier things in the meal. all berries are good, especially with yoghurts. Bananas are great for me as an in-betweeny snack, I always have a banana in my bag as if I'm out somewhere and feel a dip coming on a banana is perfect and filling. I also like some of the low-fat crunchy or fruity snack bars you can get in health food shops - NAK'D is a bar I buy in Holland & Barrett, its a vegan chewy fruit bar that doesn't raise my levels AND says "its one of your 5-a-day", so its actually one whole portion of fruit, and their bigger bar is 2! I also like the mixed pots of snacking seeds like the Food Doctor one (can buy that in Asda as well as health shops!) and some of the diabetic chewy sweets you can get are okay - oh, but I would never buy diabetic chocolate though as it will give you the runs guaranteed . I also like the low-fat tiny icecream bars you can get, like mini-milks or skinny cow... At home we also have low fat ovaltine with hot milk sometimes. my aunt is diabetic and recommends 1-2 digestives as a treat & it doesn't raise me too high. afternoon snack if i only had a small lunch, I often have some hummus and carrots. veeeeeeery exciting I don't think.... but at least we can think "This baby's going to be super healthy!!"

ryvitas and most crispbreads will send you too high by the way, and oatcakes do me as well. not cos any of them are unhealthy but they're very carb-y for us...

**Note to all: in case no-ones told you yet, your body will get more insulin-resistant the more pregnant you get (and this is NOT your fault! just the nature of hormones), so as you go along especially towards the end, things you ate that gave you a perfect result last week will suddenly send you over its really annoying and something to watch out for, sometimes you'll have to have a smaller portion, sometimes you'll have to cut something out that was previously good for you. for me I suddenly have to do an injection with breakfast no matter what I eat (unless just fruit/yoghurt) whereas I didn't need one at all last month. They're telling me that this is perfectly normal towards the end of a diabetic pregnancy and you have to just watch everything really carefully & keep a diary of it all.

happy bank hols monday to y'all

Hi folks, hope you don't mind me joining in - I don't have GD, but I have type 2 Diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 2 about 6 months before conceiving my DD - so from the day I got my positive result I was put onto insulin and very closely monitored. I was induced at 38 weeks but ended up with an emergency cs and DD spent 36 hours in scbu with low blood sugars.
My biggest issue was the breastfeeding. DDs sugars dropped within an hour of delivery and she wouldn't latch so the midwives insisted I give her a bottle of formula otherwise they'd take her straight to scbu. As a first time mum I was scared of doing anything against advice so went with it. They assured me a couple of days of bottles wouldn't cause problems with establishing breastfeeding. During the night despite the formula feeds 4 hourly her sugars still went low so they took her to scbu anyway - which meant 36 hours of no stimulation to help my milk come in (despite asking and asking for a pump none was forthcoming). When DD was returned to me she was so used to 4 hourly bottle feeds there wasn't a hope of her latching to me - especially when I wasn't producing a thing. I spent the next 9 weeks expressing 2 hourly taking lactation drugs and frantically trying to get her to latch, but it failed. I have since done loads of research on this as I swore it would be a different story next time. I have found some stuff that recommends diabetic mums express and freeze colostrum (midwife should be able to provide little vials to put it in and hospital should be able to store it) prior to birth so that when baby has the low sugars they can be spoon/cup fed the small amounts of colostrum rather than formula. I will also be buying myself a hospital grade pump and taking it into hospital with me to start using straight away rather than relying on them to bring me one (which they didn't). I'm now 5 wks pregnant with number 2 and despite having lost 10 stone through gastric bypass I am still diabetic.
I am vegetarian so struggle with eating low carb - this time I have a book called the Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet which I plan to use for meal ideas.

MrsKitty - are you using a fresh lancet every time you test? Most diabetic only change their lancet every few days or so (many I know not as frequently as that!). I tend to change mine at the same time as I change my test strip drum (every 17 tests).

Hi forces That's interesting re: the lancets - I've been using a fresh one every test on advice from the nurse, but see no real reason why I can't use the same one more than once - perhaps just change it daily? Am going to do that so I don;t need to buy more before I can get a prescription. Nothing else I can do re: the strips though

Congratualtions on your pregnancy (and on losing all that weight Wow!)

I had previously read about colostrum expressing pre-birth - I plan to raise it with the BF counsellor and my consultant when I see them next week. I've also got some info on hand expressing as I think you'd lose quite alot of colostrum in a pump (great once your milk's come in, but not so great when you're only getting the colostrum).

I BF my DS for 13 months but remember having a battle with the midwives on the ward for a few days after he was born re: formula as he was a "big" baby (no GD involved) and they felt he "wasn't getting enough". I won't put up with it this time either - it's going to be all over my birthplan that baby is to be BF asap after birth and then regularly to raise sugars. Obviously if baby is showing symptoms of being in danger then I will reconsider, but hopefully I'll have been able express previously and it won't be necessary. You're right though - don;t rely on the hospital to provide you with a pump as it is likely to never show up, and also be aware that BF counsellors generally only work mon-fri 9-5 so if you arrive overnight or at a weekend you may not get the help you need - that's why it's so important that we're armed with info/helpline numbers before you get there!

thanks guys re the BF info, I will defo be getting a pump to take in with me then! blimey

I don't change my lancets daily any more either, I do it every other day, doesn't seem to be a problem.

forcessweetheart hello! They're warning me I might be 'lifelong' diabetic rather than GD as I was diagnosed earlier in pregnancy than is normal with GD... but they don't know, so I will be coming off the injections immediately after birth then just testing for 6 weeks then they will test me again to see. They say it could be GD or it could be type II, they don't really know with me yet. they don't seem to know that much Alot of my family are type one...

hand expressing info here

for us GD or Diabetes preggers sufferers, I'm curious as to what our weight gain is during pregnancy? how are you all getting along? and have you been warned not to put on too much...? My specialists have told me to watch the weight gain and try and make it slow (IF poss!! I mean, blimey, I might have been overweight to start with but I AM pregnant if they havne't noticed...) I am also severely hypothyroid and was slowly shedding the weight THAT condition had put on me over the 8years prior to that diagnosis & medication, and I am pretty fit and healthy beliying my BMI etc. Obviously with the low GI diabetic diet I AM being careful but do feel more hungry now that am in the last trimester. Have gained 10lbs from pre-preggers state (nearly 32weeks now) & feel muuuuch more hefty than that, but bubba is 4lbs already and sitting low so the belly feels very 'dragging' at the mo #wonders selfishly how much more I will gain??#

I think 10lb by 32wks is fab! I gained 3 stone with DD! Am only 5+1wks now and my aim is to gain under a stone this time around. I have had a gastric bypass (although it was a while ago now and the effects are not so evident these days) so should have a smaller appetite this time around, and the malabsorption element of my surgery should hopefully help too. The main thing for me though will be to try and stay off insulin as long as possible, as I just pile weight on as soon as I start injecting it.

Re: weight gain, I've not really been paying that much attention but I think it's around 9kg according to my notes which works out to around 24lbs I think? I must have lost a few this past week though now that i'm monitoring my diet - if only through the fact i'm not having choc or coke anymore! (and i've eaten more salad and veg than I have in months ).

Rather annoyingly though the monitoring doesn't appear to have done a good enough job though - I called the diabetes nurse with my blood sugar readings yesterday and she's called me into the hospital today as she feels I need to go on insulin . I know it's not the end of the world, but I feel like I've somehow failed. I'm also worried about any damage I may have done to myself or the baby by having such a high sugar/high carb diet prior to the GD being diagnosed - my levels must have been through the roof!

Hope everyone's doing well anyway lemontop have you had your results back yet?

Sorry Lemontop, meant appointment, not results!

mrskitty Appointment is tomorrow but got routine GP appointment with GP today so might ask him what the score is.

I had gained 22lbs in weight(am 31wks tomorrow) but seem to have lost 5lbs this week simply by trying to follow a GI diet. Seems those minstrels have a lot to answer for! Only problem is I do feel hungry a lot which seems to affect my mood. I can see that it also involves a lot of planning. I forgot to take my lunch to work yesterday and really struggled to find something to eat. Ended up getting a packaged salad only to find it was so full of sugar I might as well have had burger and chips!

hi all

forces I wonder why it is that insulin can help one GAIN weight when its well known that diabetics, whether lifestyle or genetic, need to NOT carry extra weight??

MrsKitty Sorry to hear that - please don't feel like you have 'failed' (although I know exactly how you feel, I felt exactly that at 14 weeks when I was diagnosed & put straight on to injections - is it something I have done/is baby ok/etc. They have told me they can see from the various other tests they have done on me that the diabetes is genetic, I have an underlying auto-immune disease that is hereditary and has also caused my thyroid disease, it runs in my family; and yet I still felt I could have done more!! probably felt that because I was overweight and none of my family are). This condition can spring on you out of nowhere, especially in pregnancy. The injections are very strange at first (pinch a nice bit of fat of tummy or leg, inject steadily and slowly, best way to avoid it stinging) but you soon get used to them, and hopefully it will avoid the main thing that they worry about for baby - growing too large for delivery in the last trimester. This is what you have to remember when you're feeling p*d off about the injections, it will help the LO also, its amazing what you can get used to! If there had been anything abnormal from the diabetes for baby in pregnancy so far surely they would have spotted something in a scan? Are you having extra scans because of your GD? whens your next one? Mine are every 2 weeks, next one on Monday. He was in 80th centile 4 weeks ago for size and 75th last week, so hopefully it will mean that I am keeping him within 'normal' limits but he is slightly heavier than they expected at this stage! They had a good look at all his organs for me though, and all looked thoroughly good they reassured me. hang in there

lemontop ahhhhhhhhhh don't mention minstrels Yeah, this GI/GD thing does take alot of planning! I have an extra large handbag now ungainly filled with a toiletries bag of injections/glucose tablets/my testing kit & then a banana, bottle of water, sandwiches if I'm out all day, it really is quite alot! those pre-packaged salads can be quite decieving.

also:I think my weight gain is less at this stage than expected because a) I was overweight to begin with and b) I've been on the severe low GI diabetic diet since early diagnosis at week 14!!

None of our weight gains sound unusual though, we all sound healthy and trying to keep it that way I hope our various hospitals are taking note of how well we're doing and how hard we're trying to keep in line....

Well I went to see the doc and according to his scales I've gained 6kg in total but 4kg of this was since my last appointment with him 6 weeks ago. He told me this was too much and wrote weight gain ++ on my notes This really annoyed me. I mean I know you are supposed to gain less if you had a higher BMI to start with but don't some women put about 4 stone on when they're pregnant?! Really dreading appointment with consultant tomorrow.

Hi all hope you don't mind me joining. I'm 30+4 and was diagnosed with GD 2 weeks ago. Been finger pricking for 6 days now and my readings are not good, I am so ending up on insulin boo. Have to see consultant on friday, although today has been better with the final acceptance that me and even multigrain bread will be parting company for the forseeable.

Haven't put on much weight since my booking appointment (1.5kg) so thats good, although plenty of fat to lose mind. Is anyone else having trouble with breakfast? No matter what I eat my blood sugar shoots up. Also has anyone had bother with ketones? Had +++ a few times so advised to eat before bed, did this last night (a yoghurt) tested wee before bed and still +++ so had a slice of cheese on toast, but still +++ this morning after 8 hours of sleep. Can't see what else I can do.

Hope everyone is well.

blackletterday I've had to play around with breakfast a bit but have found good results with x2 boiled eggs x1 tiny piece of toast & a slice of ham. Also had a low reading for mixed fresh berries with unsweetened natural yogurt (but was starving by lunchtime) and found this morning that 30g of Special K with 4 strawberrys was fine (whereas 40g yesterday sent me up to 9!)

Went to Hospital this pm- have been put on 1 long lasting shot of insulin per day for the moment. Nurse was lovely and far more helpful than last one. brighton there's certainly plenty of fat to get hold of on these thighs

Lemontop Can't believe the doc wrote that on your notes- bloody cheek!

No more talk of Minstrels - it's killing me! Am dreaming about the bar of choc I will have once we get home from hospital with the baby!

brighton - I found that when I was injecting insulin my appetite shot up and I also ate when I wasn't actually hungry just to try and stabilise my blood sugar coz it was so hard to get the dose right, it was either not enough, in which case they upped the dose, or too much so I'd end up hypo frequently and eating when I really didn't need to.
There's a scary trend among type 1 diabetic teens to stop taking their insulin as having high blood sugar can result in weight-loss as a side effect, so they stay off the insulin (thereby risking their lives) to lose weight.

blackletterday hello,welcome! yeah, i found breakfast a bit difficult to get right. egg on 1 toast seems ok for me or a medium bowl of a no-added-sugar muesli (I bought a nice one in Morrisons yesterday) is good and quite filling, I often have fruit with it as well. Yoghurt & berries is brilliant for being stable for breakfast levels BUT I am also starving within the hour so don't like having yoghurt much!
Lemontop what a cheek! don't they know that pregnancy is hard-going as it is, you don't need discouragement... ask for positive comments as well today! damn cheek.
MrsKitty How you getting on with the actual business of injecting?
Forces i know what you mean... they upped my doses in the middle of this pregnancy and I ended up hypo 3 times a day! nearly hospitalised then they changed the doses (& gave me permission to lower or higher the doses myself with my own judgement)

Did my first injection last night and it was fine - not as scary as I thought it would be!

Been to midwife today who said I have Ketones in my urine (had last week too) and I must not be eating enough. Am finding it all so bloody confusing! Should I eat more carbs, then get higher blood sugars and therefore have my insulin dose raised or do I carry on as I am and see if it settles down??? She's told me to call the hospital and ask to speak to a dietician - I'm a bit peed off that I've not been referred to a dietician automatically by the diabetes nurse anyway TBH - feel rather like I've been dropped in the deep end and told to work it out myself - Wouldn't be such a big deal if it were earlier in pregnancy and I ha time for a bit of trial and error but I'm 35+ weeks FGS!

Anyway, rant over...

Just got back from quite a whirlwind experience at the diabetes clinic! Blimey. I'm glad I read up on diabetes before I got there or I would be totally confused at the moment. Saw a doctor, a dietician, a consultant and it took hours!

I was only given a few test strips and lancets and these will run out tomorrow morning. Went to get a prescription off GP but he passed a message to receptionist to say this normally took three days and they wouldn't be ready till tomorrow pm. I guess I'll have to just leave some spaces and explain when I go back to clinic next week? The machine seems easy to use although I have messed up my first reading after lunch by having a drink of squash right before I was due to test (what an idiot!). Got a reading of 8.7. Great start!

The dietician seemed to think that my improvised GI diet was pretty good. Nobody shouted at me, which was nice! Fingers crossed I can control this by diet. Got to go back to clinic next week, growth scan the week after and take it from there I guess.

hello - a former GD lady here! I'm typing one handed, as baby is in the other :-)

I weighed 15st3 when I got pregnant, after GD got up to 15st11, and post-birth, am 14st 4! Blimey...

For good low gi snacks, Nairns do some good biscuits - and they're diabetes-friendly. They've even got some ginger biscuits and some fruit ones - both kept my levels level!

Breakfast-wise, I had to stick with egg dishes, lunchtime was always a sandwich, evening meal a half plate of veg, quarter carbs, quarter protein.

Fruit-wise, apples are your best friend - they're low-gi too.

I was on Metformin in the morning and evening to help my levels, though these went down once I finished work.

GI diet wise, the book by Rick Gallop has a ton of recipes in it - I'd highly recommend - there's a pizza one too!

I did colostrum harvesting, and ended up not having to use it when I'd given birth (we gave her it later instead) - it wasn't too hard to do - I used a hand pump and scraped it off my boob with the syringe, as you get so little of it! I think I managed 0.5ml in one sitting...

Good luck everyone! I wasn't allowed to go beyond my due date and was induced, but madam didn't appear until 40+1 - by c-section in the end, bloomin hospital protocols... she'd have come out naturally, had we been able to wait a week or so... (and was only 7.6lb too!).

MrsKitty Thats exactly how I felt, dropped in the deep end, they did refer me to a dietician as well but it was 4 weeks later (great! When you're pregnant and every week counts). is there anything extra you can eat that you fancy that isn't carb-y and therefore not dangerous for you? i.e., ummm.... carrots & Hummus? home-made salad and nuts? couscous maybe? that kind of thing - those food dr pots of snacking seeds flavoured with herbs & chilli I really like. I add chickpeas to the side of every salady type evening meal we have as well, bulk it out and protein-rich...

I bought pregnancy vitamins for the 1st time today (haven't needed them up to now as eating so much fruit & veg! well, I did take folic acid like a good girl) but feel extra tired yesterday & today and the chemist said vits might be a good idea. don't know if they're any good or not...

Lemontop at least no-one shouted!! You could get back to your GP & say its an emergency re the testing strips, say that the consultant told you that you shouldn't leave any gaps in the testing book... I did that & my GP filled a prescription within a day so that I wouldn't go without. worth a shot! No added sugar squash won't raise your levels by the way. it takes hours every time you go, I have to go every 2 weeks, and always have to see the diabetic nurse, then the sonographer then the consultant obstetrician - in fact I see 2 (!) who are respectively specialists in thyroid dysfunction and diabetes ah well, we'll have very monitored pregnancies at least - a friend of mine is jealous of the multi-scanning I'm getting, whereas she got 2!!

Hi Thoughtforms Congratulations on the birth of your daughter
Thanks for the info re: food - I've already discovered the Nairns biscuits - the ginger ones are lovely with a bit of cheese (my new-found snack of choice!)
So were you able to breastfeed straight away - how were your DDs blood sugars? Did you need to give any formula top-ups / encouraged to give top ups?
How long were you in hospital/labour from being induced until you had the c-section? (Sorry - lots of questions )

Lemontop glad your appointment went well. How hard can it be for your GP to scribble on a piece of paper so that you can get an earlier prescription? but if he won't do it remember the advice Forces gave me when I was stuck over the bank holiday wkend in that you don't need to use a fresh lancet everytime and you can buy the strips at the pharmacy if you really need to (It'll cost you £25 though )

BrightonBleach I've eaten more salad the past 10 days than I have done in years - don't think I could stomach anymore! I have bought some hummous/carrot sticks and I think I will play around with my carb intake a little bit for a few days and see how it goes - managed a jacket potato at lunch and basmati rice with dinner and kept my levels well within target both times so perhaps that's the answer.

Am working night shifts tonight and tomorrow (10pm - 6am) and then I'm finished! (And not a moment too soon ) I have sooo much stuff to sort out at home (nesting instinct really hasn't kicked in, but it's going to have to now) but i'm also hoping to have time to take DS out of nursery for at least 2 days a week so we can spend some extra time together before baby is born.

On the breakfast front, I found this morning 1 toasted crumpet with lurpak lighter gave me a 7.7 reading at 1 hour (only just within target range but I'll take it!) May try having it with a bit of cheese or something (as I don't like eggs) to up my protein and see how that goes.

Well due to my beginners incompetence I'm out of test strips. I'm finding it hard to get enough blood out of my stupid fingers and keep getting an error message. It took the sister a few attempts yesterday. it's the same with blood tests. I just don't seem to bleed very much! Will ring docs later and will just have to leave gaps for readings today. I don't know why someone in the hospital couldn't have given me a prescription to be honest.

I'm also wondering how I'm going to time the tests work wise. I have a long commute and going on current timings would have to do after breakfast test on my crowded train?! I'm also a teacher and never get a full hour for lunch so might have difficulty getting that reading too. hmmmm.

My chat with the dietician was funny yesterday. I asked about having a snack before bed and she said it was a good idea but suggested a cup of milk with nutmeg in or a probiotic yoghurt. I was underwhelmed to say the least! They are drinks not snacks!