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

thoughtforms hi! congrats on your baby AND fabulous weightloss result after birth, just the kind of thing I'm crossing my fingers for...
MrsKitty I know what you mean! I've actually eaten enough fruit this past couple of weeks to give myself grim acidic stomach aches, so trying to make my quotas with veg & legumes etc now instead...
Lemontop yeah sometimes I've had to do tests on crowded buses on train, fun fun fun! I have a big handbag now & sort of hide what I'm doing within it... and am always popping to the loo to test when out as well. ho hum. snacks before bed,hmmm - not very exciting is it?! sometimes I have a banana, or a hot milk with a teaspoon of low fat ovaltine in it and a digestive biscuit, they're pretty good, or half a chewy/nutty health bar if hungry...

My levels were all over the place yesterday - went for a long leisurely walk, ended up hypo & shaking levels at 2 & had to stuff a 2finger kitkat in my mouth before I passed out! (The joys of insulin! Once you're on the injections going low can mean passing out quickly) I should have eaten the glucose tablets instead of the kitkat but I'm no saint... then when I got home we had a pasta dish DH made which was gorgeous (& he has made before with no bad effect on me) - and I ended up at 11.5 an hour later grrrrr & had to stomp around changing beds & doing 'mild exercise' to bring it down quicker as I was crawling out of my skin at that level. ah well, some days you just can't win! Feel pretty strong and steady today, but going to take it easy methinks

hope you're all well.

Just a quick one from me - am breastfeeding.

I had GD, DS2 is now 18 weeks and weighed 7 pounds 9, bang on the 50th centile. I had a VBAC and he didn't have special care afterwards.

I was approaching 15 stone when I got pregnant. I now weigh 12 stone! Basically I've carried on with the diabetic diet, but not as strict and I continue to exercise. I'm also breastfeeding so get hungry so haven't skimped on snacks.

I was devastated when I was diagnosed but it has turned into a good thing: I've made some lifestyle changes to hopefully prevent me from getting type 2 diabetes for a very long time. I also need to buy a new wardrobe as my dress size has gone from a size 20 to a 14.

BTW, not sure if you've been told but exercise helps lower blood sugar naturally. I used to march around the block after breakfast (my worst time) which obviously helped with my fitness but also the blood sugar. I had a much better pregnancy with GD than I did with my first.

Good luck to you all.

llareggub hi! are you welsh? i recognise the dylan thomas reference... I'm welsh but live 'away' in Brighton. Thanks for sharing - these 'after' stories are really helping me. I love the fact that you ended up seeing GD as a positive experience, thats what I've been wondering... not just with the weightloss (wow, I hope I do as well as you!!) but also with the general health picture - I've been thinking that I will carry on with the low GI diet afterwards as they've told me that if it is GD then I'd still be more likely to get type II at some point in 'real life' & also that mine might possibly be 'real time' diabetes but that I could be diet controlled if I was careful after I am preggers. So either way staying on the healthy eating programme seems like the best idea to me.

yes, I have to stomp around if I go high, can't sit still! I went all high when I was strapped to my seat on a coach last month, god that was hideous as I couldn't go brisk walking anywhere to bleed off the excess, felt really terrible. I walk alot around Brighton as we don't drive and also its fun to walk along the beach even if just going to the bank

Hi MrsKitty - I was able to breastfeed straight away, in fact, we lucked out in getting a greedy little one - she's forever making it known she wants feeding! Her blood sugars were low at the first reading, but had picked up by the last one, and were completely normal - I was encouraged to feed her, despite mentioning the colostrum I'd brought with me - which was fine too! No formula top ups were necessary, although the first night at home she screamed the place down, and we had no idea what to do, so gave her a bottle - we've since found out it was fine to do, as she's established feeding with me, so that was a relief.

As far as the labour goes, I was booked in for a sweep on the Tuesday a week before, then the following Thursday went in to be induced, had three pessaries, and things just progressed slowly, they tried to break my waters, and eventually I was put on the syntocin drip, with an epidural an hour and a half later - they then decided it had been so long (3 days), that I needed a c-section, and by then it was just "hand me the paperwork, I'll sign!" (and I was really against it before then) - but to be honest, she just wasn't ready to come out. Had it not been for GD, I think she'd have been a week late, something like that, but hospital protocols meant she had to be delivered on her due date. Most annoying. She even looked like she didn't want to come out when her little head appeared (says my husband)!

Thanks brightonbleach too - although just spotted, the name you asked was welsh, read it backwards ;)

yes thoughtforms its a dylan thomas joke - the village of buggerall!! i always liked that. my hospital says it won't let me get to the due date either, certainly not past it; don't really know what this is going to mean for us yet... how goes your recovery from c-section? diabetics are notoriously slow wound-healers aren't they... gulp hope you're very well.

thoughtforms and llareggub congrats on your little ones and it's lovely to hear that things are going well, breastfeeding is in fact possible and GD can actually turn out to be something other than awful!

at the length of your labour thoughtforums you poor thing!

I think the low GI diet will be a good thing to continue. I was following the rosemary Conley stuff before I got pg and going to the gym and the weight had definitely started to come off. I'd love to do more exercise but feel a bit limited as to what I can do at the moment. I'm a crap swimmer but do a lot of walking to and from the stations on my way to work.

I got some stuff from doc but he's given me 50 strips and 100 lancets which will only last me a week (and I was told by receptionist that I was lucky as prescriptions usually take 3 days!!). Do those of you getting prescriptions have to keep going back every week or is there an easier way around this rigmarole? I was late for work this morning as it took about an hour to get sorted and don't want to p them off too much as am going to miss a lot of time due to appointments. Roll on maternity leave!

lemontop howdy! yes, how annoying - my GP will only give me prescrips for 2 weeks worth of test strips at a time, so I have to call my chemist every 10 days (I'm now on the boots prescription renewal service which is good) & go in every 2 weeks to collect. grr

Thanks!

I did the Davina McCall pregnancy DVD every day. It is really good, and it has post-natal exercises on it as well. Towards the end I just walked a lot.

I didn't have any problems breastfeeding at all, although I was still breastfeeding DS1 so tandem fed. I had no supply problems at all.

Ooh, nothing like a visit to Mumsnet to have me off elsewhere on-line spending money - Have just bought the Davina DVD from Amazon based on Llareggub's recommendation as I've been feeling rather guilty that I've not managed much (any) exercise!

Last shift at work tonight (WOOOOOO!) so hopefully should have a little bit of time to spare to make more of an effort.

Hi Everyone

Sorry to crash this thread just remember reading some posts about breastfeeding and gd, thought this and this might be useful.

Good luck

mrskitty me too! from Amazon as well. We'll be doing synchronised Davina!

Thanks twinklegreen useful info. Will definitely put in my birthplan that I want to feed in the delivery room. Anyone know if this is possible if you end up with a c-section?

lemontop - we might well be doing davina workouts at the same time, but we certainly won't be synchronised - I have a distinct lack of co-ordination!

oh I was just looking up the price of the davina dvd too, how funny

They tried to latch Lola on when they wheeled me into recovery after my c-section, but she wouldn't. Within an hour they were insisting I give her a bottle to bring her sugars up. Won't be giving in to them this time around. Have already made contact with a lactation consultant to try and have them there at the birth. The IFA at Salisbury Hospital says they'll talk to me at the diabetic ante-natal clinic about ante-natal expressing so that's a good sign that they're on top of the issue.

I bought the DAvina DVD & the gina ford book everyone keeps telling to read today hope i don't get confused!

Am having a stabbing pain on the right side of the bump today, every 20 mins, urk, really makes me jump and doesn't go away for 1-2 mins then I forget then it happens again grrr

next scan is monday - actually feels like baby has shifted his entire body to my right side, I feel all lopsided and tight on that side! Can't be though, I must be imagining things...

brighton, just remember your baby won't have read the book so don't take it as gospel.

I had GD for my last pregnancy, and in retrospect it was the best thing that ever happened to me, diet-wise. I had a consultation with a dietitian, who gave me a weekly meal plan, which I followed closely, and monitored my blood sugars after every meal. I was allowed to take a little walk every day, nothing too drastic. More of a waddle, really . The GD was discovered after a routine GTT at 24 weeks. For my previous pregnancy, I was on the borderline between ok and gd, and my doctor didn't refer me for gd treatment -- looking back, I wish he had, because I gained a lot of weight. Better a late diagnosis than none, especially because GD means the possibility of birth complications can increase, especially if you're late.

I don't think they will give you a hard time over your BMI, etc.: GD can happen to anyone, apparently. I was induced at 40 weeks to the day. DD was 9lbs. Bfed from the start with no problems. DD was also unfamiliar with the theories of Gina Ford. How could that happen?

I swore by GF with my DD and totally credit that book with giving me a baby who slept like a dream.
Have my first appt with the diabetic ante-natal clinic tomorrow where they'll decide whether I need insulin or not. I don't think I do, as my bariatric consultant says my 1hr post-meal readings cannot be used as a basis for prescribing insulin as a gastric bypass causes them to be high after an hour regardless of whether you've ever been diabetic or not - purely because of the way the intestine has been re-plumbed. So I need to try and convince the diabetic team to base the decision on my 90min results, not 1 hour. At 1 hour my sugars are usually out of target range, by 90mins they're well within target and by 2 hours I'm often low, sometimes even hypo. If they give me insulin based on my 1 hour test I'll be through the floor by 2 hours. With DD the national standard was to test at 90 mins and that turned out OK, so fingers crossed they'll listen to reason as my bariatric surgeon said I should flat out refuse to take insulin based on the 1 hr test - and I really don't want to start out my pregnancy in confrontational mode.

How's everyone doing? the GI diet seems to be working and I've been within the levels this week.I find my blood sugar's higher in the morning and oddly the thing that brings it up the highest seems to be branflakes (which I hate!). Will see what happens when I go back to clinic on Thurs.

Hi Lemontop - apparantly Branflakes are high GI - diabetic nurse said as ar as cereals go Special K or Porridge are the best bets.

My level are still slightly out of target occasionally - have a feeling my insulin may get increased by next week... Got m appointment with the diabetes consultant on Monday.

howdy all

I've had a weird week, fainted momentarily on a hot bus woops! well, this heat we're having here isn't good for diabetics or pregnant ladies I suppose - i was only out for a second, went to A&E as the bus was right outside it at the time! bp was all over the place so they made me sit for an hour in a quiet room with a fan on then it was normal again. sugars were low when they tested me as well (but I was saying to them 'i'm alright now, i need to go home and eat & rest as long as my BP etc is fine can I go now??') feeling very overheated all week, like am burning up, am sitting with a fan on full all day long today in a cool room at home not doing too much, so am sure I will be fine now.

MrsKitty thats weird, my diabetic nurse told me porridge was too carb-y! 'stick to weetabix or muesli' I was told. They're probably telling people different things all round the country just to add to the confusion!

hi math - its strange hearing people say 'it was the best thing in retrospect', you're not the first I've heard saying that & although I was pretty upset when first diagnosed early at 14 weeks, now I feel like the diet is really doing me good & making the pregnancy more do-able as well funny isn't it?

brightonbleach Poor you fainting. It was really hot yesterday. I'm so glad it's a bit cooler today!

I've lost 8lb in two weeks . I must have been eating so much crap. Have had a couple of high readings though after trying to push the diet a little with toast for breakfast this morning and a pasta dish last night. As it's my first week I'm still not sure exactly what I'm doing.

wow lemontop 8lbs in 2 weeks! you must be feeling better/less bloated now then, maybe it was some water rentention as well (when you're eating lots of fruit, veg & water I think water retention eases?) hey, we're all still getting 'wrong' readings believe me - I've been doing this since week 14 (32-33 weeks now) & I had a high of 11.5 after pasta this week and 4 lows where I didn't eat enough! very hard to get it right constantly.

I'm so glad its a bit cooler (but in Brighton its still horridly humid- i must be the only brightonian wishing fervently for rain!!)

Hi all

Just a quickie update... had growth scan this week - baby is estimated at 7lb 9oz at the moment (36 wks) but just to complicate things even more, scan showed baby is also breech with a "very small" chance of it turning . looking more and more like a c-section is on the cards. Got my first appointment with the diabetes consultant on monday and another growth scan at 38 weeks which is when I presume doctor will decide method of birth and set a date...

Saw BF counsellor too who talked me through expressing milk pre-birth in case babys levels are low and need topping up. Have been expressing twice a day since Monday - am getting teeny tiny amounts, but saving it all in syringes in the freezer.

My Davina DVD arrived this morning- now I just need to find the time (and the inclination) to do it!

Sorry to hear about the fainting incident - hope you're OK now.