Type 1 Diabetics in 2nd/3rd trimester?

[wafflesmum]

So far so good. Great control until the last 2 weeks (now 25 weeks) and everything has gone haywire. Fed up, out of control, don't understand, feeling down. I thought the first 12 weeks with all the changes taking place would be the unpredictable time but levels were really stable throughout. Fed up! Any other Type 1s out there? I'm controlling through DAFNE regime having done the course last year with the purpose of gaining excellent pre-pregnancy control.

Hi Waffle

I'm a type 1 too and starting week 34.

My specialist told me that it is not unusual to get a bit of a wild sugar level during the 3rd trimester.

Up to 3 weeks ago, everything was running smoothly for me and since then, I'm fighting to have my morning sugar within the limits (for me set between 3 and 6 - at the moment I wake up with 10 +).

I don't know how often you see your specialist, over here it's every 2 weeks, but I will advise you to have a chat with him/her or the diabetes nurse if it is easier.

Good luck and just think that once the LO is born, your diabetes will (hopefully) go back to its normal self - I'll see if it is true in 4 weeks when they are due to induce me.

That sounds just like what's happening to me - very high and rising overnight despite increasing background and fast acting insulin doses. I think being a bit of a control freak I don't like the fact that I can't seem to get things to 'work' like they normally do. Diabetic consultant and nurses great- 2 week appointments for me too- I think I'm just having a down day. Start growth scans on Wednesday and the plan is for inducement at 38 weeks I think. Is this your first pregnancy?

Hi, I'm not pg but have had type 1 for nearly 32 years, since I was 3. I couldn't believe the amount of insulin I was on in the 2nd & 3rd trimesters 3 or 4 times my pre-pg doses), and my sugars just made no sense at all. Just keep doing your best, it's all you can do! FWIW my ds was born at 37+3 (by CS because he was breech and poked his toes through breaking my waters a week before I was booked in for CS) weighing 7lb 2.5oz, and he was tiny. The growth scans towards the end helped me see that he wasn't a big baby, and that I must have dome at least OK with my blood sugars.

Waffle - yes it's my first. I started the growth scan from week 30 and my next one is this week (so 34 weeks) with obstetrician with scan in between.
At the moment DS is not too big, high in the average but still in the average.

Knitter - I'm exactly the same, my insulin doses have gone through the roof! I've been diabetic for 21 years since I was 9 and I never experimented such a none reactions to insulins!

I'm not pg but have a ds of 3. You become very insulin resistant towards the end but it is managable it just requires more checking and playing around and not expecting it to remain the same for longer than a day which is irritating.

Don't expect your sugars to go back to normal. I had some really scary highs and lows after my ds was born and it took about 3 months to sort it out properly. The hospital was completely useless at this point and I gave up after I had a stupid nurse tell me that I should test every 2 hours in the night. I informed her I was breast feeding and not getting 2 hours straight sleep so had no intention of interrupting the little sleep I was getting for a test. "Well you can't hope to get your sugars under control" was the response....

My sugars didn't go straight back to normal either, but while BF I was so hungry I was eating like a horse, so it took a while to get the insulin/food mix right again.

Are there any problems / more potential problems with beastfeeding? I read somewhere that it can take much longer for milk to come through if diabetic and therefore some women aren't able to feed this way. Any truth in that?

Mine took 5 days but I had an emcs so it may have been linked to that. The major difficulty I had was because of low blood sugar they had given ds milk in a cup which inflated his stomach and meant that as far as he was concerned I wasn't giving him enough. As a result of 2 straight sleepless nights I succumbed to pressure and gave him a bottle which meant that when we got out of hospital and I tried to do it without he did nipple rejection. All rather stressful but we did succeed in the end and fed until he gave up at 11 1/2 months. The only advice I can give is that if you have the same just keep on trying to feed yourself as it will make the milk come in faster.

I'll C&P my story from our ante natal thread, I can't remember all the details quite as clearly now! :

The Story...

I'd gone in for the ECV on Tues last week, and you already know they didn't do it, they made an appt for me go in and have c/s on 27th march (tomorrow!) They said if my waters went to get in touch immediately. I saw the midwife last thursday when I was 37+2, then I got into bed at 11 that night and had to get straight out again and run to the bathroom cos there was what felt like gallons of fluid gushing out of me in spurts! Called the labour ward, went straight in, they monitored the baby for a while while they got all the docs etc ready then we walked to theatre. Because I wasn't contracting they were able to do it with a spinal, so at least I was awake.

George William was born at 1:04am on 21st March weighing 7lb 2.5oz, at 37+3. With lots of hair and very chubby cheeks!

That's where the fun began... they gave him some formula with a syringe when he was 45 mins old because I had nothing for for him and he needed something to stop his blood sugar going too low (yet another side effect of my diabetes, and if a babies blood sugar goes too low it could get brain damage, frightening. Once on the ward he had his blood sugar tested and it was a little lower than they'd have liked it to be so he had a formula cup feed. It had dropped again later so went off up to SCBU to be tube fed regularly. He was up there for 2 days then when his sugars were stable he came back down to me so we could tackle bfing. Only trouble was, he just wasn't interested because of all the constant formula cup feeds he was being force fed to maintain the sugar issue. While he was up in special care I managed to express a bit of colostrum to send up to go into his tube but because he wasn't with me, my milk was taking its time. so.............................

Oh I can't even think any more! Basically he wasn't trying to suck because he was always full from forced feeds, lazy because he didn't even need to wake up for the tube feeds. just as he started to get the hang of it, jaundice showed it's ugly head and he was too sleepy to suck, then last night he just woke up and bf'd and bf'd and bf'd and hasn't stopped since!

I'll post again soon when I can think a bit straighter and sort some pics out too. Just wanted you all to know it all worked out in the end! He's 6 days old today and just delicious.

I'll add too that while we were trying to get the BF established when he was able to be on the ward with me, they lent me a pump and I expressed after every attempt. So at each feeding time, I tried to get him to latch on, then cup fed him the ebm from last time, then expressed for next time. Every fe hours, 24 hours a day. Hard work and very stressful, but we got there! I bf until 3 weeks before his 1st birthday, when he decided he didn't want to any more.