Type 1 Diabetic And Found Out I Am Pregnant. Need Advice As I Have Suffered Miscarriages In Past

[kellyb8511]

hi guys need your help please
Brief history I didn’t use my insulin for almost 2 years to basically lose weight! Then 2 years ago I found out I was pregnant after trying for 6 years to conceive I was ecstatic but end d in miscarriage. I tried to get diabetes under control from that date and unfortunately went on to have 3 more miscarriages with no explanation just my hba1c was still high. I have been trying to be strict with my insulin for past 6 months and latest hba1c was 8.1 (which I know is still a bit of from ideal) anyhow I have just had a month off trying to get pregnant and just come back from all inclusive holiday, which I made the most of and 10 days later I have found out I am pregnant. My issue is I was hardly strict with insulin onholiday and generally didn’t look after myself ie drank lots and ate whatever I wanted. Now I just keep thinking i am just going through the pregnancy motions again for it to end in a couple of weeks again :-( is there any 1 out there that can shed some hope. I have been extremely strict since getting the positive result and intend on being the diabetic teams dream patient, just wish I was always like that. Thanks for reading xxx

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @kellyb8511 It sounds like you've had a really tough time, the reason glucose control is so important is the link to miscarriage, the target HbA1c is 48mmol/l for women wishing to conceive, have a read of NICE guidelines in regards to pregnancy:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng3/chapter/1-recommendations

Have you discussed your plans with your DSN ? It's vital to get on the radar with your team as they will need to monitor you and help you where necessary to maintain your control. I'm sorry I don't have anything more positive to say as its really a case of knuckling down and maintaining excellent control, lots of type 1's have had successful pregnancies so it can be done, I had gestational diabetes diagnosed at 23 weeks and straight onto insulin and fortunately all was ok, hopefully more type1 mums can respond on this for you.

 

[Fairygodmother]

Hi @kellyb8511, the advice I was given when I was when pregnant was that the closer to ‘normal’ I could keep my blood sugars the better the outcome for the baby in the womb, immediately after being born and in later life. It’s a full on task monitoring food, blood sugars, decreases or increases in insulin required and then decent blood sugars too when you have the small person as they’ll need a healthy mother to give them all that love and a happy life.
Like @Juicyj says, you need a medical team on board to see you safely through pregnancy: have you been in touch with your GP and the DSN yet?
My babies are now grown up (38 and nearly 40) and I love them dearly. They’ve brought more happiness than I thought possible, a love that’s different from all other, worry sometimes, a lot of pride, and a few tussles. The hard work of blood sugar control durin pregnancy was all worth it!

 

[myarnton1]

Hello @kellyb8511, and congratulations. I have a 19 month old and am 8 weeks pregnant. I would definitely take a good look at the NICE guidlines that @Juicyj has kindly linked you up to, it will explain all the target ranges for pregnancy etc.
The best thing to do now is to get in touch with your diabetes team, they will be your most seen people during your pregnancy and they are extremely helpful with all concerns and are usually used to being moaned at, cried to etc because it is hard (well my diabetes team is used to that lol).
You need to take a high dose folic acid of 5mg, this will be prescribed as you can’t buy it.
The best thing to do is test, test and test some more as this will help your team see where your insulin needs increasing or decreasing at different times of the day. How many times a day are you testing at the moment?
I don’t quite understand how you survived without insulin for that long but from now on your insulin requirements will change. You may experience hypos in the early weeks and then in the late second trimester and third trimester your insulin requirements will increase.
Hope this helps

 

[becca59]

@kellyb8511 Miscarriages are a huge emotional trauma. As someone who had four, two of them late on, I know the emotional impact they have. However, although as you are well aware it is important to maintain tight control with your diabetes, and your team should help you with that. It was not necessarily your diabetes that caused them. All my miscarriages occurred 15 years before Type 1 got me. There are lots of reasons why miscarriage occurs. Do not blame yourself for past events, just go forwards and do the best you can. Good luck!

 

[sninge]

My hba1 was 8.5 when i found out i was pregnant with my daughter ( now 10 ) i had also had a couple of good nights out the couple of weeks before i found out and it really didnt do her any harm so please dont worry or feel bad! I did manage to drop my hba1 down to 6.9 during the pregnancy but it took a lot of hard work and the help of my insulin pump, if you arent on one please see your team and see if you can get funded. Also using libre would help so much so again of you can get funded or self fund it would help so much! Remember though type 1s had healthy babies long before we had all this technology.
Dont feel bad you have not done anything wrong, many, many type 1s have started their healthy pregnancies with worse hba1s than yours and also been living it up before they found out they were pregnant!! Good luck!!

 

[kellyb8511]

Hi guys thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. I have just got my latest hba1c and it has gone to 7.6% and that is with me not looking after myself in turkey and since finding out I haven’t really been over 7mmol so fingers crossed this is my happy ever after xxx