Type 1: Pregnancy & Diabetes

[Raquel.sshc]

Hi all,

I am wondering how you manage your diabetes throughout the pregnancy period. I am not pregnant at the moment but I would like to, however it is a little bit scary for me. Is the diabetes difficult to manage during the pregnancy? Have you had extreme ups and downs on your sugar levels?



Many thanks.

 

[noblehead]

Hi @Raquel.sshc

I'll tag @azure as she always gives excellent advice on such matters.

 

[azure]

Hi @Raquel.sshc

Look around this Pregnancy section to read other women's experiences

The first thing to say is that there's no need to be scared A pregnancy with Type 1 is hard work because you need to keep very tight control, and your insulin needs will change a lot, but it's perfectly do-able.

It's important to speak to your team first to make sure your HbA1C is at the right level to start trying to conceive. You'll also need to get a prescription for special high dose folic acid to take while trying to conceive and during pregnancy.

When you're pregnant, you'll be well-looked after - lots of appointments and extra scans to reassure you all's ok.

 

[kitty55]

@Raquel.sshc We had a baby last summer (first one) and I have to say I really enjoyed my pregnancy. Just as you are I was terrified of struggling controlling my sugars and not managing but to be honest it was okay and nowhere near as difficult as I expected it to be. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I think what helped me most was my libre (which I was wearing before pregnancy already anyway) - it obviously showed me my levels 24/7 so it was relatively easy to adjust basal rates (which was necessary constantly). My diabetes team saw me every two weeks and was on the end of a phone if needed so I had excellent support.
I got admitted only once at about 27 weeks or so with DKA which came about due to a pump failure which I only realised too late so had to stay one night in hospital.
As @azure suggests it's surely best if you speak to your team - I went to preconception clinic for almost 3 years before I finally got pregnant (it was an IVF baby but IVF wasn't needed because of diabetes).
Any questions just shout and good luck!

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi all,

I am wondering how you manage your diabetes throughout the pregnancy period. I am not pregnant at the moment but I would like to, however it is a little bit scary for me. Is the diabetes difficult to manage during the pregnancy? Have you had extreme ups and downs on your sugar levels?



Many thanks.

Hi, pregnancy can make you feel anxious and a little scared, I had my now teenager at 42 1/2 yrs (she is 16 now) and different trimesters need different amounts of insulin, at one point I was taking tiny amounts, it can change throughout the pregnancy, but luckily not too many highs for me. Good luck and wishing you all the best

 

[Mad@cow]

Hey I'm in a similar situation, just got the OK from my diabetes team last Tuesday (very exciting) to start trying after working on my hba1c in pre conception for 9months. All the advice here is already covers everything I've been told but I would recommend "Balancing pregnancy with pre-exisiting diabetes; healthy mom, healthy baby" by Cheryl Alkon. It's the only book I know of specificially for type one's which focuses on pregnancy. It's American but the only major difference is the BG numbers because they are dl/mml while we are normally mg/mml. Good luck!

 

[joanne75]

Hi

I had my 1st baby in 2015 at 39yrs old I had put off being pregnant because the doctors just tell you everything that can go wrong and that put me off for years then decided enough was enough and went for it conceived really quickly. Was seen by the diabetic team every 2 weeks and had extra scans which was nice and reassuring, I managed to keep my sugars at around 6ish which wasn't too bad the team were happy with me and to be honest I know this will sound strange I actually found it easier to control during pregnancy then I normally would.

No other complications other then SPD because I was carry quite low, I did have a c section at 36+6 weeks due to having lots of fluid which kept going up and down so was not classed as polyhydramis (cant spell it) but it turned out I had Group B Strep which caused my son to have Sepis but this had nothing what so ever to do with my diabetes, and even after all of that I would do it again in a heart beat.

So my advice would be make sure your sugars are good to start with and just go with it you will be amazed how well you can control it, because you control it for your baby not just you and you will get all the help and support of your team.

 

[Raquel.sshc]

Many thanks for your pieces of advice