Hi all, new member here from Sweden.
First comes a thoroughish info on my background. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2010 after 5y on relatively strict LCHF diet that I started with to AVOID getting diabetes (it's rather prevalent on both sides of the family). From the diagnosis my diabetes has been very hard to control, it didn't respond to exercise or anything else. I followed the instructions from the GP and used Metformine and Victoza, neither did squat for my blood sugar but they made me feel extremly nauseaous 24/7. After increasingly deteriorating diabetes I finally gave up on the medical community and all the medications and went my own way. I read up and decided to change my diet completely and decided on Paleo AIP, since I was extremely swollen, had pains in all my bones all the time as well as long time scalp psoriasis and PCOS. After 6-8 months of strict Paleo AIP I finally turned the corner. All in all, I lost some 25+ kg and got my HbA1c down from 58 to 39. The swelling had abated, my PCOS was a thing of the past and my psoriasis got considerably better but did not disappear. I'm guessing I would need to be on the diet for longer than 8 months for that to happen. Well, so far so good.
Then my hubby went and knocked me up on the first try. I was so certain that it would take at least a year, me being 35 and all, which would have given my body even more time to heal. But no!
From the day 1 of the pregnancy, my diabetes spiraled out of control. What worked the week before, did not work again. It was like 2010 and onward revisited. I had to contact the specialist maternity care (don't know what you call them in UK) and start going there immediately. I also demanded insulin since I couldn't control my sugar and I got it. Now I am taking around 50+U of Humalog and 25U of Humulin daily. And I'm only week 14+4! I dare not think of how much more insulin I'll have to take as the pregnancy progresses.
Pregnancy itself has been very stable. There have not been any problems with the baby so far. I did a scan last week, the doc looked through everything, did KUBB measurements and told me that my risk of having a DS child are lower than 0.2 per mille and that everything else looked just peachy. So that's good.
However, from my point of view, the pregnancy has been a torment. In the first trimester I had such an immense nausea which pretty much stopped my brain from working and I lived on nothing more than air and water. I couldn't do anything. But I never threw up, although I'd wished it many times. But I've also read that throwing up doesn't help the nausea so just as well, I guess...
Now that I've entered the second trimester my nausea is gone and I can finally eat food. Real food. Eggs and liver and and shrimps and all the other delicious foods that made my stomach turn before. So I eat, three times a day, normal portions, take my insulin to control the blood sugar levels and in mere 2-3 weeks I've went from 80.5kg from the start of the pregnancy to 86.5kg today. That's a huuuuuuuuge increase in weight. I've also noticed some more swelling, particularly in the mornings. My wedding ring gets harder and harder to gets taken off, so all in all not good. Since I was already quite overweight for my short stature of 160cm before the pregnancy, I had planned on gaining no more than 10kg during the pregnancy. But now I cannot see how that will be possible, lest I start starving myself for the rest of the pregnancy. I doubt the baby will suffer, I've got plenty on me that can sustain it. But I really don't want to hit 3 digit weight again.
I had such plans for my delivery. I wanted a home birth, peace and quiet, just me and hubby and the new baby, no stress, no pitocin, no synthocin, no K-vitamin and no bloody clamping and cutting the cord 2 sec after the baby is out. Now all that seems to go out the window. All I can see ahead of me is the whale size of my soon to be 100+ kg weight body, pains everywhere, hardly being able to move, ginormous amounts of insulin taken every day, high risk of preeclampsia, CS (DO NOT WANT THAT!!!), induction (hell no!!!), baby put on formula because of my insulin levels (so it gets welcomed into the world by getting its poor intestines ruined by baby formula, how nice), immediate clamping and so on and so forth. All I see ahead of me are just nightmarish visions and I really really hate being pregnant right now and I really feel miserable. This is not what I wanted for myself and my baby.
So that's me. Sorry for all the whining. I hope you can have some input for me and at least answer me few questions?
Have you been able to avoid induction?
I really want my baby to come when it is ready, not when the panicked doctor thinks it should come.
How about avoiding clamping and cutting before the baby gets its blood back?
Having ****** genes I really want to offer my baby the best possible start in life, starting with it getting all its stem cells to begin with. I was a very early preemie myself and as usual they applied the cut-and-run technique in my case, meaning I barely got any of my blood back but had to get 3 blood transfusions later on. Very sound logic there, right...
Have you been able to avoid/stop formula from being given to your babies?
I have stopped with gluten (starting with LCHF diet) and dairy (starting with Paleo AIP) and it has done wonders for me. I suspect that my baby will inherit most of my problems but just because it will get the increased probability of developing the same problems as me and my mother, I want to minimise the risks as much as possible. Thus it infuriates me that baby formula is given on routine to a baby without any gut protection. I really don't want that at all.
Have you been able to prevent K-vitamin to be given to your baby?
As mentioned before, my baby will need all its stem cells and for those stem cells to get where they need to, the baby's blood NEEDS to be that naturally thin (all babies are born with thin blood, that IS the natural way) so K-vit is completely out of the question for me.
How big have your babies been?
Have they been big even though you've had well controlled diabetes during your pregnancy?
Have any of you been able to have a (good) home birth, despite the risks?
That's all I can think of. I hope some of you can give me some answers.
Thank you all so very much in advance.
/Becky
First comes a thoroughish info on my background. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2010 after 5y on relatively strict LCHF diet that I started with to AVOID getting diabetes (it's rather prevalent on both sides of the family). From the diagnosis my diabetes has been very hard to control, it didn't respond to exercise or anything else. I followed the instructions from the GP and used Metformine and Victoza, neither did squat for my blood sugar but they made me feel extremly nauseaous 24/7. After increasingly deteriorating diabetes I finally gave up on the medical community and all the medications and went my own way. I read up and decided to change my diet completely and decided on Paleo AIP, since I was extremely swollen, had pains in all my bones all the time as well as long time scalp psoriasis and PCOS. After 6-8 months of strict Paleo AIP I finally turned the corner. All in all, I lost some 25+ kg and got my HbA1c down from 58 to 39. The swelling had abated, my PCOS was a thing of the past and my psoriasis got considerably better but did not disappear. I'm guessing I would need to be on the diet for longer than 8 months for that to happen. Well, so far so good.
Then my hubby went and knocked me up on the first try. I was so certain that it would take at least a year, me being 35 and all, which would have given my body even more time to heal. But no!
From the day 1 of the pregnancy, my diabetes spiraled out of control. What worked the week before, did not work again. It was like 2010 and onward revisited. I had to contact the specialist maternity care (don't know what you call them in UK) and start going there immediately. I also demanded insulin since I couldn't control my sugar and I got it. Now I am taking around 50+U of Humalog and 25U of Humulin daily. And I'm only week 14+4! I dare not think of how much more insulin I'll have to take as the pregnancy progresses.
Pregnancy itself has been very stable. There have not been any problems with the baby so far. I did a scan last week, the doc looked through everything, did KUBB measurements and told me that my risk of having a DS child are lower than 0.2 per mille and that everything else looked just peachy. So that's good.
However, from my point of view, the pregnancy has been a torment. In the first trimester I had such an immense nausea which pretty much stopped my brain from working and I lived on nothing more than air and water. I couldn't do anything. But I never threw up, although I'd wished it many times. But I've also read that throwing up doesn't help the nausea so just as well, I guess...
Now that I've entered the second trimester my nausea is gone and I can finally eat food. Real food. Eggs and liver and and shrimps and all the other delicious foods that made my stomach turn before. So I eat, three times a day, normal portions, take my insulin to control the blood sugar levels and in mere 2-3 weeks I've went from 80.5kg from the start of the pregnancy to 86.5kg today. That's a huuuuuuuuge increase in weight. I've also noticed some more swelling, particularly in the mornings. My wedding ring gets harder and harder to gets taken off, so all in all not good. Since I was already quite overweight for my short stature of 160cm before the pregnancy, I had planned on gaining no more than 10kg during the pregnancy. But now I cannot see how that will be possible, lest I start starving myself for the rest of the pregnancy. I doubt the baby will suffer, I've got plenty on me that can sustain it. But I really don't want to hit 3 digit weight again.
I had such plans for my delivery. I wanted a home birth, peace and quiet, just me and hubby and the new baby, no stress, no pitocin, no synthocin, no K-vitamin and no bloody clamping and cutting the cord 2 sec after the baby is out. Now all that seems to go out the window. All I can see ahead of me is the whale size of my soon to be 100+ kg weight body, pains everywhere, hardly being able to move, ginormous amounts of insulin taken every day, high risk of preeclampsia, CS (DO NOT WANT THAT!!!), induction (hell no!!!), baby put on formula because of my insulin levels (so it gets welcomed into the world by getting its poor intestines ruined by baby formula, how nice), immediate clamping and so on and so forth. All I see ahead of me are just nightmarish visions and I really really hate being pregnant right now and I really feel miserable. This is not what I wanted for myself and my baby.
So that's me. Sorry for all the whining. I hope you can have some input for me and at least answer me few questions?
Have you been able to avoid induction?
I really want my baby to come when it is ready, not when the panicked doctor thinks it should come.
How about avoiding clamping and cutting before the baby gets its blood back?
Having ****** genes I really want to offer my baby the best possible start in life, starting with it getting all its stem cells to begin with. I was a very early preemie myself and as usual they applied the cut-and-run technique in my case, meaning I barely got any of my blood back but had to get 3 blood transfusions later on. Very sound logic there, right...
Have you been able to avoid/stop formula from being given to your babies?
I have stopped with gluten (starting with LCHF diet) and dairy (starting with Paleo AIP) and it has done wonders for me. I suspect that my baby will inherit most of my problems but just because it will get the increased probability of developing the same problems as me and my mother, I want to minimise the risks as much as possible. Thus it infuriates me that baby formula is given on routine to a baby without any gut protection. I really don't want that at all.
Have you been able to prevent K-vitamin to be given to your baby?
As mentioned before, my baby will need all its stem cells and for those stem cells to get where they need to, the baby's blood NEEDS to be that naturally thin (all babies are born with thin blood, that IS the natural way) so K-vit is completely out of the question for me.
How big have your babies been?
Have they been big even though you've had well controlled diabetes during your pregnancy?
Have any of you been able to have a (good) home birth, despite the risks?
That's all I can think of. I hope some of you can give me some answers.
Thank you all so very much in advance.
/Becky
