Just Found Out I’m Pregnant [emoji33]

Lilllaura87

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51
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Hi,

I’m a Type 1 and just found out via a missed period and pregnancy test we are having a baby!
No clue what to expect or what happens next regarding doctors or nurses?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Laura xx
 
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Antje77

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I have no clue but I'm happy to be the first forum member to congratulate you!
Wishing you a non-eventfull pregnacy and the best baby in the world!
 

porl69

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Congratulations on this exciting news. Hope all goes smoothly for you and the new edition to the family (when he/she pops out :))
 
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Diakat

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You need to tell your diabetes team and if you are not already doing so take folic acid. Team can arrange extra check ups as you go along. Congrats as well!
 
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Lilllaura87

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51
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Thank you all still early days and very daunting to think someone else’s little life is in your hands.
Did anybody have an earlier scan than the usual 12 week?
 
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Diakat

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Thank you all still early days and very daunting to think someone else’s little life is in your hands.
Did anybody have an earlier scan than the usual 12 week?
Yes, but it was because I had a bleed. She just looked like a jelly baby at that early stage though.
 

FingersCrossed

Active Member
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33
Hiya. Congratulations. It's a mad, exciting and worrying time!

With me, I had a good diabetic team and had already met a midwife who dealt with a lot of type 1 and 2 diabetics, and ladies with gestational diabetes (me and my husband had been trying for over two years, so I'd had a few appointments with her before I got a positive test result).

Once I found out I was pregnant, I emailed her and she arranged a six-week scan for me. After this internal scan and a viable pregnancy was confirmed, she told me I had to arrange an appointment with a midwife at my GPs so they could arrange a booking appointment. This is done when you're at around eight to ten weeks pregnant and all they do is take a few blood tests, weight, blood pressure. They also ask lots of questions (it's a bit of an admin appointment to be honest) and start your maternity notes off - a folder you keep and bring to all future appointments. From here, you get a booking scan appointment in the post and an appointment to see a consultation - with me, this is the antenatal diabetes clinic. They keep you right and tell you which "non diabetic" appointments you still have to make at your GPs, like the 16 week check where they listen for baby's heartbeat.

That was my experience 5 years ago when I was pregnant with my son. I'm 13 weeks and two days pregnant now, and it's pretty much the same now. I had an early scan at eight weeks, booking appointment at ten weeks and a scan last Wednesday to date the pregnancy. If you don't have anyone to contact with your diabetes team, ring your doctors so you can get in the system. All you need to make sure you're taking is folic acid, the bigger dose for diabetics, which your team will arrange asap, and try and keep your levels in the best control as you can. This was a mare for me both times, and again when I misscaried four and a bit months ago, so it's hard, but help is out there.

Hope this helps and good luck.
 

myarnton1

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150
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Congratulations @Lilllaura87! Apart from taking 5mg folic acid which is prescribed you’re also advised to take a pregnancy vitamin, it’s okay if this also contains folic acid as you’re body will get rid of the excess that baby doesn’t need. You’re entitled to a viability scan at 8 weeks as a diabetic, I had mine 2 weeks ago, I’m now 10 weeks and waiting for my dating scan:) at 12 weeks you can start taking a mini dose aspirin which helps prevent pre-eclampsia. Good luck and try to keep tight control x
 
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Lilllaura87

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Thank you! On the folic for a few months now, just started taking pregnacare yesterday! Wow... that’s some crazy stuff! Appointment with the diabetic people in a weeks time so hoping all is well there. I was told by a midwife they do no early scans so have booked myself in for a privet one for next Saturday (6+6 days) to check if anything is wrong at all. Keep waking up each day thinking ‘is today going to be the day’ it’s horrendous worrying everyday!
Thanks for all your kind words

Xx
 

fmacd

Member
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Congratulations to you; I'm sure all will go well with help from your team and you. I've been type 1 for 40 years and had two sets of twins and one after that so know all about the highs and lows. One thing I remember being surprised by is how quickly your sugar levels can drop. The baby takes what it needs first and you're the husk that's left! Be aware of that as no one had warned me initially that this would be the case and I often found myself horribly hypo. As others have said, keeping as tight a control as possible is so important, not only to avoid a big baby due to highs but also to avoid the baby being hypo when it's born as it makes up for your (possibly higher than it should be) blood sugar.
Sounds like I'm giving you all the negatives but none of mine needed a Caesarian and I so appreciated having a great diabetic team that worked with me rather than imposing. So, get onto them asap and you'll give Baby Lilllaura the best start...
 
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myarnton1

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150
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Type 1
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Pump
@Lilllaura87 I would ask your diabetes team about the scan as NICE guidelines state that a viability scan should be done at around 8 weeks, for me it is the hospital that arrange this, not the midwife. I only know as I was told the same by my midwife on my first child so did a bit of researching. Are you on the pump or MDI? Xx
 

Lilllaura87

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Messages
51
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Fmacd- WOW! Two sets of twins? That’s amazing! I’ve heard about the hypos but at the moment I seam to be pretty stable... hope that’s not a bad sign!

Myarnton1 - I had a lovely chat with the hospital diabetic team today who have called me in for a early scan next week. Have now cancelled my other scan and refunded my money whooo!

I feel like that are really going to look after me even after the brief chat we had today.

Also going to Budapest in 14 days so hoping I don’t get bad morning sickness as last thing I want in another country is to try and battle ketones and be pregnant!
 
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Tilly_S

Well-Known Member
Messages
97
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Congrats
I’m onto my 3rd baby as a type one x currently 21+5 weeks x
With all 3 it’s been pretty similar my eldest is 8 youngest 15 months ... go to docs for midwife number ... it’s not online reagistering preg where I am that’s how u get 12 week scan app
Either get a nurse or doc to sent referral to diabetic ante natel team urgently to be seen just to get ball rolling
I contacted mine directly though
You will get a scan as soon as you go for appointment or a few days after to date you , blood tests , blood pressure take hba1
I have weekly appointments so your prob have weekly or two weekly to discuss how pregnancy will affect sugars and adjust doses and carb ratios
Scans at 6,12,20,24,28,3236 weeks to check growth :)
Your need extra eye screening too and a fetal heart check at 20-24 weeks in London

Apart from that same as other pregnancy with midwife appointments
Xx
 

SallyEzra

Active Member
Messages
36
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Congratulations on your pregnancy, that is lovely news! As others have said, contacting your diabetic team or your GP to place you with the diabetic/ante natal team that you would like, I found, is the most important first stop. The diabetic care at my local NHS hospital is not the greatest so I have chosen another trust locally for care with my first pregnancy for my son & the same hospital for my current pregnancy (currently around 32-33wks).

I contacted my GP on this pregnancy around 6-7wks so that he could get me a referral to the hospital I wanted ASAP because I really do get huge challenges with hypo throughout an entire pregnancy....I do not get the higher blood sugar/higher insulin effect at all. I saw a consultant in London privately in my last pregnancy, more out of desperation, to explain what was happening to me, who did some tests on me & explained that around 1.4% of the female type 1 diabetic population can have the response to pregnancy that I do. It means that currently the basal insulin I have going through my pump is just under 25% of my normal basal rate & only 3 hypos today, which is better than yesterday!.

As others have said, one of the first things is to ensure you are taking the higher dose of folic acid & a good pregnancy multivitamin, to help care for the little person & you.

You will get lots of additional scans as they double check on everything. First scan is usually around 8wks and tis he confirmation of a viable pregnancy & from 28wks onwards the growth scans seem to happen every 2wks, but they may choose to also do a weekly scan at this point to ensure that the placenta is working well & providing the baby with adequate nutrition & oxygen, particularly if the baby is looking a bit small. Due to a higher risk of heart defects with any diabetic pregnancy, they also tend to do a cardiac scan around 24wks, to get a detailed assessment of the baby's heart.

The care I received from the hospital in my last pregnancy & this one has really made me so appreciative of the NHS & the great care we can receive. I really like the fact at the hospital I attend that the diabetic consultant, the diabetic midwife & the obstetric consultant all sit together as a panel for my appointments, I find it really helpful as they discuss & agree a co-ordinated plan for & with me, which naturally requires a lot of tweaking as we go along. But also remember to ensure you have the GP/Midwife appointments in your calendar because they cover stuff that the hospital doesn't like the whooping cough vaccine & the MATB1 form - at least that seems to be how it works in the area I live.

At the moment, I keep getting encouraged to call the hospital if the baby's movements change or reduce. But I am always worried about not bothering them too much & yesterday got the riot act read to me a little for not calling sooner. However when I explained to the consultant that I was worried about bothering them too much, I was told that they are paid to be bothered - how lovely & supportive is that?.
 

SallyEzra

Active Member
Messages
36
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Oh! And also forgot to mention the additional eye screening - I think I have now had to attend 3 eye screenings in this pregnancy & it was the hospital consultancy team that have requested it each time.
 

Lilllaura87

Well-Known Member
Messages
51
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Thanks guys! Will see what happens at Wednesdays scan and appointment. Hopefully I’ll be able to stop worrying a bit if all looks well! Xx