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Early pregnancy - high readings at night?

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ashley.p

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Hi all

Firstly I'd like to introduce myself, my name's Ashley and I've been a T1 diabetic for 14 years, controlled with Novorapid and Levemir. Luckily for me all HbA1c's have been 7 or below and recently my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby.

Well this week we got the good news, a positive pregnancy test! :D According to the doctor I'm 5 weeks pregnant which is great.

I've had a apoointments with the diabetic team and from what I've been reading online, it seems that in early pregnancy you tend to get a lot of hypo's. So far, over the last couple of weeks my blood has been quite stable but have found I've been having to take more Levemir in the evening. 2 weeks ago I took 6u at night and would sometimes get a hypo, last night I took 8u, tested at 12.30am to find I as sitting at 10.8, so i took 2u Novorapid and when I rose this morning I was at 10.1?? Has anyone else had this problem? It's happened a few times over the past week and is starting to get me down and I know levels like this are only going to increase the chances of miscarriage etc. :(

Thanks for listening.

Ashley
 
Hi,

First off congratulations :)

I'm sure someone who has had experience with diabetes will be along and can help you.

Just wanted to say many things are common in pregnancy but remember you are individual. Slight and occasional highs are expected as your hormones are changing throughout pregnancy so will your insulin requirements. You seem to be working on it though so keep trying!

Try not to stress too much as that may also make your BG's a little higher, if you feel stressed about it, take 5 mins away from the situation and look at lovely baby clothes :D

Keep being positive as soon the crazy cravings will be along, i worry that when i get pregnant i will crave the foods i hate, like tomato and banana sandwiches topped with salad cream YAK!! :lol:
 
Hey

Thanks guys, yeah you're right, will try not to stress about it, it's just annoying that you try hard to keep you're diabetes in control, but nothing you do helps! It's frustrating! But hey, you guys know all about that too!

:D
 
Hi Ashley...Congratulations!!!!

Yes, been there, sone that, and really, all I can say is that you are doiung the right thing, testing and adjusting as best you can. hormones and all that really do play havoc with diabetes control.

Yes, people often get hypos in the early days, I did, but to be honest, some ofthis was becasue of me over reacting to being higher...so over correcting.

I have had 2 children, and have been T1 since I was 4,and both pregnancies were different. With you good HbA1C, you are clearly off to a great start.

Basically, you have to be very focused on your diabetes control...I had so many appointments, but very few actually about the baby, mostly about my diabetes. There are a few of us T1 Mums around, so please stick around, as I am sure you will get some great advice.
 
Just remembered. In teh early days of my pregnancy, I moved from lantus to split levimir, as teh lantus really seemed to run out in the morning. If you are not spliting the levimir already, definately discuss this at your appointment.
 
Hi Sugar2

Thanks for that, at least I know it's normal then! I was thinking something may not have been right seeing as my body was doing the opposite to what the professionals say!

I do split my levemir and have done since ages as i find it works best for me, take 18u in the morning and 8u(at present) in the evening.

How did each of you're pregnancies go if you don't mind me asking? Did you go fullterm? Did you encounter any problems with your diabetes? Anything for me to watch out for? (sorry for all the questions!)


Ash
 
I have 2 children, and I've been type 1 since I was 9. I largely agree with the advice you have been given so far. All I can add to it is that when I was pregnant I always felt as if I was playing 'catch up' with my control. I went to the diabetic ante-natal every 2 weeks when all was going well (!) and every week when things were a little out of control. My consultant would advise me what to do dosage wise to overcome the current problems, and then of course I'd encounter other problems after that and so on and so forth.

I had my first at 37 weeks when my waters broke, by C-section as he was apparently a big baby (they predicted 10lbs but he turned out to be 7lb 13oz - quite a difference!) I had my second at 39 weeks +5 days, induced but ended up with another c-section. She was 7lbs 13.5ozs (this is a pretty good weight for a diabetic at full term).

The main things for you to watch out for is loss of hypo awareness as you progress through your pregnancy. This is common and during my pregnancies I blacked out a few times through lack of hypo warnings. In my second pregnancy, as I already had a 2 year old, I was advised to never be alone with him in case I blacked out, and I chose not to drive while I was hypo unaware.

Not trying to scare you, so please don't be alarmed - just test lots and follow the advice your ante-natal team give you.

Good luck!
 
Hi ashley.p

I too have had two children and both of mine were different. With my daughter i suffered from sickness morning noon and night right to the end (even on day i gave birth) and in the first trimester had hi lood sugars but it settled down after that and all the way through my hba1c was 5.5.
When i had my son it was the opposit end where for the first trimester i had low blood sugars to the point where i blacked out and at an antenatal appointment had a major hypo and the dr had to drive me home.
Into the 4th month i was better and my hba1c was 5 right upto the end. Both of mine were delivered early by C-Section due to pre-eclampsia so had them a daughter 4 weeks early and son 3 weeks early. My daughter weighed 6lb 7oz and my son was 6lb 13oz.

I followed all the advise given to me by the consultants and ob/gyn.

Hope you have a good pregnancy xxxx

Josie
 
Hi,
well, I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old, who are both hea\althy, so in that sense it went well! I too had different pregnancies.

I lost hypo awareness as well between about 6 weeks and 20 weeks, but as Isay, I was trying so hard to keep my BG incheck that I was running lowish all the time. I really feel my BG dropping, so when I was keeping it in teh 4s, there wasn't far to drop. i also stopped driving for a bit.

I ended up with pre eclamsia inmy 1st pregnancy, although they did not know that at the time as they thought I was damaging my kidneys. i sweeled up like a water balloon, and had an emergency c section at 36 weeks. My daughter was 5 lb 11. It was only then, as my kidney function returned to normal that they confirmed it had been pre eclamsia. To be honest, it didn't make any difference to teh treatment I received, but it was so nice to see thos eresults improve!

2Nd round, lost hypo awareness again, but only needed an ambulance once this time :oops: Other than, text book diabetic pregnancy. As I had already had a c scetion, I really wanted to "try and do it naturally" right up until the midwife told me that I would not be walking around teh ward, listening to whale music andusing a birthing ball, but strapped to a minitored, ona bed, witha slidiing scale in my arm...so I opted for an elective section..best decision I made. My son was 8lb 13 at 39 weeks. A bit heavy, but not as heavy as they thought he was going to be.

Please, do not get scared reading this. At least now you are aware what may happen, and that there is no normal..even when the patient is teh same, the treatment is teh same, there is no normal!

i don't know whether the midwife was basically scaring me into choosing a c section. I was gutted at the time, but actually, it was a lovely expereince. they refused to discuss delivery with me until the very end of pregnancy, so you may not be able to have this conversation, but it is worth trying, especially now, in teh early days, so, if you are like I was, you have time to accept what could happen.

My only iother advice...make friends with someone who lives near the hospital and arrange that you can park in their driveway..you will spend quite a lot of time there over the next 36 weeks. In my experience, I also learn't very quickly that community midwife team were not very helpful, indeed, in my second pregnancy, I did not see them at all, until after my son arrived, when they were very good at looking after him. This is in no way a complaint about them, but they assumed that I was being looked after by the hospital...which I was. It made me a bit sad that teh hospital never really talked about the baby...except to measure them and do a few scans. It also meant that I missed teh NHS antenatal classess.
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I've got 2 little devils, 3years and 7 months, for both pregnancies my sugars went through the floor (1st pregnancy was unplanned so when it happened it was a shock - 2nd we were trying so when my sugars went awol we knew i was pregnant at 2 weeks)

Both pregnancies went well for me (2nd had sickness all day every day through out but it was worth it) - i was tweaking my insulin on a weekly basis but with the help of my hospital it wasnt too bad.

I had both my babies at 38weeks both by c-section. with my little girl i was due to be induced the day after my waters broke, however after a long difficult labour (NOT diabetes related) had section and opted for c-section 2nd time round even though the hospital were trying to promote a normal delivery.

People usually associate diabetic mothers with larger babies... I dont know if it's true but the logic seems sound however this is not strictly true with type1 mums (what i was told by my hospital). what puts the weight on babies is excess sugar in the last trimester so as long as your control is good then unless it's going to be a "big" baby anyway... :)

Just wanted to say too for some bizarre reason both pregnancies are the only time in my life i have had hypo awareness :D
 
Thank you to everyone who has replied, it's nice to get experiences from 'real' folk rather than textbook stuff!

Lot's of different experiences and as you've said, everyone is different.

I've been told by the diabetic team I'll be treated as having normal delivery up until the point during labour that they have to change the course of action. It would be nice to be able to give birth naturally - but hey, that's a wee bit away yet!! :D

Did anyone have an early scan or was your first one at 12 weeks? My GP thinks the midwife may want an earlier one due to being in the 'high-risk' category, still awaiting the midwife to contact me regarding an appointment.

It doesn't feel real at the moment, although hubby and me excited and keeping our fingers crossed everything okay so far!

Ashley
 
Congratulations Ashley. :D

Can't really offer any advice; T2 on insulin for both pregnancies so my experience probably very different to yours.

Hope you and your other half enjoy every minute - best of luck!
 
I had a scan as soon as I found out i was pregnant on both then had one at 12 weeks. At about 28 weeks i started to have scans every two weeks so they could measure the growth of the baby and see if there were any problems.

Have you been referred to diabetic midwife?

josie
 
thanks jay2506, we just can't wait!! :D

josie, my doctor said she'd let the pracitce midwife know who'd then contact me for an appointment, that was Tuesday morning and I've not heard anything yet. Should I maybe call the surgery to chase them up then? I don't suppose it would do any harm.

Ashley
 
It wouldn't hurt because you will need to be in touch with diabetic team as soon as possible. I saw a diabetic midwife and my consultant, who i see at hospital, was part of the antenatal diabetic clinic. I felt really lucky cuz she always saw me and knew all my history (she was there for the two pregnancies).

Josie
 
Congratulations Ashley,

I'm also pregnant for the first time... I can't offer much advice at this point as I don't really know what I'm doing ;) Just take one day at a time, keep tweaking, try and remain calm and keep visiting the forum.

All the best. Jessie x
 
No, I didn't get any early scans becasue I am diabetic. I di have one at 10 weeks due to a scare with bleeding, but thankfully all was well.

Got an extra scan for heart defects (I think abiout 20 weeks) and then growth scans later on. It always lovly to see your baby though. That really is the a benefit of being diabetic...I can't think of many others!
 
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