Hiyas!

[Tilnoom]

Hiyas, I'm Tils, recently diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and I'm currently 32 weeks pregnant.

Bit of background info - I had my first child in 2005 and she weighed in at an impressive 11lb 10 1/2oz (5.28kg to you metric folk) at 38 weeks gestation. No diabetes tests done, no sugar at all in the monthly pee-on-a-stick tests with the midwife. It was assumed that I'd just created a hippo This time around, my new midwife team put me forward for a Glucose Tolerance Test (much to my annoyance) at 26ish weeks gone. Although my first born was big, it was a bit of a shock when the test came back as impaired - my morning blood test showed 6.4, my post test bloods 8.2. A few days of finger pricking and it was decided I was ever-so-slightly diabetic and have been on the rapid release insulin before meals ever since. For the first few weeks I really was in denial but I'm just getting on with it now!!

My diabetic consultant person at the antenatal clinic has said I can adjust my insulin accordingly, so I'm injecting 6 before breakfast and 5 before lunch/evening meal. Is that quite a low dose?

My first-thing-in-the-morning bloods are coming back between 5.5 and 6.0 - is that really THAT bad? I do snack late evening because quite frankly I'm pregnant and if I'm hungry I'm **** well going to eat and I have curbed my beloved chocy addiction considerably. I'm certainly not sat there eating chocy all night, but if I fancy a couple of digestives or a packet of crisps, I'll have em! :wink: I'm just concerned of being over medicated unnecessarily if they want to put me on the slow release insulin overnight. The dairy cravings have returned too - milk, yogurts, cheese... but I do try and fit these in with my mealtimes so I don't spike.

My post breakfast bloods come back between 8.0 and 8.6 and I am trying to ensure I walk my daughter to school after breakfast but sometimes its just not possible. Also, is there an optimum time to inject before eating? I realised this morning that I've been injecting first thing and sometimes I don't actually have breakfast until 45 minutes later. Is it best to inject early or just before eating? I injected just before breakfast this morning and post-food blood came back as 7.0, but I'm not sure if this was a fluke or not.

95% of the time my lunch/evening bloods come back fine so I'm happy to continue the way I am for those meals for now.

I have Type 2 diabetes on both sides of my family so I know I'm at high risk of getting it later in life too. Apart from the obvious lose a couple of stone (I'm overweight, but not obese) and eat less chocy (!! ) is there anything else I can do to prevent it?

Thanks in advance,

Tils.

 

[hanadr]

I wish you and your baby well. A baby as big as your firstborn, would certainly indicate gestational diabetes. My granddaughter was considered huge at 9lb 10 oz and 42 weeks( yes she was late, taking after Daddy :lol: ) No Diabetes in her mummy. any baby bigger than that is at risk.
you need to toake care of yourself and your precious little one for the next few weeks.
If you can cut down on the carbohydrates in your diet, i should help. You don't need carbs to keep healthy, even in pregnancy. At the moment, your baby is probably getting rather too much glucose. I don't know figures for BG in late pregnency, but a norrmal non-pregnant non-diabetic has a bg about 5 at pretty much all times. Dr. Katharine, might know the target to aim for, or Wiflib.

 

[hanadr]

PS
the pee on a stick test only shows sugar if you have enough circulating for your kidneys to filter it out. the level at which it does so is called the renal threshold and is individual. If your renal threshold is quite high and your BG, even elevated, remains below it, the tests can be negative and you diabetic

 

[Aadrgon]

Hi Tils welcome to the forum

Every best wish for you in your pregnancy. The dietary advice in here will certainly help both now and after you baby is born. Might even rub off on your children once they are older - unfortunately mine seem to think that a staple diet has got to have chips in it - I'm trying to educate them into eating more healthfully but it's an uphill struggle.

 

[Tilnoom]

Thanks for the replies. Thankfully my daughter is a much better eater than I - I was extremely fussy as a child but she will happily eat her 5 a day without prompting. Although I still can't stand my fruit, half my plate is normally packed with veg or a salad

Thanks too Hanadr - that kidney function explaination makes perfect sense. At least I know one bit of me is working properly :lol:

My lunch/evening meals are coming back around the 6.5 range so I'm happy with that and I'm still eating some carbs with it, although not as much as I would have done pre-diagnosis.

Although my daughter was very large, she was also in proportion with her head and abdomen hitting the same centile lines at birth. She was a rather long baby at 23 inches too so that explains some of the weight away. She certainly didn't look anything like the enormous diabetic babies you see in the media when they are born!! She still is very tall for her age and I fear will take after me by being stuck in the back row, centre of ALL her school photos :lol: (I hit 6ft tall before I was 14, d'oh!)

I've had a browse around the site and found a lot of info thanks I must admit I am struggling for suitable food ideas, what with the pregnancy restrictions and diabetic restrictions. Still, at least I'm not going to put on too much weight this pergnancy as a result!! 8) Silver lining and all that!

Tils.