How did you prepare for your baby?

[LucyM88]

I've been told that to have the best chance for me and baby is to prepare.

To give you some background, I was in a long...long relationship and he was never interested in having children. I did suffer a miscarriage in 2010 and I really believe it was because I didn't have tight control. I'm now in an awesome, happy relationship and this man seems to be a huuuuuge family man. Comes from a huge family and does get "cutsie" about babies.
Would love to think I have a future with him. So I was wondering....

How did you prepare? How long did you prepare? Did you prepare yourself before or when you found out you were pregnant? What were you told about risks to yourself and baby? Is there actually anything that your diabetes prevents you from doing with baby?
(I understand it's different for everyone, but gaining some honest insight would be very handy!)

Thank you. X

 

[azure]

Hi @LucyM88

I know you're aware of having a good HbA1C so I haven't mentioned that in my list below, but these are the other things I did. Obviously, if there's something below that's not appropriate for you, just ignore it:

- Took 5mg of folic acid daily
- Took a selection of other supplements
- Concentrated on my diet - changed to full fat milk, ate fish regularly, ate a good amount of eggs, plenty of fruit and veg, and increased the fat in my diet
- Did some relaxation/breathing every day to de-stress
- Tried to have a walk most days to keep in shape
- Got plenty of sleep

As you can see, most of those are general things and not related to the diabetes, but I think they helped mentally as well as physically, and stood me in good stead during pregnancy.

Definitely prepare before you get pregnant - months before, I'd say, but take your consultant'so advice.

I already knew about the risks, but my consultant stressed the importance of the high dose folic acid.

No, I don't think the diabetes stops me doing anything with my baby It just sometimes takes a little more thought, but I have to think about diabetes every day anyway, so it's not much different

 

[LucyM88]

Thank you! Very helpful, just wanted to have some very honest insight into dealing with diabetes and pregnancy

 

[1Sarah1]

Hi
As @azure says all the things on her list!
I have to say I do feel it is harder being diabetic. I had to have an emergency section first time and took me ages to recover (and my daughter now diagnosed type1 age2 so have that to manage). My twins are 5m and again taking a while to recover from the section. I find driving etc hard as to time babies feeds and then make sure I'm ok etc it does take a lot of effort.
It definitely wouldn't change anything though -they are all absolutely worth it.
You have to put you first though-you can't look after a baby if you are hypo. Which can be hard sometimes if they are crying-one of my twins definitely doesn't like waiting for his feed, his sister on the other hand is so placid.
It's just extra effort but it's part of life being diabetic you just have to try manage it xx

 

[azure]

Thank you! Very helpful, just wanted to have some very honest insight into dealing with diabetes and pregnancy

It's hard work keeping tight control, but as @1Sarah1 says, so very, very worth it

I'd also point out that you get lots of care in pregnancy - extra appointments, extra scans - so you really feel reassured.

 

[LucyM88]

Glad to hear so many success stories. It must be difficult when a complication occurs during pregnancy, one of the reasons I think many diabetic women are put off from having children. I've heard the risky stories, not falling pregnant, loosing and conditions that happen.