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Pre pregnancy advice please

Pepsi Max

Pepsi Max

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Messages
162
Hi all, not sure if this is the right forum for my question but here goes, I'm a type 1 since 2005, recently on a pump. My last hba1c was 7.7% Recently myself & my husband have been considering having our first child but to be honest I'm scared. Scared of complications & the whole shebang! My last appoint with my Dr was Nov 2013, they said they would refer me to my local maternity diabetes clinic but I haven't heard anything. I suppose now I'm looking for information to prepare me so I can get a head start. Anything like what my % should be before conceiving, how can I get it down, any supplements I should start to take, what to expect etc etc any advice is extremely welcomed!


Diabetic warrior since 2005!
 
Hi. I asked to be referred as well and it did take a couple of months for the letter and then a while for the appointment but got there in the end!!

It would be worth looking up the NICE guidance clinical guidance 63 - diabetes and pregnancy. Google it and you should be able to download it .


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You should probably be taking 5mg per day folic acid. It's more than the standard recommended dose and you should be able to get it on prescription.


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Hi there, do you feel your sugars are well controlled? If so, you're probably ok to start trying now :-) my first pregnancy was not planned and my sugars were running high in the beginning but I managed to get them down and have a very healthy 2 year old!! Myself and my partner are considering trying for another baby which I mentioned to my diabetic specialist and his reply was that I should just start taking folic acid and that as my sugars were well controlled it would be fine to start trying. I asked about the pre conception diabetic clinic they ran at the hospital and he said that it was just about getting your blood levels well controlled so it's probably pointless going if they are ok already so to speak. I'm not sure if anyone has been told anything else or can add to this?


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I also had a baby when I found out my sugars weren't so good. But from then on I got them in the best control I've had in my life (15 years diabetic) I went to the doctors and was referred straight to the hospital. every 1-2 weeks for the entire pregnancy I was seen for blood and urine tests and to go over sugars. Also after 20 weeks u get a scan every month. It's hard work but so worth it!!
 
You should be taking 5mg folic acid daily up until you are 12 weeks pregnant, along with vitamin D every day throughout your pregnancy, it is most multivitamins. My hba1c was 7% when I told my diabetic nurse that I wanted to start a family and they were more than happy for me to do so. I didn't get referred to the maternity clinic until I was actually pregnant though.

I'm 16 weeks pregnant with my second baby & wish you the best of luck with everything :)
 
Exciting and good luck with it all :) I've had 2 children - my youngest is 8 so I am probably a bit out of the loop on it all - my HBA1C was in the higher 6s when we started trying and started folic acid. I did try my best at keeping control really tight - and had these sheets where on 1 day I would BM before each meal and on the other 1 hour after (I always found my 1 hours after to be a little too high - particularly on my 2nd pregnancy so tried eating stuff that broke down slower and the whole glycaemic index thing which was in vogue then, but I still use it now and it does help to keep your sugar a little more stable - but then we are all unique, it might work if you need it!). My doses did steadily climb during the pregnancy, and I had regular growth checks - ironically my 2nd child was considerably larger than the 1st - just under the 10lb mark and I am not enormous - also that was at 37.5 weeks and I even managed to reach the 5.something HBA1c goal once - which in all honesty contained way to many hypos for my liking, I think I was mostly in the 6s.

I ended up with sections for both of them as they were both breach - my eldest I could have had a go at naturally if he were the right way around, and maybe my youngest as my sister managed to pop out one that was about that big too! I went to the hospital every other week, they did regular check on my eyes - you were meant to get them checked each trimester, and just encouraged and supported with my dose adjustment and control and regularly checked. When my kids were born they were both taken to SCUBU straight away, but I knew that, and knew that was the best place - I got a hold of them before they went. I think both of them had glucose drips, as they both had canulas when I visited them, but they are healthy and gorgeous and other than being slightly larger than they might have been unscathed by being in me! The one thing that I noticed for afterwards was with their weight gain was that it was slower than that of the average baby, as they obviously ate a little more inside me - they weren't not gaining weight, it was just at a slightly slower rate so down at the lower end of what was ok, with my first child I was a little overly worried about this, but the same happened for my 2nd - don't know whether anyone else has looked at this but it kind of made sense when you think that they are inside a slightly more sugary person- that's just my experience and I'm not a doctor! :) Good luck, it is scary but it is also incredibly wonderful too.
 
Hi I am a 32 year old diabetic (12 years) got married last year and now thinking about starting a family. Have started monitoring my bs and got a real shock at how bad they are. I guess I have got a bit complacent over the years! Hoping to get back on track before the clinic in feb. Really want good control and the go ahead from the team before I think about trying. Really helpful and encouraging hearing all the positive stories on here.


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