Pregnancy and diabetes

Hi
Whilst I'm a bloke my sister, type 1 now for 50 years, became pregnant 23 years ago with a HBA1C in the nines.
She managed well, she did a lot more tests, visited the clinics more often, saw her GP more often and guess what......
Her son is now 23 with no signs of diabetes and enjoying life to the full.
Her biggest hurdle was actually falling pregnant so you've done the hardest thing first.

I wish you well

Tony

Congrats on the pregnancy. Start taking folic acid now ! While it's certainly not ideal to start pregnancy with a high HbA1C it's not the end of the world - plenty of T1s had siccessful pregnancies before glucometers were even invented and probably had horrendous HbA1Cs....
Don't panic and go and see your diabetic team. They'll help you get things under control.

Hi there and congratulations if that's appropriate? If not then this is early days and nobody should have a baby they feel they are not ready for. Just saying as I think you sound pleased but panicked!
I've had 3 and did not have perfect control but they all turned out okay. Cannot give you a guarantee and in the first few weeks it is really key that you get to your Diabetes team for some support and advice.
Its scary to be responsible for a foetus as well as yourself but you can do it.
Are you taking folic acid? (I was advised to get it prescription strength because of my diabetes but the current advice may have changed).
Anyway its pretty exciting and loads of us have done it here and I am sure you will get the support you need.

Ladies with diabetes trying to conceive are advised to have a hba1c under 6.5%.

You should see your doctor for the high dose folic acid that diabetic pregnant ladies should be taking. You'll probably also get an early scan.

You should also see your DSN for advice on meeting the tighter blood sugar targets in pregnancy:

• Under 5.3 fasting
• Under 7.8 1hr after eating
• Under 6.4 2hrs after eating

catapillar said:

Ladies with diabetes trying to conceive are advised to have a hba1c under 6.5%.

You should see your doctor for the high dose folic acid that diabetic pregnant ladies should be taking. You'll probably also get an early scan.

You should also see your DSN for advice on meeting the tighter blood sugar targets in pregnancy:

• Under 5.3 fasting
• Under 7.8 1hr after eating
• Under 6.4 2hrs after eating

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Hi - I had a quick question if you don’t mind? Thanks for the information above it is really helpful as it has changed since I had my first child. What I can’t remember (and I can’t get hold of my DSN) is the ranges above - do you need to be in those ranges when trying to conceive or just as soon as you find out your pregnant? Reason being they are quite low and if it takes a while to conceive it could be tough? Thanks

anniefriar84 said:

Hi - I had a quick question if you don’t mind? Thanks for the information above it is really helpful as it has changed since I had my first child. What I can’t remember (and I can’t get hold of my DSN) is the ranges above - do you need to be in those ranges when trying to conceive or just as soon as you find out your pregnant? Reason being they are quite low and if it takes a while to conceive it could be tough? Thanks

Click to expand...

It's going to be easier to achieve those targets now rather than when pregnant as you won't have pregnancy hormones playing around with your insulin sensitivity.

You are advised to have a hba1c under 6.5% before trying to conceive but there's no reason to keep within the tight targets throughout trying to conceive. You should though see your DSN for a preconception clinic as they will be able to offer more advice on what to aim for.

catapillar said:

It's going to be easier to achieve those targets now rather than when pregnant as you won't have pregnancy hormones playing around with your insulin sensitivity.

You are advised to have a hba1c under 6.5% before trying to conceive but there's no reason to keep within the tight targets throughout trying to conceive. You should though see your DSN for a preconception clinic as they will be able to offer more advice on what to aim for.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply and your advice. I have got in touch with my DSN - just waiting for someone to contact me now! But wanted to see what I could do in preparation. Thanks