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pregnancy???

H

hannurlouisex

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when my sugar goes high and being a pin cushion!!
i've been diagnosed with diabetes type one coming up to two years. Me and my partner have been together for four years and in the last two years have been talking about having a baby. Ive done hours and hours of research and know all the risks, my hba1c has been between 5 - 8% for the past 18 months.
im going to my diabetic doctor in march but any advice???
 
Grrr, just written a long reply, but it got lost!

well, your Dr will tell you about how important it is to have excellent control, and possible explain about the limits that they set for pregnant T1 diabetics.

All thsi is good advice, and very wise, especially in teh 1st 12 weeeks of pregnancy, which is teh key time.
Hopefully, you will get refered toteh diabetes midwife, whioich might be a bit wierd when you are not pregnant. If mine was anything to go by, this person will be your best friend for your pregnancy.

There is lots of gloom and doom etc about T1 and pregnancy..but I have 2 kids and survived...and they are growing up too fast now! I am not trying to kid you that it isn't hard work, and you do have to be obsessed with your BG, but it is easy to keep the motivation up, knowing that your little one is depending on you!

Good luck, and if youwant to rant, or ask questions, please feel free to get in touch. I may not be an expert...but sometimes it is nice to "chat" to someone who has been there,
Jill
 
As already said
go to see the diabetes Midwife
Hana
 
Hi,
I've been type-1 for 21 years, and have 3 children aged 18, 14 and 8. I was only diagnosed 2 and a bit years when I became pregnant, and he was a big baby at 9lb 4oz, but the easiest delivery! Your pregnancy will be considered a "high risk" pregnancy, but don't panic about the term. What it means is that you will probably have an ultrasound scan every month to check baby's growth, and have more blood tests and monitoring than non-diabetic pregnant women.

You will have your baby in hospital, and will be monitored throughout the labour, attached to a fetal heart monitor. I was induced with my children at 37 + 38 weeks; they don't usually let mothers with type-1 go over 38 weeks due to the risk of stillbirth. 38 weeks is considered a full term pregnancy, so it's nothing to worry about;baby's lungs are mature at that stage.

I remember when I first got pregnant, presumed I would have to have cesaerians; that's how it used to be. I had 2 inductions, both 4 hour labours, and 1 elective cesaerian, but it really wasn't my choice, but due to my eldest son being ill, and me not feeling able to cope with labour at the time. It's not the easy option.

If you are on particular analogue insulins eg;Lantus, these are not tested safe in pregnancy, and you will probably have to change your insulin. I had to change from Novorapid to Humalog for that reason. You should probably talk to your doc about that prior to getting pregnant as your regime/doses might need a bit of getting used to.

Good news is I found my BGs were more stable during all my pregnancies than at any other time, until I recently changed to animal insulins. I had always had erratic control on synthetic insulins, but for some reasons, my diabetes was always easier to control in pregnancy.
Your insulin doses will increase during pregnancy, I ended up on double the dose by the end of each. That will reduce gradually after labour, and you'll need to check Bg loads, but I don't remember it being a huge problem.

Sounds like you've got your levels sorted ,and that's the main thing, BG swings in pregnancy are not good. I loved being pregnant, best times of my life, a wonderful experience, and it gets better when they're born, so enjoy!!
Best of luck :D
Jus
 
I've been type 1 for 25 years and have two small children aged 5 and nearly 2. I mentioned my intention to have children to my consultant and was immediately sent to the pre-pregnancy clinic. Like you I was already under good control but still found the clinic sessions really useful and I'm really glad I went. Once pregnant I was then attending the diabetic antenatal clinic every two weeks, with a scan approximately once a month. I did have other problems during pregnancy though so I don't think all diabetics attend antenatal that often, maybe once a month?

Someone else said that you become best friends with your diabetic nurse. I second that. She still phones me now on the odd occasion just to catch up, and still remembers my children's names and things about them.

I had such tight control when pregnant and was induced at 37 weeks with my first, he weighed 7lbs 13 ozs. With my second they let me run until 2 days before 40 weeks as my control was so good and was then induced - she weighed 7lbs 13.5 ozs. I had an elective section with my first (although it wasn't my choice), and an emergency section with my second after trying for a normal birth.

Good luck!
 
hey.

just an update really.
basically went to the diabetic doctor and he gave me a prescription for folic acid tablets to take. but thats it.

my last hba1c was 8 butttt that was 3 months ago, so my hba1c should be in its 6's or 7's as ive really stepped the control up.

but ive done so much research so for him to just say yeah go ahead if your hba1c's okay shocked me.
ive heard about seeing the diabetic midwife and attend a pre-pregnancy service. so i didnt expect this?

any advice greatly needed.
 
Just seen this and thought I'd add my experiences. I've had 3 children all born at different hospitals and had ante-natal care from a 4th hospital as well and they were all different! When you're left to your own devices it's a bit scary (that happened in my 1st pregnancy) but I would recommend to get into the habit of checking your sugars at least 4 times a day and include some post prandial tests as well (2 hours after eating). Try and keep as tight a control as possible and ring your DSN for advice as well. I've never seen a diabetes midwife only DSNs and one hospital the dietician practically managed my diabetes! Diabetes UK produce a booklet that you may have to buy but does explain what to expect in pregnancy and in each trimester. Are you taking the high strength folic acid (5mg)?
 
Was this your GP giving the go ahead or your diabetic consultant??

If it was your GP, then what I would do is ring the hospital diabetic clinic, and ask that you discuss this matter futher with them

Most maternity hospital now offer a specialist clinic that deals with complex or high risk pregnacies, you may have to travel (as I did) as my town only has a cottage type hospital with minor injuries and out patients service, so had to travel over to the county town to our main hospital maternity for this clinic.. But they do have all the specialist staff, from comsultant to diabetic nurse (in your case) who work together to over see your care, with 2 of my children this wasn't available, you had to attend anti-natal clinic then the diabetic clinic, with increasing rates as you neared the end of your pregnacy... so meant 2 days a week in out-patients for me..

nickib is right, ensure that you test evey day, I would say more than 4 personally myself, so you have all the before and after meals, + waking and bedtime hopefully this will give you enough info to tighten the control as much as possible..
 
Thankyou for your replys.

Yeah at the moment, im testing at least 5 times a day and getting in the habit of doing it after meals as well
i started taking strong folic acid today :D

i went to my doctors yesterday and said to him what had happened with the doc (it was my specialist diabetic doctor) and i changed from my normal gp in the practice to the diabetic gp, and hes going to refer me to the specialist diabetic consultant and a diabetic midwife.

so hopefully it will all be okay when me and my partner start trying in 4 months time. :)
 
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