GD Mamas, how big was your baby?

[avasmom]

I am having a harder time controlling my fasting blood sugars this time around, although in the past two days have done better with a snack before bed with chia in it.
My babies have all been under 8 lbs. Although I was diagnosed with gd with my son, he was 7lbs 12 oz.

I was wondering if you were able to control your blood sugars how big were your babies, when they were born?

[SumnerRain]

I failed the 1 hour and the 3 hour and my whopping GD baby was 6lbs, 10oz and 18 7/8" long at 40w5d, she was my smallest baby. Never had problems controlling my "GD" and am a highly skeptical of the existence of GD.

So far I have dodged the bullet of another GD diagnosis with this baby at the 18wk 1hr. I think she is going to have me test again at 28w and I really wish she was OK with me declining the test.

[southernmommie]

I am not a good one to look at. My first, non GD was 9lbs. 15.4 oz., my second at 35 weeks was 6 lbs. 13oz., and 3rd at exactly 40 wks was 7 lbs. 11 oz., and 4th was 38 wks at 7 lbs. 8 oz.

The way it looks, my girls (2,3,and 4 pgs) are the smaller ones. My boys, the first one and now this one, are my big ones.

Now I didn't get diagnosed GD until this pregnancy. I've passed the 1 hours with the other ones. But I am the heaviest with this one considering I got pregnant at 3-4 months after I just had my last one. So that might have tons to do with this one. But I carry a lot of fluid and make big babies naturally, so I don't know what this one is going to do.

[palmgal]

My non-GD baby was 8 lbs 6 oz. at 39 weeks. My GD baby (diagnosed a t 9 weeks gestation) was 8 lbs. 7 oz. at 37 weeks. (FWIW, turns out I did not have GD, but type 1 diabetes).

[nixnux]

1st was 7 lbs 18 inches. 2nd was 8.5 lbs and 21.5 inches (boy). 3rd was 7 lbs 4 oz 19 inches. My GD was harder to control with my girls and I actually passed the three hour test with my son even though I showed some sugar problems while testing on my own. Don't let anyone scare you about the size of the baby. Good luck.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

I'm not sure if this helps but when I wasn't controlling my diet my numbers were in the 200s. Once I knew I had GD I was able to keep them below 140 (1hr) 120 (2hr) I didn't have any issues with my fasting so I didn't keep track. I occasionally had a spurge meal that might go as high as 190 once a week or once every two weeks.

This was baby #5 for me and he weighed 6lb 12oz, he was absolutely NOT early so that didn't play into it.

[prettyuglybefore]

DD1 was 7 lbs even at 38 weeks.
Try not to stress the size!
I'm hoping for a ~40 week baby this time and am expecting 8 lbs.

[lifeguard]

Don't let the "you're baby will be huge" scare tactics get to you. I swear the stress of the gd diagnosis did us more harm than the actual gd (I too am skeptical of it).

That said, my numbers were VERY difficult to get under control - ds was 8lb 9oz at 39 weeks & 20" long. My husband was over 10lbs when he was born so we expected bigger babies anyway.

[southernmommie]

I'm glad you posted this. I was letting the scare tactics get to me since I naturally already have big babies. Now I can relax knowing that this GD diagnosis won't necessarily make my baby bigger than already is normal for me.

[nova22]

I only know one person who was actually diagnosed with GD and had to go on a special diet and check her blood sugar. Her GD babies were huge - just under 11lbs - but ALL of her babies are huge. Her smallest one was about 8lbs and there were a lot of medical issues there that probably accounted for his "small" size.

I'm with a lot of other women here, I think a lot of it is scare tactics. For what it's worth, I've naturally birthed four babies - 7lbs 6oz, 8lbs 3oz, 9lbs, and 9lbs 11oz. To be perfectly honest, there is not much of a difference. I pushed longest with the smallest one because he was my first. No matter how big the baby is, transition is still harder than pushing.

[msmiranda]

DS1, 39w6d, 7 lbs. 6 oz.
DS2, 38w6d, 6 lbs. 14 oz.

FWIW, I passed the 3 hour the first time around, so I was not officially GD, but I know that I had issues and since I was eating a TON of desserts and drinking lots of milk my numbers must have been insane. Second time around, I did not take the GTT but monitored at home and surmised that I had GD based on my numbers, but I controlled it very well with diet. As you can see, it didn't make a difference in their birth weights. If you are controlling your blood glucose, I don't think the GD should have any effect on the size of your baby.

ETA: controlling my diet did, however, make a difference in how much weight *I* gained (obviously) -- 25 lbs. with #2 v. 35 lbs. with #1. I did not calorie restrict at all, but it's hard to eat as much when you can't have bread, pasta, or rice.

[southernmommie]

Oh I know!!! I love my bread, pasta, and rice!! Plus, I love having my bacon WITH my eggs! Not just one egg, but 2. Not a 1/4 of a bagel, but the whole thing! WITH jelly! Can you tell I'm having issues with this diet thing?! I'm tempted to just say what-the-heck and just eat the way I normally do and let it all fall where it may. I've never had health problems before or with any of my kids no matter how big they were born or how early they were born.

[lifeguard]

I just wanted to add that the macrosomia that is worried about with gd babies is not simply higher weight - they actually have a different appearance - primarily a larger "barrel" chest & bigger belly.

[fairymom]

Well lets see here..

Non GD babies-
#1 @ 41.6 wks 8 lbs 12 oz - girl
#2 @ 38 wks 7 lbs 12oz- boy
#3 @ 41.6 wks 8 lbs 10oz-girl
#4 @ 38 wks 7 lbs 10oz- girl

GD babies-
#5 @ 34 wks 5 lbs 14oz (diet controlled)- boy
#6 @ 39.5 wks 7 lbs 11 0z (on lowest dose Glyburide- couldn't control w/diet)- boy

And technically I haven't been Dx w/GD this time yet- trying to decided if I want to just take Dx and opt out of tests or not. But I'm losing weight (like I did w/the last) and feel this lo is small already.

[heathenmom]

DD#1 (passed 1 & 3 hr.) - 10 lb. 9 oz.
DD#2 (dx w/ GD, bG controlled) - 11 lb.

Neither of them had the "look" of a GD-macrosomic (is that a word? LOL) baby ... I just grow 'em big. I had no trouble delivering either one of them ... no tearing, nada. *I* wasn't worried about having a big baby, esp. after birthing dd#1, but the ob I had to see sure was. Glad I stayed home. LOL

[MoonStarFalling]

My first baby came out looking like a gd baby, like a 2 month old football player. 40w6d 9 lbs but only 19 inches.

[nmelanson]

I declined the gd test and the docs assumed (even insisted) i had gd... but none of my urine tests or after meal (finger prick) tests showed anything out of normal... and they checked baby's glucose 4 times after birth (just to be jerks, i'm sure) and they were always perfect too. The only indicator was large chest... but since my husband and all his siblings are built like that... i'm sure it's genetic. DS was 8lbs 3oz (21.5 inches) at 37.5 wks, but i also think i ovulate around day 6-8 of cycle instead of day 14, so the ETD could be off too. I'm really tired of the part of the medical profession that doesn't listen to us...

[avasmom]

thanks so much for all your replies. This does make me feel much better. I do think the diagnosis causes more stress than it should.

[birthangeldoula]

GD in 3 pregnancies:

son born 35 weeks was 5 lb 11oz
daughter born at 40 weeks 1 day was 8 lbs 9 oz
daughter born at 39 weeks was 8 lbs 2 oz.


All 3 diet controlled GD

[aurinia]

DD1 (non-GD) - 8lbs, 2oz, 21 1/4" at 40w1d

DD2 (insulin-dependent GD) - 9lbs, 12oz, 23" at 37w5d
With her, they were worried about her shoulders getting stuck, which I guess is supposedly one of the worries w/ a GD/macrosomic baby. She did get stuck for a bit, but her shoulders were fine...it was her fat head that was the problem! She was so long she was laying crooked and that was creating issues with getting her out. It was definitely harder than my first birth, but not horrible, either. Just longer and more work.

This time with the twins, they're already having me check my blood glucose 5 times a day on my own. So far, so good, and I'm praying I don't end up having to take insulin again. Then again, I'm also a lot lighter than when I got pg w/ DD2, and I'm sure that helps. I'm just very careful with my diet and it seems to be working...tons of protein, light on the carbs, avoid sugar for the most part.