Gestational Diabetes: To Test or Not to Test, That Is the Question

[demoonunit]

 I'm currently seeing two midwives--one is my homebirth midwife who I intend to give birth with if the rest of the pregnancy stays healthy, the other is a midwife that only births at hospitals who I'm using as shadow care in the event that towards the end of my pregnancy we decide that it would be best to birth at a hospital. My homebirth midwife says that unless there's reason to worry, we don't need to test for it, and if we do test for it, bloodwork testing is more accurate that pumping you full of sugar and then making you sit for an hour to see how you react to it. My hospital midwife--of course--wants to do everything by the medical standard book and test for everything. In fact, I've cringed a few times hearing her utter the word "protocol" at me whenever I question certain tests. Sooooo.....what are your thoughts on testing for gestational diabetes? I have a couple weeks to decide on whether I go through with it.

[Devaskyla]

I think the glucola crap testing should be banned. I think "gd" is a bogus diagnosis as what they're really finding is women who are pre-diabetic. Henci Goer has a great article about GD http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gdhgoer.html

Personally, I use a glucose meter (like diabetics use) on a random basis to test my sugars. Far more accurate and actually tells you how your body reacts to your normal diet, instead of an abnormal amount of sugar which seems to cause serious issues for a lot of women..  Every few weeks, I take a post-prandial reading, a fasting reading & random reading.

I did do the 1 hour test with my first baby. My numbers were "borderline". With the every changing numbers to catch more women who were "missed", I'd undoubtedly have been classed as having it these days. And yet, my glucose meter readings have only ever been high once & that was on a random reading, where I was still below the cut-off number.

[Marinwoo]

Thanks for bringing up this subject.  I was wondering, since all of the pregnancy calendars online insist that it's "time to schedule a glucose test", yet I haven't heard anything about it from my midwife. 

[MidwifeErika]

I will not be testing for it. I don't eat sugar (as in no honey or agave or sugar or corn syrup, etc) and eat a diet based in proteins, fruits, veggies, and dairy. Very few starches. I have problems with reactive hypoglycemia where if I were to eat something with sugar, about 1-3 hours later I would have blood sugar readings down in the 40s. Due to this, I just will not be doing the gestational diabetes test.

[futuremamaheather]

Following along with this discussion - trying to make the same decision. The article by Henci Goer was very helpful - thanks for posting it.

[element2012]

I'm glad this conversation has been brought up, I am planning on taking the test at my next MW appointment in October.  When my MW brought it up, I figured why not test.  I am a little concerned that I have gained a lot of weight, and I've had a sweet tooth the last few weeks that I *try* not to indulge too often.  The article was helpful, and I'm looking forward to seeing what all the mamas think.

[ktbug87]

I've personally chosen not to do the test. My midwife does not routinely test for it, and she does not feel like I need it as I've been doing random glucose checks with a home meter, and they have all been great.

[futuremamaheather]

We ran out of time last midwife visit to talk about GD, so she just sent me the informed consent document to read over and we'll talk about it at the next visit, but the document reads as though her practice is to not test until sugar shows up in the urine test. The GD test she does is finger sticks over the period of a few days of eating normally, I believe.

[montessorimama1]

I think that drinking that horrible glucola stuff is criminal, an offense to both the baby and the mother, and should be banned.  My midwife feels the same way and suggested I test my blood sugar for about two weeks with the same type of meter diabetics use (apparently they're not that expensive).  I think that makes perfect sense, so I'm going forward with that starting next week (we have an appointment this Friday where she'll explain the whole thing).

[Devaskyla]

Using a meter is pretty easy. And, at least here, the meter is usually free when you buy test strips. Those are the pricey part. I won't bother saying what the normal range is, the American numbers are completely different from the Canadian ones & I've nearly given Americans a heart attack mentioning our numbers. lol

[L'lee]

I used a blood sugar monitor last time and plan to do it again this time - I started around this time and did 2 readings each week, one fasting and one 2 hours after a large meal (I tried to pick one that was carbier and/or larger than most). I felt better about this, it seemed more accurate/realistic over a longer period of time, and I had read Henci Goer's article and thought it made a lot of sense. My grandmother had a 13 pound baby (very likely had TRUE, undiagnosed diabetes at the time), so I don't think I should just ignore it, though, especially since I'm 39 and weigh more than I should, and have a lot of family members with diabetes so I have significant risk factors. I try to balance carbs with protein and fat anyways so I'm hoping that that will help.

[cedarwoman]

I declined the gd test today - my midwife didn't have a problem with it at all. Usually in my area the protocol for treating gd is through diet - and honestly mine is pretty heavy on the protein and fiber, and I avoid foods with a high glycemic index as it is... so unless I had raging gd (with which I would likely see SOME kind of symptom) that required insulin, very little would change anyways - I would just worry more! I've done some random blood sugars and some after meals and it has all been fine. Baby and I are appropriately sized as well.

[HardCoreMom]

i'm planning on doing GD testing by doing a fasting read one morning, eating my normal breakfast, and then doing a post-prandial read.  my mw said that it's not always accurate, but i don't eat sugar or high-glycemic foods anyway, and i'm low risk and totally asymptomatic for GD.  she thought this testing would suffice.  i'm just happy to not have to put anything in my body that i don't want to eat or drink.

[montessorimama1]

I'm testing my blood sugar 4x/day for two weeks... It's a pain in the butt, I'm not liking it one bit, but my family has a HUGE history of diabetes so I think it's important that I do this for a couple of weeks to get in tune with my body.  It's actually interesting to see how my blood sugar works, I just wish I didn't have to prick my finger so often!  :(  I highly doubt I'm diabetic, but sometimes GD is asymptomatic, and yet the baby is still being affected, so a two-week evaluation is not a bad thing!  I've put on a lot of weight (almost 40 lbs.) which I'm fine with because I know I can lose it quickly, but that also makes me want to make sure everything is OK.

[element2012]

Originally Posted by montessorimama1 

I'm testing my blood sugar 4x/day for two weeks... It's a pain in the butt, I'm not liking it one bit, but my family has a HUGE history of diabetes so I think it's important that I do this for a couple of weeks to get in tune with my body.

So how is going for you so far?  No scary results yet?  At my next MW appointment, we are doing the GD test (with a normal breakfast 2 hours before, no glucola).  My family has a fair amount of diabetes in it too (really, whose doesn't?).  Although my mom never had GD, I am one of those people who like to catch things well before there is a problem, so testing at home seems like something I should look into...

[montessorimama1]

Thanks for asking... All numbers have been normal.  I even made pancakes with syrup this morning, just to see what would happen, and the numbers stayed within perfectly acceptable limits.  I'm glad, and it's definitely better to do it and know for sure that my body is working, than to put it off and wonder if I'm unknowingly doing harm to myself and the baby.  Good luck with your test, I hope everything comes back normal. :)