Gestational Diabetes Support Group - Page 59

[TexasMum]

I wanted to pop in and say I'm here! I have had Gestational Diabetes needing insulin control through both pregnancies. Here I am again, pregnant with baby #3 and starting it all over. I am only about 9 weeks, but Dr. went ahead and ordered me new strips and a new meter and told me to go ahead and start my special diet again. I have been through this a lot and I know a lot about it but I have always had to go through it alone. I spent my last pregnancies working so hard to keep my numbers down only to look over and see DH eating a trough of crunch berry cereal in front of my face. Luckily DH has been on a diet of his own so maybe he will be more curtious this time around and keep the ice cream sandwiches out of the house! Anyways, glad to be here to support! (and be supported, gosh knows I will need it between now and January)

[amydiane]

Well I had an appointment today with the 3rd and last OB in the practice, the only one I hadn't seen yet with this pregnancy. We went over our birth preferences, and the only GD-related one she had an objection to was that if baby's blood sugar is low, my first choice is to breastfeed and my second choice is to feed pumped milk (I have some in the freezer) through an SNS. She said, "Well, it depends how low the b/s is - you don't want your baby in a diabetic coma!" Well, no, of course not, but wow. First time I've had anything close to the dead baby card pulled. Anyway, does anyone have any info on how low really is too low and what steps should be taken? The hospital told me that they consider 40 to be acceptable and breastfeeding instead of formula or sugar water is fine, but they didn't say anything about what happens if it's "too low."

[jojojojojo]

Sorry about the answer you got, amydiane. That's a terrible thing to say to an expectant mom. OF COURSE you don't want your baby to go into a diabetic coma, come on!

I saw my nutritionist yesterday. With my blood sugar numbers in check, I don't need to see her anymore. Huzzah! Today was my appointment with the OB, and she told me that she wasn't even going to think of inducing before 39 1/2 weeks or more, unless there was a problem with the baby. Since I went into labor naturally at 39 weeks with my daughter, I'm feeling pretty good about that.

[NicaG]

Originally Posted by amydiane

Well I had an appointment today with the 3rd and last OB in the practice, the only one I hadn't seen yet with this pregnancy. We went over our birth preferences, and the only GD-related one she had an objection to was that if baby's blood sugar is low, my first choice is to breastfeed and my second choice is to feed pumped milk (I have some in the freezer) through an SNS. She said, "Well, it depends how low the b/s is - you don't want your baby in a diabetic coma!" Well, no, of course not, but wow. First time I've had anything close to the dead baby card pulled. Anyway, does anyone have any info on how low really is too low and what steps should be taken? The hospital told me that they consider 40 to be acceptable and breastfeeding instead of formula or sugar water is fine, but they didn't say anything about what happens if it's "too low."

Just popping in here...I had gd with my two pregnancies (but I'm not pregnant now). I was on insulin with my second. Neither baby had blood sugar issues at birth. I was told that's extremely rare. I nursed both immediately. Don't stress too much about this. Your baby will be just fine.

[ellairiesmom]

Hey there,
Could use some advice...

Had GD with DD in 2007. I am PCOS/Insulin Res & before pregnancy had it under control & was very healthy on my metformin. During that pregnancy, they opted to stop the metformin & I gained 60lbs. This time around, we agreed on the game plan to not bother with the GTT, control my diet & weight gain, get some exercise, check my sugars 3-4 times/day & stay on my metformin.

I am 12 weeks & been very, very good although I am still 30 lbs more than I was when I was pregnant last time. But post pran #s have been awesome. AM fast have always been my problem & have been ranging from 85-100 but Dr has been ok with that.

2 weeks ago I had a craving for the Van's Multi Grain waffles my daughter was having. We buy real maple syrup too & it smelled sooooo good. I had 2 waffles & syrup & felt horrible for a couple hours after...felt like my vision was kind of hazy, felt a little off/dizzy/tired & of course my #'s went up to 148 2 hours after. I swore I would never do that again & was really careful...until this morning. Woke up starving & used my low carb bread to make french toast & measured out less than a serving of syrup-probably about 40 g worth of sugar though-so with the bread, a total of 60 g for the meal-normally I stick to the 30-40g. All day today I felt awful...headache, tired, hazy-ish vision.

Now...we are also co sleeping & still breastfeeding & DD has been waking me up every hour or 2 & last night was especially bad. I woke up with only 5 hours of broken up sleep, felt foggy from the beginning etc. I have had bouts of dizziness lately but usually after something like lifting her up quick or when I jumped on the trampoline at the kid gym with her the other day.

I know diabetes symptoms are thirst, hunger, exhaustion, irritability, blurred vision...but these are also symptoms of summer heat, not enough sleep, too much time on the computer & a bunch of other things not diabetes related that I am exposed to.

I am trying to decide if I should call my Dr because this is something serious or if I just learned a very valuable lesson (ok-so sometimes it takes me twice to learn) about what I eat & I will be fine if I don't do it again? I would of course mention it at our next appt in 2 weeks, but didn't really want to make a special call about it & end up being sent for tests or to the ER or something crazy.

And of course I am so scared that something bigger is going on with my body & I am turning from just being insulin resist. to becoming type 2. I have been so down/depressed about not losing all the baby weight before getting pregnant & find myself focusing on it constantly & wondering if I can turn it around & reverse any damage I have done to my health. I want to be here forever for my babies & am all of a sudden feeling panic over being almost 36 etc.

Let me know what you think, if you have had anything similar, what you have learned etc.
Thx Mamas!

[jojojojojo]

It's definitely something that you should make your doctor aware of, but also make sure that you mention what you ate. If you feel fine after meals otherwise, and those two incidents are anomalies related to what you ate, then maybe the doctor won't send you to the hospital or anything. The eating excess carbs OOPS! thing has happened to a lot of us: for me it's when I eat something that I think is going to be a better choice (such as multi-grain sushi from Whole Foods or a grilled chicken wrap from Friendly's ), but there are all kinds of hidden carbs in there somehow.

It seems that different people have different things that trigger their blood sugar spikes. For you, it may be syrup, in which case, it's probably best to avoid it altogether if you can't keep the amount that you eat to the barest minimum. Plus if you're eating waffles or French toast with that syrup, you're likely not getting in a whole lot of protein and fat to slow the absorption of the carbs.

I've found that even a moderate amount of sugar will make things palatable. A single Van's blueberry waffle topped with 1/4 cup of Fage yogurt mixed with 1/2 tsp of brown sugar, and topped with a few blueberries is delicious, more nutritious, higher in protein, and right around 20g of carbs altogether.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

[LionessMom]

i havent read the rest of the thread. i am going to just jump in here.

i was just diagnosed with GD. I am 28.5 weeks along. so i only have 3 months left. i always failed the 1hr with the other pregs and passed the 3 hr but not this time. the middle 2 draws were elevated. i have just started to look around at what diet changes i have to make. i wont see the doc until 30 weeks and then we will talk about if she wants me to check my blood sugar etc.

i have felt incredibly tired this pregnancy. more so than with DD. i assumed it was b/c of the added responsibilites of DD and DSD but now i think it was my diet affecting my sugar.

i am glad to have found this thread. it will be nice to have people to talk to.

[octobermom]

Hi I'm pregnant with my hopefull second child but its my 5th pregancy. I don't have gestational Diabetes but I do have adult onset type one diabetes and was diagnoised not long after my last miscarriage. I'm on a basal/bolus multiple injection treatment and will hopefully go to a pump soon. I've been working hard to keep my numbers low I wont eat unless my fasting is 90 or below but I've been fighting lows in the afternoons. My morning though have still been typically high my DP seemed to really increase in early pregancy but yesterday I woke up at 134 (for me thats super low) and today at 92!! Morning sickness also hit today....

Deanna

[Pookietooth]

So other than the GTT, what criteria do they use to judge whether or not you have GD? Do they do one of those other kinds of blood tests, the one that shows whether your blood sugar has been under control or not longer term?

[octobermom]

Originally Posted by amydiane

I hate when that happens....you try something that you think will be safe, and it's not. The other day, I got some of that Glucerna cereal for diabetics. It had pretty comparable carbs to Cheerios, which I've been fine with. Usually after a bowl of Cheerios and milk, I'm in the high 80s or 90s. This stuff is supposed to be formulated to not spike your b/s....well at 2 hours pp I got a 133. I tested again and got a 153! So no more of that for me.

Cheerios is my death its often what I eat if I'm treating a hypo .. Cheerios will easily spike me 250 points or more. The glucenra stuff a slight bit lower but still way too high. Incidently I can eat and bolus for like coco crispies though and do just fine so go figure

Deanna

[TexasMum]

Cereal is evil to me. If I eat any cereal, especially rice cereal, my numbers are in the 300's. I must stay away from cereal at all costs.

[mama2myloves]

Jumping in to say hi. I'm on my 3rd pregnancy - my 2nd with gestational diabetes. I'm 19 weeks, but I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes in the first trimester. Last pregnancy I was diagnosed at 27 weeks and was able to control with diet and exercise (even with bed rest but this time...not so much. I was put on Glyburide for a couple of weeks, and they just switched me to insulin last week. My fasting levels are still high - 113 this morning, so I'm guessing we'll increase my dose at my appointment this week.

Due to the early diagnosis I've been undergoing a bunch of testing I've never done before so that's been a new experience for me.

Just wanted to say hi!

[mama2myloves]

I'm on my 4th day of insulin - 1 dose of slow release at night for the purpose of lowering my fasting #'s. Today's fasting was 140! Since I've been on insulin at night my fasting numbers are creeping (leaping) up. Has anyone had any experience with this? I've got an appointment on Thursday, but I'm considering calling my doctor today just to run this by her.

[jojojojojo]

I'm on nightly insulin, 38 units. Since you're only on your fourth night, you may not have had your dose titrated up to what your body needs yet.

I've also found that my fasting numbers are better if I have ~20g carbs plus protein for a bedtime snack. If I skip the bedtime snack or have too few carbs, my fasting numbers tend to be higher.

[Pookietooth]

How do they diagnose pre-diabetes? With just a fasting insulin test?

[mama2myloves]

Originally Posted by jojojojojo

I've also found that my fasting numbers are better if I have ~20g carbs plus protein for a bedtime snack. If I skip the bedtime snack or have too few carbs, my fasting numbers tend to be higher.

Thanks - I tried increasing the carbs in my snack last night and that seems to have helped. Fasting was 90 this morning. When I talked to my doctor yesterday she asked me to wake up at 3am for the next few days to test so we can see if I'm crashing and rebounding at night. My 3 am number was 96 so I don't think I'm crashing at night.

Originally Posted by Pookietooth

How do they diagnose pre-diabetes? With just a fasting insulin test?

I can only speak for how they diagnosed me. We tracked my daily fasting and 2 hr levels for many weeks starting in the 1st trimester b/c of symptoms such as blurry vision, dizziness, exhaustion, and terrible reoccurring headaches, etc. I then had the A1C test to get a 3 month average of my levels to determine how controlled my sugars were in the 1st trimester.

[Masel]

I just found out that I have GD. I'm not surprised since I have PCOS and the ob made me go off metformin. . The soonest I could get an appointment with the dietician/GD support person was two weeks from yesterday. I got my glucometer and figured out how to do the tests. What I don't seemed to have a straight answer on is when to do the after meal test. One hour or two hour. My ob didn't know for sure. It looks like two hour is typical.

[octobermom]

Originally Posted by Masel

I just found out that I have GD. I'm not surprised since I have PCOS and the ob made me go off metformin. . The soonest I could get an appointment with the dietician/GD support person was two weeks from yesterday. I got my glucometer and figured out how to do the tests. What I don't seemed to have a straight answer on is when to do the after meal test. One hour or two hour. My ob didn't know for sure. It looks like two hour is typical.

two hour is typical but its nice to know your bodies peek time. If you can you might want to do a few days with tests at 1hour 90 mintues and 2 hours to see where your peeking. Right now pregnant I'm checking an hour after and correcting higher than 140.

Deanna

[arabellalysette]

Well I do not have GD but its how I started.It then turned into type 2.It sucks especially when you try and be good about your eating and your blood sugar is hella high no matter what.

I see my reg dr tomarrow and I know he wants to send me to a specialist,problem is I have no ride.I live in a new state so I have no clue on the bus system.

[arabellalysette]

Originally Posted by octobermom

two hour is typical but its nice to know your bodies peek time. If you can you might want to do a few days with tests at 1hour 90 mintues and 2 hours to see where your peeking. Right now pregnant I'm checking an hour after and correcting higher than 140.

Deanna

What I have always been told was 1 hr after eating each meal.I will see what this new place says but for the past 6 yrs thats what I have been told.I was also told not to take my meds after eating,but at least 30 min prior to eating.

Who wants to feel like crap after eating then waiting for the meds to help.I don't lol so I try and guesstimate how much to take based on the food I eat.
If im eating just a salad I do not take any meds as there really much thats in it that might make my blood sugar to go high.