Gestational Diabetes Support Group - Page 17

[candyapplez]

momtoxane-
best of luck!

[brandyk]

congrats lifeguard on your baby!!! please post more details, not only wonderful birth story stuff, but also GD specific things if any!

sage - hoping you come back with some good news today!

my numbers seem back OK now that i'm recovering from this stupid cold.

for snack i will eat any old thing. but i do more than 15g for snacks (more like 25-30, and for last snack more than that. but that's me, YMMV! I am way more sensitive in the morning, and need lots of protein and fat to counteract my carbs then). except morning snack, where i have nuts or cheese. you could also nuke some lunchmeat & cheese and put it on your alloted amt of bread and use mustard & cream cheese as a spread. i think 1/2 can progresso chicken noodle soup would fit too. depends on your noodle sensitivity. i have been eating a lot because of the cold!

[lifeguard]

I will post a birth story on my blog sometime in the next couple days but I want to take time to write it up well.

So my baby boy is 20" & 8lb 9oz. I was induced on Friday evening because after my appt & ultrasound on Friday morning we had some concerns as the umbilical cord volume was less than ideal (& had been 2.5 weeks prior as well) & so he was concerned he was not getting optimal oxygen levels. He was also measuring about 8.5lbs (pretty close!).

Because I was already partially dilated & very effaced he felt that we would be successful with just the cervical gel & that was more than enough to get things going - I started contractions within 1/2 an hour.

The OB had warned me they may want to put me on an iv to control my blood glucose but we would be able to play it by ear on that one. I ate through the early part of labour & monitored my blood glucose on my own with no problems. Never went on an iv.

When he was born it was over an hour before I could try nursing because after the first little bit of cuddling they had to transfer me to a surgery room to stitch me up (I've got 3rd degree tears) & that took a full hour. But DH was able to stay with him the whole time. They didn't even check for hypoglycemia because he scored 9 & then 10 on his apgars. The ped told us she wasn't going to prick him unnecessarily when it was so obvious he was doing well.

He is pretty solid but does not have any signs of it being due to the GD - not a large chest or big belly. The doctor confirmed he looked like a normal sized baby for people our size (DH is 6'2" & I am 5'9").

So far no sign of jaundice.

Anything I've missed for GD concerns?

I'm soooo relieved to have him here & healthy & to have the GD concerns behind me. Makes me feel a little bit vindicated as throughout the stress of it all I had this gnawing at the back of my head telling me we were worrying too much.

Sage - I really feel for what you are going for. Please trust it is going to be ok. Just keep on going with the process & you'll find the balance you need.

I am amazed at how many carbs everyone is allowed! I couldn't have tolerated that much at all - lol!

[candyapplez]

lifeguard-

Congrats. Thanks for posting your story.

[brandyk]

lifeguard - where are the baby pictures?? we will check your blog for the full shebang plus pics! you must be so thrilled with your healthy baby boy! did you keep on taking your insulin all the way through? i find it interesting that they let you eat.

oh i almost forgot my pregnancy update. DH & I actually picked out baby names last night! we ended up with 3 girls names and 1 boys name. we did the extra girls names because we did NOT want to ever have to revisit the horrible task of selecting names for a girl. we found it extremely difficult. the boy's first name i had picked out when we thought it was a boy and we added a middle name - just in case! i've had 3 "big" ultrasounds and only that first early one showed it was a girl, but i'm so iffy on that because i couldn't tell squat! anyways the whole ordeal took 6 very long hours (DH wanted to quit and I made him go on - he ended up actually putting together the names at the end). i pulled out my baby pictures so he could see how adorable our child will be and that did the trick!

[NicaG]

Congratulations, Lifeguard!

[Sage_SS]

Congratulations lifeguard!!!


I went into the diabetes clinic today. The nurse/educator said clearly the glyburide isn't working for me, it works for some, not for others.
She said my numbers are too high to manage with diet, obviously as I was keeping a food journal as well. She said she was sad to tell me that I had to go on insulin and showed me how to use the pen and educated me about the different kinds of insulin and general knowledge about gestational diabetes. She said to have the nurses in the mat ward call my doc so that he can call in a prescription for insulin right away as my numbers have been well outside the safety range for over a week already.

Long story short my OB instructed me to take two glyburide a day and turned and walked out. GGRRRRRR..... two now. Because the one was working out so well?

Health Canada hasn't even conducted studies on glyburide and its safety during pregnancy. I spoke with the pharmacist when I was prescribed it on Friday and he said the section in his Pharmacuetical Encyclopedia was quite extensive. Its not a favored drug for use during pregnancy as it crosses the placenta. He assumed that my doc was only prescribing it to get me through the weekend until I could get the clear from the diabetes clinic on Monday to start the insulin.

I'm finding a new OB. This is the straw that has broken my back and confidence in his ability to properly care for me.

[brandyk]

Sage - I went back & forth about the glyburide when I first went on it. the drug DOES cross the placenta, in minute amts. That issue is up to you. BUT a lot of pregnant women use it, and just like insulin, you need to increase the dose as the PG progresses. I take 1/2 pill in the morning and 2 at bedtime. All the crap I've said about Kaiser aside, they monitor my numbers very closely and we increase the dose as necessary (just upped it last week after about 3 weeks of no increases, didn't really take effect until today because I've been sick).

I chose this option in part because of reduced intervention during birth.

[lifeguard]

Sage - it is true that glyburide is not approved for use in pregnancy (I don't believe it is anywhere quite honestly) but what my OB explained to me is that because it is such a long complicated process for drugs to become approved in pregnancy that they often become an accepted practice unofficially long before they become officially approved. MANY OB's now feel glyburide is safe & prescribe it regularly.

That said - it did NOT work for me & although the insulin was NO fun at all it was so much more easily adjusted & the effects immediately evident that it was a somewhat welcome change (after the fear of the first injection).

I wrote up my birth story this evening if anyone is interested - it's on my blog (link in my signature). I had wanted a natural, intervention free birth. Although I did have a couple of interventions (namely a cervical gel induction & forceps delivery) I feel very good about the outcome & am happy I managed it without the use of any drugs.

[avivaelona]

Sage I'd have a hard time not agreeing with your desire to switch OB's he's been causing you grief since the beginning. I don't know if he was wrong about trying the doubled glyburide dose...its true that there isn't definite research that its safe, but there also isn't adequate research on taking insulin...no proof that it actually improves outcomes. Its all a bit of a crap shoot still and glyburide seems to be proving to be safe in the studies that have been done.

If it weren't for your other complications I'd say up the glyburide before trying insulin but it seems like you are really not going to get away with not having some medical management with your birth anyway and it might be worth it just to get those sugars down and let you eat. Can you switch to that doctor you liked when you went to the hospital that time?

I'm kind of in the same boat, I can't seem to keep my sugar levels down and the way I have to eat to do so might just be too restrictive to do this with diet and met anymore. I'm not sure if we will try switching to glyburide first or just go to insulin since I'm already on meds and it still isn't working anymore. Its so frustrating. Since its not "just" GD for me I'm really concerned that I haven't been able to control it with diet this time. I am worried about what it will do to me after and I'm kind of terrified of insulin as I really do not want to be in a higher risk group, I've had enough of high risk pregnancy.

ETA...Lifeguard its wonderful to read your birth story, Im glad your little guy is here safe and sound.

[superflippy]

I wasn't aware that there was so little research on glyburide, and that in some places it isn't approved for pregnancy, since everyone I've met who had GD and was on drugs was using it. I guess my OB really was right when she said there was more and better info on metformin. I know she does read all the research and pretty much knows what she's talking about, but I was beginning to have doubts.

And I think the met may actually be working. My fasting numbers are back down into the mid-90's, and I'm able to put milk on my oatmeal and still get good post-breakfast numbers. It just took 2 weeks to get here!

And I have noticed something weird: whenever I test using my left pinky finger, my numbers are high. Then I immediately retest on a different finger and I'm fine. Am I hoarding all the sugar in my body in that finger or something? Anyway, I'm not using that finger anymore - can't trust it!

[avivaelona]

I have trouble using my fingers at all Susanna, my blood there is so watery my meter doesn't seem to be able to read it.

[ruthmg]

Has anyone else found they have to eat the same thing every day? I mean exactly the same. I can have eggs, oatmeal and kefir for breakfast, ezekial bread, salmon or sardines, lettuce, salad and apple for lunch, and potato, lamb or beef, spinach, salad, more ezekial bread and cherries for dinner.

I only test after these meals, so I have no idea if my snacks are putting me out of whack - I eat apples, almond or peanut butter, and rye crackers for snack.

I feel so limited!!! If I do anything different, my blood sugar goes up. (I also exercise after each meal, and if I don't my BS is high). I tried a little treat today (2% milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and some stevia) for my snack, along with dried apricot and cottage cheese, and thdn for dinner I had quinoa instead of bread and BAM! BS of 130 since I also didn't exercise.

Sigh. I guess I'm resigned to boring, unchanging food for 10 more weeks.

[brandyk]

ruth - try testing before meals to see where you are. looks like your snacks have almost no protein. try cheese. the milk & apricot would have lots of carbs. balance, balance, balance! the better you get at balancing the more variety you can eat. i eat something different every single day.

sage - i think your OB had a bad attitude, but my advice is that another OB may also want to try glyburide.

[ruthmg]

Thanks for the tip, brandyk - I do eat protein (nut butters, cheese, cottage cheese and smoked salmon) with my snacks. It's with my main meals that I seem to be locked in.

[brandyk]

how much apple/crackers are you eating? try skipping the nut butters & cottage cheese for a few days (or cutting back) and seeing how the cheese & salmon work.

also, you may just need to cut back on your carbs in general. oatmeal + kefir, bread + apple, potato + bread + cherries for dinner. most people can't handle that much (unless you're eating minute amts). are your numbers really really good with those? are you sure? did you test 1 hr & 2 hr numbers? it could be that your BS is staying higher for longer because you're eating a lot of slow to digest stuff. that's fine, if the numbers are below where they should be, but it might mean that you need to cut back on snacks. since you're complaining about bs of 130 you must be testing 2 hr. try testing your 1 hr. if its above 140 you will know that its your meals that are the problem. my BS spikes more at 1 hr than at 2 hr (it falls off pretty fast after 2 hrs and i need to eat every 2).

try replacing the bread with something else. a lot of times a carb is a carb in GD - its different for regular diabetics and the GI index of this food might not really matter for you.

Oh yeah! Eat more fat with your meals!!! seriously, it helps a TON. try putting butter on your bread, using cream cheese, eating some avocado, whatever has fat, eat. this is a backwards "diet" and some of the things you have to do don't make sense.

[Muj]

Congratulations lifeguard on the birth of your baby boy! I can't help but say you are one strong woman and I'm so happy we left off your birth story with the two of you cuddling, I'm turning into mush here!

A few people mentioned taking glyburide since they didn't want the interventions that insulin brought with it, can anyone elaborate on that for me? Why would insulin cause an increased chance of intervention?

superflippy- My snacks now are mostly fruit, wheat crackers or milk and I also add a protein before bed, so cheese it is. I love cheese

ruthmg- I ate the same thing for breakfast five days in a row and my numbers varied from the mid 7's to 10, and when I went for a walk they were in the higher end. SO WEIRD. I've now just switched to eating bran buds for breakfast with leeway on my protein choice, oh and I'm also on insulin so my numbers don't go that high anymore.

[MomtoXane]

So getting my testing supplies has been a nightmare. I've had to make 5 trips to the pharmacy, two trips to the diabetic center, driven almost 80 miles, made 8-10 phone calls and I STILL don't have anything other than three meters and no strips lol. I've been using the sample strips and so far all my numbers have been in range so it looks like I won't have to go on insulin anytime soon, yay!!

[happyhats]

I had my first visit with the dietician yesterday and I feel lots better. She was very nice, had actual answers and advice to give, etc. She told me my diet was pretty much on track, but maybe spacing things on a little might help. She also told me I could eat more carbs than I have been! Woohoo!

Today was my first day testing (I did do a sample test at the office yesterday and was under the mark for two hours after eating, yay!) I've been under my goals every time except once when I tested early (I really needed a nap but knew I'd miss my deadline, so I wrote down that I tested early).

I'm on 12 carb points a day.

[ruthmg]

Does anyone else have thyroid issues in addition to the GD? I've been hypothryoid for about 2 years or so (after DS's birth I was hyper, then moved to hypo). So I've been taking synthroid, and ahve been adjusting the dosage in each trimester.

Long story short, I just had my TSH tested, and it's 0.09 (VERY surpressed). My diabetic counselor (also an RN) thinks that's the reason why I can't regulate my fasting BS and why I am so sensitive to food that I have to have the same menu everyday. I see my endocrinologist on Tuesday to talk about the TSH and my GD.

Just curious if anyone else has had this experience.