do I post this here???

[phishy]

I was just diagnosed with gestational diabetes yesterday. 26 weeks along with #2. To be honest, I am very scared about it. I have a class next week to discuss diet and everything else, but meanwhile.....

Any words of encouragement or ideas would be appreciated.

[R'sgal]

I had GD with the twins. I wanted the dr to let me control it with diet but I guess my results were bad enough to require shots. There was no way I was going to give myself shots so DH did it for me. They really didn't hurt but it was just the thought of it.

Once the babies were born the GD was gone! Although the nurses warned me that I could develop diabetes in 5 - 10 years.

While pregnant I had to test my blood sugar often and the finger pokes did get a bit old but I think they have machines now that don't cause discomfort. One night I ate something I wasn't suppost to and when I tested my blood sugar it was VERY high. I called the hospital and they said that just one time was ok but if I kept getting a high reading to call my dr.

My sister had it with her last pregnacy and was able to control it with diet. There is a pamplet that they will most likely give you that has meal ideas and the foods your are allowed are normal things we eat every day.

If you do have to take shots its amazing to see how the medicine works so well at keeping the sugar under control.

Good luck and take care

[Tink00]

I had GD with my first pregnancy and I am going to the perinatologist today because I am being treated for it this pregnancy although my test results have not come back yet. I'm almost 11 weeks, so it's early for me, but in a way I am grateful. When I was initially diagnosed with GD with pregnancy #1, I was regulated by diet for the first month. Then my sugars were going too high and I was given a choice of going on insulin injections or an oral medication called glyburide. Needless to say with all the finger pricks I was doing a day I didn't want to add injections to that, so I chose the oral and it was great. After I delivered the GD was gone, but I have a feeling that I have developed type 2 diabetes and that the 1 hour GTT I took on Friday, I am thinking I failed it. But overall, having the GD isn't too bad - especially if you are monitored. I was having ultrasounds every month to monitor the size of the baby and my son popped out 3 weeks early at 7 lbs. 1 oz. Imagine letting him go to 40 weeks??? YIKES! That's the other thing my regular ob told me. I will not go past 38 weeks with this baby (unless I go on my own again early) they will induce me. They just want the baby's lungs to be developed and they want to baby to not get too big - that's the risk if you have GD and you don't take care of yourself. The baby can get really big and mom can suffer from other complications.

Just keep it in check, eat right and if you need to talk more, you can send me a private message! Good luck!!!!!!!

[Paige]

Aimee... Tracey asked me to come over and reply and reassure you.

I have had GD with three out of four pregnancies and it is truly not that big of a deal. Because of the diet you actually eat better and healthier throughout your pregnancy.. which is a good thing. Most women who control their diet well come out weighing pretty close to their prepregnancy weight if not sometimes less, just because they are eating so well.

First thing is to start reading labels. 1 serving of carbs is 15 grams. And for breakfast you should limit to 2 carb servings, snacks the same and for lunch and dinner 4 carb servings. Fresh veggies are pretty much free and you can eat as much as you want of them. The other thing is to remember that you should eat a protein serving every time you eat a carb. This will slow down your metabolism of the carbs which is what causes the jump in blood sugar levels. So if you have half a banana (15 grams) for a snack, eat a handful of nuts, or 2T of peanutbutter with that banana. I avoided milk first thing in the morning because that can also cause a spike in bs. I also dropped fruit juice all together mainly because fresh fruit is better for you and you would be surprised at the carbs in fruit juice.

Because I had issues with my fasting blood sugars, I did start on insulin in my last two pregnancies... and with the last one at 11 weeks. We didn't even attempt diet control because there isn't much you can do to lower fasting levels. Sort of irritating, but the shots are much easier than the finger sticks so it didn't bother me too much.

As for complications - High blood sugars can cause your baby to receive too much sugar and therefore be a larger size baby. My two babies that I had on insulin were 7.4 (39 weeks) and 6.7 (40 weeks). My baby without insulin was almost 9 (42 weeks). So obviously the insulin really helped me to keep my blood sugar in control and my babies were great sizes. Because of the IDGD though, my doc was pretty insistent on induction. Most docs are and this is a hard thing to fight because of the bad press GD gets. I think that if I were to have another child, my ob would go ahead and let me go my normal 2 weeks late because I was able to keep my their sizes down. I am very anti-induction though. You will probably have NSTs the last weeks of your pregnancy and a sonogram to check on size. But sonograms can be +/- a pound or more so I wouldn't depend on a sonogram to determine size.

The other issue is that you may have a baby that is born with low blood sugar and may have to be supplemented with some formula. This has not been the case with any of my children though and I was able to nurse with no formula to supplement. Their blood sugars all came back normal with the first test and never had to be tested again.

If you need any other support or information, please feel free to PM me. But please do not worry. This is an easy complication to support and fix! Promise!

[R'sgal]

How did your class go? Will you be able to control it with diet?

[phishy]

Thanks for all the support with this!!! I am finally back to work after being off-track and able to get to a computer to reply. All's going well I suppose. Great ideas and hints to get through this...thanks again.