Thread: Gestational Diabetes...help!

Welcome, Brat.

The only advice we can give you here is to make sure that you've found the best specialist around and then work closely with that person. You need someone with training in both fetal development and endocrinology.

While we can't give you any medical advice, we can certainly offer you some emotional support.

Hope you'll make yourself at home.

Brat,

Welcome & ditto what Maggie said.

I'm so sorry to hear that you have had to deal with this! :(
I went in to my last pregnancy with type II diabetes (not gestational). I have never had to take meds or insulin before as I have managed to keep my insulin under control by following a low-carb diet and exercising regularly.
While pregnant, I could not follow a typical low-carb diet (not enough studies), but I *DID* follow the basic tenets of low-carb eating.
I restricted my carb intake to ONLY whole grains (rice, corn, whole wheat -- NO white stuff), little or NO sugar, and LOTS of healthy fruits and veggies. I also tried to exercise throughout my pregnancy (mostly swimming and walking). The result?
I only had to go on a small amount of Glyburide (oral diabetes medication) at the very end of my pregnancy and my baby was born healthy, strong, and NOT oversize! And my weight gain was kept to ~34 pounds (unlike the 65 with my first preg!)

Although you are already taking insulin, you can still keep yourself and your baby healthy by:
*avoiding JUNK carbs (sweets, potato chips, french fries, and other foods that cause insulin swings/blood glucose spikes)
*Drinking plenty of water (water is essential and sugary, caffeinated drinks should be avoided)
*Getting plenty of rest (exhaustion/poor sleep can wreak havoc with bg's)
*Getting good, regular medical care
and reading EVERYTHING you can -- educating yourself about your condition.
Knowledge is the best defense when it comes to diabetes and if you understand your condition, you can make informed decisions about your treatment.
I truly wish you and your baby the best. And may you have a healthy, strong baby!
Many blessings!

Hang in there, Brat. Take each day as a "one day challenge" - to get through the day as close to what you're aiming for as possible. Don't be derailed by any one slip or mistake. Remember, you can get right back on track by good choices at the next meal or snack.

We're here for you!

When I was pregnant last year I also had GD, the only way to control this without the shots is to cut the sugar out of your life... It is very very important for you to control your sugar! My doctor said it wasn't good for the baby doing the shots so he very forcefully streesed me eating right which was very hard but I did it. I did sugar busters and it worked good for me and the baby. I lost 30lbs and the baby was only 7lbs when born, which was very good! Hope you find what your looking for.

Hey Brat! I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at about 10 weeks. I know the shots are hard. I was doing over 5 a day (plus all the finger pokes) by the end of my pregnancy.

The biggest thing I can tell you to watch for is NOT to let yourself go into ketosis, since that can cause brain damage to the baby. My doctors were so worried about it that if my stick was the slightest bit pink, they yelled at me.

I did the whole foods/no white flour/no sugar thing too. The biggest thing for me was to be sure that I always had some fat and protein at a meal that had carbs. So if I ate a piece of fruit, I had a piece of cheese with it (fat/protein in one nice package). If I didn't do the combination, then my sugars soared, and they upped my insulin again on my next visit.

It is NORMAL for your sugars to continue to rise during your pregnancy, and for your need for insulin to go up if you have gestational diabetes. They even have a chart they can show you. Even cutting sugar couldn't keep mine controlled at all.

Austin was 20 1/2" long, and weighed 8 lbs 10 oz (a nice normal size baby in my family!), and was actually a little smaller than I was when I was born.

You have to be careful how you eat AFTER the baby though too. Having had gestational diabetes, you have a 70% higher chance of developing type II diabetes later on. You also need to watch how your child eats, because children of mothers who had gestational diabetes are more likely to develop diabetes (can't remember the exact percentage).

Be sure to post here for encouragement, especially when you just can't take poking yourself in the finger one more time, or face another shot.

Have you had any ultrasounds done yet? I had to have a LOT of them during my pregnancy, and I talked the tech into making me extra pictures when I told her that I had diabetes and needed to post them all over the place to "remind" me why I needed to do all this stuff. Sometimes I had to stare at those pics on my refrigerator for 15 minutes or more before I could force myself to do my shot.