Gestational Diabetes Chatter #6

[Astrolady]

Welcome to the BellyBelly Gestational Diabetes Genral Chatter thread
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Don't forget to read the two BellyBelly threads on Gestational Diabetes:

Article by Henci Goer on Gestational Diabetes: The Emperor Has No Clothes
Gestational Diabetes & Induction

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...atter-5-a.html is your old thread

[blondedoctor]

New thread - awesome!

I just tested my post lunch BSL's and I got 14.3. This is huge so I tested again and 8.1. I tested again for good measure and got 8.7. This is crazy!!

Anyone else ever get such a discrepancy with their glucose meters? Mine is an Optium Omega.

[melbel]

such a big diff between the 14 and the 8 is almost certain to be food residue on your fingers.....meters have a variance of 10% either way on a reading but that big a diff will be food..... make sure you wash and dry your hands thoroughly before you test.....

[blondedoctor]

You could be right Melbel. I'm pretty sure I wash my hands before testing, but I'll make double sure that I do. But truly even the acknowledged 10% discrepancy I find inacceptable - I mean that 10% is the difference between taking insulin or not, and in my case staying with my chosen doc and hospital, or going to a different hospital and having to get to know a whole new team of people.

[CAH]

I had something similar yesterday, it was my Birthday last week & we ate out 2 nights running across the weekend, Sat night being very bad! I was expecting high levels yesterday but when I got a 10.3 I was a little doubtful, tested again immdiately & got a 9.3 which I took but still not sure its accurate. I did use different fingers though so maybe I didn't wash my hands well enough. I agree though too much variance makes it impossible to really stay within the ranges you've been set. I'm lucky in that I don't need insulin but high reads still freak me out!

Been MIA this week, had a 3D scan on Fri & got some nice face shots of our little girl but withing 30 mins of getting home my Obs was on the phone, seems they are worried about her lack of movement (I did say that 2pm is a quiet time for bub), also some pressure on the chord which bothers them as she is also too small, 1.9 kilos at 34 weeks, only just under average but that together with fact I've gained no weight in last 8 weeks, in fact I've lost almost 2 kilos in the last 2 weeks, has given them cause to be concerned. I now have to start going for weekly growth scans. Lord knows what they do to correct the weight gain, guess they have to make changes to my diet or maybe protein shakes or something. I don't know, am of course worried but trying not to get to freaked at the mo, she could have a growth spurt this week & at least they are keeping a close eye on her. I felt like saying to them why are you surprised she is lethargic & small she is suviving on fresh air most of the time! I've only had a couple of times where my levels have been over 7 so I'm convinced my diabetes is mild & that this diet is too strict but they've kept telling me that no weight gain is ok.

Will keep you posted.

[Eternalbear]

Quick question ladies. I am supposed to have my 75g GTT next week but can't because I have the kids home on holidays and am in the middle of moving house so I have been taking my BSL's 4x daily to show the Dr next week when I go for my check up. My highest fasting is 5 so not too bad but I am getting over 7 for some post meal readings and I know my hospital wants them under 7. So going from my numbers they are showing I have GD so will they make me do the test now anyway? or can I avoid having to have it done by just starting a GD diet and keeping monitoring my levels....I know only my Dr can really answer that but has anyone been diagnosed through home monitoring and not had to have the GTT?

[sloane]

hi eternalbear i'm not sure about the being diagnosed at home, although i am sure there was someone in the last thread that did something similar? sorry i can't help!

CAH - how are you going this week?

think i will be put on insulin at my next visit to the endo. my readings since easter have been a bit all over the place - mostly through not eating regularly more than anything else (i think) but my fasting level this morning was 6.3 and after breakfast of porridge (single serve from one of those packets) i was 8.3...doesn't bode well. i rang the diabetes line at the hospital but had to leave a voicemail. i have an appt next week but thought i should check to see if i needed to do anything before then.

feeling a bit down about it - i know the insulin will be good for the baby & i but i'm going through of "what if i'd exercised more or eaten even better", maybe i would have given myself a better chance then?

[Artechim]

Sloane, forget all the what-ifs, it is what it is now and is enough to deal with without blaming yourself.

Eternalbear, I was diagnosed from daily testing as I couldn't drink the test drink fast enough so the (very rude) pathology lady declared the test invalid. They wanted me to do the test again but I just couldn't stomach it while pregnant so they let me test at home which showed the levels slowly creeping up. It helps to eat a GD diet so they know if your high levels are from what you are eating or because you need insulin.

[Eternalbear]

Sloane, forget all the what-ifs, it is what it is now and is enough to deal with without blaming yourself.

Eternalbear, I was diagnosed from daily testing as I couldn't drink the test drink fast enough so the (very rude) pathology lady declared the test invalid. They wanted me to do the test again but I just couldn't stomach it while pregnant so they let me test at home which showed the levels slowly creeping up. It helps to eat a GD diet so they know if your high levels are from what you are eating or because you need insulin.

Thanks I have been following my levels for the past 6 days, just my regular diet, and as of today I'm eating a GD diet, so I will have alomost a week of that info as well to take to my antenatal appointment next week.

I've had it 4 times now so I guess I should have been expecting it.....but I usually don't develop it till after 34 weeks when I slow down so I am really surprised to see my numbers up. I've only gained 4kg (usually up at least 10-15kg by now ) and I was only a 3 kilos over a healthy weight when I fell (still carrying a few kg from Quinn, he was only 10 months when I fell).....

[CAH]

Sorry to hear about the possibility of insulin Sarah, but like the others have said I doubt its anything you did or didn't do & you just have to go with what is best for baby. I sympathise though, its something I really wanted to avoid & so far I've been lucky.

How am I, mmmm, bit stressed. I went in for a CTG this morning & after some false starts they are happy that bub's heart rate is in the happy zone & that (after a glass of iced water & crunching down on several ice cubes) she is moving as she should be. I've had this weird lump come up on my wrist & been getting numb fingers at night so after showing that to the midwife she said I should see my obs, lucky I was able to do that straight after. Lump is some sort of cyst caused by fluid retention as is the numbness, then she decided that she wants me to have CTG's twice a week now & I have another growth scan next week. Basically she measured my tummy, weight etc & no change in a week so it would appear that bub has not gained any weight since the scan last week. They are checking me alot which is good but scary! I get the feeling they are more concerned then they are letting on, apparently its nothing to do with the diabetes diet & more to do with the amount of food that is getting thru to the baby. I don't know, have a bit of a bad feeling about things but trying not to stress too much. I think I'm in good hands & they are being v careful so hopefully it will work out. We will know more next week once they have a couple more CTG figures & another scan to do a comparison.

Honestly it feels a bit never ending, 1 thing after another & I feel like just moving into the hospital, the parking alone is costing me a fortune at the moment with all the time I'm in there Gotta keep smiling, so long as her HR is good she is still in the best place, just need to try & hang on to her for a few more weeks!

[sloane]

thanks guys i thought i had prepared myself for it happening sooner or later, but it still managed to sneak up on me a bit. feeling much better now.

CAH - glad to hear that the CTG went okay. are they going to do anything about the cyst?
it sounds a bit stressful at the moment - all the hospital visits can be totally overwhelming & i totally understand about the parking fees! i hope bubs stays put for a bit longer & everything goes okay with the CTG & scans next week

[inov28]

Hi guys, mind if i join you?
I'm just over 31 weeks pg and have been diagnosed with GD. My results from the 2hr GTT were 5.6 fasting, 11.2 1 hr and 9.4 2 hr. Haven't seen a diabetes educator yet, have an appt. on monday, but the lack of information that anyone can give me is killing me! My GP was not very helpful or forthgiving with any information(told me to google GD!), and apart from this,i have had no dramas what-so-ever with this pregnancy (my first), have been eating realtivly healthy (apart from the odd 'i have to have chocolate cake NOW' moments) and have put on just under 9kgs. I have just had to give up work early due to back and hip pain, which will make things easier in relation to keeping up a healthy diet, and getting some sort of exercise, but will probably send me mad not having something to do!
I guess i'll see how i go on Monday and hopefully i will be able to get some idea of whats going on and how i deal with it.
thanks for reading my mini rant, hope to be able to speak to you lovely ladies at another stage.

cheers

[jenushka]

Hi ladies - I popped my head in here a few weeks back when first diagnosed, then got distracted .... it's pretty full on getting a handle on all of this!

Quick me update - controlling levels with diet alone wasn't as effective as hoped, so after about 10 days was put on metformin twice a day. They're a bit bleeeeurch but I think I'm getting used to them now. My after meals levels are fine the vast majority of the time - it's mostly my fasting levels that are misbehaving. I've only ever had it below 5 twice the whole time - most of the time they're 5.4/5.5 but this week had a couple of 5.8's (eek). I think my ob is opting for the stricter end of the glucose level maximums by the sounds of it - my post-meals maximum is 6.5, and I've noticed that lots of you are allowed up to 7? Funny, isn't it ....

Was also told by ob that as I'm now receiving treatment bub is now arriving no later than 38 weeks. Ob is pretty confident that induction will work, as my induction with ds was very successful. On Tuesday I have my first of 3 f/n growth and wellbeing scans, and on Monday I am off to see the endocrinologist - very likely that I will be put on insulin to address the fasting levels. Really seems like this pgcy went from zero to 100 in a very short space of time!! Keep remembering with amazement my pgcy with ds that I just sailed through!!!

I lost 3kg in the first 2.5 weeks which ob said was fine but I find a bit disconcerting - any other time I'd be cheering but just feels weird to be going backwards and be 7 months preg at the same time? At least it shows that I am doing everything else I can...

Anyway - sorry for rambling!

BD - just wanted to say that last night I too had the weird 3 completely different levels after dinner - 7.7, then 8.1 then 5.9 ???? I've got the accu-check performa. I had no idea about the food residue on fingers factor so will be super-vigilant about hand-washing. Don't normally test more than once by the way, only when I am in disbelief that a reading seems a tad too high!

CAH - sorry to hear that your scan has given them a little bit of cause to be concerned, but great news that the ctg went well. Fingers xd that the rest of the upcoming monitoring goes well also...

sloane - like the others have said, don't feel it is something you could have changed .... I know the amount of variance I get in readings after eating the same thing on different days just shows how much is outside of our control.

inov - welcome! Sorry to hear you've been fairly info-less so far - hope the appt on Monday goes well. I've found reading back through the old posts in the previous thread has been very helpful. Maybe also try the Diabetes Australia website?

hello to eternalbear, artechim, melbel and anyone else out there...

Hope you all have lovely weekends

xx

[sloane]

hi & welcome inov how did your appointment go on monday? hope it provided you with lots of useful info. are you managing with diet or straight onto insulin? (if you don't mind me being nosy!!)

jenushka - it is strange how diff states or drs have diff limits! my friend who has type 1 gasped at the thought of having to even be below 7

CAH - hope you're going okay this week.

hi to everyone else out there

i did end up going on insulin after my appt on tues. i'm on what i think is a very very low dose at the moment (12 units before breakfast & 8 before dinner). the endo said she didn't want to freak me out by sending the levels too low etc. i haven't seen much difference yet & have only been under my 'limits' twice out of 6 meals but i figure it might take a week or two for them to find the right dose - back to the endo next tues for a review. the needle is even more painless than i expected! i wish the BSL tester was the same

[blondedoctor]

Hi girls,

Hope everyone is doing well. Seems everyone has an endo but me! No one has suggested I see one, my insulin dose is set by the diabetes educators, or my doctor.

Sloane - if your dose is very very low, mine barely seems worth the effort! I am taking 8units before breaky, 6 b4 lunch and 4 b4 tea. I actually think i could do with a bit more and will mention that at my next appointment. For me the needle is sometimes painless but about 1 in 3 really stings. I have bruises all over my belly now! Wish I'd taken those sexy preggo belly shots already - now I'll have to cover the bruises with makeup!

I had a chat with an old friend who has been a midwife for twenty years and she told me that where she used to work it was a standard that any babe born from a diabetic mum was kept in neonatal ward for at least a week! Now noone has mentioned that to me at all, only that 'if there was a problem' they would take bubs to the neonatal ward. I'm quite worried about this now and will definitely be asking lts of questions at my appointment next week. Has anyone else been told what will happen to bubs after birth?

[sloane]

BD - are you seeing the dr re-the GD at hospital visits or are you doing shared care? i'm not sure how it all works but that i have to see a diabetes dr & an ob (or a 'baby dr' as the diabetes ppl call them ) and the diabetes dr is the one who set the dose or had the final say about whether i had to go on insulin. i hadn't seen a DE since i was diagnosed until they decided to go with insulin. i'm not sure if i'm making any sense here maybe your dr is just less specialised than these ones? (which would be a great thing imo - one less appt!!).

i haven't heard about babies going into neonatal care for a week, although there are ladies here whose babies have spent a couple of nights in the special care nurseries - i think it's something to do with the baby's blood sugar levels after birth - they need certain readings to be happy. but i'm not sure if this happens to everyone - it's actually on my list of questions as well my first was whether they would automatically induce me early no matter what...and this is the second question - i'll have to ask next week when i go back & we can compare notes!!

[snowchickie79]

just a quick reply here as I'm off to bed but...

blondedoctor - GD baby is not an automatic entry into the nursery for baby. Baby generally only goes to nursery if their BSL's after birth are low and they therefore need to be monitored and possibly given some formula to bring up their levels. They will prob do about 3 BSL checks on bubba. One immediately after birth, and then before the next two feeds. I believe from memory their BSL needs to be over 2.5. My DD's first BSL was 3.1 (good) then before her next feed it was 2.4 (0.1 under the requirement). They took her and gave her some formula mixed with colostrum I expressed to try to get it back up but it just went lower to 1.6 at the next 1 hr interval. After the 3rd reading they started hourly formula/colostrum feeds via a tube in her nose (so I could still BF her) and kept her in nursery overnight for hourly BSL checks. She was fine from midnight onwards (went into nursery about 8.30pm) as we went in for her midnight BSL check and it was over 4.0. So they just kept monitoring her overnight and bought her back to me at 6am the next morning. She had the tube in her nose till 3pm that afternoon when they said her BSL's had stabilised and she could continue staying with me she was only in nursery for about 10 hours. Only myself & DH were allowed to handle her for the next 24 hours so as not to drop her levels again by too many visitors passing her around. She has been fine since.

sloane - Induction really depends on your OB/Dr. I was not induced and OB was happy to let me go naturally. I was 100% diet controlled though and only had 3 x levels over 7.0 the entire PG so he was happy to let me go naturally, and even go over EDD if I wanted to. As it was I went 11 days early and had normal delivery with no complications.

Hope that helps a little. Night ladies..

[blondedoctor]

Sloane - Hi there I am in shared care which means I see my normal GP (who does obstetrics around here) one week and the next week I go to the hospital clinic. At the clinic so far I've seen a midwife, a diabetes educator, a diabetes physician (although he thought I wouldnt need to see him again), and I've seen an OB too. I am not sure who I'll be seeing next Wednesday! Its a tad confusing to me. Seems everyone I see is able to adjust my insulin dose!

Snowchickie - thanks for the the info. Thats quite a relief to hear that because after speaking with my friend I was quite worried. It sounds like a lot of procedures you ad with your bub, but I guess if you got her back within 24 hours thats pretty good. I'm quite worried about being separated from my baby, so its good to hear stories like yours so I have some idea of what to expect.

My BSL's have gone up the last 24 hours, I think I've eaten too many slices of bread! I find that GD has made me similtaneously not want to eat anything, yet also be a little careless about what I eat too. I knew that when I had two slices of bread for morning tea yesterday it would elevate my readings but I did it anyway. I really need to take this more seriously.

Anyhoo - time to go. I'm going out today and already I am worried about how to handle lunch in a shopping centre food court! I guess I'll nip out to the loo to inject and then come back and find some food??? Maybe I should get the food and then inject at the table - hopefully subtly so no one can see? Can't wait for this to be over...............

Hope everyone is feeling well and having a good day!