Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #5

[snowchickie79]

Congratulations tennykins and welcome Hayden!!!
How cute is that signture photo with the little ears!!! aahhhhhhh

Belfie - Welcome to the group.. Sounds like lots of fun ahead with food choices. It really is just trial and error though to determine what your body can take and what it can't. Everybody is different on how they react to specific foods which makes it tricky but you'll get plenty of advice here and suggestions. If you look back over our old thread you'll see where I've posted food suggestions that I've had good results with so that can give you a point of reference.

My average day would consist of approx:
B'fast: 2 weet bix with strawberries, box of sultanas and maybe a few slices of peach with skim milk + a cup of tea
Morning Snack: Piece of fruit like a pear or an apple
Lunch: Multigrain Low GI wrap with tuna, tomato, cheese and capsicum plus a Low GI yoghurt
Afternoon Snack: Couple of vita weet 9 Grains with cream cheese or a mandarin/piece of fruit
Dinner: Can't go wrong with lean meat, sweet potato and huge serve of vegies and maybe even a multigrain dinner roll. I've even been managing hot chips instead of the sweet potato. I even got away with potato bake last night which i made up with mainly sweet potato but had another 1 medium potato in there also..
Supper: Cup of warm milk, sometimes with a teaspoon of milo and a few rich tea or snack right biscuits..

Not much news from me. Same old same old. Am back at home now after 9 days of bathroom renovations but now we have a nice new bathroom. I had carpet cleaner in today to do the carpets and lounge so now it's just prep for baby to arrive. We will be getting out the nursery furniture this weekend and start getting the room together. I also need to pack my bags for hospital amongst plenty of other things. Considering I'm on maternity leave I'm still doing alot of consultancy work so it's keeping me very busy!

Levels have been good. Had a VERY low one after b'fast this morning. I had porridge with fruit (s'berry, 1/2 banana and box of sultanas) and only got a 3.7 which was bizarre. Was SSSOOO yummy though so I'll attack it again tomorrow morning. Went for lunch with a friend today who is 2 days overdue and missed testing but got a 5.9 about 3.5 hours after lunch so I'm assuming it was probably in the 6 range 2 hours afterwards but could be very wrong. Either way had a sensible dinner (baked beans and scrambled eggs on toast with a side of vegies).. Even managed to sneak an iced donut yesterday as my afternoon snack and out of curiosity tested 2 hours later and only got a 4.5 which was good. Next OB apt is next week and then I move to weekly visits.

Hope everyone is doing well. Chat soon.
Belinda

[belfie]

Tenny - congrats on your gorgeous bubba boy Hayden!

Belinda and Becci, thanks so much for the tips & average day details, that really helps . I'm finding I tend to feel pretty average all morning, and I notice that your breakfasts are higher energy probably than I've been having, could that mean I should be trying to have more, or higher GI brekkie's? I guess I'll know better once I see my BSL's, and as you say, everyone is different.

I've had a quick squiz through chatter #4, and I'll come back to it again once i've seen the DE and have an idea what i'm on about! Becci, I'm not too sure re the dietician, I'll ask on Fri and see what they say. I don't know if I'd need to find one to cover both conditions, or whether they'll have one that can do that (used to be not many of 'em covered FM). So saying, I have a reasonable idea of low GI foods, so dunno if he thought I was more clued up than I am (heaven forbid! )

Saw my obs today and my fundal height was 31 (right on 30 weeks today) so I guess that's a good sign that bubby isn't TOO big (hopefully) at this stage. Also bubby was head down which made me happy.

Belinda - 9 days bathroom reno's does NOT sound like fun, but nice on the new bathroom!! Have fun doing your nursery. I've just emptied out my spareroom and am waiting for nursery furniture to arrive (next month), can't wait - will be heaps of fun.

Did any of you tend to experience any GD symptoms? I know they say that most women don't, and I guess I'm just getting paranoid wondering if how I'm feeling is normal 3rd tri or GD influenced..?

Thanks again,
Belfie

[Petals]

Hi Girls! -

Congrats Tennykins and welcome to the world Hayden!! I hope all is going still going well and you are getting settled.

Becci - good luck for the 31st! Going in the night before will be for the gels to get the process moving if you need them. I know some girls go home after the gels and come back the next morning, I asked and got told no, but worth asking if that appeals to you.

Snowchickie - good to hear that the bathroom is done - enjoy it!

Hi Belfie - welcome!

So far Thomas has mastered breatfeeding (eventually!!), he was back over his birth weight by 2 weeks (around his due date - I was induced at 37.5 weeks), and has grown 3cms. I am just waiting for him to wake up for a feed.

[Niamh75]

Hello

Petals great to here all is going well for you how you feeling

Becci 4 of novarapid at breakfast and lunch and 8 of insulstard at night time the same as Protaphane just a diff name.

yea a bit weird all right feeling better today and keeping a very close eye on my sugars Im not back in to the hospital again for another two weeks the baby doctor actually didn't want to see me in two she said a couple of weeks then asked if i was having a scan so my scan is in two weeks so seeing her after she was very lax not to happy with that at all

[Jewel]

Thanks ladies. <3

Becci - So you're getting induced next week? YAY! Are you looking forward to it?

Snowchickie - Your levels are really goooooood. So are you having an induction or just waiting for things to go naturally?

Petals - Great to hear about Thomas! Way to go Thomas!

Belfie - I had no symptoms at all.

[snowchickie79]

Belinda and Becci, thanks so much for the tips & average day details, that really helps . I'm finding I tend to feel pretty average all morning, and I notice that your breakfasts are higher energy probably than I've been having, could that mean I should be trying to have more, or higher GI brekkie's? I guess I'll know better once I see my BSL's, and as you say, everyone is different.

Belinda - 9 days bathroom reno's does NOT sound like fun, but nice on the new bathroom!! Have fun doing your nursery. I've just emptied out my spareroom and am waiting for nursery furniture to arrive (next month), can't wait - will be heaps of fun.

Did any of you tend to experience any GD symptoms? I know they say that most women don't, and I guess I'm just getting paranoid wondering if how I'm feeling is normal 3rd tri or GD influenced..?

Thanks again,
Belfie

Belfie - Are you testing your BSL's yet? If you are what is your fasting level coming back as? If you are feeling bad in the morning you might find your levels are low. Weet bix or porridge is actually considered Low GI foods as they release the energy slowly. What are you having for breakfast now??
Yes 9 days of reno was interesting but back home now, carpet cleaner came in yesterday and cleaned all our carpets, lounge and dining chairs. Carpet is only 18 months old but wanted to make sure all dust out of it from the bathroom reno. We pickup the baby furniture tomorrow ()..
Re symptoms, the only thing I noticed was I was really thirsty in the morning for a few weeks before the GT test. I've never been a morning person so there was nothing new in me being tired in the morning and I've had insomnia so was staying up way too late to top it off. So i only really considered the thirst a symptom.

Snowchickie - Your levels are really goooooood. So are you having an induction or just waiting for things to go naturally?

tennykins Yep my levels have been good. I had homemade pizza on lavash bread last night. i put on mushrooms, capsicum, corn kernels, pineapple, asparagus, and then scrambled 2 eggs and put those on, topped with cheese and baked. Only got a 4.9 which surprised me. I have no reason for complaint with my BSL's. OB said that they will let me go naturally and even go 1 week over as long as my levels are staying ok. Has been no mention of a sizing u/s either as he is happy with my size and fundus is measuring a week behind what i am. I was really happy about that as I was worried I'd be recommended a c/section. I only have a tiny frame and OB said from the start, even before GD that a big baby would be difficult for me to deliver as my pelvis is small so GD on top didn't help my confidence.

Anyway I best be going. I have some work to get done today..
Have a lovely day everyone.

[Becci]

Wow! Lots to catch up on here.

I saw our dr on Thursday. He said there was no use giving an internal to see if I'm dialted as I could always dilate between now and next weeks induction. Which I agreed with. So I have no idea if I'm dialted or now, but now have an app on Tues morn to get it all checked out.
I've had to bump my insulin levels up a bit this week. Now taking 10 units of NovaRapid and 9 units of Protaphane. The Protaphane has been great, but I think the NovaRapid needs to go up again.

Belinda - I have missed some of my midday tests too but I'm not too worried about them. They are usually ok.
Glad your back home and getting things organised.

Belfie - I just saw the dietician at the local health service. It was a free consult too.
No symptoms here either.

Petals - Great to hear from you. Good to hear that Thomas has got it sorted out. I bet he's growing fast too.
I didn't think to ask if I could go home, but seeing as we are about an hour away from the hospital I don't think it will be a good idea lol.

Niamh - good luck with your u/s.

Tenny -
Yeah looking forward to the induction, well mainly to have our little man with us. Was hoping to go naturally this time, but at least I won't have those last two uncomfortable weeks to contend with.

[belfie]

hey ladies,

Thanks for the info ladies , and I hope you're all having a nice weekend.

Well I picked up my monitor on Fri and have started testing my BSL's. My endo confirmed that if I DON'T get high levels, we can't assume I don't have GD, just i'm eating well enough to control it. If i DO get high levels, then they'll assume I definitely do have it.
So far, I've got:
Fri: 5.2
Sat: 6.1, 9.1, 7.3
Sun: 3.9
Soooo I dunno if that 9.1 means they're gonna say yep that really does look like GD or not, or whether they'll wait to see if I get more high-ish scores. Also, I'd had a big nap (2.5 hrs during the day) then didn't have lunch till 3pm... would that have been likely to make it higher? Cos i thought I had a pretty good lunch! (chilli with mince, kidney beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese, sour cream, smll serve brown rice & some corn chips).

They also told me my BSL's should be between 3.5 and 7.5... but that at Monash Med, they say under 6.5.... What were u guys told? Then they said if I get more than 3 or so high scores in a week they'd put me on insulin. Interestingly, they didn't seem to have that much of a dietary focus which surprised me. They don't normally send to a dietician unless the person seems to need it or has other dietary probs (like me lol)... but I think they thought I had a reasonable idea of low GI foods (got them fooled ha!). They also said that testing must be exactly 2 hrs after the start of a meal... so do you find you've missed them sometimes? Or would you just do it later? (Becci, noticed you said you'd missed some, but you knew you were doing ok normally - and induction next week, wow that's getting close for you!).

Snowchickie79, I'm having either grainy rye bread, porridge or a muesli bar thingo for brekkie. Asked the endo about feeling crap in mornings, and he thought it was just PG not GD...

anyway thanks again and sorry, more questions.. sure i'll run out eventually! tehe.
Belfie