Gestational Diabetes General Chatter #5

[belfie]

Katones - well done on the good levels, and that's a pain re feeling sick. I probably had the opposite, I'd been feeling quite ill in the evenings but found once I started insulin I wasn't as bad (have not idea if it was related or not!).

this morning my BSL was great and i am determined that they are going to stay that way...

The only thing they keep telling me is that you may eat PERFECTLY and still get some higher levels due to bubs having a growth spurt or hormones changing... so please don't worry if they go high and you've eaten well - it's not your fault. Re doc saying the scary stuff, geez they're annoying aren't they. My doc mentioned them in passing, but basically said they are SO rare, don't worry about it but these are the reasons we manage the GD rather than just ignoring it, because historically people had these problems.

melbel - thanks for the info! I hadn't heard of the mag... wonder if it comes out before I'm due? hehe. I agree the books are great, I've got some of 'em too.

kgb - how are you going? Are you seeing your DE & endo today? Good luck I hope they give you lots of good info

Lovely ladies with babies - I hope your little bundles are all going well.

My BSL's have been quite erratic this week. Two high ones... probably should have called the DE, but then the next day was great... so I didn't get around to it. Then last night my machine wouldn't work! Have to call the help line this morning and see what's going on! It has registered the calibration strip, but isn't registering any of the testing strips I put in it! Otherwise, still loving mat leave, started washing all my baby clothes yesterday... such fun hanging them all out!!!! The biggest challenge is washing & drying the blue stuff unseen - as none of our friends/family know we're having a boy... so I'm trying to sneak it in between visitors. (And I've bought some blue things cos they were all on awesome specials!).

Hope you all have a great Friday.
Belfie.

P.S. well I just rang the helpline and it turns out my glucometer isn't working properly so I have to get it swapped for a new one! Would have been a wait till Mon/Tues, or I can pop out & pick it up - as they're in Doncaster which isn't far from me at all! Anyone else had theirs stop working ever? Mine is an Optium Exceed.

[1MOREPLZ]

Hey Belfie...

glad i now have people to talk to about my GD.

We are having a boy aswell but everyone knows... i have started washing all of bubs stuff aswell, but yesturday it got abit cl9oudy here so i hung it all on the clothes rack inside.

Anyways best be off talk soon

[Jewel]

Hi, Katones.
Welcome to the thread, and sorry to hear about your GD.
I hope it's all going well for you and you've have a great pg so far.
It is great to have people to support and talk with about it. It helped me loads, especially at first.


Belfie - Nah, mine hasn't stopped working. What a pain to have to get it replaced. I have an Acuchek Performa or something like that. Lol.
We didn't tell anyone the sex ofour bubba or anything either. We already had blue stuff from DS1, so I was just buying the things I needed in white. (plus we weren't fully convinced he was a boy either, but that's a whole other issue. Lol)

Hope you're all having a great day.

xx

[kgb]

Hi girls

I went to see the DE and Dietition this morning, things are a lot clearer now, and thanks to you ladies I feel at ease even if I do need injections down the track. I am going to do my best with the diet now that I know how much is a serve of carbs.

KGB

[snowchickie79]

Hi ladies
I am booked in for an elective ceaser on 23 October. Is it true the first 24 hours the baby is taken away from the mother for testing? That really is distressing to me.

I look forward to getting to know you all.

KGB

kgb - Firstly welcome to the thread and by all means ask as many questions as you want, we have all done the exact same thing when we were diagnosed so ask away. I had Chloe 11 days ago and whilst she was not "taken away" for testing she did end up spending the first night in the nursery. They took her first BSL immediately after birth and it was 3.1 which they were happy about (needed to be over 2.5). Her second BSL which was about 4 hours later and before her next feed (I BF her immediately after delivery) was 2.4 so she was taken to the nursery and given some formula to try to bring her level back up. It had the opposite effect and sent her to a 1.6 reading so she had a feeding tube put in and they began tube feeding her 15ml of formula every hour. Her levels sorted themselves out over that night and she was fine the next day. She had the tube in for about a day while she was watched but she came back the next morning to me. I guess the Dr is just trying to let you know there is a chance but it's not a hard and fast rule. My hubby went to the nursery with her each time they took her to test.

I put on hardly any weight of my own. After I found out and the diet and whatnot, I was losing my own weight, but then only started gaining a few kgs in the end.
In my first pg, I packed on loads of kilos and I didn't have GD then.

I'm not sure if weight is a factor in GD. Some really overweight people don't get GD, whereas other skinny ladies do. I'm not sure.

I'm not exactly skinny myself though. Lol.

tennykins/kgb - Must agree here. I didn't not even gain 4kg from my pre-preg weight and I'm not overweight, have always had a healthy diet and always exercised so it's really not always the obvious risk factors. Really more to do with how your body copes with the extra load from baby.

I am freaking out, for lunch today I had a cheese and salad roll and avocado on a multigrain roll with mushroom soup from our work cafeteria and a diet coke. I got a reading of 8.2!!! This has been my lunch for the past couple of month, little did I know I know I had GD, my poor baby!

It must have been the grain roll, this reading is almost the same reading I got after having the sugary drink at the Glucose test.

What has been the worst reading and which food is the worst (I know the white stuff is meant to be the worst)? Does diet coke affect insulin? (I know there is no sugar).

Sorry to be a pain.

KGB

kgb - I found that my normal bread i used to eat EVERY day (helga's wholemeal or grain breads - I don't eat white bread even pre-preg) put my levels up to an 8 range. I then went and bought a Low GI bread and it put my levels up to a 9 range so it really can vary with breads and pasta on a person by person situation. I found the one bread I could have no problems is the Wholemeal Vienna loaf from Bakers Delight or Fruit & Spice loaf.

Hi
just got home from hospital visit with diabetes endocrinologist...
I am 33 weeks pregnant tomorrow, and have GD.. GREAT
this is my third bub (no previous GD) this will be my third ceasar also.
My readings have been up/down, so i am now on insulin twice daily.. before dinner and before breakkie 4 units each time.

Dr scared the crap outta me.. i know if not controlled properly bub can be BIG, but to tell me that he can have breathing probs when born, or just in rare cases simply die in utero..scared me BIG time...
Anyways thats me...

katones - Welcome to the thread.. Dr is probably trying to make sure you are prepared but sometimes cannot have the best "approach" in telling us these things. Our bub didn't have any breathing issues but has some low BSL's which corrected themselves but I guess it's a matter of being prepared for possibilities so it doesn't completely throw you off if something were to occur.

Me - everything going well. Still BF'ing but have had some rough nights. Chloe seems to have her unsettled period during the night so having to try and soothe her the best I can. Otherwise all good.

[belfie]

snowchickie79 - thanks for the info re Chloe and the first day or so. I'd initially read something like that but then felt reassured when no-one in here seemed to have it happen to them.

At my breastfeeding class today, I was told that at my hospital, my baby WILL automatically be admitted to the nursery and assigned a paediatrician to keep an eye on him, due to the fact I'm on insulin. I was also told that it would be for 48 hours, but that I would definitely still be able to breastfeed. I was pretty rattled by this, as 48 hours sounds like a long time to me (even though I guess it will go quickly once I'm there). I plan to ask my obs more about this at my appt on Monday. I'm a bit peeved I had to find this out during the "break" at a breastfeeding class! And I wonder when they would have told me otherwise. Grrr. I realise that it's probably good for baby to have an extra careful eye on him, so I guess it's not all bad... I suppose it's more about being mentally prepared.

How did you feel when she went to the nursery? Did you find it ok, or was it upsetting? And I have the same question in relation to the tube-feeding too.

kgb - I'm glad to hear the DE & dietician helped.
Katones - totally agree, it's great having people to talk to.

On a totally selfish note, it's nice having you ladies here, as I think nearly everyone else with GD has now had their bubbas, so it's nice to have the company (even though I'd rather you guys didn't have to put up with GD as well!). I picked up my replacement glucometer this arvo (so I had 24 hours off testing in the end - WOO HOO)... and now i"m back on the treadmill again. I went through a bit of the wah wahs tonight, guess I was wishing I'd managed to avoid insulin... then I'd be less likely to be induced, and bubba would be less likely to go to nursery etc. etc... And maybe if I'd just tried harder somehow I could have avoided it... my DH and lovely sister both pointed out that i'd done everything right, eaten really well and my levels still went up so I shouldn't blame myself. I think that's the challenging thing with GD - it's just something else to deal with on top of everything else. As U2 said... "some days ARE better than others".

There we go, enough of my late night philosphical ramblings (I tried to go to bed then realised I was hungry - so have just had a late night low GI snack!)
Oh and to everyone I missed.

[1MOREPLZ]

well last nights reading 2hrs post dinner was CRAP and then this mornings was crap!! this is really getting me down in the dumps...
We had tacos for dinner last night, maybe it was the 'soft white tacos' i ate?? i don't know.. but i am worried...