Thanks for the replies. I was going to call the dietician today but this mornings readings were 4.9 before breakfast & 4.9 after! I did test at 6am then got ready for work, drove to work & then has breakfast so levels would have dropped between time of 1st test & eating, so I think I'm doing ok today! Bit concerned that I may not be getting true readings cause I'm finding it hard to bleed. For some reason I don't get a nice blob of blood mine either doesn't bleed much at all or it comes out & spreads across my finger in the grooves so I literally have to mop it up with the test strip or test 2-3 times to get 1 result. Not ideal really. Needle is def going in deep enough, I have a friend who is a nurse & she seemed to think this is normal & that some people are difficult to obtian blood from. I'm taking baby asprin cause this is an IVF pregnancy, do you think thats thinned my blood a bit too much? I've also found that only a few fingers work, the others the needle breaks the skin but nothing happens OMG I am a freak! Ah well at least the levels are healthier today, curious to see what they show up as later this afternoon.
CAH, I have noticed when I have trouble getting enough blood and it takes a while to get it onto the strip that my readings are always low. I always do it again and make sure I have plenty of blood and the reading is usually 1.5-2.0 higher than the original one. This happens mostly in the mornings when my hands are a bit cold, so I always try to make sure I have nice warm hands before I *****, and squeeze the blood down from the middle of your finger rather than from the end.
CAH - I'm sure you are already doing it but it is much easier using the sides of your fingers (if that makes sense) - I had the same problem but found it easier on my pinkie and ring fingers for some strange reason....
Keep up the hard work - sounds like you are doing a fab job.
Oooh tried the little finger today & worked a treat but man its hurting now, so looks like I can use ring finger, sometimes index & the little 1 if I'm feeling brave... but only on the left hand cause the right hand doesn't seem to play the game at all. This afternoon the reading was 5.9 I had a fritata for dinner with some veg & a couple serves of baked beans, just used 1 small potato in the fritata. Sadly I haven't been able to get a reading tonight, tried all my fingers & couldn't get any of them to bleed enough, I tried rubbing them, sitting on them to warm them up & dangling my arm down for a few mins before. I was getting really stressed & then I just thought s*d it, I'm doing the diet, so far none of my reads have gone thru the roof & the stress of all this is probably worse for me & her then any bl**dy sugar read!!!!!!!! I'll try again on Fri but I'm pretty sure things are ok. Do they retest you at all or just trust the figures you provide? Just wondered if there is a double check at any time just to make sure you are doing things right.
Mak I def only use sides of fingers, seems to hurt less there. Feeling a bit of a failure but I don't think its worth getting upset about this, I've not had any weight gain in last 7 weeks so she is hardly a bloater , at least at this stage anyway!
I think it depends if you are sent to an endo as to whether you may be re-tested. Every month or so my endo sends me for a BT which gives him my BSL averaged out over a period of time. Just gives them an overall more accurate picture. As you said though, your levels have been good and I wouldn't stress yourself out about it because that can send levels up as well.
Wow - sounds like you are doing absolutely everything you can!!! Hang in there - you are a great mum and looking after that bub of yours wonderfully by the sound of it. It is hard work and all the worry about food and the weight of the baby can go your head in - so I can relate to the worrying. As others have suggested it may be worth giving your DE/Endo a call and checking in with them - to reassure yourself you are on track.
sloane - I used to have a cup of tea at morning tea after I tested (with milk and sugar) and also at my afternoon snack again with milk and sugar and it didn't raise my levels. I was lucky enough to meet a type 1 diabetic at work and she really helped me steer towards the foods to suit and told me that tea generally doesn't do much towards your levels and she was told she could drink tea normally however having read what myson wrote I guess that actually doesn't apply to all. It is very unusual how each person reacts differently to different foods and really makes the whole thing that whole much more difficult.
CAH - It sounds like you are certainly eating enough food so that shouldn't be the problem. Have you tried ditching the test strip pack you have and putting in a new one and seeing if the levels stabilise? If they remain the same then the pack is ok and you can use again but if they are different then might find you got a dud pack of test strips. I know my glucose meter could let me run a test on it to check it was working so maybe have a look in your book to see if yours has that.
I also had trouble getting blood out and found the best way was to run my hands under really warm water and then massage the finger I was going to use for about 20-30 seconds before doing the test. In the end I used 3 fingers in the same spots to get my blood and those 3 fingers served me for almost 8 weeks without pain. Make sure your hands are dry when you test otherwise I did find the blood would run down the lines really quickly. If it hurts on your pinky finger but you find it has a good blood supply simply turn your pressure gauge down for that finger. I only ever used the 2 or 3 setting for any fingers and always turned it to 2 for the pinky finger.
Like you, I also questioned my diagnosis as I only had 3 slightly high readings my entire PG and at the end I was eating cake and all sorts without raising my levels. I was even eating foods trying to spike my levels at the end just to see if I could and I didn't.
About retesting - yes Megan is right is does just depend on your situation with endo/clinic vs OB/midwife or whatever options you have. I had to email in my levels each fortnight to my endo and if they saw something they didn't like then they simply asked me to go in (never had to thankfully) but my meter also had the option to view my average across all tests so I could also give them that during my appointments straight from the meter so my endo knew my average (obviously if average was completely different to what your levels had been they'd know you'd fudged some levels).. So I didn't have any further blood tests for the GD but you will have to retake the 2hr GTT test once baby has arrived (about 8-12 weeks post birth) plus they may get you to do some random tests during your labour and also during your hospital stay.
Happy testing ladies - remember the end is in sight!
Ah so wet hands would cause blood to spread that makes sense, not that I have wet hands but I would have sweaty hands! I have a needle phobia, long story but basically I had a traumatic experience losing my 1st pregnancy, followed by 2 years of fertility treatments, am now left with a pretty bad fear of needles. So this is a really big deal for me & I am quite teary, hot & sweaty when I test! If I get another good week of levels I might ask if I can reduce the test days to just 1-2 a week as I think what this does to my blood pressure is probably more harmful then the levels!!
Thanks for the tips, this morning I spent a couple mins just with my hand hanging down & then rubbing the finger tips, got a good bleed although it did spread across my finger so it may have been a bit thin, read was 3.4 so even if you had a 1 to that its a good level. Think the diet is working as it should.
Just about to test again, can feel myself getting worked up already Hate this!!!
OMG I am a freak! Ah well at least the levels are healthier today, curious to see what they show up as later this afternoon.
Hate this!!!
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