Anyone with Gestational diabetes? Tips and advice...and birth experiences

[greengreen]

Hi there ladies

I'll be 28 weeks tomorrow and 2 weeks ago I went for my glucose tolerance test and I unfortunately was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

I was invited to a group information session with the diabetes midwife and a diabetes dietitian who ran through changes which need to be made and how to test bloods every day to monitor this. I've been doing this for a few days now but just wanted to hear more from others and any advice you may have about your experiences as I've not known anyone with this and have no one with the same experience to discuss this with so it's a bit difficult trying to navigate it alone.

I've been booked in for 3 more scans to monitor baby and its growth.

Please share your experiences as I'm open to hearing about how changes can be made. Also o what were your birth experiences like?

[Seb9]

Hi I had gestational diabetes, I think it actually did me good getting the diagnosis as I really changed my eating habits during my pregnancy and I actually didn't gain anymore weight from the day I found out I had it, to my due date. I was definitely eating ( if not for two) definitely all the wrong things!

I had it quite bad couldn't even have wholemeal toast with peanut butter without going over my scores.

I had omelettes with, mushroom, ham, cheese and tomato for breakfast most days, for lunch I would have chicken slices or a tin of tuna with some veg sticks, yogurt and some oat cakes.

Evening meal was mostly meat and veg with sometimes some quinoa.

Towards the end I found it really hard to eat any carbs so took some Metformin to help which was fine. I only took it if I was going to have carbs so didn't take too many.

At 37 weeks I started expressing some colostrum to freeze and take with me in case she needed extra to raise her blood sugars.

Babies growth was fine ask the way thru and I was booked for an induction a week after my due date. On my last scan, (a week before my due date) baby hadn't grown as much as they'd expected and my obstetrician moved my induction to just before my due date in case my placenta wasn't providing enough support. However I had a different sonographer for the last scan and the obstetrician said that may have been why the results were a bit different so I wasn't hugely worried, was having regular kicks so knew she was doing ok in there.

I had the induction, pessary followed by waters being broken, then oxytocin drip. My midwife said if I had the drip to request an epidural, which was a great call! Drip went in at 11, contractions started but I wasn't dilated till 8pm so epidural was totally the right thing. Had baby at 9:50, I was expecting a bigish gestational diabetes baby..... She was 6lb 1oz, so tiny none of the clothes I bought fit her.

We stayed in for nearly 24 hours, she had 1 low blood sugar test and had a glucose pouch, plus some extra colostrum which I had expressed.

She's now 4 months old and awesome and I no longer have diabetes. My diet is now mostly chocolate hobnobs again.

Sorry for the essay but hope it helps a bit to hear my story, hope you have a similar no too stressful journey 😁

[greengreen in reply to Seb9]

Thank you so much for your reply.

This really helps me to understand from the journey as it's difficult to grasp.

Ah I have tried wholemeal bread sandwiches which seem to be working well for me for now and are keeping my scores low and keeping me full.

Thank you for the tip of expressing colostrum earlier. I will try and do that as preparation also.

I haven't spoken to my midwife about birth plan yet but I do think I will want the epidural!

So glad your baby is doing well and is healthy.

Hahaha at chocolate hobknobs I honestly love those things! Already made a list of my first meal post birth for my husband so he can prepare 😂

[Seb9 in reply to greengreen]

My first meal was lasagne 😂😂 I made a huge lasagne the night before my induction as I couldn't have pasta with the diabetes. I froze portion of it so I could have some after my husband went back to work. It was amazing.

I also craved birthday cake for the first 2 weeks after she arrived. I think I had more cravings after she got her than when I was pregnant as I kept remembering things that I couldn't have 😂😂.

When my anaesthetist came by to ask how I felt after the epidural I could have kissed her!

My only problem was that in hospital waiting for the induction the meals they provided weren't diabetes friendly, so I wish I'd taken more food in with me, but I guess at that point it didn't make a huge difference.

Also with the colostrum expression your midwife should be able to provide you with syringes to put it into that way. Both my normal midwife and diabeties nurse were able to give me some and some tips on how to express. You do only get tiny amounts, I was getting out 5ml each time but it took ages, baby tummy can only take about 4-6ml so 5ml is plenty. I made loads and it was great as my husband was able to give her a syringe of his finger in the hospital while I rested and she didn't have to have a bottle so our best feeding journey had a good start, still going now at 4 months.

Good Luck with it all 🍀