Anyone diabetic before pregnacy

[capel]

I am type 1 diabetic and I am 11weeks pregnant. There is a lot of information on GD, normal diabetes but not much on tyoe 1 diabetes and pregnancy. My DSN is brilliant but I am think she is getting tired of my paranoia

Is anyone here pregnant and diabetic from conception?

 

[Tanikit]

Hi, I am a type 1 diabetic and have been for 20 years now. This is my second pregnancy and I should give birth in the next 3.5 weeks. There are a few of us around on here but you might like to try www.diabeticmommy.com for more in detail discussions of diabetic issues for type 1s.

I struggled quite a bit with low sugar levels in the first trimester and often went high after fixing them as I tended to overfix. My baby is fine and healthy and is at the moment a good weight. Enjoy all the extra attention and scans you get with a diabetic pregnancy - it is a lot of hard work, but so worth it in the end when you have your baby with you.

Wishing you all the best with your pregnancy.

 

[capel]

I am going a bit crazy at the moment. Going low a lot as I am terrified to go high (first child is disabled and I am very scared this time around). Lost my hypo awareness as result of so many severe hypos and was totally ordered to decrease my doses. As a result I am off work and going crazy on my own.
Thank you for the site, its reassuring to read about others in the same situation...
Oh, and my DD disablity has nothing to do with diabetes but I still despair.

 

[baby05]

I see you are in the UK, can you talk with your Dr about getting a CGMS? I believe the only one there that is approved is the minimed ( can be used with or without a MM pump).
I use one for my son, and it makes SOOOOO much difference for him! I am not sure if the navigator is available there, but am pretty sure I remember people using the MM CGMS. we use the dexcom, ( not available there) but it is the same idea, in that you have constant readings and are alerted to highs and lows in real time so you get a heads up BEFORE you go too low or too high.
We have been using the dex for 3 years and cant imagine trying to do this without it!

 

[capel]

I talked to my nurse about it. But funding it takes time, by the time I got it I would be going hypo anyway. And if I want to fund it myself it would cost around £1000. I can't aford that. I am just waiting for the next 2 weeks to pass when I can raise my levels. Now I am too scared to even try as I rather be low than high. Anyway I test every hour so I am managing to catch any hypo early...

 

[Tanikit]

Sounds like you are doing ok and testing lots definitely helps. I have had severe hypos all pregnancy and they scare me too - as in I have nearly had car accidents and have been told by people not to drive or bath when by myself since I also nearly drowned myself by going comatose in the bath one night. I am more concerned about the lows now than I was in first trimester as it is very late in the pregnancy to be going low.

Hang in there - I found weeks 18-24 the easiest this pregnancy and weeks 13 and 14 were about the worst with the lows. Just keep testing - you can always bolus a little insulin if you go high. I lived on sweets the first trimester and had my work very well trained - they would bring fruit juice and run to the shops across the road everytime they even thought I was low (I really shouldn't have been working)

Nonetheless I think once you have a proper 12 week and then 20 week scan you should feel better. That is the aim - a healthy baby. A diabetic pregnancy is rough but as I said before so worth it when you are finally holding that baby.

 

[Lincoln Girl]

Hello everyone

Im type 1 diabetic and i have been for 22 years. I have 1 daughter and that was a hard pregnancy and now im pregnant again

Its been hard work but this time i know to expect the hypos. With my first pregnancy i didnt know they would happen so often and come on so quickly. I was found many a time slumped somewhere at work But this time im prepared and im checking my sugars very often and catching the lows before they get too low.

Its nice that ive found other people in the same boat as me

 

[Tanikit]

Hi LincolnGirl - hope this pregnancy goes well. I have read somewhere that the hormones of pregnancy cause an immunosuppression that allows a type 1s pancreas to produce insulin (a bit like the honeymoon period) and that is why we go low in first trimester - couldn't find much follow up on this though.

I am not going severely low anymore now and baby should be here in about 1.5 weeks time now. This has been a really hard pregnancy (worse than the first one) I used to not be able to tell I was low until my sugars were in the 1s (this was first trimester and I had hypos about 3-6 times a day), but can at least tell now when they are in the 3s which gives far more time to treat them.

 

[capel]

Tanikit. I am just leaving the first trimester and the hypos are starting to ease. I have now just one per day. But they are always very hard to predict and come very quickly. But as I am testing A LOT now I am able to get them in the lows 3 highs 2. In the beggining I would easily hit the 1s. I am hoping that now I will get better, specially as I am less terrified of getting a sligtly higher number as the baby is fully formed and according to the scans nothing looks wrong yet. I still don't feel then, but as I am testing so much I am getting them faster. It is do frustating as I rarely had them before pregnancy. Maybe 2 a month... And I always had a very good hba1c. Never higher than 6.5 and for the past year 5.7 or 5.6. And without all the hypos...

Linconlgirl. I am not working at the moment for the exact same reason. I am a teacher and I had some severe hypos during lessons. Once I just got out of it because the children know what to do in case of a hypo. They know where to find my glucose, give it to me and if I don't take it to call someone. But for legal reasons it was decided I should not be in a classroom if I was going hypo so frequently. And a hypo can be frightening for some children, specially when sometimes I don't behave as a teacher should. Hopefully I am going back in the new half term. I will be 17 weeks by then and I hope it will be more under control.

Ah, my DSN said the hypos in the first trimester are the baby getting the glucose it needs to develop. It doesn't happen in the second and the third because by then the resistance increases.

 

[Lincoln Girl]

Hi LincolnGirl - hope this pregnancy goes well. I have read somewhere that the hormones of pregnancy cause an immunosuppression that allows a type 1s pancreas to produce insulin (a bit like the honeymoon period) and that is why we go low in first trimester - couldn't find much follow up on this though.

I am not going severely low anymore now and baby should be here in about 1.5 weeks time now. This has been a really hard pregnancy (worse than the first one) I used to not be able to tell I was low until my sugars were in the 1s (this was first trimester and I had hypos about 3-6 times a day), but can at least tell now when they are in the 3s which gives far more time to treat them.

ooh thats interesting. Im exactly the same as that at the mo. ive hypoed 4 times today and only realised when i was in the 1's

Tanikit. I am just leaving the first trimester and the hypos are starting to ease. I have now just one per day. But they are always very hard to predict and come very quickly. But as I am testing A LOT now I am able to get them in the lows 3 highs 2. In the beggining I would easily hit the 1s. I am hoping that now I will get better, specially as I am less terrified of getting a sligtly higher number as the baby is fully formed and according to the scans nothing looks wrong yet. I still don't feel then, but as I am testing so much I am getting them faster. It is do frustating as I rarely had them before pregnancy. Maybe 2 a month... And I always had a very good hba1c. Never higher than 6.5 and for the past year 5.7 or 5.6. And without all the hypos...

Linconlgirl. I am not working at the moment for the exact same reason. I am a teacher and I had some severe hypos during lessons. Once I just got out of it because the children know what to do in case of a hypo. They know where to find my glucose, give it to me and if I don't take it to call someone. But for legal reasons it was decided I should not be in a classroom if I was going hypo so frequently. And a hypo can be frightening for some children, specially when sometimes I don't behave as a teacher should. Hopefully I am going back in the new half term. I will be 17 weeks by then and I hope it will be more under control.

Ah, my DSN said the hypos in the first trimester are the baby getting the glucose it needs to develop. It doesn't happen in the second and the third because by then the resistance increases.

bless ya, hopefully you will be back soon xx

 

[Tanikit]

Are you looking forward to going back to work capel? I am sure it will go better - they can't expect perfection but it should be a whole lot better. I am a vet and spayed a dog at a sugar level of 1.6 which is pretty scary - the dog was fine and the op went fine but I felt terrible afterwards as I hadn't known. My collegues at work would always bring something for me to eat and if I seemed out of it they went and fetched something for me, but I stopped work at 32 weeks as the lows were starting again and I was getting too heavy to be on my feet so long each day.

Think I am reaching the 36 week insulin drop now as have been a bit low twice already today with contractions. Its a bit later than I was expecting, but have had low periods at 30 weeks and again at 33 weeks so who knows what this is?

LincolnGirl hope things get better soon - test LOTS and especially before you get in a car/go out. And enjoy the high GI foods while you can - I ate a whole packet of sweets every day from about 8-13 weeks and I had only picked up about 2 pounds by the end of those weeks.

 

[capel]

Well, I was never perfect, but it wasn't the disaster it is. The hardest is not knowing how much to take. With the same food, the same amount of insulin, at the same time, same exercise, everything the same will send me high one day and very hypo the next. Now at least there is little more stability. I can still go hypo, but not 1/2 after I ate and had the same amount of insulin I always have. But at least the children are cool about it. I never hid it from them, tested and twice even injected during class. They ask questions, but al least they know a lot about diabetes. One girl even came to my classroom one day and said that she just got a question in her GCSE science because the way I explained it to her and it made it feel real. So I don't have a problem with them. It is just that the school has to protect itself legally. Nowadays the threath of legal action influences lots of decisions in a school.

 

[snj]

hey girls...
I am a type 2 diabetic since 9 years. I had pretty high blood sugar levels when i conceived. my HbA1c came out to b 9.5 at weeks. I am 7 wk +1...goona get my second sonography tomorrw hoping hard to have heartbeats and see the baby too. I had my first sonography at 5+1 , i could only see the sac bt no feotal pole. I am told i hae a risky pregnancy. I took 3 opinions frm different docs. 2 suggested dat i shld abort and start afresh. but I somehow felt positive abt dis pregnancy and decided to go ahead wid it. i am on a strict diet as instructed by a dietician. I chk my sugar levels before meals everytime. i am taking insulin. i am going on walks. my blood sugar still seems high. bt it never gets beyond 250...now its mostly under 200.

I hope u guys have a safe pregnancy. I am very scared how this pregnancy is gonna turn up. its my first ever. I nw der r pregnancies dat hav concluded with normal babies. have seen few in my family. i am jst hoping dat all goes well for mommoes to b like us and for pur babies. take gd care all..

 

[capel]

snj, Good luck with your pregnancy. It is hard on us sometimes to enjoy this time. With all the lows and the guilt of highs. But try to enjoy as in the end it is all worth. Hope all goes well in your scan.

 

[Tanikit]

snj I can't believe the doctors would advise that -it is crazy. I conceived my first unplanned and had a high hbA1c before getting pregnant - basically I just pulled it together in the next few weeks and by 12 weeks pregnant had dropped my hbA1c down drastically to 6.9 which is fine (many people do get lower than this even, but I ran the risk of too many severe hypos to drop it much further than that)

Good luck for your next ultrasound - I also had a 5 week one with my first pregnancy and saw only a sac to find a nice heartbeat at 7 weeks. This pregnancy because that was stressful I just waited til 7 weeks to have my first scan.

My only advise is to test lots and get the insulin under control - I imagine as type 2 that you were not on insulin before the pregnancy??? If you weren't it can take a little while to adjust to it and get the right amount to control your sugars. Hang in there - do the best you can and enjoy the scans. You are still very early on - sometimes you can get highs the first few weeks you know you are pregnant and then they tend to even out and drop lower the further in you get until the resistance builds up in second trimester.

 

[Lincoln Girl]

in my first pregnancy my HBA1C was 12 to start with but i got it down to 9 something.

At the mo im at 9.5.

 

[capel]

Anyway the hba1c only increases the risk. Even the worst controlled person still has a higher chance to have a healthy baby than not...

 

[snj]

hey girls...
I jst got back frm my scan....i saw the baby :') and the heartbeats too....m so happy...the ultrasound doc said that m doing well. I'll take the reports tomorrow to my gynac. the hearbeat was 151.5 bpm. seeing the baby kinda boosts up my confidence.

yes dis is my first time i am taking insulin. before i was only on medication...just hoping to get the healthiest baby. doing everything i can. controling with food is da biggest difficulty. missing on all ma favs...but i guess its all worth it. would njoy more wen i have a healthy baby to share it wid me... ...its so nice talking to u girls in da same situation as me...can relate alot with u guys...thank u so much.

btw where do u all take ur insulins...i take it in the lower ab area...is it ok during pregnancy?

 

[capel]

I take fast acting in the tummy and background in the thight. Always did like this and noone told me to change.

Anyone referred for a heart anomaly scan? I was and just wondering if it was common or they saw something and did not tell me...

 

[Lincoln Girl]

hey girls...
I jst got back frm my scan....i saw the baby :') and the heartbeats too....m so happy...the ultrasound doc said that m doing well. I'll take the reports tomorrow to my gynac. the hearbeat was 151.5 bpm. seeing the baby kinda boosts up my confidence.

yes dis is my first time i am taking insulin. before i was only on medication...just hoping to get the healthiest baby. doing everything i can. controling with food is da biggest difficulty. missing on all ma favs...but i guess its all worth it. would njoy more wen i have a healthy baby to share it wid me... ...its so nice talking to u girls in da same situation as me...can relate alot with u guys...thank u so much.

btw where do u all take ur insulins...i take it in the lower ab area...is it ok during pregnancy?

fantastic news!

I was told not to do it in my tummy while pregnant and i didnt feel comfortable doing it there anyway. I use my arms, legs and bottom.