Diagnosed with gestational diabetes. What to expect?

[campn]

So two of my 3 hour GT came high so the doctor diagnosed me with GD right away. My DS was 5 lbs 4 oz so that came as a shock to me. Right now I just have to eat a low carb diet and monitor my blood sugar.

Will I need to be induced? Will I need more scans/non stress tests? A C-section? Will I have to stay in the hospital longer after giving birth? Does the baby go right to the NICU?

I know this all varies from one person to another but is there any thing that I'm now destined to face pretty much? I just want to be mentally prepared going into this not so fun situation.

 

[chathamlady]

You will have more appointments. If you are diet controlled it wont change much just extra appointments with the dietician and a diabeties team as well as more frequent ob appts. If you end up needing insulin you will have weekly nst usually starting around 34 weeks you will have a growth scan around 36 weeks. If on insulin probably induced around 38-39 weeks depends on the ob. you should not need a C section just because of the gd. Most babies do not need the nicu they will monitor the babies blood sugar for 24hrs but baby will room with you. This is in canada. Im not sure where your from but each country is slightly different. I had gd with both my girls( my second was induced at 36 weeks due to pre-e not the gd as i was diet controlled with her)

 

[campn]

Thank you so much! I'm in the States but I know we do things similar to Canada for the most part so that's a relief! I'm still in a big shock about it but educating myself and knowing what I should expect is helpful.

Were your girls born completely healthy? I read that some babies are born with jaundice because of GD, but I suppose jaundice happens often anyway.

Thank you again.

 

[chathamlady]

My first was completely healthy no jaundice, maintained her weight and controlled her blood sugars she was tinier then expected but i was on insulin with her which can affect the placenta(mine started to calcify) My second had a little jaundice but controlled her blood sugars as well but did have surgery at 4 days old due to a 5cm ovarian cyst(was not related to the gd in anyway). Neither of my girls were affected really by the gd and are both completly healty now with no issues and are normal weight and height for their age

 

[2have4kids]

I failed both my tests too. Our wee girl came in perfectly at 7 lbs 5 oz and I gained 24 lbs. I'm not over weight, just sensitive to sugar. Do you get heart rushes and feel like you're going to pass out if you eat ice cream or super carby foods? I do but I always managed it with diet. I like Paleo low carb. And when you do eat bread, pasta, rice, anything sugary carby just ensure you have protein with it, it helps even the sugar spike so your body doesn't need to produce as much insulin to deal with it.

It's when you have too many carbs, don't manage your sugar spikes that your baby (and likely you too) will grow too fat and be hard to deliver which can wind up with you being induced. But it's very likely you'll be able to manage via diet only.

The benefit of high protein to your baby is there's a study showing that babes who have moms eating high protein grow taller, carb heavy moms have short & fat babies. Our girl is at the 97th percentile for height (we're tall anyways) but long sleeps and protein at every meal for mom and when baby starts eating too helps. Also is super important for brain growth.
Our girl had an apgar score of 10 which shocked my GP who used to work in deliveries. She said it's very rare to come out alert, pink/red, moving, chauntering. Jaundice doesn't need to happen

 

[minties]

I had it diagnosed late in pregnancy with my daughter (about 34 weeks). I had two growth scans and appointments with a diabetes nurse, and of course had to monitor my blood sugar levels.

She was very chubby at birth, 7lbs 15.5oz and only 47 long. She was fine though. I had an elective c-section, but I had an emergency section with my son so that was the main reason why. If I had not chosen the elective my midwife was happy for me to go to 40+6.

I have GD again with this girl. This time diagnosed at 25 weeks. I'm managing on diet control but I've been out on 500mg of metformin recently as I had a couple of fasting numbers higher than they liked.

I get a million and one appointments with this baby, which can be annoying but at least they are looking after baby and I well. I'm also taking part in a study to see how tighter blood sugar control during GD affects mother and baby so have extra appointments due to that.

I can still eat bread etc but I find fat and protein give better results.

My baby has had a few scans and she is looking a lot thinner than my daughter. Her abdominal measurement is on the 18th percentile. My daughters was on the 85th at this stage.

 

[1nceUponATime]

I have GD currently. I only had one extra appointment with a diabetes counselor, I check my blood sugar 4x a day, and so far it's all managed through diet.

Don't let the Internet (aka Google) scare you! I read all these horrible things and after talking w my doctor I felt so much better. He said if my GD is diet controlle there are no extra tests/appointments, you are treated like a normal pregnancy.... You don't automatically get induced and they don't worry about any complications any more than a regular pregnancy. He said if I need insulin at some point then they wIll monitor a little more closely...

The Internet made me scared that I was high risk or needing an induction early or my baby was going to get huge or something, but as long as your sugars stay under control (with/without insulin) all will be okay. And don't panic, you will get a high sugar here and there and it will be for no reason sometimes which will make you mad lol

Things I found helpful...

Eat your snack with proteins... Eat the right amount of carbs for you (yes you can eat carbs in moderation) for example at dinner I have a very small portion of potato/half an ear of corn with lots of veggies and protein....

Bread seems to be a problem for me but I found I can eat my egg salad sandwich with Sarah lee 45 calorie bread.

Walking will help your sugar levels! Even a 5-10 minute walk after a meal will really really help! Along with lots of water.

If you have a sweet tooth,
I can manage one kashi oatmeal/dark chocolate chip cookie before bed or ...
A fugsicle
Or a sugar free pudding
It's not the milkshakes and candy I want but when you really really want something, those little things are a godsend lol

I hope any of this helps lol. And just remember this is temporary!

 

[mk8]

I had GD when I was carrying my son (now 3). I appreciate your concerns, in fact I was a nervous wreck at the time . But the birth was nothing extraordinary. I was classified as high risk so had more scans. I was diet controlled so had to tear blood sugar at home after meals. They docs thought my son would be huge. He wasn't at all. Weight wise ok but I think it was more because he was so long that pushed up the weight. He was so skinny! But he's well.

Good luck with your pregnancy.

 

[Radkat]

I failed my 1 and 3 hour tests with DD, but when I checked my blood sugars, my levels were totally fine, even low. The only time they were high is if I ate a dessert alone, even then they would come back down pretty quickly. No complications at birth or after. No problems breastfeeding. With DS, I failed the 1 hour and told my dr I just wanted to check my blood sugar instead of doing the 3 hour (which made me super nauseous the rest of the day). She was fine with this and had me check for 2 weeks and send her the numbers. She said I was fine and didn't need to test daily. She suggested testing at different times of the day a couple times a week to make sure it wasn't getting worse towards the end, which it didn't. For this baby, dr is fine with me waiting until 28 weeks to do the 1 hour and testing if I don't pass.

Getting a "diagnosis" doesn't mean that things are going to go bad.