Gestational Diabetes Group - Us vs. the Carbs

[kayleigh1985]

I've been testing my blood sugars since Tuesday now and have had low 5's an hour after eating every time. Still trying to get my head round it all. Decided to do a little experiment and compare mine and hubby's an hour after eating the same lunch today. His was 5.4, mine was 5.1. I'm a bit confused as to what the concern is when my numbers are lower than hubby's who doesn't have diabetes

 

[eventerjj]

Northern, I am in Tianjin just southeast of Beijing. My doctor is a US doctor though, so I feel like it is just his laid back attitude and the been there done that. Being a first baby and very Type A planning personality, it's tough for me.

My emotions are getting bad now too and the last two appointments I have left feeling like I am doing everything wrong but yet doing exactly what he says.

Kayleigh, it's all about finding what your triggers are. Mine happens to be high fructose corn syrup and white breads. I can eat a 6 inch subway sandwich on wheat and be low 5s or even high 4s 2 hours after but an accidental can of regular pop with 2 slices of pizza puts me at 9.4. And lattes of any kind send me sky rocketing too. If I avoid those things, my numbers have been pretty good.

 

[AmeliePoulain]

I've been testing my blood sugars since Tuesday now and have had low 5's an hour after eating every time. Still trying to get my head round it all. Decided to do a little experiment and compare mine and hubby's an hour after eating the same lunch today. His was 5.4, mine was 5.1. I'm a bit confused as to what the concern is when my numbers are lower than hubby's who doesn't have diabetes

Are you eating totally unrestricted meals or are you reducing carbs etc and avoiding sugary things?

My numbers are low 5s often after eating, but I am certainly not eating normally!

 

[kayleigh1985]

I've been testing my blood sugars since Tuesday now and have had low 5's an hour after eating every time. Still trying to get my head round it all. Decided to do a little experiment and compare mine and hubby's an hour after eating the same lunch today. His was 5.4, mine was 5.1. I'm a bit confused as to what the concern is when my numbers are lower than hubby's who doesn't have diabetes

Are you eating totally unrestricted meals or are you reducing carbs etc and avoiding sugary things?

My numbers are low 5s often after eating, but I am certainly not eating normally!

No that is cutting out junk but I'm still eating like jacket potatoes. That meal in particular that I tested my husband's too was an omlette so barely any carbs but I just thought he's would be lower. Going to have a couple slices of pizza tonight for a birthday so will be interesting to see what it will be after that.

 

[kayleigh1985]

Although if I have one high result are they likely to put me on medication or will they just see it as a blip with food if all my other numbers are low?

 

[AmeliePoulain]

The thing is in pregnancy your numbers ideally would be a lot lower than a non pregnant person.

When women don't have a glucose tolerance issue in pregnancy they often have very low blood sugar. I wouldn't read too much into your husband's readings and just focus on you. It is great you can eat potato, it is on the list of OK foods the hospital have me but personally I can't eat it.

Remember, no one can force you to go onto meds, if you got one high that you knew the reason why and you have the willpower not to have lapses that give highs then feel confident in yourself

The main thing I've come to realise in this pregnancy is with gd I know my body best and no one can force anything on me. One high reading isn't hurting your baby, it is when there is a trend of highs or the control just isn't that working that I think you then seek help.

And to be honest, even in light of that it is important to see what if any affect they believe the gd is having on your baby.

 

[kayleigh1985]

Thanks Amelie! My reading was 7.8 so quite a bit higher than my usual low 5's but still under the 8 they've given me as a target so hopefully they won't mind too much when it comes to looking through my readings!

 

[Amythyst]

Baby arrived! C section was not pleasant and I fell off the table when they were giving me the spinal. Was crying a lot. I feel bad now, no pain but I'm very dizzy and I keep vomiting. No paim yet but just feel really icky. Baby has Brewster fed once and did really well. But since I'm barfing a lot now have opted to give him a bottle so I don't yack on him. He was 9.3 pounds... So probably a good idea on the c section. Will post some pics later.

His blood sugar was also good the first time they took it. Was 55 which is apparently good for a newborn.

I can't even keep water down at this point so who knows when I'll eat. My blood pressure is also up a little at 155/95 but I haven't had any meds.

 

[eventerjj]

Oh Amythyst! Congrats on baby but it really sucks you are feeling so bad! I hope you start feeling better soon and can get the time to bond with your little one.

 

[eventerjj]

Kayleigh, a few bad numbers won't put you on meds. My doctor told me they look for 20-30% of them to be higher than they should be in testing time or across the whole range. It is definitely trial and error until you figure out what you can eat, so there are bound to be spikes. And as all of us will tell you from experience, things you could eat at 30 weeks, you will find less tolerance to at 34 or 35 weeks.

 

[northern_me]

Wow, big boy! Congrats!!

 

[northern_me]

Kayleigh I only went on insulin once my morning numbers started to creep up. I think something else caused it though because I haven't taken night insulin for weeks and haven't had a single high morning.

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Congrats Amythyst, I hope you have a really smooth recovery

I am very aware I am entering the 34-35 week scary zone now...

Still not making any colostrum that I can get out, it doesn't matter til 36 weeks but I hope it comes soon.

 

[oneway]

Congrats Amythyst! My first was over 10 lbs and I do wish I had a c-section with him. I am so glad you had yours through a C. I have read that some women vomit after the spinal because their blood pressure is low. Hopefully they can fix this for you with some drugs? My baby also had a blood sugar around 58 I think? It was 3.2 which they were happy with for a newborn. But he was also given supplemental food to make sure he did not dip too low. He was also given some expressed colostrum from me on day 2 and another dose of donated mother's milk that evening. Luckily, my milk came in on the evening of day 2 so we were set from then on.

Good luck and rest up! You have done so well!

 

[Amythyst]

Hi guys, I'm doing better - I was vomiting all liquids until 1:00 this morning when the nurse let me have some actual food. I had saltine crackers and chicken noodle soup... Which seemed to be the charm cause I had almost gone 24 hours without food.

I am not sure if my GD has gone away at this point. I haven't had any sleep since last night and after some ginger ale and the food I ate my numbers have been in the low 100's - which I assume is good for a no. Diabetic after eating that sort of stuff? The highest was 140 a little bit ago but I have been munching on regular crackers most of the night.

I also have not had any medications at this point. So I haven't taken any Metformin or blood pressure meds. My BP is slowly coming down on its own and she said it was normal after a c section for my BP to be elevated. She just checked it again and it as 147 over 88. So, better than 155 over 95 which it was earlier. When I had my traumatic experience with the spinal my BP went up to 179 over 120! Can you believe that? It quickly came down after that and they got me laying down. But man that scared me seeig that number.

Baby is doing well but he keeps spitting up his formula. I breast feed him once right after birth but I'm not sure anything came out. I was too sick with barfing after that to breast feed him again, so he has been on formula. I tried to give him my other breast earlier tonight but my nipple wouldn't get hard and kept flattening out so he couldn't even get a lock down on it. Hopefully things will work out and my milk will come. I could never even pinch colostrum out the whole pregnancy.

I have no pain and I was able to get up and move around tonight and get cleaned up. I'm not really bleeding crazy and I'm wearing my own nightgown and some sexy hospital pants with the biggest pad on I've ever seen.

 

[oneway]

It takes time for the milk or even the colostrum to come in. With my first I did not have any colostrum the first day. I could barely squeeze some out day 2. It took a while for the milk to come in too. I could barely express a few drops and since he was born big, he needed milk. So they gave him supplemental food but I had to wake every 3 hours and try to nurse or pump. Baby lost 10% of his body weight the first 3 days because I did not have enough milk for him. So don't worry, it's normal with the first for milk to come in on day 3 or later. Just try pumping or let him suck away as that stimulates production. Hopefully you will get help with the latching. It was very difficult for me with the first. These things are not intuitive! We need lots of help from the staff. Hopefully you will get that.

Hugs dear and congrats again

 

[AmeliePoulain]

It takes a very specific knack for a lot of women to get colostrum out, baby will likely be getting some though.

GD babies often lose a bigger percentage of their weight due to being so well fed in utero and the delay with the milk sometimes.

 

[northern_me]

Hope everyone is doing ok today! That was a very scary BP and close to what mine was with pre-eclampsia! Hope your numbers work themselves out.

37 weeks today and I've turned into the stereotypical pregnant woman that screeches uncontrollably for no reason. I'm hoping this is due to some hormonal shift that means labour is near. I've been hardcore crying since yesterday afternoon. Watched some shared video about skeletons and love and burst into an ugly cry haha. Uncontrollable sobbing is so attractive right now.

 

[oneway]

hahaha! That was funny northern!

If it is any comfort, the day before I gave birth I was mad for no reason and it takes a lot to make me mad. I was so mad at my husband. Poor guy! It could signify a hormonal shift getting you ready to give birth.

 

[Amythyst]

Hope everyone is doing ok today! That was a very scary BP and close to what mine was with pre-eclampsia! Hope your numbers work themselves out.

37 weeks today and I've turned into the stereotypical pregnant woman that screeches uncontrollably for no reason. I'm hoping this is due to some hormonal shift that means labour is near. I've been hardcore crying since yesterday afternoon. Watched some shared video about skeletons and love and burst into an ugly cry haha. Uncontrollable sobbing is so attractive right now.

Northern, I know I started being crazy emotional close to the last few weeks. Which is one of the reasons I got crazy in the OR. I couldn't control my emotions which of course made my BP go up. It could very well be a sign because I didn't have any emotional issues the whole pregnancy until the end.