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Hi Louise, my sister has developed diabetes in her pregnancy. She has been on a very strict diet of low carbs, ad she is now 39 weeks. She has been monitored a lot because of the diabetes and she is ok and so is the baby. The thing to remember is that diabetes does not cause m/c, it just makes the babies fatter and it's bad for your health.
I would try and see a specialist and also contact your clinic. have a professional design a diet for you as well.
Big and try not to worry (I know it's easier said than done).

Hi Louise

I am by no means an expert but I am study nutrition and this has come up in my course and basically general advice is to get a meal plan from a state registered dietician (which I assume will happen thursday) who will design your meal plan based on your glucose levels and will be adjusted as you continue through your pg. 40-45% of your calories should come from carbs, but apparently not in the mornings when suffering gestational diabetes as hormone levels may mean carbs aren't as well tolerated early morning. This however is clearly not what Maria's sister has been advised, so I think that just goes to show how vital it is to stick to what your adviser tells you and just make sure you are monitored really closely.

Have attached a link to the NHS website regards gestational diabetes, may give you some ideas for questions on Thursday.

Diabetes, Gestational - NHS Choices

Sorry I can't be of any more help really and as Maria says try not to worry xxxxx

Hi Louise,

I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes too, tried to control it with changing my diet but that hasnt worked so today I started insulin injections. When I saw the dietician she said I had to cut out as much sugar as possible, balance my starch intake by choosing wholegrain types and having smaller portions, dont cut them out all together. To fill up your plate add more veg/salad and meat. Be carefull with fruit as it has natural sugars, I have to limit my fruit to 3 portions a day and the same goes for dairy products. You might be told different as its on an individual basis.
Are you monitoring your blood sugar levels? I would start writing down a food diary so they can see that at your next appointment. Sorry im not much help but you should have a better idea of things after thursday, just try not to worry xxxx

I know what you mean about the nhs, they say to limit portions etc but dont starve yourself but dont tell you what size a portion should be. I got an app on my phone that tells me the GI number of different foods so I use that to help me make up meals. Let us know how you get on on thursday xxx

I think it does depend on the situation and your blood tests and seeing a specialist dietician is a good idea. My sister was sent to a specialised diabetes centre, where they monitored help bloods and urine as well as giving her the diet plan. But she lives in Italy so I don't know how the nhs does it. Maybe checking a private clinic is something to consider for peace of mind.
She also has to check her bloods ( a little prick) and urine at home in case she needs insulin, but she's been ok with the diet. She's even lost weight (she has put on 18kg...).
Take care hunni x

Hi Louise
I too had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy. My problem was as I'm a veggie I eat a lot of carbs and as you know they turn into sugar so insulin was the only answer for me. I was monitored very closely. I had to monitor my blood sugars and call the diabetes nurse every 2 - 3 days with the results, she then told me what insulin I should be injecting at mealtimes. I also had to attend a diabetic clinic each week and be seen by a diabetes Dr. As you know C was born in perfect health and weighing 6lb 11oz. I think you'll be fine honey once your monitored closely. Please please insist you are and defo kick up if your not.
xxx

Hi

Firstly, sorry to hear about your premature twins. I can't even imagine how you felt at losing them. .

I developed GD during pregnancy and fortunately I managed to control it through diet (I have PCOS so was a high chance of me developing it). Just keep an eye on the sugar content in things (if I recall I think less than 5g is best) even in fruit and as Jodie says carbs aren't great either, well the white stuff mainly. If I ate carbs I would have wholewheat pasta and wholegrain bread and rice. If you do get a sweet craving then it's best to eat it straight after a healthy meal as your body absorbs it better cos you're then not eating sweet stuff on an empty stomach, IYSWIM.

I was scared when I was diagnosed as I was worried something would happen to my son but as you can see from my ticker he is here and well. Thankfully the diabetes disappeared after I gave birth but I then made up for missing out on nice treats so have now piled on a few pounds - ooops!

I was scanned regularly to check on my baby's growth and he was a healthy 8 pounds 2 ounces. They did induce me as they didn't want me to go past my due date for fear of him being a big baby and it being a complicated labour but I know many women who had babies much bigger than this and they didn't have GD.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and I hope all goes well.

xx

Forgot to say I was given a little device where I had to check my levels before or after every meal (a pin prick on a fingertip) and at first I would go to the hospital and report my results and discuss where I had gone wrong with my diet if the level was high but then after a few weeks and them seeing I could control it quite well they said to just ring in if I had a high reading. It's amazing how strict you become with your diet when a precious little life is involved. I wish I had the willpower now like I did when I had GD.

Good luck xx

Test after every meal, watch your carb intake and excercise every day. I had GD with both pgs and I managed to control it with diet but I was on a very restrictive diet for the last 4 months the second time round - I lived on pretty much just protein which made me very, very tired all the time. It's about finding out what causes your bloods to spike as different things cause different people to react, I could eat fruits that were high in sugar without a problem but not bananas (high in carbs) or any kind of grain based food - cereal, porridge, bread etc.

Exercise uses up the sugar floating round in your blood so try to excercise 30 minutes after your main meal (or after every meal if you're particularly active) doesn't have to be anything too strenuous just a brisk 30 min walk or gentle cycle (I had an excercise bike) for 15-20 minutes. If you ever get a high reading start exercise straight away as it will bring it down much faster and limit the amount of sugar the baby is receiving. Very high blood sugars can cause MC or premature labour but normally this only happens with undiagnosed GD, if your sugars are kept within normal levels (as much as is possible) then your risk of early labour is the same as someone without GD. Have they considered putting you on insulin?

As for questions, ask what extra monitoring you'll get - they should be scanning you more frequently as your pregnancy progresses - and discuss now early induction vs leaving things to run their course with more intensive scanning - they usually recommend inducing you at 38 weeks as GD patients placentas can fail prematurely if their sugars aren't stable. I declined induction and opted for more intensive monitoring - scans and heartbeat tracing every single week.

Both my stories had a happy ending, first son J was born 5 weeks prematurely with no signs of being affected by GD (he was a big baby but not a fat baby and if I hadn't had IVF they wouldn't have believed he was 5 weeks early as he looked and behaved full term and we went home a couple of days later after he had his bloods monitored to check he was OK, he didn't require any special care) They don't know why he arrived early as they didn't think it was down to my GD. Second son arrived 3 days shy of my due date, hairy and slightly skinny due to me being a little to controlling with my blood sugars (I was avoiding carbs so much that my post prandial blood sugars were almost the same as my pre prandial sugars and I should have let them go higher every other day to let him get some sugar) but again he showed no signs (other than being hairy and a bit thin for a newborn) that he'd been affected by my GD. Finally a friend of ours had GD and ended up on insulin, her little girl arrived at 38 weeks by c-section (due to some unrelated complications) and also shows no sign of being affected by GD.

GD is scary because you feel so out of control but it is something you can take affirmative action with. If diet doesn't work then take the insulin option, and remember thousands of true diabetics (people who were diabetic before pg) have babies every year and it's much harder to control as they have no insulin function of their own.

Did you have a follow up GTT after you lost your angels?

Hi Louise,

I first of all wanted to say how sorry I am that you went through the pain of losing your babies. I know how painful it is going through this; my twins were born at 24+1. We lost our Daughter after just 20 mins and our Son aged 25 days. I don't know the situation that lead to your early delivery but with me there was a question mark whether it could have been sudden onset of Pre - eclampsia or if GD (which was only actually diagnosed the week before) had anything to do with it. Anyway sorry to ramble but after several follow up meetings with the hospital they have put a specific care plan together to hopefully avoid such a tragedy happening again.

In addition to the usual appointments someone would have, these are the things that have to be carried out for any future pregnancies for me (Please God there is another one is )

Regular meeting with Diabetic Specialist Nurses and Fetomaternal consultant
Metformin medication
Food Plan written by Dietitian
I will have to write a food diary (apparantly it is so easy to think you are having a good day, but amazing what kind of things can cause increase in
blood sugars)
Aspirin will be started around 8-9 weeks gestation
Growth scans must be carried out more often even if all looks normal
Attend a pre-term clinic

and the most important one which they now suspect may have prevented my pre-term delivery; A blood flow vasculature assessment at least twice during the pregnancy.

Hopefully you won't have to be pushy, and the hospital will put your mind at rest and offer you lots of additional care, but I feel it would be well worth asking for the Vasculature check. If we had been offered this, there is a high probability problems would have been noticed, medication would have been given and it is very likely my babies would be here with us now

I wish you all the luck in the world