I had my first child a little over one year ago via c-section. I gained about 25-30 lbs during pregnancy and have returned to my pre-pregnancy weight, of course with a little more fat around the lower abdominals from being pregnant. Since I had the baby, I can’t go back to using my stomach for my infusion sites! I feel like I am running out of places and tissue isn’t healing as fast on my other areas. I currently use love handles, lower back, thighs, and literally my side of my stomach. If I go anywhere near the belly-button (pretty much where I was carrying my daughter) it hurts when I try to put a site there. I feel a little pinch and it almost feels like there is loose tissue underneath and it swallows up the cannula so insulin doesn’t go in me (does that make sense!?!). The Endo & OBGYN both say the stomach has healed nicely & no scar tissue has built up.
Are there any other mom’s out there that have/had this problem? Any help or similar stories would be great! And anyone use their arms for sites (and where do you put it on your arm exactly)? Im nervous to put it there, plus it doesn’t provide a lot of wiggle room either.
I have a 9 year old daughter and I STILL can’t use my stomach for infusion sites. I recently started on a cgm and learned that the cgm will work on my stomach so I’m happy about that. I’ve tried putting an infusion site on my stomach a few times since having my daughter and it hasn’t worked. At first insertion hurt REALLY bad but the last time I tried I just got NO DELIVERY alarms. So i’ve just given up on it by now. I use arms, thighs, lower-back/upper-butt, and occasionally the lovehandles
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR RESPONDING! I was starting to think I was the only one out there. Every time I go to the Endo they look at my stomach (I had a c-section), say there’s no scar tissue so I should’t have any problems. Occasionally I try it on my stomach, but I always feel like a sharp pinch when I remove the needle & just know its a bad site. I’ve gone through tons of sites thinking maybe it was just user error removing the needle or something but after many tries I figured it had to be from the pregnancy. I just recently starting using my arms for sites, which takes some getting used to and maneuvering to remove the needle from the site. Thanks again for your reply!
Believe me I understand. It took me a while to just accept it but there’s no other reason why my stomach sites would just not work. I’ve heard other people use the angled infusion sites, and they work for some, but I don’t want to change the infusion sets I use just to be able to use it on my stomach. I’m fine without using my stomach, just occasionally use my stomach for my cgm.
Arms are interesting for insertion for sure. But the cgm sites are harder so I feel like the infusion sites are easy now in comparison lol
Hi everyone! Would you be able to talk to me about what you went through with your pregnancy? I’m a type 1 and my husband and I are starting to plan a pregnancy. I’m scared out of my mind about it. I’m scared my sugars will get messed up and such. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I use Novolog and Levemir (which will be changing to Lantus due to my insurance) Thank you so much.
Hi Michelle. I am on a pump and I am just staring my second pregnancy and it can be daunting. To be honest, in the beginning I would get more lows, but as the placenta grows, it does become more difficult to control your sugars. You can’t stress about it because as you know, stress can just make your sugars worse or take longer to get down.
When I would go to my OB appointments, the Drs would stress me out with telling me I needed to get them lower and get my A1C lower, but that became more difficult as the placenta grows like I said. It’s not impossible though. When you’re pregnant & the belly is growing, smaller more frequent meals was key & walks after meals that were larger help tremendously with balancing blood sugars. If you exercise now that is awesome, keep it up during pregnancy. If you don’t now, then start maybe a light exercise routine that you can carry on into pregnancy. Yoga was a big help before, during, & after pregnancy. It helps to lower blood pressure and keep the body loose.
B/c we are Type 1, it will be a “high-risk” pregnancy, but you’ll get monitored more and a little more special treatment. I actually liked it b/c when you get to the end of the pregnancy, you go more frequently & then you get to see your little one more frequently (once a week)! Sorry for all the info but its all good stuff! Don’t stress out about it. It’s nothing to be scared of & don’t let Drs or anyone else freak you out. You know how to control your sugars better than anyone else.
Thank you for replying to me. Hearing it from someone who has been through it, makes it not so stressful. I know I shouldn’t stress but I’m so uptight about good sugar control and I don’t want to hurt the baby or myself. I don’t exercise per say, but I do a lot of walking. I’ll need to get more into that.
Thank you for all your tips. Main thing I need to practice, DON’T FREAK OUT
Thank you so much.