Hi Everyone ! I am new to this site and i just found out i was 4 weeks pregnant. Although I am sooo excited - I am also so nervous( and i already was a very nervous person)! Every time my blood sugar hits 150-190 (the highest it has been) I want to start crying. I just want to do the best for my baby and i feel like if my blood sugar is not perfect I am failing. I am so worried that I have harmed the baby. Has anyone has higher blood sugars in their first trimester. Any encouraging words would be helpful! Thank you.
Well first of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! What a blessing! I'm 27 weeks myself, and although it's not the easiest thing being pregnant, let alone pregnant and a type 1 diabetic, it has been one of the most incredible experiences in my life!
Second of all, don't be so hard on yourself! Trust me, I've had numbers well over 190 and my baby is PERFECTLY HEALTHY (so far that is! We are hoping and praying that continues!) My pregnancy was a surprise, although we were planning to start trying within the next 6 months or so. That being said, my a1c at the beginning of the year was an 8.2! TERRIBLE! But with the help of my doctor and with LOTS of monitoring, I'm now down to a 6.0!! It's completely possible and actually not too stressful. I have a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) which you might want to consider. It has helped me tremendously with keeping my sugars in line and also keeping me safe. I'll warn you, during my 1st trimester my numbers would go dangerously low at points, so just keep an eye out! Then, once you've mastered the lows, towards your 28th week your numbers will go crazy again and you'll need more insulin! My insulin doses have almost tripled with this new change! BUT, don't be nervous! Everything is manageable and your baby will be just fine! Just do your best and check, check, check!
I also recommend reading, "Balancing Pregnancy withPre-Existing Diabetes: Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby" by Cheryl Alkon. The author is a type 1 diabetic herself and it reflects her experiences with pregnancy as well as interviews with other type 1 moms and doctors as well. I found it to be extremely helpful, informational, and reassuring!
So, that being said, try your best to enjoy your pregnancy and not worry too much! Keep loving your baby and taking care of yourself and you will be just fine! Also, if you don't already have one, find a doctor who will work closely with you to keep your blood sugars in control...mine has been a lifesaver! Good luck!
Just correct and go on. You want to do your best as an expectant mom, but babies are resilient as long as you aren't being too crazy.
I had a couple 300 blood sugars during my pregnancy. But overall my glucose control was excellent. My son was born with a normal blood sugar and completely healthy.
150-190 means you're just a couple units of insulin off. You might try:
Eating the same thing for breakfast every day (my dietician recommended this)
Look up carb counts
Take insulin before eating, test an hour after eating and take a correction bolus if needed
I also lowered my target blood sugar, but only do this with your doctor's recommendation and if you can do so without have any lows below 60. Normally I aim for 100, when pregnant I aimed for a blood sugar of 80 because that's what a non-diabetic mom's blood sugar is.
Congratulations on your baby! As a type 1 woman I'd always been afraid of motherhood. Once I went through pregnancy I realized it's completely possible for both my baby and me to be healthy. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time with needless worry.
Hi- I just found out on Fri that I am pregnant and I am kind of freaking out. I am a bit of a worrier as it is, so pregnancy gives me plenty of things to be nervous about. Leah, like you, we were planning on trying soon but this was a bit of a surprise. I was only about 2 days late, so I caught the pregnancy pretty early on. Typically my A1C is in the high 6’s, but I was having more highs than normal (200-300) for a couple of weeks and didn’t know what was going on. Now, I am guessing it was from the pregnancy. I test often so I don’t usually stay high for too long. Since I found out, my sugars have been very good but, is it too late? I keep worrying about those first 2 weeks (after conception) when I didn’t know and what my sugars did to the forming neural tubes, heart, etc. Could the damage already been done?
Hi everyone! Congratulations on your pregnancies! It is so exciting to grow a person inside of you. It may be a little more challenging with T1D, but it is do-able and still so unbelievably amazing.
For the first trimester highs, I just wanted to share my experience. My hubby and I were TTC for months and months. I was in really good control...and then the waiting game began. I became bored and decided to train for and run a marathon while my husband was scheduled to be away from me for a few months working. We didn't think conception would happen during this time, but it did, and unbeknownst to me, I ran my marathon while two weeks pregnant.
Needless to say, my blood sugars weren't perfect while training, but I kept around 6.5 A1c with few lows. Inexplicably, though, I started having strange highs. I was frustrated for a while but just kept correcting highs and changing basal/bolus rates. This went on for weeks. I missed my period, took a pregnancy test (which was a false negative), and chalked it up to my running. It actually wasn't until ten weeks that I got morning sickness, low blood sugars, and a positive pregnancy test, so for ten weeks of my pregnancy, I was having high blood sugars that I wasn't too concerned about.
All that said, my ultrasounds all showed perfect development, and my daughter was born with no defects. Now, at 13 months, she is quite bright, charming and cute (per my friends, but I won't disagree!). Bragging alert: she even started walking at nine months and is making great progress on potty training already. So, try not to worry, Mamas! Do the best you can, work with your doctor, and have fun building a baby!
Didn’t mean to hit “post”… The one thing that helps is reading the success stories on here. I am hoping that as I go along, I will feel a little better. I don’t know how I will make it another 8 months otherwise!
I'm now 28 weeks and I was 300 for a week straight for no reason and as it turns out that was the week after my missed period and I was unaware I was pregnant! I was soooo worried at first but I soon found out that worry and stress only caused my blood sugars to be even crazier. As of now my baby is perfect and in the 50th percentile for size so it doesn't appear that any of my high or fluctuating blood sugars have hurt him, luckily!! Ive tried my best and now my A1C is 5.9. I just had to accept that if I'm high all I can do is correct immediately and move on, now that I can feel him, he moves like crazy when I get stressed so I try to keep me and him as calm and happy as possible! Try not to stress yourself out! Good luck!