So I found out on Friday that I am pregnant. To say I am excited would be an understatement. My husband and I are just busting at the seams!!! Worried about when I eat. My sugars have been hitting low 200's. Of course I am correcting at that point even though it is only an hour after doing my bolis. Not having lows when I correct so that is good. Should I be concerned? Also, when did insulin senceativity kick in for everyone? I was always under the impression that hormones would help keep my sugars on track for the 1st trimester. Thanks!
Hi Karen,
I know the first couple of weeks after I found out I was pregnant, I was so worried about what to eat because I couldn't find anything that wouldn't spike my bloodsugar after I ate. I am currently using an medtronic pump and CGM and I am 24 weeks along. I know my endo said she wanted me to keep my 1 hour post prandial under 130 and fasting under 100. After week 6 or 7, my bloodsugar was plumiting all the time. Try to do you best to count your carbs to a T and make sure you have lots of protein and fat as that will help slow you bg from rising to fast. Peanut Butter was huge in the first part of my pregnancy. Good luck and Congratulations!!!!
Thanks! So scared right now. Sugars are all over the map and each time they go up I have such bad thoughts about what I am doing to the baby. :( petrified about the lows that are coming my way.i have a CGM but hate the feeling of being low... Can you still tell when your sugar is dropping? Is it really hard to bring it back up? Did you use the 15 carb rule? Thanks for taking the time to answer my post!
Rely on your CGM and test a lot. Pregnancy can make your body feel different, so it's important to verify your glucose with a meter and not just rely on feelings. If you feel blood sugar dropping eat something with a few carbs (I like GoGurts, which have 13g but because it's dairy gradually raised blood sugar) and then test again 15-20 minutes later to see if you need anything else.
Everyone's carb ratio is different, but 15g is pretty common. A lot of people use a lower carb ratio (like 10g or 12g) in the morning when they're more insulin resistant.
When pregnant I aimed for blood sugars of 80 and did a lot of dual wave and square wave boluses on my pump to prevent the post meal spikes. Gary Scheiner has an online class that's $30 on preventing post meal spikes at www.type1university.com. Might be helpful to you. If you decide to aim for a lower target blood sugar like I did, make sure to test a lot to avoid all lows. I also didn't eat high carb foods like baked potatoes at dinner because I couldn't match the insulin. At lunch it didn't cause me problems.
Don't be afraid of food, just take the time to carb count and dose your insulin accurately. Through my pregnancy I ate a mint chocolate chip ice cream almost every day and still had a good A1c. And yes, my 6-year-old son now loves mint chocolate chip ice cream. =)
In the first trimester my insulin needs fell slightly. I seemed more prone to lows. In second trimester it evened out, though I had to increase insulin slightly for the weight gain. But by third trimester my insulin needs more than doubled. I went from taking about 45u a day to over 100u! It's caused by the progesterone level increases, which inihibits insulin. What was weird is that after delivering and once my breastmilk came in, I took NO insulin for a couple weeks post pregnancy. That's after 28 years of type 1! Slowly my insulin needs increased back to normal.
Congratulations on your baby-to-be. There are lots of us type 1 moms out here who had healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. Being a parent is an unbelievable blessing and I'm so happy for you and your husband.
-Jenna
Thanks Jenna! Taking everything one sugar and one day at a time. Only fours days into this and doing really well. Perfect? No but trying my best!