I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and i went to the doctors yesterday to see how much my baby boy weighed. He weighs 1lb 5oc. My doctor said he is really big for how far along he is and it has something to do with my blood sugars. Before i got pregnant my a1c was 10!! But i dropped that way down to 6.1! I'm not on the pump i take insulin syringes and im dropping low at night and running high in the morning and i think thats whats doing it. Im very scared cause the one doctor i have told me that him being this big this early cols hurt him. And possibly terminate the pregnancy. I tryed explaining to my high risk pregnancy doctor that i run low at nigh (45- 65) thats why im waking up with bloodsugars up to 140 but she doesn't seem to want to listen. Is there any advice anyone can give to to help me make sure my baby boy comes out happy and healthy?
firstly, congrats on your pregnancy!
i dont think you need to panic about your waking up sugars being 140. the reason that doctors are so concerned with this fasting morning sugar is because it tends to reflect your blood sugars over the course of the night. if you sleep 8 hours, you dont want your sugars being 140 for a third of the day. this doesnt seem to be the case for you, as you are having lows during the night, so the 140 is only temporary. most doctors from my experience (excluding endos) are not super familiar with the ins and outs of what it means to be a type 1 pregnant woman. they usually know a lot about type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes. it is really impossible to always have perfect numbers when you have such tight control. when i am pregnant (i have two little boys thank G-d) i definitely have highs and lows. you just have to be on top of things to make sure you get back into a normal range quickly. as you go through your pregnancy, you will have different times of the day more challenging than others. for now, focus on your lows during the night to prevent the 140's when you wake up.
dont freak out by what your doctor said. at an appt, my ob asked me what my wake up sugar was- i said 114. my ob told me that if i ever wake up above 90, i need to call my endo for adjustments. i told my endo and she laughed. you dont make adjustments after waking up with a number above 90- you wait to see a pattern. the next morning, i woke up low. imagine if i would have upped my basals! just check check check. set an alarm and check in the middle of the night if necessary. making logs definitely helps to target which areas need adjustments.
regarding the size of your baby on the US- keep in mind that they are very inaccurate. maybe go for another US soon to verify. G-d willing you will have a healthy pregnancy and a beautiful healthy baby! we all worry- its our job- we are moms!
Thank you, That really helped! Acouple of weeks when i went to the high risk doctor they told me he was too small now they are telling me that he's too big! What makes it even more confusing is that it's most of the time a different doctor that comes and talks to me. So one tells me something and the another tells mes something different. Like i said when i went to my endo last week she went through my sugars and i told her about the high mornings because of waking up low and she just told me to eat a small protein before bed. When i told the high risk doctor that that next morning i woke up with a 115 blood sugar she flipped out and told me that i need to get that under control if i want my baby to survive. And after i hear something like that i stress over it and worry about it and in becomes life consuming, i find myself not being able to sleep because of what was told to me. But i go back to my ob on the 25th and back to the high risk on the 26th of september so hopefully things have gotten better. Everything else seems normal with my baby boy. Everything seems to be growing correctly, he has a very srtong heartbeat and there is lots of fetal movement!!:) When i first became pregnant they gave me a due date and then switched it and then ended up switching that again. So it is possible that they mis read things and my baby is further along then they think he is??
Can you get a different OBGYN? Some have really outdated info about diabetes and aren't helpful. Do you have a diabetes doctor who's good?
Lows need to be avoided because they can impede your baby's development and are a serious health threat to you. When are you typically having the lows?
You might visit with your diabetes doctor about changing the timing of your long acting insulin. Or also taking part of your evening bolus and waking up at 2am to take the remaining portion so that you avoid the lows but have a better blood sugar in the morning. Only do this under the recommendation of your doctor.
An A1c of 6.1 averages out to a 140 blood sugar. You are having highs, so it's likely that they are causing your son to gain more weight than he would if you didn't have diabetes. But the impact on your son will likely cause no long term problems. Highs tend to cause your baby to be bigger and your son may have a low blood sugar after birth, but neither are a big deal.
I think the ultrasound techs often overestimate the baby's size when they know the mom has diabetes. At 38 weeks I was told my son was over 10 pounds and would be even bigger if I waited. My son was born at 39 weeks and weighed 8lb 9oz. He had a normal blood sugar and was not fat. He was tall and lean, just like my husband.
Keep doing a good job and trust your instincts in handling your diabetes and your pregnancy. Take care and congratulations on your baby. -Jenna
thank you again, I'm not on a pump though:( And my obgyn send me to a high risk clinic that is suppose to know about the diabeties while pregnant. And my endo is an amzing doctor. Without her help i wouldnt have my a1c to where it is now. I was looking at the growth scale on which he needs to be a certain amount of weight per week and it looks like he is only a week further in weight then what he needs to be. And from what i've heard from other people is that no baby grows the same. I'm just very stressed and worried with this being my first baby and i have so many questions and concerns that i feel the doctors can't answer for me cause they arn't in my place.
I was 128 lbs when I was 37 weeks pregnant and I delivered a 8 lbs 10 ounce baby vaginally. My OBGYN was very anti c-section. He told me I could deliver vaginally and I sure did. I was induced at 37 weeks due to pre-e. Labor was a little complicated. Because she was so big and I was so small I had an episiotomy and some tearing, but I bounced back quickly and was in church by that Sunday! The very first OBGYN I went to had me in tears. My A1c was a 6.7 and after looking at my BG chart and noticing several spikes he literally told me I was hurting my baby and that if I didn't lose her she might end up with birth defects. I left that office hysterical and crying! I worked my A1c down to a 6.5 and found another OBGYN. This one was much, much more optimistic and told me I would be perfectly fine and so would my baby. He was right. My advice, do the best you can. That's all. As type 1's we will inevitably have lows and highs. It happens. But just try to keep an eye on your sugars and be as healthy as you possibly can. Stay optimistic!
Thank you!! Like i said the high risk doctor i go to told me that the spikes i've been having would huurt the baby thats why he is so big! But looking at the groth chart he is only a little over a week in weight then what he should be. I've talked to alot of people and they have all told me the same thing. Doctors don't always know whats best for type one diabetics and like you said its bound to happen that we have highs and lows. But i'm checking alot more and watching everything i eat just to be on the safe side.