I am almost 30 years old, expecting my 1st baby in December and got diagnosed with Type I about a month ago.
It’s been a very overwhelming experience trying to get a handle on my new diagnosis with my insulin resistance increasing due to pregnancy and my body randomly pumping out it’s own insulin.
On a positive note my A1C was 5.5 at diagnosis and baby is doing great. I’m measuring right on, blood pressure has been good and baby is very active
Just curious if anyone else out there was diagnosed while pregnant? There is definitely no good time to get diagnosed but it’s been hard being more emotional from pregnancy hormones and knowing my little one is counting on me.
Many concerns a pregnant woman will have, and one that can simply be put to rest with a simple test is gestational commonly known as diabetes during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes can arise during the second trimesters, and can cause tangle for the women as well as the unborn baby. Diabetes during pregnancy happen in a relatively small percentage of expectant women, and can often be controlled by exercise throughout the pregnancy.
Most of doctors will routinely test for diabetes in pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks of gestation period, specifically if a pregnant woman has risk factors that will enhance her odds of developing it. These risk factors include a history of obesity, high blood pressure, and a family history of diabetes. A question I would like to ask you that have you ever use wireless fetal monitor or office hysteroscopy device in pregnancy?
At 26 weeks pregnant I did the routine 1hr GTT and failed, followed by the 3hr GTT which I failed as well. Initially they thought it was just gestational diabetes but after a few frustrating weeks and a visit with endocrinology I was diagnosed Type I (positive GAD ab).
And no to your question about wearing a wireless fetal monitor or office hysterscopy device.
I am so sorry about your diagnosis. It does sound like you are doing great though! At times during the last trimester it can be very difficult to keep blood sugars under control because of insulin resistance. I ended up being on 3x the amount of insulin. But, maybe because you are just diagnosed you wont have to deal with that!! If you ever have any question please feel free to inbox me anytime @gina
Man I can’t imagine how stressful that would be to go through while pregnant! Thank goodness they got the diagnoses corrected…even if it took some time =/
Sounds like you’re off to a great start though and like Gina said, hopefully since you’re newly diagnosed you won’t have to deal with the 3rd trimester spikes in insulin requirements as much since you’re probably still in a honeymoon phase! I’m already taking almost 2x long-acting insulin vs pre-pregnancy and I’m still two weeks out from my 3rd trimester!
A healthy pregnancy is totally possible so just keep your thoughts positive and try not to google too much…google never does anyone any good in regards to medical topics
I honestly don’t know what my “normal” insulin requirement would be or if 3rd trimester is making it worse since I’ve only been on insulin for a little over a month now. All of it seems overwhelming and frustrating at this point. I do know that I’ve had to increase my insulin dose every week or 2 since the beginning. Initially I wasn’t even on long acting which I am now. I try my best to stay positive but it’s hard not to beat myself when I get a higher blood sugar because I know it’s not just my health and that baby is counting on me too.
Also I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on cord blood banking? It’s not something I had considered before my diagnosis but I figured I should at least look into it now.
In Canada, the Canadian Blood Services now has a public national bank but they only collect in a few places - Vancouver happens to be one. We’re going to donate to the public bank instead of privately banking; that is assuming we can even though I have diabetes (I can’t donate blood for example) since they take family history into account. There isn’t enough science either at this time for us to bank on the benefits of spending thousands to keep the cord blood for ourselves, when it could be used to help someone else now. Plus even though they claim other family members could use it, there are low chances they are an exact match and can or that they can get enough that’s useable from the cord blood.
I’m going to be asking my OB about doing delayed clamping so babe gets most of the blood back, which leaves less blood in the cord afterwards. The Canadian Blood Services can still use that little bit of blood, but I’ve heard private banks won’t take it then.
One thing both my Endo and OB have told me which helps is that the baby is producing it’s own insulin. I was so worried when I was going low and then spiking high in my first trimester because of hormones and too much insulin (needs usually drop in the first then climb back up in the 2nd). They told me not to worry too much and to just focus on trying to get my highs down without going low. My OB also told me that in my 3rd I will basically be chasing highs and that it’s normal because of all the hormones; not to feel like I’m a bad mom or anyone is judging me because all they want is me to try my best - they are there to make sure the baby is okay while I try to keep an handle on my diabetes. I still get upset but I try to remember what they’ve told me.
Yeah there is public bank in the US too. I had looked into that but only certain hospitals in certain states are sites that will collect for the public bank and the hospital I will deliver in isn’t one of them.
And private cord blood banking defineatly isn’t cheap and you are right about the chances of being able to use it are low. I pray every day that my baby will never have to find out one day that they have diabetes but if that is the case I want to have every available resource for them. That being said we are still undecided on what to do.
I’m 34 weeks and I had an appointment with my endo and mfm this week. Both appointments went really well. My A1c is 5.4 And while he/she is measuring big, everything is going great with baby!
