Pregnancy jitters

Pregnancy
1

Hi all!
I am 25 and have had diabetes for about 9 years now. I’m currently using a pump and a cgm and my a1c at conception was 6.9. I have one healthy 2.5 year old already and am 12 weeks along in my second pregnancy. This pregnancy is completely different from my first in every way! This time I have all pregnancy symptoms, where I didn’t have many with my first. I’m having a lot of anxiety about how my diabetes is affecting this baby. I feel like I’ve been having a really hard time staying in any kind of control of my numbers, which is also a difference from my first baby. One week will seem good and then I’ll go through several days of dramatic swings (like 40s- 300s). I know that these swings are what is not good, but I’m doing everything I can to try and keep them in control, but just can’t. My doctor explained that sometimes a hormone surge will cause me to lose control and that I can’t really know why, but that those hormones are still pumping and that’s a good thing, so keep trying my hardest. At my 12 week Nuchal scan yesterday, baby is looking great growth wise, but I’m just so scared that baby is going to have serious brain issues later on because of these swings. Though the severe lows are what really scare me for baby! I’m keeping my diet around 100grams of carbs a day, which are usually crackers or something like that that will help me feel less nauseous.

Im just very curious to hear how others pregnancies went and if you’ve got a similar story. Or really am looking for a little reassurance that things will turn out being ok. I know I have a lot longer to go and it’s just going to get harder when insulin resistance is in full force and all that jazz. Not many other women can relate to the stress, anxiety, and fear that a diabetic mommy can go through.

Thanks!

2

Try not to beat yourself up too hard about the swings! I’m sure you are doing all that you can to control them as much as you can and that is all anybody can ask of you. :slight_smile: You’re human and pregnancy alone is stressful, let alone trying to balance it with type 1 diabetes!!! Though the guilt may be hard to deal with, in my experience when I was pregnant, stressing myself only made my sugars worse and I was a total basket case about them.

If it would make you feel any better to read, I had an extremely challenging pregnancy with swinging sugars throughout and even an emergency appendectomy at 13 weeks which complicated keeping my sugars under control even more, but everything wound up okay!! :slight_smile: I made a post about it a while back, if you’d like to give it a read. (Though I forewarn you it is a little long lol) the link is here - http://t1n-migration.10uplabs.com/groups/diabetes_and_pregancy/forum/topic/t1-pregnancy-success/

I had a bad blood sugar low one time while I was pregnant that went all the way down to 22! I frequently hit the 40s and even saw the upper 200s too. The guilt was almost unbearable!! But ya know what? My baby came out completely fine, weighed perfect, spent no time in the NICU, and is absolutely brilliant now at just 16 months she is quick as a whip!!

Hopefully I could ease your worries at least just a little bit. :slight_smile: just remember again you’re doing all that you can and that is all anybody can ask of you. You’re human, not a robot! Nobody is perfect and don’t guilt yourself for it. :slight_smile:

3

Thank you! This did help me! You’re right, the guilt is so hard sometimes though. I just had my a1c done today and it is down from 6.9 to 6.2. My doc was really happy with it, though was a bit concerned if part of it is because of frequent lows. I do seem to have them often, like 50’s. Which worries me also. I’ve finally stopped seeing the highs but I’m not feeling the lows as early as I did pre pregnancy. But I will just keep on doing what I’m doing and try not to stress too much. 16 weeks today! Getting closer to half way!