Hi Everyone!
I am Type 1 (diagnosed 2yrs ago), and my husband and I are hoping to get pregnant in the next 6 months. Does anyone have any tips on pregnancy planning or pregnancy in general as someone with Type 1? I would love any feedback, stories, advice, tips, etc. It would be much appreciated! I look forward to your input! Thanks a bunch!
Katie
Katie,
My husband and I are both looking to get pregnant in the upcoming months as well. You need to get your a1c into baby range which is around 6.5. Getting there for me has been a huge challenge and I am in frustration mode. I think the key to getting prepared is to eat on a schedule and get back to basics of what you learned when you were diagnosed. Also to make sure your post meal numbers are not over 160. Try to count your carbs and take your insulin on time.
Hope this helps?
G
Hi Katie! I was dx'd 3 years ago and had a baby 16 months ago and will be trying for round 2 in the next 6 months or so. Everything Gina said was pretty spot on. The window they want your blood sugars in is extremely tight. My targets were fasting = 90 and post-meal was about 120. And my doc wants me to maintain these targets while TTC as well as while pregnant. It probably goes without saying that I didn't hit these number all of the time, but I came pretty close and had a very healthy pregancy and delivered at 37 weeks. My daughter was healthy and beautiful and still is! :)
Gina's right that controlling your eating helps. For me, it was easiest to stick to things that I KNEW the carb counts for. Also, be prepared to test A LOT. I tested an average of about 10-12 times a day. This time around, I'm getting a continuous glucose monitor (I've received it already but won't start using it until I get from my vacation in a couple weeks).
Good luck and feel free to ask any questions as they come along. Such a fun and exciting time! My biggest piece of advice (not that I did this while I was TTC or pregnant!) is to try to relax and just enjoy this time. It's so easy to get stressed out and worry about EVERY LITTLE THING. I wish that I'd been a whole lot more relaxed the first time around. I'll be working on it this time ;)
I agree Candace, I wish I had been more relaxed while pregnant! With the stress of expecting "perfect" numbers, I became a nut case, until my endo told me I'd be FINE even with some 240's here and there, and to relax. Of course, that only made me slightly more relaxed, lol. But, sure enough, he was right and my little guy was fine.
Before getting pregnant, I had a consult with a high-risk OB recommended by my endo. My husband came too. It was def helpful! The guy looked over my numbers, but mostly left that to the advice of my endo. But, he also did general genetic testing and discussed what to expect. For example, I didn't realize the HUGE number of dr's appts it would involve. So, early in my pregnancy, I went to my boss and explained I'd have to start taking off about twice a week and was able to work out a schedule with her. (I saw the endo twice a month, saw a pediatric cardiologist once, had sonograms once a month, had twice a week non-stress tests in the 3rd trimester, saw the OB 1 to 4 times on month, had eye exams each trimester, so it required some patience on my boss's part, lol)
I agree about the food -- I usually eat anything I want, im not one of those "low carb" people. But, while preg, I tried to eat lower carb meals to avoid post-meals spikes and ate out a lot less in restaurants to avoid wild carb guesses.
The amazing and wonderful thing about a diabetic pregnancy is that they do soooooo many ultrasounds to make sure everything is progressing okay. I have an entire scrapbook of pictures of A in utero and most of my friends only have the 18 week pictures. The other cool thing is that they induce you a little early, usually around 38 weeks, to avoid possible problems with the placenta at the end. So, I knew way in advance when I'd give birth. My whole family was able to get tickets to come up from FL! Also, if you plan to breast feed, get ready for amazing blood sugars. I was on so little insulin the first 12 months, it was great.
BTW, welcome to Juvenation!!
Hi Ladies!
Thank you all so much for your input! I greatly appreciate all of your insight and experiences. Since becoming diabetic, I have definitely gone through my ups and downs...moments (or weeks) when I feel like totally giving up and then those where I feel like I could do just about anything. I suppose that is completely normal. This site is so great, and I can already feel the support from everyone. Unfortunately, there are no support groups for individuals with Type 1 in my area, so I am glad I found this site.
I am currently working on getting my A1c down and have just located a new OB that works with women who are high-risk. My Endo just put me on Metformin in conjunction with my pump and so far, I am seeing great results from that. I am thrilled because I felt like getting my A1c down was going to be next to impossible at the rate I was going....but is such an important step for pregnancy.
That is so neat that they do ultrasounds for diabetic women more frequently!
Looking forward to sharing more soon!
Thanks again to everyone!
Katie
Hi Katie. I agree with what everyone else said. When I was pregnant, I checked my sugars about 15x per day, including through the night. My mantra throughout pregnancy was "check and correct, check and correct."
I had a LOT of lows during my first and early second trimester. I used to eat a McFlurry when low, and an hour later I would STILL be low. It was annoying. I once passed out from one and my husband needed to use glucagon, which then made me extremely high for a few hours. But baby was fine, but it was a very scary time. Lows have little to no impact upon the baby (unless you go unconcious and stop breathing or something). And as long as you get your highs back to normal as soon as possible, they aren't anything to stress out too much over. It's the highs that go one for days and days that can negatively affect the baby.
Make sure you are taking prenatal vitamins now. Diabetics are more at risk to have a baby with spina bifida and taking a vitamin with folic acid greatly reduces that risk, as does avoiding highs.
My endo recommended an A1c of 7.0 before becoming pregnant so that's what I did. By the time I had my son, my A1c was down to 5.3 but that was due to daily lows.
Yes you do get to have lots of ultrasounds. I actually threw out some pics (like 20) because I had too many for the album. By the end of my third trimester, I was having appointments 2-3x's per week for OB, ultrasounds, NSTs or endo. While it's fun, it was also stressful because I kept waiting for them to tell me something was wrong. But they never did. That stress has been my one hesitation about having another baby - I think I need to wait a while until I forget! So I agree with Candace who said make sure you try to relax.
I was allowed to carry to 38.5 weeks. At that point I was on almost 3x the amount of insulin as I was pre-pregnancy. I opted for a C-section because of the high failure rate of inductions for diabetics (because we are being induced early and our bodies aren't always ready, plus they don't like to let us labour for too long - the failure rate is 50% for diabetics, and 30% for non-diabetics) and because I was having fluid loss.
When diabetics have babies, they babies blood sugars are monitored because they tend to go low (this is because they have been fighting the mom's higher blood sugars and once that blood supply is cut off, their own insulin over-production causes a drop). My son's sugar went low about 3 hours after he was born so we gave him formula and he was fixed right up. They continued to monitor it over 24 hours.
When diabetics breastfeed, their sugar tends to drop. Mine would drop as I was feeding him. Breastmilk is produced on a continuous basis and draws it's calories from the mom's body. There is no connection between a mother's blood sugar level and the sweetness of her milk. Sugar in the milk is lactose, and is produced by the cells of the breast and not drawn from the mother's blood. I only say this because I heard of a diabetic woman who stopped breastfeeding because she thought her milk was 'too sweet' due to her higher numbers and making her baby fat. So I consulted a doc about it and that's what I learned.
ISince having my son, I've gone on the pump. My sugars are in way better control now than they ever were, even when pregnant. If you have the option for a pump, I would recommend it.
Sorry for the novel. Hope this helps!
[quote user="spaghettio"]
That stress has been my one hesitation about having another baby - I think I need to wait a while until I forget! So I agree with Candace who said make sure you try to relax.
[/quote]
OMG -- I feel the exact same way! I really want another, but the memory of the frequent appts and stress are still too fresh in my mind now (A. is 21 months). It's so cool to hear someone who totally "gets" it b/c my friends are all wondering what the big wait is. We can't afford to pay to put a 2nd in childcare now, so it's a good excuse to wait a few years anyways. It was totally worth it, but I feel like I have to rebuild my mental energy first to do it again if that makes any sense.
Don't apologize for "the novel"... that was all great information and some of it I had never heard before! Thanks for sharing all of that. We're at the baby stage too... pretty much just waiting for me to get my A1C's decent. I need to get to an OB also.... my nurse recommended one a year ago that does high risk pregnancies, but do you think I can recall the name? Nope. So, we've got a few steps before we get there, but it's definitley on the radar right now.
Just wanted to add that I had a regular OB, and not a high-risk one. Maybe it's just my area, but no diabetics I know in real life have gone to a high risk one unless there was a complication.
[quote user="spaghettio"]
Just wanted to add that I had a regular OB, and not a high-risk one. Maybe it's just my area, but no diabetics I know in real life have gone to a high risk one unless there was a complication.
[/quote]
Wow, the "regular" OB's in my area won't touch a T1 w/ a 10 foot pole, lol. Afraid of malpractice I guess...
[quote user="Sarah"]
[quote user="spaghettio"]
That stress has been my one hesitation about having another baby - I think I need to wait a while until I forget! So I agree with Candace who said make sure you try to relax.
[/quote]
OMG -- I feel the exact same way! I really want another, but the memory of the frequent appts and stress are still too fresh in my mind now (A. is 21 months). It's so cool to hear someone who totally "gets" it b/c my friends are all wondering what the big wait is. We can't afford to pay to put a 2nd in childcare now, so it's a good excuse to wait a few years anyways. It was totally worth it, but I feel like I have to rebuild my mental energy first to do it again if that makes any sense.
[/quote]Thanks for sharing that! It's like I feel that I'd be 'tempting the fates' a second time or something, even though I know the likelihood of a problem is small as long as my control is good. Glad I'm not the only one. Well, not 'glad,' but you know what I mean.
"rebuilding mental energy" this is a good way to put it! haha! Between the pernatologist, the OB, and my endo visits I felt like I needed to buy a house on the same street as all their medical offices! (At least they were all on the same street, sometimes I'd get lucky and be able to schedule appointments back to back.) I used to always want 3 kids (before I had diabetes). Now that I know all the work a diabetic pregnancy takes, I'm thinking that two is a really good number!
Due to my short attention span I couldn't concentrate long enough to read all these replies so to try not to copy anyone I'll simply say...
Hang in there!!!!!!! (: Life's good!!!!!!
PS I may have ADD haha
Same here- I just MENTIONED that we wanted to start a family someday and I was told, "well you can't come here anymore!" Right then I got the number to the high rick OB!
thank you so much for that post it was so informative. Theres were things in there i never even knew for example that we usually get C sections and that they dont want you in labor for an extended period of time but it makes total sense. I love hearing stories of T1s who went through it successfully im always worried that between cravings and having to keep our sugars so low its going to almost be impossible. But i see other women doing it so i feel like i have the self control and motivation to do it also. thank you!
Hi Katie! I have been a type 1 for over 20 years and am currently pregnant with my third child. My other two are completely normal and healthy and pregnancy was great. So far (20 weeks along), this one is going great too! I am on a pump and have been on one for 15 years, this really helps. My A1C's are in the 5's. At the beginning of pregnancy your sugars tend to run lower, in the middle of pregnancy, pretty normal, and at the end, they run a little higher, so you need to blood test more often. Other than that, it's great and easy! When you do get pregnant, and if you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask. Good luck. :)
Good luck Gina. I am pregnant now, with my third, and please ask if you have any questions.
Everyone's input is much appreciated and so informative! It is so great to know that there are others out there dealing with similar challenges and facing similar life circumstances! Thank you! :)
Katie
So random, I was at diabetes camp last summer, and we have a daily medical lecture. one of the lectures was on pregnancy. They said that if your BS is high throughout the pregnancy, your at a huge risk of Macrosomia(giant baby) because it's taking in too much of the mother's EXTRA glucose. In some cases, there have been babys born up to 16lbs.