I wanted to let everyone know I gave birth to a healthy baby girl on October 20th. I was able to do it with no medications at all (except insulin which I gave myself) during labor and delivery. I know all of this only happened because I was so determined to make it happen. The doctors tried to guilt me into starting labor early by saying things like, "Don't you want a healthy baby? Isn't that more important?" These comments did affect me, but I knew she was fine despite what any doctor said. I'm glad I did not induce and waited for labor to start itself. The doctor wanted to start Pitocin on the Monday before, but I went into spontaneous labor that Thursday. If it hadn't happened by Friday, I would have had to go back and hear about how irresponsible I was being by not drugging myself and her to get her out.
The only complication I had my entire pregnancy was having too much amniotic fluid. They did nothing about it, except keep an eye on it with weekly ultrasounds from week 32 on. I had her at week 39.
I hope everyone on here has just as great outcomes with their pregnancies!
Wow, congratulations, Michelle! You're baby is beautiful! I'm thrilled to hear that diabetics can give birth naturally without drugs. My doctor has said he will let me go to 40 weeks if everything is fine with the baby, but I'm still worried that she may need even longer and might still be healthy. How long do you think you would have refused an induction if it had taken longer than 39 weeks?
How much did she weigh? How much did they tell you she weighed at the last ultrasound before she was born? How long was your labor? How were your sugars during labor and was it hard to keep them good? How was your baby's sugars when she was born? Did they give her to you right away or did they take her to the NICU just because you are diabetic?
Sorry for all the questions! I'm just so curious! If you've posted a detailed birth story somewhere, I'd love to read it if you could post the link! Thanks for posting!
I wanted to post more but the site froze after I got the picture in there. Her name is Autumn. She was 8 lbs, 21 inches. They had told me two weeks before that she was 8.5 lbs, but also that ultrasounds can be off by two lbs either way. They told me the same thing, that diabetics normally aren't allowed to even make it to week 39 and that they never let them go past week 40. But the doctors can't do anything you don't agree to.
The doctors were making me so nervous that I think I may have induced at week 40 if she hadn't decided to come by herself. I refused my simply stating my opinion clearly. I knew she was fine and I wanted to wait for her to be ready. The doctor on duty tried to mislead me about non stress test scores. I was so happy I didn't induce after I got a second opinion and read more about how to look at the graphs online.
My labor took 18 hours. I spent about 10 of that at home before going to the hospital. When I got to the hospital I was 6 cm dilated and 100% effaced (four days before this I was 1.5 cm, 60%). I got stalled at 8 cm so the doctors broke my water. I got to labor in a tub and on my exercise ball-the ball was my favorite. I had to be hooked to monitors the entire time, but that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be before hand. I pushed for an hour and a half.
As for my sugars, I was slightly high the entire time, around 200. Every two hours I took 2 or 3 units of Novolog, but they did nothing and I stayed at 200. This happened because I didn't get to take my morning shot because they wouldn't let me eat anything. If I could redo it, I'd eat and take my breakfast shot before going in to the hospital.
When she was born, she was given directly to me. She got a 9 on her first APGAR and a 10 five mins later. I was really lucky that happened because she came out arm first! Her blood sugar was fine at birth but dropped two hours later and she had to have sugar formula in the nursery. They gave her to me after that and about four hours later she dropped again. That time I could tell she was low, she got really lethargic. She had to have two more sugar formula bottles in the nursery, but they brought her right back when she was done. She never went to the ICU and she got to spend almost all her time with us. Since the second low she's been perfect, no problems at all. It's really amazing because I have been an 'uncontrolled' diabetic for 23 years. I whipped myself into shape when I found out I was pregnant and had A1Cs in the low 7s and 6s during pregnancy. Before that I had A1cs between 10 and never lower than 7.5.
I was told I'd never be able to have children by doctors since I was 12. You have to know yourself and not listen ;)
Wow, that's great! Sounds like you had an almost ideal birth, especially compared to what most diabetics are told to expect. I'm glad my doctor lets his laboring moms eat and drink- I plan on doing both to keep my energy up. (And I can do whatever I want before I get to the hospital! lol).
Glad to hear you got to control your own sugars too; even if they did run a little high, you probably did better than a nurse or someone would have. Did you get any direction from your endo/OB/perinatologist/etc. as to how to care for your diabetes during labor? I definitely want to handle it myself (or have my husband or mom do it) but I'm unsure as to how much to expect to need.
I'm surprised they made you stay on the monitors if you weren't on pitocin. Glad it didn't get in your way too much.
That's encouraging too that you had such an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth even if your A1C's weren't in the 5's during pregnancy and you were around 200 during labor.
My last OB appointment, I was 34 weeks and uterus was measuring 31 centimeters- a little on the small side. Which is good that the baby's not getting way too big, but I'm just worried that my due date may be estimated too early. My periods can be late by as much as 2 weeks. But the 18-week ultrasound we got only indicated two days later than previously estimated (Feb 2 vs. Jan 31). But also my husband and I are both smaller than average so maybe that's all it is.
The doctors gave me instructions for what insulin to take during labor. I agreed so I didn't need to argue ;) I did have to argue in the beginning to be able to keep control, but really, I just didn't give them the chance to do anything else. I took care of myself the entire time (2 days) in the hospital. I didn't tell them when I was taking a shot or finger poke and they pretty much left me alone.
For me, there was no point in labor when I couldn't take care of myself. Everyone told me there would be, so I don't know what you should expect, but make sure you trained your husband well just in case.
Which doctors gave you instructions? The OB? The endo? A perinatologist? Or someone else?
My endo has been really good during pregnancy telling me what to do somewhat and also listening to me. My OB wanted to do it some crazy way, so I told him I'd be going by my endo's instructions instead. But I don't think the endo knows very much about insulin control during labor. And since my OB had such a wild plan for insulin during pregnancy, I'm afraid he'll have some crazy ideas for labor too...
My ob worked with my endo, they were in the same office. The practice was special for high risk pregnancies including diabetes. They called the on-call endo (not even my doctor) and he said what to do. Since I agreed, I didn't argue. But I'm sure that if they said something crazy I would have just flat out said no and not given in. I'm an extremely stubborn person and have no trust for doctors.
I found it is impossible to make a plan for insulin during labor until you're in the situation. You simply can't know what your body will do. The doctors told me to expect to be low during labor before hand and that obviously is not what happened for me. They also had a plan to be on a sugar drip IV. I never even got an IV because I wouldn't let them do it. I knew my blood sugar would get stuck in one place because that's what happens when I get migraines or get sick. I'm also always around 200 when ill. So my body did the same thing when I was in labor. Before going into actual labor, I was going really low with false labor contractions, like down to 30 or 40 after one contraction. I'm glad that didn't happen when I was in labor. Just stick up for yourself. You know your body better than any doctor ever could. Make sure you're prepared for everything and stock up on juice or fruit or candy in case you do go low.
OK, well good to hear from another stubborn person like me :) That's nice that your endo and OB were working together- mine don't like each other very much :( and my endo flat-out told my OB he couldn't work with him (because of his crazy ideas for my sugar control) but I didn't want to be left in the hands of the OB alone, so I just told him I'd follow my endo for all things diabetes-related.
I don't want an IV either. Good thing you didn't let them do an IV sugar drip with your BG high the whole time! I'll do some more research to see what most diabetics need but I'll also just check frequently and see what needs to happen when the time comes.
it's so lovely to read a story like yours. I feel that there is a lot of scare-mongering in the medical world when it comes to diabetes in general, and diabetes and pregnancy in particular.
Here's hoping we all have successful and happy birth stories to tell!
MamaEngland: good for you! :) I'm 37 weeks and trying to induce myself "naturally" since they want to induce anyway at 39 weeks. I'm probably going to refuse till 40 though, as long as baby seems healthy. Is your OB on board with your wishes? How's it been going?
My doctor refers to me as 'the one that's on top of everything".... ha.... he's pretty cooperative with my wishes and me showing that I'm willing to do the work doesn't hurt! He learned early on that I am very stubborn (when it was suggested that I get a flu shot I simply told him anyone coming at me with a vaccine would recieve said vaccine in their eye) but he's expressed that he appreciates that I tell him what to do rather than waiting for him to tell me what to do. So far... this pregnancy has been a walk in the park and my doctors are great (gotten to know them well since I saw them weekly for the first trimester) and supportive. I hope you get to have the birth you desire, Katherine!!
It's so great to hear your birthing story! I'm going to be induced at 39 weeks with the sugar IV and insulin IV, but I will be allowed to control both. I'm going to push to have my normal breakfast, though, because my blood sugars are uncontrollable if I can't eat the same breakfast every day.
Thanks again for the story and congrats on the beautiful baby!
