I am 25 years old and have been a T1 for 22 years. My last A1C was 6.4 and I'm in pretty good control. I recently found out that I am pregnant and am overjoyed but flooded with questions. How many of you pregnant T1 work while being pregnant? When was your first doctors appointment? Any advice? I'm really just looking to connect with people who have been through or are going through this. Many Thanks :-)
Brigid
Congratulations! Make an appointment with your endo now and ask him/her to recommend an OBGYN if you don't have one.
If you take ACE inhibitors (like Lisinopril) to prevent kidney problems, STOP THEM IMMEDIATELY. Not baby friendly. Your doctor can prescribe something different through the pregnancy.
I had first OBGYN appointment at 1 month and got to hear the baby's heartbeat! OBGNY handled my appointments and shared results with my endo so I wasn't always at the doctor. For first month he had me send my test results every week, but after realizing I knew what I was doing went back to normal appointments.
Your A1c is good. During pregnancy it's important to prevent both highs and lows. Use a CGM or test a lot to make corrections. If you don't use a pump, you may consider one. I wanted to have a non-diabetic A1c (below 5.5) so I aimed for a blood sugar of 80 and carb counted carefully. This might be too drastic; don't do it if you have any problems with lows.
I worked a full-time office job until the end. The pregnancy hormones made me feel great, but everyone is different. Expect to be really tired in first trimester. Try to get good sleep and the tiredness will pass as pregnancy progresses. By the 2nd trimester I did moms in motion water aerobics and yoga classes (see if your hospital has them). It felt good, helped my blood sugars, and was a great way to meet other expecting moms.
My son is 6 now, nondiabetic and healthy. I have no diabetes complications after 34 years with type 1. I'm not anything special (last A1c was 6.5, but after pregnancy I'm usually closer to a 6.7). Having a healthy pregnancy is totally possible for any diabetic woman. You'll do great.
Hi Brigid and congratulations on your wonderful news!
I'm also Type 1 and have been for 30 years (I'm 32). I am 34 weeks pregnant. When I discovered I was pregnant my HbA1C was 7.5% so you're starting at a really good place! I worked up until about four weeks ago. The reason I stopped working so early was not in any way related to diabetes (or pregnancy either for that matter! More that we wanted to travel at Christmas!!!). With working and pregnancy and diabetes you will need to make sure that your blood-testing kit is readily available at all times and have lots of snacks on hand as sometimes the hypos can be pretty sudden.
I would make a doctor's appointment as soon as possible, both with your endocrinologist and with an obstetrician. I have seen other posts here from people who have a seperate obstetrician and perinatologist. If you can find someone who does both it will save you a lot of time and hassle. (I'm Irish but currently living in the States so I'm not sure what way these things work in different countries).
The best advice I can give you is to try not to freak at every high blood glucose result you get. Remember that you're going to do your best and try to keep exercising! I allowed myself to get very stressed and looking back, it's only in the last seve or eight weeks that I've actually allowed myself to be excited and to enjoy pregnancy.
Obviously everyone is different and everyone's experience will be different but hopefully you'll get lots of useful tips!
Wow, an hour later and two helpful encouraging posts. I scheduled an appointment with my OBGYN who I really trust for 2/28 and she is also having me so a perinatologist for an validity ultrasound in 2 weeks (whatever that means?).
The reason why I ask about working is because I'm a special education teacher in inner city Cleveland. Part of my job is breaking up fights and doing a TON of stressful paperwork. I just don't know how I'm going to manage working and keeping my blood sugars next to perfect for the next few months.
Thank you again for the positive words my husband and I really appreciate it!
I am 18 weeks along and I work full time as a dental hygienist. It is pretty stressful with time constraints and, occassionally, difficult people to work with. So far, so good =)