So I posted on here before...Im 26 and have had type 1 for 15 years. I had my baby sept. 17th. ava, my daughter, was 7lbs. 5 oz. and 19.75 inches long. She is completely healthy. I really went through heck trying to keep my blood sugars under strict control...I was terrible prior to being pregnant, my highest hemoglobin A1C was a 13...but my last was 6.5. I really watched my sugars carefully and it paid all. It was hard work! I had to be induced at 38 weeks because I had preeclamsia but things turned out just fine. To anyone reading this, you can do it!!
Ohhhh yay!!! so your induction worked? You had a "natural" labor? How did they induce you? I am 29 weeks and they plan on inducing me at 38 weeks as well so I am just curious.
yes the induction worked but it wasnt natural. i had an epidural. they induced me with pitocin(oxytocin) which is a man made form of the hormone your body releases to start contractions. the epidural was great in my opinion. i didnt feel a thing. the labor felt like doing an ab work out. good luck to you!
Nicole-
You should talk to your doctor about why he/she thinks it's best to induce you at 38 weeks. If there's a medical reason, then of course do it. If it's strictly because you're a type 1 diabetic with a healthy pregnancy, you might want to ask about alternatives.
Doctors prefer to induce any high risk pregnancy (which includes type 1 diabetes). It protects them legally and also allows the delivery to be more controlled. Pitocin is the drug used to induce contractions. It makes the early contractions super painful. Also, once they start the induction you usually have to stay bed bound until the baby is delivered. If you are having signs that your baby is close to delivery (cervix is dialated or water has broken) inducements can be successful. But if your body isn't ready and the inducement isn't successful in a certain time frame, then you will have a cesarean.
I was told I should be induced strictly because I have type 1 diabetes. Wish I had trusted my instincts that although I have diabetes, I had a completely healthy pregnancy and non-diabetic A1c. I knew my body wasn't anywhere near giving birth, but trusted that induction was the right thing to do. After about 18 hours of laboring a nurse broke my water to "help things along" (most hospitals have a policy that a baby has to be delivered within at least 24 hours of water breaking) then I labored another 18 hours before having a cesarean. Recovering from the surgery took longer because I had been stuck in bed, with no sleep, and in bad labor pain from the pitocin induced contractions for over a day and a half. Because of the cesarean and early delivery it also took a full week for my breast milk to come in.
If I did it again I would either insist on waiting until my body was actually ready to go into labor, or if the doctor really was concerned, I would schedule a cesarean. As a first-time mom it's difficult to know what to do. Talk to your doctor about why he/she is making recommendations and how an induction will actually be performed. Also make sure that any arrangements you make with your doctor concerning diabetes management in the hospital (ie: staying connected to pump, adjusting your own insulin) are charted. I'd also recommend bringing your own insulin and food to the hospital so you can easily deal with high or low blood sugars yourself. Hospitals typically use a really old fashioned blood sugar management rules, like omitting dessert but giving a super high carb meal, keeping blood sugars much higher than the average type 1 would choose, and being slow to correct a high.
Jenna-
Great info I wrote it all down and I will be asking my doctor at my appointment when we get closer :) How big was your son at birth?
My son was big. He was 8lb. 9oz. and 21" when born at 38 1/2 weeks. As a diabetic I did have higher blood sugars than a non-diabetic, and I'm sure that had some effect on my son's growth and development. However, my son is built just like his dad. My husband is a big guy and was 8lb. 8oz when he was born 3 weeks premature. Through his entire life (he's almost 6) my son has been in the 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. It's difficult to differentiate what was cause by genetics and by my diabetes. I also ate healthy, excercised and took super prenatal vitamins. All of this stuff is going to grow a big strong baby.
Towards the end of my pregnancy it seemed like my doctor and ultrasound tech both went from being impressed by my health and great diabetes control to saying things like, "Your baby will be big and need to be given glucose once he's delivered because of your diabetic glucose levels." They acted like I was some out of control diabetic, when that wasn't the case at all (as I've posted a bunch, I aimed for glucose readings of 80 and had a 5.1 A1c with no lows). It's almost like I became a statistic instead of the healthy patient I'd been all along. It hurt my feelings because I felt like no matter what I did I was hurting my baby...
The reality was so different. My son was born with a completely normal glucose level and was not fat. Several nurses said they didn't know he was the baby of a type 1 diabetic until they ready his chart, like it was some big surprise that after my healthy pregnancy that I had a healthy baby. It reminds me of how after 30+ years of diabetes I'm supposed to be blind, with a leg amputated, and going through dialysis. That's not my reality with diabetes.
In the last month of my pregnancy, the ultra sound tech said my baby was 10 pounds at that point and would be 12 pounds if allowed to go full term! I think with a diabetic pregnancy everyone expects babies to be big and they sometimes overestimate measurements. I was suprised by the news because I knew my blood sugars had been tight.
I was hugely pregnant and ended up having extra aminotic fluid. That wasn't diagnosed in advance, but when my water broke one of the nurses commented on how much fluid there was and I later learned that about 10% of diabetics have high levels of amniotic fluid. Just to make the issue more confusing though, my (non-diabetic) mom also had tons of fluid when her water broke and she also had a huge pregnant belly. So I can't positively say if it was diabetes related or if it was genetic.
As a diabetic only you can know how your disease is affecting your body and your baby. My guess is that worst case scenerio, your baby will be slightly bigger because of not normal glucose levels. He or she can still be completely healthy. Try not to take it personally when healthcare providers dismiss all that you're doing. They really don't know what they're saying and you need to forgive their thoughtless comments.
-Jenna