Hi guys, it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve last posted with any frequency. I think since I last hung around here, I graduated college, got my first jobby job, got married and had a baby! I’m pregnant with number two!
Which leads me to the reason of my post.
My glucose test came back and it was abnormal. I’m doing the 3 hour in depth glucose test this Friday to determine if I actually have gestational diabetes.
I’m totally freaking out. I’m barely holding it together because I just got the news on the way home from work and I’m trying to have a nice dinner with my husband and 4.5 year old daughter.
I’m reading up on GD and while it all makes sense, certain things are causing my anxiety to soar like reading about some cases of death, that some people carry their diabetes past pregnancy and that I will have to be tested for diabetes for the rest of my life because of the heightened likelihood that I will develop it later on.
Please share your stories and how things turned out for you.
I’m a bit too distraught to reach out to my friends right now. Internet friends, how did it work out for you? Is this just one of those sucky things you deal with and it gets better once you manage the diet and exercise?
Should I be sitting in a corner crying and shaking my fist at my bad fortune?
The rush of hormones sure isn’t helping me to keep calm right now!
My niece is pregnant with her 2nd and has GD for both pregnancies. She manages it with diet alone, she’s very self-disciplined. In her first pregnancy, her levels went back to normal as soon as she gave birth. Eating extra healthy when pregnant is a good thing!
Get a good nutritionist with experience in GD. Some women have large babies due to GD, be prepared for that. I am type 1 diabetic since early childhood, and had 3 pregnancies . Diabetes can be controlled, it’s not a death sentence. You’ll be alright.
INADA, so the following is just a personal anecdote.
My wife had GD during both her pergnancies. We were referred to a nutritionist by her trusted gynecologist. Her GD was managed by diet alone, and daily blood tests with a portable testing kit. Both her pregnancies went well.
So, I’d say : don’t freak out, see your doctor regularly and follow their advice. Everything should be all right ;).
The growing fetus depends upon being able to pull glucose and other nutrients through the placenta. As a part of this the placenta produces a hormone that acts on the mother by blocking, in part, the action of insulin in the mother. This helps the baby ensure that there will be an abundant supply of glucose needed for growth. But sometimes this goes a little off and the mother ends up with blood glucose levels that are too high - gestational diabetes.
The good news is that once you deliver the placenta is no longer in place producing its hormone that tricks your body. So with the end of the pregnancy there is usually a timely resolution of the gestational diabetes. Doctors will continue to monitor you and the baby to ensure that they stay ahead of any complications.
My beloved and I have had 6 children. (Ok, technically, she did all the hard work, but I’m including myself out of solidarity. )
She’s had gestational diabetes for all 6. She followed through on the maintenance regime for all 6. All 6 children – including a late-life pair of twins – came through fine, with healthy-but-not-abnormal birth weights, and full term.
GD is completely manageable. The things you’ll have to do to protect yourself and the babe from its effects seem (in my experience) to be only a little more than the things you do to protect a normal uncomplicated pregnancy.
Thank you all for your stories! It makes the whole thing seem less “why did you do this to your baby!?” and more an inconvenience that is very manageable.
I’m already overwhelmed with the normal aches and pains of pregnancy and this was just another thing that was too much for me. Despite the suckiness, I am very thankful that I have such a supportive husband and friends to help me through this. But the big looming dread is facing my mom and brother who comes over to our house every other weekend to spend time with my daughter. They only know how to be judgemental and I’m considering keeping this secret from them to avoid the accusations that I’m not doing right by the baby.
Argh, hormones and this new experience is making me feel upset and powerless. I’m rereading your experiences to remind myself that this is a sucky, but normal thing. Very important, this condition is manageable and chances are, it will go away after the birth. I’m repeating it to myself and hoping it sticks.
Really it is more of a “why is your baby doing this to you!?”. The hormones that are causing this come from the baby since the placenta that creates the hormones is fetal tissue, not maternal.
My mother had gestation diabetes while carrying me. And I was a big baby. Quite big. But everything went ok. When just this year I mentioned that it was the hormones I sent out that caused her GD she got a kick out of blaming me for her ordeal.
Better to have you and the doctors know and be able to head off and complications than have something catch you all unaware.
Yes, thank you for reminding me that I don’t even know if I have GD. I need to focus on eating well this week just in case and see what happens. To me, it’s easier to assume the worst so I won’t be crushed if the bad news comes. I’ll report back once I get the results after the 3 hour test.
Thank you Iggy for the laugh! Yes, my son will be hearing all about the trials and tribulations I went through for him!
I know this is best and I’m glad that this issue is being addressed asap to ensure that my baby will be born healthy. It’s only for another 10 weeks and then I hope I join the masses of women who get to return to their normal lives after the birth.
I had to take the 3 hour test, and it was fine. No need to mention any of this to anyone in your life who will make this any harder than it needs to be. Pregnancy is hard enough without any added pressure or stress or weird looks or judgy judgementleness. (Those are definitely words for purposes of this post.)
Everything will be fine, no matter how the test turns out. Take it one step at a time though. Test first, then results. Once you have the result, you can move to wherever that leads.
If I have to pee to often when I’m running around with my daughter, she looks at me and says “you’re welcome.” It comes without prompting now - but I’ve had eighteen years to train her to accept her guilt for my leaky bladder.
I didn’t have GD, but most of my girlfriends did. They all had normal babies and are all healthy themselves - and our kids are all in high school or college now. One did have REALLY BIG babies because she was non-compliant, but the kids turned out fine (she did eventually become diabetic - that wasn’t shocking and probably would have happened regardless of her pregnancies). Diabetes is manageable.
Welp, I have gestational diabetes. I’m glad that my doctor is reassuring me that it’s nothing that I did or didn’t do - it’s the baby protecting himself and it so happens to be wrecking my body in the process.
I have appointments scheduled with the diabetes specialist to teach me how to use the blood monitor and then I need to meet with the nutritionist to figure out a good diet plan for myself. I’m telling myself that in most women, the GD goes away right after birth and what’s 2 months of good eating to ensure that baby and I are healthy?
Also, a huge dose of reality smacked me in the face and made me feel foolish for freaking out so much over this trivial thing. A childhood friend of mine and his wife just had to abort their first baby because the doctors found chromosomal abnormalities which would have been eventually fatal had the baby even survived birth. I can’t imagine that kind of pain.
So I’m taking this very minor inconvenience in stride and I’m grateful that I already have one healthy daughter and the way this baby is moving around - he’s going to be a strapping young man as well!
Thank you all for your support and additional stories or ideas of snacks and meals would be appreciated!
It is completely normal to worry. I came here panicking after my GD diagnosis.
I diet-controlled the whole time, had no complications (including a normal-sized kid, who is now a 4-year-old jerk), and no diabetes after delivery. I ate a lot of meat, nuts, cheese, eggs and green vegetables. Buckwheat flour worked nicely for things like an occasional crepe. Low carb stuff is really easy to find these days, and once you work with the blood monitor to see what affects you, personally, it gets easier. Potatoes were okay for me in moderation. Milk/yogurt sent me very high.
The second time around? No GD at all, even though it was more likely.
Once your nutritionist makes suggestions, check Amazon’s Subscribe & Save store to see what you can get in larger numbers. If you have it already on hand changing your diet is so much easier, b/c you don’t have to figure anything out when you realize it’s snack time (realization which probably comes on very fast when one is pregnant).
You’re a great mom, and I hope the GD effects stop soon after the birth.
My wife had it and it drove her up the wall, but it wasn’t some sort of serious life-altering thing. She spent a few months regulating her carb intake pretty religiously. On the day of my son’s birth, she demanded large quantities of chocolate on peril of my life. After the birth, everything went back to normal. She gets tested every year and otherwise it’s no big thing.
Managing carbohydrates will be the main dietary challenge. That means smaller portions of some foods, and skipping others entirely. Don’t eliminate carbs entirely! You and baby need carbs, just in moderate amounts. You can do this.
I was diagnosed diabetic back in February. And in line with Nawth Chucka’s idea I went to our version of a big box warehouse store and bought snacks that have an acceptable amount of carbs. Peanuts (and most nuts) are low in carbs, so I picked up a bix box of single serving packets of nuts. Rice Krispie treats are my somewhat sweet moderate carb treat (17g carbs in 1oz snack) - it’s about portion control. Granola bars are ok - if you eat only one of the bars in the two pack and save the other for later. And I found some cereal bars with fruit filling that are similar - eat one of the two pack for a serving.
Fast food is hard. French fries are probably too many carbs. Many fast food places offer a side salad as an option instead of fries, and Wendy’s chili as a side is relatively low carb. For many fast food sandwiches it is the burger bun that is the source of high carbs. Switch out that chicken sandwich for a grilled chicken salad and you are good.
And for at home, go for whole grain versions of your favorite carbs, breads, pastas, and such. Carbs from whole grain foods take longer to be digested so your blood sugar does not spike as high compared to the more highly processed regular version. Plan some of those carb heavy items in a side dish sized portion instead of as a main dish. So 2oz of whole wheat spaghetti with marinara, a salad, and a grilled chicken breast makes for a nice meal with a reasonable carb load.
And finally, recognize that some foods you might just be willing to schedule in the carbs because the other nutrients are important. That 8oz (small) glass of milk is a great source of calcium for growing bones but is also 11g of carbs. Still, I budget some milk into my diet though I could get most of those nutrients for fewer carbs by opting for cheese instead.
For #1, nothing and he was 7lbs 7oz, #2 came out a whopping 9lbs 12 oz… but no GD the whole pregnancy. But with #3 they took preventive measures and I did the whole GD diet and he came into the world at 7lbs 2oz. I lost weight that pregnancy and at the last minute they thought he was dead because the internal monitoring leads fell off. My OB/GYN joked it was because #3 must have a head full of hair (like #1 and 2 had had)… lil guy was almost a cueball.
It took almost a decade later before they said I had diabetes type 2 which actually had more to do with my infectious kidney stone and how it was affecting me vs actually having diabetes II. I’m still battling both conditions.
But back when I had to have a GD diet I ate tuna on a baked potato for lunch once a week. I ate a lot of oatmeal. I ate a lot of salads (greens other than just iceberg). I pushed myself to eat fruit (other than chocolate I am not big on sweets).
But the main thing I did was just take smaller portions but eat 6-8 times a day. So I would save half my dinner and eat it an hour before bedtime. I might eat a half portion for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day if there was enough leftovers (soups, chili etc.).
Had GD in pregnancies #2 & 3. It was controlled with diet & resolved itself after delivery of healthy babies. Can’t remember all the details because my kids are teens now (and are giving me other troubles ;), but you and baby will be just fine.
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