Gestational Diabetes - Keuka Park, NY

I had it with both my pregnancies and it is not too big of a deal. You will probably have to modify your diet, basically staying away from sugar and white flour like diabetics do. Don't eat things like shredded wheat or Mcdonald's which are loaded with carbs. See if you can see a nutritionist through your insurance because that really helped me. You'll have to test your blood throughout the day and you'll have more appointments and tests. You'll have to see an endocrinologist also, and towards the end they do a few extra sonagrams. They want to make sure the baby doesn't get too big. They won't let you wait until the end of your pregnancy so there is a chance you might get induced. The hardest part is not being able to have too much sugar, and of course explaing it to other people. Both of my babies were born perfectly healthy and the diabetes went away.

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Hi L.,

You've gotten so much good advice I don't have much to add except to say that I had gd during my pregancy and even though I kept to the very strict diet of 150 carbs a day, I still needed to take insulin, not very much though, just to keep it under control. My doc told me that it's not necessarily within your control, your hormones from the placenta are messing with your pancreas, thereby making you diabetic. Just so you you don't think it's your fault or anything if you do end up having to take insulin. It wasn't bad although it was tough, it was well worth all the effort. You have to have plenty of protein sources around that won't affect your insulin levels so meat, eggs were very important to keep handy when I was really hungry in between meals. Also, for snacks I found the kashi bars great once a day so I didn't feel so deprived. Splenda was my saving grace and so was a decaf latte as a snack. Please feel free to write me if you want any more tips. It's hard but you are going to do fine!

Love,
K.

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Oh boy. Same thing happen to me. No family history, I was just eating too many carbs. I had to test my blood sugar 6 times a day and note it. I also had to see an endocronologist weekly to monitor my notes. And I had to see a nutritionist and follow a special diet. 2-3 carbs for breakfast, 1 for snack, 2 for lunch, 1 for snack, 3 for dinner and 1 for a snack. (Something like that) I had to stick with this and eat every 2 hours. It was difficult at first because I was in the grocery store for hours looking at labels. 15g of carbohydrates=1 carb. Good luck. I do suggest a nutritionist to help out. She gave me some really good literature to help me out.

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Hi L.,

First don't panic. I too had gestational diabetes. I was referred to a Diabetes Counselor who had me write down my blood sugar numbers that I took several times a day and fax them to her once a week. For me I could not regulate my blood sugar with just diet so I did end up on insulin. The good news is that my beautiful daughter was born healthy (she just turned a year old 2 weeks ago). Other than the diabetes, I had a great pregnancy and labor, about 4 hours of labor 20 minutes of pushing. The diabetes went away when my daughter was delivered. Just monitor what you eat and stay on top of it. If you do have to go on insulin, your baby may extremely low blood sugar when you deliver. This comes from having a source of insulin from you and suddenly not having that source once he/she is born. The doctors will test your baby in the NICU where my daughter was for about an hour until her blood sugar was regulated. The little bunny was back with me right after. We went home from the hospital 2 days later happy and healthy. Please email me if you have any questions, I know the anxiety that this can cause. Be well!

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Hi L.,

I had gestational diabetes with both of my pregnancies. I controlled the first one with diet, but I was insulin dependent with the second one. I assume you are seeing a nutritionist who specializes in gestational diabetes. If not, you should. Follow the diet closely and you should be fine. The only problem is that babies born of gestational diabetic mothers tend to be larger than average, and I had to have c-sections with both of mine. But you might be different. Good luck! --D.

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Hello and don't panic :) A lot of women get it. I actually am hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and even I developed it with my daughter that I just had 4 months ago! Imagine the shock that was..from 1 extreme to the other! Has your OB referred you to a Diabetes Counselor? They are supposed to set you up with one if you test high. They usually have you go to one at the hospital or perinatal center. There, they will give you the machine & testing supplies so that you can test your sugar at home, before & after meals and also an informative seminar where they give you a specific diet to follow according to your test results. As a guideline until.. stay away from ANY sugar as much as possible and that includes carbs. Also watch out for artificial sweetners like in flavored water, as they can harm the baby. Splenda is safe but, watch your carb intake. You need to be getting more protein than carbs and drink plenty of water (purified, no flavor or additives is best) I'm also a CNA and work Labor & Delivery so, if you have any questions, feel free to email me anytime!
E.

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i had it mildly with my my first pregnancy and controlled it with diet and my second i had to take insulin injections. they start with diet first and they will probably give you a blood glucose monitor to check your blood sugar levels throughout the day. if it looks okay, then that will be it.

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I was a gestational diabetic while I was pregnant with my daughter, and while I do have a family history of diabetes (all Type II), you don't have to have a history to develop gestational diabetes. Your doctor should have either given you a diet to follow or sent you to a gestational diabetes education program (which is what happened for me-I was given a choice between insulin shots or diet,I opted to try the diet first, and it worked beautifully)and prescribed a blood glucose meter for you. The program taught me what diabetes was, how the diet worked, and how to use the blood glucose meter I was prescribed. I had to call in my glucose levels daily, and if I missed a call, they called me. The diet was no big deal, nor was the blood glucose testing. My daughter was born a bit early (not b/c of the diabetes-my OB gave me a really vigorous internal exam the day before), and was all of 5.7 pounds. Untreated, diabetes makes for a big baby. (ow!)

So, ask your doctor to be sent to a diabetes education program, if one is available in your area.

Also, sometime in the year or two after you have your baby, get yourself checked for type II diabetes-being a gestational diabetic raises your risk of developing type II diabetes later.

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HI L., I too had gestational diabetes when pregnant with my daughter in '05. It doesn't run in my family either...my OBGYN sent me to a diabetes center on Long Island (not sure where youre from) and they were great...they had me pricking my finger to test my blood...and I was able to monitor it myself with t the pricking and diet.....once I gave birth I was back to "normal"......If yoiu'd like more info I believe somewhere I have all the diet info and other stuff from that center.....I could get you more info....

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Hi! I had gestational diabetes with both of my pregnancies - when I was first told about this my dr suggested that I go to the Diabetes Clinic at the hospital. This was a great help because they gave me all of the tools I needed to get through this. With my second I ended up on insulin, which wasn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. The main thing to consider is that with each time you cheat, there could be more and more complications later on down the road. As hard as it was to stick to the diet, the better off I was and my daughters. I will admit that there were times I cheated but try to stick to it as best as you can. The diabetic diet is something that my family is going back to because it is so much healthier. There is actually so much food that you may not feel that you can eat it all. One thing to remember though is that sometimes it may be better to figure out what you can have more of then what you really want. Instead of the 1/4 cup of ice cream you can have a sugar free ice pop or a certain number of grapes. It may be a little overwhelming at first, but it will all fall into place. If you ever have any questions or anything, I'm here! My email address is ____@____.com. After 5 yrs since my 2nd pregnancy I am now being treated with diabetes (it's on both sides of my family) so I feel your pain! Good luck!

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