Gestational Diabetes - Lancaster, PA

Hello, I know how she feels I also had this when i was pregnant with my daughter. Tell her she will be fine. My daughter came out ok she had no diabetes and mine went away after she was born. The baby is taken the sugar from her. She is not producing enough from her pancreas. I am Now 41 and It came back but its because of my weight. She is doing the right thing watch on what she eats, but eat enough. After the baby is born tell her to watch her weight gain and she will be just fine.

It is never too late to meet with a nutritionist...Gestational diabetes can affect the growth and lung maturity of the baby...If she can get her blood sugar levels stable it will always be better for her and the baby. Also, high blood sugar will cause stress and emotional swings. I had Ges. Diabetes, and my sugars were very high and not responding to treatment...my son was born at 37 weeks at 11 pounds 5 ounces. If she listens to the docs and eats right and does the treatments they prescribe, both she and the baby will have a better chance!

For me, I just had to accept that I had it and that by following the doctor's plan of treatment I could give me and my baby the best chance at a healthy delivery. I had to know that I was being given good care and good support from my hubby and family and friends. I had to keep in mind that I was making the changes and doing the insulin (what I needed) for my baby. In the end, aside from his high birth weight, everything worked out fine!

As her friend, the best you can do is let her talk. Have girl time together where you both eat healthy snacks and walk/etc...whatever she must do will be easier with a friend doing it with her!

I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my son (born 8/23/06). I also had my test later - like 26weeks.

The worst part of the GD was sticking myself with a glucometer - I did it before breakfast, 2hr after breakfast, 2hr after lunch, 2 hr after dinner. I can definately feel for Diabetics.

From my testing I had really high numbers in the mornings before breakfast. Because of that, I had other trips to the nutritionist and doc.. and ultimately need medicine (glucophage) in lieu of insulin injections.

The nutritionist was very thorough and definately was into himself, but always had my best interest and that of my son in mind. The goal is not to just decrease sugars but to eat more wisely. I had a sweet tooth and loved sweet tea and pastries ( I was military so I wasn't overweight to begin with, I just had a weakness for ice cream, pastries and sweet tea - living in Virginia). I had to give those up pretty much - I substituted the ice cream for sugar free though.

Making better eating choices for myself and my baby was paramount. Things like complementing whole wheat toast with peanut butter were the right things. Also, you have to eat every 4 hours... so you have to make sure you have snacks on hand.

Also, DECREASING STRESS is very important.

For the most part, everything is a big deal when you're pregnant especially with your first, but I found out GD wasn't so gargantuane... it was something that was doable.

Other stuff I'd tell you is that you risk something called "fat baby" upon delivery. They thought my son may be this, but he turned out to be 8lb, 2oz so definately was within normal size. They check GD diabetes blood sugar upon delivery and then 30 minutes after ... and sometimes more... so there are 2 sticks more these babies get than others, my son's blood sugar was fine and so he didn't need any other measures.

If you or your friend have any other questions or concerns, you can email me at ____@____.com

Best of Luck and try not to worry... It's wonderful that your friend has you and you are so supportive.

I had GD and i had my son 14Feb 05.
I remember sticking myself 4 times a day...upon waking,AB,AL,AD and before bed.I was told to eat 6meals a day...
breakfats,snack,lunch,snack,dinner and snack.I remember it was a higher protein diet and with every dinner i had to have some kind of fruit.It really wasn't that bad.The worstthing was it seemed like when i was done eating one meal it was time for another.
My son was born weighing in at 8pounds 7ounces and he was 4days early.The only good thing about when i had GD was the fact that i had more ultra sounds done towards the end to see how much my baby was weighing in at.
But really wasn't that bad.The only thing that sucks is now having a great risk of getting diabets in normal life with having it in pregnancy.

But wish her luck,
J.

Hi Chris - here's a little bit about gestational diabetes (I'm an L&D nurse) - in the 1st half of a women's pregnancy, more insulin (made by the pancreas which turns sugar/glucose into energy) gets into the sugars/glucose to break them down. At around 10-12 wks, a baby's pancreas has the ability to produce and secrete insulin. In the latter half of the pregnancy, there is increased insulin resistance. This means that insulin has a reduced ability to breakdown sugars and it goes to the baby. This leads to an increase need for insulin during late pregnancy. This insulin resistance (or inability to breakdown sugars) is not detectable until 24-30 weeks of gestation. That's why they check you so late. No offense, but if she is a true gestational diabetic, she needs to watch her carbohydrate intake. Her MD sounds like an idiot! By watching her intake, she is reducing the amount of glucose that will go to her baby. Thus, it will help reduce the size of her baby at delivery (what I mean is that the baby will not be too large to fit through the pelvis), it will help reduce vaginal trauma at birth, shoulder dystocias (shoulder gets caught), polyhydramnios (too much fluid),and other things that are not so nice.

I was diabetic with my 1st child but not my 2nd. There is a 50-60% chance that she, or anyone with gestational diabetes, could turn into a Type II diabetic later in life. Get the weight down after birth - if nursing, continue to stay on the diabetic diet provided by the nutritionist. It'll help control the diet while giving great nutrition to the baby. Have her find out from her primary care physician what her ideal target weight is, eat properly and healthy, as well as exercise to get the weight down and reduce the risk of Type II diabetes. The great thing is that after the baby is born and the placenta is delivered, the diabetes is gone. If she's on insulin during the pregnancy, they should check her sugar the morning after delivery to make sure her sugar went down to normal levels. Being diabetic is a great way to learn how to eat properly (after meeting with a nutritionist) = it's not the end of the world.

Don't know if this helps or not.

T.