Gestational Diabetes

I failed my 3 hour glucose test I am meeting with a Diabetic Counselor next week to learn what I need to do going forward. In the meantime I'm sort of freaking out. If you had gestational diabetes can you let me know if it was completely horrible to test your sugar levels or was it not that bad? Any other tips you can share before I meet with the counselor next week to learn more would be helpful also. Also if you had it did you need to take medication as well? Or just be more careful about what you ate. TIA for any info you can share about your experiences!

Re: Gestational Diabetes

I had GD. It wasn't that bad to test, do you have to remember to do it after meals, yes. And You have to eat every 2-3 hours.

Test blood in the morning, then 1-2 hours after breakfast, 1-2 hours after lunch, 1-2 hours after dinner.

Some of my favorite snacks were apple slices and peanut butter or low fat cheese cubes.
Low fat string cheese, Greek yogurt, 1/2 orange, a handful of the honey wheat pretzels.

You will get through it and if your levels are too high even with diet there is medicine they will give you. I was lucky enough to not need medicine.

I just tried to remember that I was doing this all for my babies health.

My little guy needed to be in the NICU for his blood sugar to level out and now he is a perfectly healthy 6 month old now.

Re: Gestational Diabetes

Thanks! Yes of course I will do anything for my babies health. And I know in the grand scheme of things its not a big deal, I'm grateful that otherwise my baby is healthy. I'm just trying to learn more about other peoples experiences. Googling info is only good to a certain point and then it makes me a bit neurotic!

How long was your baby in the NICU for after he was born? Glad he is healthy!

Re: Gestational Diabetes

I had GD and I was diet controlled so I didn't need to take any medicine. It was the strictest diet I've ever been on but surprisingly I was able to eat a lot and always felt full. I did have to eat every 2-3 hours- breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. I had to test my sugar in the morning when I woke up and after each meal (not snacks). It really wasn't that bad. My son was born perfectly healthy and didn't need the NICU. Good luck!

Re: Gestational Diabetes

Thanks, I'm happy to hear real stories and I'm honestly looking forward to learning more about how what I eat affects me and how I can eat better. I've never really watched what I ate (I'm not overweight) but I've always eaten fairly healthy and am pretty active, so its not going to be a huge lifestyle change for me or anything, I guess I just freaked out a bit about the blood sugar testing.

Re: Gestational Diabetes

Posted by FTM427

Thanks! Yes of course I will do anything for my babies health. And I know in the grand scheme of things its not a big deal, I'm grateful that otherwise my baby is healthy. I'm just trying to learn more about other peoples experiences. Googling info is only good to a certain point and then it makes me a bit neurotic!

How long was your baby in the NICU for after he was born? Glad he is healthy!

Re: Gestational Diabetes

I am 29 weeks and have been managing GD for 3-4 weeks now. So far I have been able to keep it under control by following a very strict diet.

The finger pokes aren't fun but I have to admit you really do get used to them. The first few days I was crying many crocodile tears and had a hard time with it and now it takes 10 seconds and it's no big deal.

If you want a GD buddy I'm here! Keep your head up, you will get the hang of it before you know it

Re: Gestational Diabetes

Posted by PJ131313

I am 29 weeks and have been managing GD for 3-4 weeks now. So far I have been able to keep it under control by following a very strict diet.

The finger pokes aren't fun but I have to admit you really do get used to them. The first few days I was crying many crocodile tears and had a hard time with it and now it takes 10 seconds and it's no big deal.

If you want a GD buddy I'm here! Keep your head up, you will get the hang of it before you know it

Gestational Diabetes

I was diagnosed with GD in my first pregnancy at 13w. I was tested early bc of family history. It was a challenge bc I don't like being constricted to a certain diet but doable. The testing of blood was nothing. Barely felt it. I was able to manage it with diet until I was 30w. Then I went on metformin at night just to control my fasting #'s. All of my blood sugars in the hospital were normal. All of DD's blood sugar #'s were perfect. She was born at 39w weighing 7lbs5oz- perfectly normal and healthy!

I'm 12w pregnant with #2. They tested my a1c during my prenatal bloodwork to see how my blood sugars have been over the past 3 months and it came back in normal range. So now Ill just take the 2hr when it's regularly given to pregnant women. I'm thrilled!

Gestational Diabetes

I had it both times, never had to take meds. I test 4x a day. Morning, and an hour after each meal. Basically you eat balanced meals. Not necessarily low carb, but you limit your amount of carbs vs protein. It's very easy to do. I just hate having to watch the sweets cause I live them but really should any of us be eating crap all day? Lol. Dont worry. It sounds scarier than it is

Eta your baby will be fine! Don't worry. Years ago they never even tested for this and I'm sure many people had it and babies were healthy. It's just a little extra care now that you take for baby and momma

Message edited 2/20/2015 9:55:33 PM.

Re: Gestational Diabetes

i had it a couple years ago...

had to test fasting number 95 and under,

then 2 hours after breakfast lunch dinner had to be under 120... you follow the diet plan they set up.

I still failed my fasting numbers. which is attributable to what snack you have after you test after your dinner numbers... I googled online and found some girls had a 1/2 cup breyers plain vanilla ( 14 carbs) as that snack, and the number improved, and sure enough mine then started passing...

then toward the end my #'s started failing and I got pills to take to help regulate. Better than insulin pen I guess.

eta- even with going on the pills I braced myself that my baby would have to go to nicu for sugar monitoring... baby was born healthy and never had to go. I even lost some weight after they put me on the plan too and had a healthy weight baby.

Message edited 2/21/2015 7:41:35 PM.