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gestational diabetes?


maize
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Ugh, finally tried a blood glucose test this morning and my fasting glucose was 138!

 

(I usually just get a monitor and test occasionally rather than doing the yucky glucose drink test)

 

Have never had trouble with blood sugar before but this doesn't look good. Any gestational diabetes BTDT advice? I'll be talking to my midwife soon.

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Ugh, no fun :(  I had it with this last pregnancy and it was a bear.  The diet was not hard to do but all the info sheet they gave me said was to make sure fasting sugars were under I think 90(?) and post-meal ones were under 120(?).  I don't remember exactly, but my fasting sugars were 65 and sometimes lower.  I was exhausted, like bone-tired exhausted, all the time.  I slept 15 hours a day and lay around the other 9.  My blood pressure was high (140/100 sometimes) but not consistently - it would only go down when I ate more carbs than advised.

 

I finally realized, after asking here why I felt so bad, that my blood sugars were actually too low, so I started eating much more frequently in small amounts and felt a lot better.  

 

If you normally eat a fair amount of protein it is not a hard diet.  I don't eat much protein naturally, and I got really tired of meat and fish really fast (we don't eat eggs or dairy).  

 

Are you measuring large for dates?  I think my next-to-last baby was probably also GD (I was borderline when they tested me but felt weird if I ate too many carbs) and he was massive - 1lb heavier than all other babies I'd had.  Delivered him with no pain meds and was moderately traumatised from the experience.

 

 

At any rate, I'd just not eat more than 15 carbs at a sitting for a while if you can; that's what the midwife will tell you to do anyway, so you might as well start now.

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If you don't usually have a problem, try retesting? Did you wash your hands first? Some residual sugar or food on your finger can contaminate the blood. Are your test strips expired? Low battery in the meter?

Brand new meter and test strips.

 

I'm carrying more weight than I have in previous pregnancies, so I'm not really surprised I would have trouble where I haven't before.

 

Post prandial numbers running high as well.

 

Ah well, I needed motivation to exercise and dh's Dr. has been recommending a low carb diet for him. This could be good motivation for both of us to get ourselves in gear.

 

Any tips are welcome!

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Yes. With kid #4, I lived on peanut butter and veggies. Oh yeah and one flavor of protein bar. Not the best diet but I had morning sickness all the way through and most food made me nauseous. The 15g of carbs per meal was about right for me. When I ate that way, I wasn't exhausted all the time. I didn't worry AT ALL about fat - just counting the carbs and lots of exercise. I ended up on insulin the last couple of months which was no fun, but you do what you need to do to get a healthy baby.

 

DD was born happy and healthy without any blood sugar issues of her own. It took about a week for me to stabilize afterwards

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I had it with four kids.  The first one, I used insulin.  The second one, metformin.  The last two, metformin + gylburide.  Adding the glyburide meant I could get blood sugar lows, which I never experienced before.  Happened at night, and basically I would wake up and feel unease and sweaty.  That was my sign to check my blood sugar and have some juice or something.

 

Good news is that with baby #4, I did not gain a lot of weight (I'm overweight), so when he was delivered (perfectly healthy), I was actually at my lowest weight in years. 

 

WalMart's ReliOn is the cheapest strips I've found, even with insurance.  For a lancet, you can use any brand, just go for a higher gauge. 

Edited by umsami
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Rereading this I realize I sound kind of depressing.  It was actually not that bad - I slept a lot, DH took care of the business and my mom stayed with us for the summer and watched the little kids.  I was much friendlier because I was not as intelligent - I'd lost my sharpness and had to rely on others to run things, which was relaxing in a way and made me less stressed out and thus less snappish.

 

Went back to my normal self within a day or two of delivery, and I could feel the change.

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