[Jojokittie]

I recently found out that I am pregnant. Clearly, being on this particular forum, I am a type 1 diabetic. I found out I was a diabetic when I was 21, I'm now 24. 2 years ago I got pregnant and lost the baby around 10 weeks. Now I am around 8weeks and I am terrified to even get attached to this pregnancy because I fear that it is doomed. Is it inevitable that I miscarry again? When I had my first miscarriage the doctors thought I was type 2, so I was only on metformin, which obviously did nothing to bring down my sugar levels. Before I was pregnant this time I was on Lantus and Amaryl. Since finding out about the baby I was taken off Amaryl and put on Humolog to help better control my spikes. So now Ive got my levels down from the high 200's and into the 130's. Is that still too high? I feel like all I do all day is prick my fingers and inject insulin. I am trying harder than I have ever tried in my life. Will it all be for nothing? I just want a little hope. So here is my question...is the damage already done? I am terrified of week 10. Hah. Really though. Once I pass week 10 I think I can sigh a tiny sigh of relief....

[ligawab]

I don't really have any words of advice I can offer you, but know my thoughts and prayers are with you.


ligawab (life is good and we are blessed)

[Keezheekoni]

Don't worry too much about a repeat miscarriage. Lots of women miscarry their first pregnancies and don't even know that they were pregnant to begin with... my mom is an example of that.

I, on the other hand, have had several miscarriages. However mine were unrelated to diabetes... I have a blood clotting disorder that causes my blood to be "sticky", so during my pregnancies I have to inject heparin twice a day.

Please try to enjoy the early part of your pregnancy! If you're not in the grasp of morning sickness, congratulations! Also try and get your numbers down to fasting <95 and two hours post-prandial <120. Those are the current recommendations, I stuck to them, and now have a healthy 2 week-old.

[Katrina Stovold]

Congrats! Lucky you can at least get pregnant! I cant! XX

[Morris "Type 1"]

Firstly and most importantly, it wouldn't be for nothing, If you don't care about yourself enough to figure this out then fine I guess then only do it for the baby's sake.

But what happens if you do miscarry, then you will go back to your old habbits ?

How many times are you checking your sugar ?

See thing is, if you get things undercontrol for the long-term when things like this come up you will already be in a comfortable zone to proceed.

What kind of stuff do you eat etc?

Anyway, the second most important thing is to figure out what relaxs you and make sure you enjoy it in abundance to ensure that stress is not a factor in any of this.

Meditation, yoga, massage, music, .. whatever you can find to chill you out and reduce your stress if you have any. (it sounds like you do)

To summarise, I suggest you proceed to keep the numbers down regardless. You owe yourself at least that.

[rak1978]

Congratulations! I don't have much advice to give you, other than to try your very best to control your blood sugars. I can tell you that I am staring at a very healthy 9 month old (who is about to grab my computer off of my lap). I really tried to control my blood sugars while pregnant, but they were FAR from perfect. Out of recommended range almost all of the time. For some reason, I have huge fluctuations and have a hard time keeping steady...but that's another story.
Anyway, everything was totally fine except that he was 10 lbs. 1 oz and 3 weeks early (imagine if he was on time...yikes!). So, watch out for a big baby! Try not to stress and just enjoy this time. It passes so fast! Pretty soon you'll be holding your beautiful healthy little baby.

Congratulations!

[sarahspins]

Jojo, I mentioned it on the other thread, but I was diagnosed shortly into my first pregnancy... my #'s were scary high. He ended up being my smallest baby (and I was only taking R and N!), and he was totally fine.

Rachel, oddly enough, my control was the tightest with my BIGGEST baby... I rarely went over about 140 with him, was pretty consistently 100-120 after meals, had fastings in the 70's and 80's pretty consistently, so he shouldn't have been "big" becuase of that, and with my smallest baby (#1, who was 7lbs15oz) my #'s were ALL over the map.. from 30 to 200+ on almost a daily basis.. I was almost never in range after meals. My 2nd baby, who was just over 8lbs, I was pumping w/ novolog but I'd still have #'s in the 160-180 range after meals quite often.

I think there's more to baby's size than "just" how well controlled your BG is.. within a reasonable amount anyways.. I'm sure lots of 200+ would be bad My biggest baby was 9lbs 5oz, and he was born in 2 pushes just like my other two had been, and after just a 2 hour labor (half as long as his big sister's labor).. for me it was the easiest of my 3 births, so clearly it wasn't a problem for my body to handle... and I have plenty of non-D friends who had MUCH bigger babies with no problem... I think the medical community tends to just freak out when your baby is expected to be anywhere over 9lbs.

[rak1978]

Sarahspins,
You are probably right that the big babies are not always diabetes related, but I always thought that was the case for me.
I am 5' 3" and my husband is 5' 8" and our babies were 8 lbs 12 oz (4 days late), 9 lbs 11oz (1 1/2 wks early), and 10 lbs. 1 oz (3 weeks early). I always just assumed that it was due to the diabetes. I can't say that the deliveries were all easy, but the babies were all very healthy.

[sarahspins]

Yeah, I don't know.... my DH is also only 5'8" (I am 5'7") but his sister was over 9lbs at birth (and my MIL is not a big person!)... so I always sort of blamed my bigger babies on his genes.. my sister and I were both in the 6 1/2lb range.. we were tiny

Mine were born at 39w, 38w5d, and 39w1d, so there was not much variance in gestation with mine that could account for their difference in size.

Honestly when my first was born, I did wonder if it was D that made him so much 'bigger' than I had been at birth, despite the fact that he was a completely normal sized newborn.. but when DD was born just 2oz bigger, I figured it's just the size they were supposed to be. I didn't really expect my third to be more than a pound bigger.

[Jojokittie]

Frist of all, I came here hoping to get positive feed back. And while almost all of you had it...I get enough negative feed back from family members and friends. I test my sugars on an average of 7 times a day. I test when I wake up, after breakfast, before lunch, after lunch, before dinner, after dinner, and before bed. Every once in a while I'll sneak in a random test if I feel funny. I eat things like salads with sugar free honey dejion dressing, plain oatmeal, chicken sandwich with one bread slice missing, burgers with missing buns, taco salads with none of the taco crunchyness, tomatos, celery, carrots, etc. I eat NO candy, cake, or sweets what so ever unless it has absolutely no sugar in it. I try my best to stay under 19 g's of carbs. I inject insulin 5 maybe 6 times a day. So yes...I am trying **** hard. I have every right in this world to get frustrated when my levels spike when I havent eaten a darn thing wrong. Now maybe I'm being extra pregnantly hormonal, but that one responce really bothered me. To the point of tears. I try my best to take care of myself pregnant or not. And yes...I am trying EXTRA hard now that I am pregnant.

[Morris "Type 1"]

I certainly aimed to illicit a response, but the one that I got wasn't at all what I had intended.

I was hoping to be irritating enough that it would make you realise that it wasn't just for pregnancy that you needed to get things in order.. Quite clearly I had entirely misunderstood you and jumped to conclusions. It is a shame that I managed to upset you so badly - afteral I am a stranger at the moment and I really don't know your situation.. I definitely judged you wrong, I am really sorry for doing that and I hope somehow I can make it up to you for upsetting you like I did.

I think because the past couple of days I have had some luck with keeping my numbers down I felt the right to preach about things that I still don't fully understand yet, I have almost cut out carbs entirely at the moment as an experiment to try and understand this thing better. In my mind bread is entirely a no-no for me, the slightest bit of carbs I eat totally destroys my sugar level and makes me feel horrible.

I wish somehow my post had gotten lost in the sea of posts that were positive and supporting you, I feel I owe not only you an apology but also everyone else who had contributed in a kind and considerate way because it looks like I have spoiled that.

I really am sorry.

Please don't let something I did cause you to look at this community in a bad light because I am new here, still finding my feet and certainly learned a lesson right now about how I shouldn't approach people here. Besides, the other people here are incredible, I assure you.

[Jojokittie]

I really appreciate your last post. And maybe I did react too strongly. I went to bed last night with a 120 level, took my insulin..and woke up at 165. Then took my insulin, ate plain oatmeal and tested at 150. Then took MORE insulin and ate nothing til lunch...when my levels were at 170. After lunch of chicken and unsweet tea it was at 235. That's when I read your note and lost it. LOL. My doctor did mention that pregnancy hormones can make my levels wonky, but this feels rediculous. LOL. I'm trying. Before dinner I just got a 96!!!! lol.

[Morris "Type 1"]

aww no wonder you are confused lol

[KCP]

One of the things about diabetes and pregnancy is that it can have the ability to make your blood sugars very hard to control. It would seem that you are working as hard as you can to control these sugars and honestly? that is all that you can do. Testing, watching the food and then also trying to control hormonal urges as well make pregnancy a difficult tie. But Like Kheez says: Try to enjoy this experience You are doing all you can!

[rak1978]

Originally Posted by Jojokittie

I really appreciate your last post. And maybe I did react too strongly. I went to bed last night with a 120 level, took my insulin..and woke up at 165. Then took my insulin, ate plain oatmeal and tested at 150. Then took MORE insulin and ate nothing til lunch...when my levels were at 170. After lunch of chicken and unsweet tea it was at 235. That's when I read your note and lost it. LOL. My doctor did mention that pregnancy hormones can make my levels wonky, but this feels rediculous. LOL. I'm trying. Before dinner I just got a 96!!!! lol.

You'll find too that the further you are along, you just become more and more insulin resistant. My endo had me fax my numbers weekly and every time he would increase my insulin. You probably just need a little adjusting. Don't be too hard on yourself. Remember, stress can cause increased levels too! ....hey, I think that's your excuse for a weekly massage! There's only so much that you can control. I hope you have a wonderful, healthy, and happy pregnancy!