6 weeks Pregnant and Type 1

[wardelis1 10]

Hello All,

 

I am new to the forum and have never posted. I am a Type 1 diabetic with A1Cs for the past 5 years or so ranging between 5.5 - 6.00. After nearly a year of trying to conceive my husband and I found out a few weeks ago that I am pregnant. I am struggling a lot. I have done so much research prior to getting pregnant every time I see a number out of the ADA's tight recommended range for pregnant women I get scared to death. Additionally, I am checking 15 times a day, which my primary care doctor tells me is "unnecessary" and that I am being "paranoid." Even with checking so many times a day I am still noticing after meal spikes that no matter how much insulin I seem to give myself I cant avoid. Today has been particularly hard as I can't seem to give myself enough insulin. I am nearly doubling my Novolog doses. I see my endocrin on Wed but thought I would reach out to others to help me calm down before then. Any advice or words of wisdom from Type 1 moms who have been through this would be so very much appreciated.

[JanetP 17,493]

Well, I'm not a Type 1 mom but I want to congratulate you! You are the second new person to announce their pregnancy on here today. I wonder if there is something in the water. There are several experienced Type 1 moms on the forum if you want to check back on some of the old threads. Welcome, get comfortable, put up your feet, and join the party. New babies are always so exciting!

[rubidoux 344]

Congratulations! I have no doubt that all is/will be fine if you're testing 15 times a day. I probably tested on average 12 times a day while pregnant and I can't imagine testing more than that, but there is no downside to testing! More information can never hurt!

 

And, there is no getting around it, you will see some numbers outside of the guidelines. Just test and cautiously correct and it will all be fine.

 

What sort of diet/exercise do you do to get those awesome a1c's?

[Lady Imp 583]

Congrats on the pregnancy! The funny thing about it though is your hormones are all out of whack, and your BGs will be as well. Best advice I can give you: don't stress about it! Stress isn't healthy, especially not for a diabetic and especially not if you're pregnant. A couple of BGs outside of the range is most definitely not the end of the world - I promise you, plenty of mothers with way worse control than you have gone on to have perfectly healthy babies. You're also still very early, and there's plenty of time to get things settled. You had AMAZING A1c levels prior to the pregnancy, so that is a definite bonus right there.

 

You're still very early on so your insulin needs are going to change on what will feel like a daily basis. What is a good dose today might not necessarily be a good dose tomorrow. You sound like you're comfortable making your own adjustments, which is very good, and I agree with rubidoux that you can never test too often so forget what anyone else says about that. Your meal spikes could be caused by any one of a number of different reasons. Your body reacts differently to food when you're pregnant, so food that you were all right with eating prior to pregnancy might give you issues during it (this is true for more than just morning sickness!). You may find some foods you're going to have to either limit or even completely eliminate for the time being, but you may be able to bring them back into your diet after the pregnancy. Another thing to consider is that you may find yourself needing different insulin:carb ratios at different times...I know I have about half a dozen different ones for different times of the day, simply because my insulin needs vary throughout the day. Another thing to consider is the possibility your basal insulin may be off as well, and I can guarantee you that that will need to be tweaked often throughout a pregnancy as well. You might want to talk to your endo about the possibility of getting a pump, it makes life SO much easier when you're pregnant since you will be able to have varying I:C ratios and basal levels throughout the day and not have to worry about any of the math.

 

Other than that, Janet is right, there are plenty of questions and answers floating around on the board, so go ahead and poke around. And if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[stephanielond 10]

Congrats on the pregnancy! take care of yourself and keep control your diabets every day . good luck

[Jan B 54]

Congratulations!

 

You were doing great before pregnancy, and obviously doing the best you can right now. I think about any doctor would comment on testing 15 times a day -- it sounds over the top to most people, but what can it hurt? It shows how hard you are working. It would be better not to worry so much, but that's much easier to say than do! Glad you came to DF, and I hope you'll let us know how your next appointment goes.