21 weeks pregnant and gestational diabetes

[JUJU814]

I had gestational diabetes with my last two babies. I followed my diet to the letter but still needed insulin twice daily. I understand the fear..believe me..but if you wind up actually needing it, it is better for you and the baby to take the insulin, if needed..in order to keep your blood sugars in the proper range.

My biggest culprit was the fasting blood sugars. they would be a little better if I had a high protein snack for my evening snack.

Despite being perfect on my diet and completely compliant with my insulin, my son was 11 lbs 5 oz at 38 weeks and my daughter was born at 9 lbs 12 oz at 39 weeks..both via c section.

I am now "borderline" type 2 diabetes and trying to control it with diet.

It is nothing that should prevent you from going to Disney. *Personally* (and this is just me) I just could not go to Disney while pregnant. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I felt like crap all the time and I needed to be diligent about my diet and just wouldn't have done so at Disney. I doubt I would have been told not to go..I just knew my own personal limitations.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I had GD with my 2nd child. I had to take shots twice a day mixing slow and fast acting insulin. I never thought that I would be able to do it...but I made it and it really wasn't so bad. The insulin actually makes you feel better! We also got a beautiful DD, now 12, for the trouble. She was 7 lbs 6 oz at 38 weeks and had no blood sugar issues. My GD was gone by the morning after my delivery.

I never had trouble finding foods that fit into my food plan...you will be fine. Just keep in mind that you will be exercising more than usual when you are doing all that walking at WDW so check with your dietician and see what you need to change to stay healthy.

Have a fantastic time!

I agree, the end results will be worth the trouble! I'm so glad it worked out well for you!

I had gestational diabetes with my last two babies. I followed my diet to the letter but still needed insulin twice daily. I understand the fear..believe me..but if you wind up actually needing it, it is better for you and the baby to take the insulin, if needed..in order to keep your blood sugars in the proper range.

My biggest culprit was the fasting blood sugars. they would be a little better if I had a high protein snack for my evening snack.

Despite being perfect on my diet and completely compliant with my insulin, my son was 11 lbs 5 oz at 38 weeks and my daughter was born at 9 lbs 12 oz at 39 weeks..both via c section.

I am now "borderline" type 2 diabetes and trying to control it with diet.

It is nothing that should prevent you from going to Disney. *Personally* (and this is just me) I just could not go to Disney while pregnant. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I felt like crap all the time and I needed to be diligent about my diet and just wouldn't have done so at Disney. I doubt I would have been told not to go..I just knew my own personal limitations.

I have to admit, after my visit with the doctors today, I'm sort of scared of all the planning this will take. I'm not a planner and well, this isn't going to fit into my lifestyle well! I know... too bad, gotta do it!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

A little update:

Went to see my OB, my dietician, and my perionatologist today. Ok, I'm officially sick of doctors now!

OB said baby's heart is good and all looks good so far!

Dietician taught me to stick my finger with the lancet and take my blood sugar 4 times a day; fasting in the morning and 2 hours after every meal. I have to email her my readings once a week and she will direct them to both my doctors. She also gave me a diet that is basically all the protein and fat I want, within reason, and limited carbs. 2 carb servings for breakfast, 2 for each of the 3 snacks, and 4 for lunch and dinner.

Now the tough part, how to make good choices! She totally turned me off when she said no cookies, no cake, no pie, no candy. I would have been better off hearing once a week, once a month...something positive!

I have to admit it is going to be terrible trying to figure out decisions on vacation. I am definetely going to do the baggy trick with the premeasured snacks every day.

 

[homemaker]

I have five children and had GD with 3 if them. One controlled with diet, one I took insulin, & one I took gylburide ( a pill). If I had to do again I would not take the pill again. My dd had a difficult time maintaining her sugar levels and had to stay in the special care nursery for 6 days. My ds, born after taking insulin, didn't have any problems. Best of luck.

 

[mommy*RN]

Congratulations on your new little one!!

I also had GD while pregger with my 2nd baby. Like many others I was able to control it through my diet. When I was first diagnosed I was upset...but as time went on and I got used to checking my blood sugar it actually became a bit of a game. I actually think that was my best pregnancy. I ate really well and felt great.

I've never been to Disney pregnant, but I would talk to the doctor and see how well you are able to control your diabetes before discounting the whole trip.

There are definitely more women out there who are diagnosed gestationally diabetic...but in the past few years they've dropped the "passing" numbers drastically so many fail the one and three hour glucose tests marginally.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I have five children and had GD with 3 if them. One controlled with diet, one I took insulin, & one I took gylburide ( a pill). If I had to do again I would not take the pill again. My dd had a difficult time maintaining her sugar levels and had to stay in the special care nursery for 6 days. My ds, born after taking insulin, didn't have any problems. Best of luck.

Thank you!

Congratulations on your new little one!!

I also had GD while pregger with my 2nd baby. Like many others I was able to control it through my diet. When I was first diagnosed I was upset...but as time went on and I got used to checking my blood sugar it actually became a bit of a game. I actually think that was my best pregnancy. I ate really well and felt great.

I've never been to Disney pregnant, but I would talk to the doctor and see how well you are able to control your diabetes before discounting the whole trip.

There are definitely more women out there who are diagnosed gestationally diabetic...but in the past few years they've dropped the "passing" numbers drastically so many fail the one and three hour glucose tests marginally.

I would imagine the liability issues may play a role in the fact that these numbers were dropped. Its very interesting to know that, though! My son is 12, and maybe I had it back then too, but the standards were different.

I am really missing chocolate at the moment, but had some sugar free chocolate pudding yesterday and it really helped!

 

[JenniD44]

I also had GD with my second child. Actually, I think I was borderlline, but because my son had been so big, 9 lb 7 oz, they treated me as if I had it. I saw a special doctor and treated it with diet.

One thing I wanted to mention, when you are thinking of food choices, avoid Chinese. When I had Chinese for dinner, my morning blood sugar was always unusually high. Other than that, it wasn't too hard to keep it under control with diet. Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine, even at Disney.

 

[TinkerbelleAbbysMom]

I had really bad GD with my daughter. Bad enought that maternal/fetal just knew I would be on insulin. Guess what...I controlled my levels very well by following SugarBusters. There is a book which gives you all the foods you can eat as well as explains why sugar is a prob and how it affects you. I followed this and my levels were always fine. I learned to eat omlets with a piece of toast in the am (funny that 3 days before delivery I gagged and couldn't eat another one...don't like eggs much). I just learned to avoid most white carbs and bleached/enriched flour. Hopefully by the time you all leave, you will have an idea how various foods affect you. The other thing to keep in mind is that because of the walking you may experience a difference in how your body responds. IE your levels might not be as they normally are or maybe even a few drops where you go low. Just keep the 15 grams avail like a PP said and you would be covered for this.
Good luck with everything. Oh and CarbFreedom by Blue Bunny is a great way to have ice cream and your blood sugar not be high. I often ate a nutty buddy as my pm snack and never had any trouble. I would drink a glass of milk too.

 

[Colleen27]

I was borderline with my 3rd, but because of my family history (both grandmothers, my mom, and her sister all developed GD at some point; with the grandmothers, it progressed to type II) my doctor treated me as having GD. Fortunately for me, it was easily controlled with diet. The biggies were having some protein with every meal & snack and not drinking my carbs. Cutting out juice & soda, cutting way back on milk, and making some minor adjustments to my diet did the trick.

As others have said, the extra ultrasounds are a nice upside. Just a note of warning, though - don't get worked up over size predictions based on u/s! I was induced right at 40w because an u/s at 36w estimated her size at 7.5lbs. I spent those weeks stressing out over delivering a "big" baby because that estimate and normal growth patterns would have put her at 2lbs bigger than my other two kids. Instead, she turned out to be the smallest of the 3 at 6lb 15oz!

 

[Buckeye Princess]

I had GD and in a way actually view it as a blessing. I believe I would have eaten healthy anyway, I usually so, but the diagnosis made me really eat well for myself and the baby. I went to Disney at about 33 weeks. My case was manageable through diet alone and all of my postprandial glucose tests came back fine. My doctor had told me it was ok to splurge on a few meals while on our trip as long as I ate well the rest of the time. I ended up gaining 25 pounds during the pregnancy and my daughter was born at 6 lbs 6 ounces so I guess the diet worked. Walking so much really helps your body process the carbohydrates too so you can have a little more than you would at home.

I learned lots of great tricks for keeping your carbs low. Lindt 70% and 85% chocolate has the lowest carb count that I could find. I found that a piece of this with dinner would satisfy my chocolate cravings. Soy milk is also much better than cows milk. I would have a soy milk hot chocolate (sugar free mix) with some almonds (make sure there is lots of protein whenever you have carbs). I carried a bag of almonds with me everywhere so that I was never caught without a good source of protein. We ate lots of table service meals and the chefs were wonderful with altering my meals to accommodate. They'd give me a small portion of the starch/carb and go heavy on the veggies. I printed up some business like cards at home that said I had GD and needed to limit carbs. This way our waiter could give this to the chef in case they didn't have time to come out and chat.

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

I'm dealing with GD with my current pregnancy. I'm 35 weeks and have been managing it with diet for the last month. My first son wa 9 lbs, 12 oz and I didn't have GD that time. I hear that could be a contributing factor to GD in subsequent preganancies.

I think you'll probably have an easy time managing it while at Disney, especially if you can control your carb intake. I find that when given the chance to be even a little bit active, my numbers are really managable. I was on bed rest for 13 weeks and had trouble keeping my numbers down while I was inactive.

Best of luck to you and enjoy your trip.

 

[ajh88]

Hi there... My story has two parts, one of which IS related to Disney!

I am 38, and pregnant with my 2nd child. I was just diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Yuck! Has anyone here had experience with this, and can they offer me any words of advice or encouragement?

Also, I am supposed to go to Disney during Thanksgiving. I am wondering if this diagnosis will impact my ability to go. I realize my doctor has the final say on the subject, of course! We were going with my parents and brother's family. I have already broached the subject with the family and they are comfortable taking my 12 year old to Disney without me, should I have to stay home.

I had it with DD also and was controlled by diet - she was 7 lb 9 oz at 40 weeks. No problems now for me or her. I won't re-hash what a lot of other PPs said since they have given a lot of the information I was going to give, but I didn't read everything so I apologize if I do repeat something here.

Another mechanism for controlling the post-meal blood sugar is exercise. I worked on large campus at the time and I found that if walked across campus and back to my lab after eating, my post-meal sugars were usually lower. That would be my main watch out for Disney (by all means I would go if your Doc is OK with it!) - you may be walking more than you usually are, so make sure you have food with you so your sugar doesn't get too low either.

My Dr also had me checking for ketones every day, but it doesn't seem like he ever really did anything with that information. It may have been a bigger problem if my sugars were way too high.

Overindulgence in one setting, even if you're eating "good" foods, can be just as bad as eating a big ol' bowl of something "bad" sometimes - we went out for a steak dinner one night and I thought I had been really good, but that was the worst my levels were the entire pregnancy - I definitely ate TOO MUCH!

And finally, the one bit of "cheat" advice my doctor gave me - if you are really craving an indulgence of some sort (ice cream, candy, whatever), the best time to have it is as your bedtime snack - since those 8 hours (or however long you sleep) are the longest you go without eating, it gives you a little extra time to process it. I don't encourage this regularly, or even frequently, but it's something to keep in mind and kind of a "save" to avoid that feeling of utter deprivation. Maybe a snack size candy bar instead of full size - or a Skinny Cow ice cream bar instead of a regular one - something along those lines.

My nutritionist suggested Splenda - I didn't love it, but it's worth trying if you use sweeteners. I ate a lot of PB&J too - it seemed to satisfy my craving for sweetness without being bad on my sugars (I guess the protein in the peanut butter helped offset the sugar in the jelly).

Unfortunately, carbs are everywhere - are they still teaching 15 g = 1 carb? I was taught that if I had something with over 5 g of fiber, I could offset 1 carb for every 3 g of fiber over 5 - so if I ate Raisin Bran with 9 g of fiber per serving, I could deduct 1 carb off my total because the fiber off-set it. That was several years ago and I don't know if they still teach that - but it definitely encouraged me to find high fiber foods!

And even though fruit is usually a "good" food - it is loaded with carbs. Be cautious about using that for your snacks - or at least have a serving of protein (I ate a lot of cheese while I was pregnant!) to balance it out.

I also don't advise cereal for breakfast - even when I was eating Raisin Bran with skim milk, my sugars were always bad after this. High protein, high fiber = good for breakfast. I could eat cereal any other time of day with no problem, just not first thing in the morning.

Those are most of my tricks. I ate a lot of Healthy Choice dinners for lunch, tuna casserole, cheese chunks, English muffins with melted cheese for breakfast (or scrambled eggs with cheese - are you sensing a theme?), and veggies (since they were "free" foods for the most part!).

Best of luck for a healthy pregnancy!