Low Blood Sugars in Late Pregnancy

[tabbicles]

Hi there,

I am now 34 and a half weeks pregnant so not too long to go (yey!!)
At my clinic appointment yesterday the consultant seemed a bit concerned that I have been having hypos each day (before lunch and dinner even after snacks before hand) so as a result have reduced some of my insulin. Apparently it is the norm that at this late stage women most often have to increase their insulin a lot, not reduce it! They are going to see me every week now to keep an eye on it and the baby was fine at the scan yesterday but the consultant said it may be a reason to bring the birth forward (although still aiming for 38 weeks!).
Just wondered if anyone else experienced this and what happened in your case?

 

[smile4loubie]

Not had any experience but wanted to send you hugs and support x

 

[xxlou_lxx]

I was having randomly low blood sugars heading towards my 35th week and just kept an eye on it since i was having weekly apps and fetal monitoring from 30 weeks anyway. when it had just came to the begining of my 37 weeks the saturday I was having blood sugars of 4.-s all day without needing much insulin and on the sunday i had a real trouble of keeping it above 3 and needing less than 1/3 of my regular insulin I decided to phone nhs direct, they were no help and either was the person i spoke to at the maternity hospital when they phoned me back! i was woken at 6am when my obs consultant came on shift as he must of heard i had called, he was worried and wanted me to come in but my bloods were up at 4.9 so i thought all was fine.... took my morning insulin and had one hypo after the other so called diabetic clinic and loooonnnng story short lol they contacted obs doc and i was taken in to be induced (basically).. they reckon the placenta starts to age faster in pregnancies where a woman has diabetes, hence the need to be taken in and monitored at the first hint of trouble!

so long as you are happy that they are keeping an eye on you and baby and you are being listened too then everything should be fine, but if not then speak to them again about your concerns because there is no point in being stressed on top of everything else this late in the game 😉

good luck xx

 

[tabbicles]

Thank you (both Lou's!). Blimey that sounds extreme low blood sugars, I am definately not that bad yet. My blood sugars are low at certain times like clockwork but can be avoided if I eat a ridiculous amount of snacks which is hard to do between meals. If I lower the insulin too much before the earlier meal I am high afterwards then it goes down. Yeah as a rule it is being kept an eye on and if I was as low as you I will definately call in sooner. I am assuming that you gave birth to a nice healthy baby at the end of it so all good in the end! 37 weeks is good going 🙂
I just cant wait to meet my baby and make sure its ok, this last few weeks is REALLY going to drag xxx

 

[Twitchy]

Hiya,

Sorry I've come to this late - as the other ladies have said, hypos late in pregnancy can be an indicator that the placenta has started to fail - this happened with my daughter - unfortunately on our 'local' hospital, it seems most of the staff are oblivious to this!! 😱 Luckily our obstetric consultant had forwarned us and so when I started going hypo for no obvious reason (the second day this had happened) I went in - he was off that day so they kept me in overnight (no one seemed to know for sure what to do), and I was told the next day that they would deliver baby early, the day after - long story short the doc heard I was in, checked my condition & said baby's coming out today! One C section later & one incredibly pink baby with an amazingly high apgar score and the doc's comment of "tomorrow would have been pushing it, 2 weeks time (the planned C section date) would have been too late"! It turned out the placenta had been failing, so she'd been producing lots of extra red blood cells to get what oxygen she could!

Not trying to scare you , just trying to say if you are having unexpected hypos do not ignore it - get to see the diabetic specialist obstetric person asap & don't let anyone else who doesn't have that specialist knowledge fobb you off ... I 'only' had one unexpected hypo at lunch time, for 2 days when I went in, and it seems things were already getting serious. That was at 35 wks 6 days. Not meaning to scare you!

All the best,

Twitchy xx

 

[tabbicles]

Hi Twitchy,
Thank you for your post it is really helpful to hear peoples experiences and be aware of what can happen.
They never mentioned at all about the placenta failing earlier in diabetics. It is just the consultant doctor who said it is something to monitor when I casually mentioned my insulin had been adjusted as I was getting a couple of hypos. The diabetic team just adjusted my insulin and didnt mention anything to be concerned about although I had a gut feeling I shouldnt be reducting my insulin (it is still higher than before I was preggers).
I'll try not to worry, though it is scary to think that if it wasnt monitored it could be too late! I couldnt bear to lose another baby when I have got so close - Not even considering this will happen.
They have asked me to keep an eye on movements (def getting nore than 10 a day) and are checking heartbeat etc on Tuesday (every week) so I am assuming these would show signs of distress if there was going to be a problem.

Its just drilled into you that you would need to increase your insulin to ridiculous amounts then when you dont/have to reduce it you worry!!

 

[rachelha]

Hi Tabbicles, falling insulin needs (along with vv swollen legs and higher blood pressure) was one of the reasons my planned induction date at 39 weeks was brought forward. My placenta was fine but I think it is seen as an early warning sign.

How often are you being seen by your team, I hope they are keeping a close eye on you both?

Rachel