My birth experience

[HappyHelen]

Hello

As you may know from my previous posts, i gave birth to Callum on Friday 30 December. In case its helpful for others I just wanted to let you know about my labour / birth and post pregnancy experience. Apologies for long post.

I had said i wanted to try naturally but if that didnt work, i was prepared to have a caesarean. In my case, the hospital tried to induce me 3 times but this did not work - I was suffering from contractions but my cervix was not dilating. During this induction, I ended up having a disagreement with one of the midwives who told me that because I had a bloodtest reading of 3.8, I was not controlling my diabetes and that they were going to put me on the sliding scale earlier. I took great offence to this (i have never been as well controlled as during pregnancy!). According to the labour ward anything under 4 was classed as a hypo. I said that the clinic at the same hospital had always advised that anything under 3.5 was a hypo. The midwife asked me to drink glucose juice and I refused as I didn't feel hypo and had no need to. She went away to check with the doctor and I said that I would drink a small amount of lucozade to increase sugars slightly (not the full bottle of gluco juice as they advised) as I didn't want to shoot up to double figures. Anyway, after 30 mins my sugar had risen to 5.6 so all was well. In hindsight it was quite funny as my husband said I looked very pale and was in a lot of pain up until the disagreement - the disagreement got my adrenalin pumping and i looked much healthier so maybe it was a good thing!

The hospital wanted to try and break my waters again on Friday so that I could try again to proceed naturally but I refused - I hadn't slept for 2 nights and just didn't have any energy to proceed naturally. So I went to theatre at 9am for the operation. All went as planned other than a very sudden drop in blood pressure at the beginning which lead to the baby's heart rate dropping suddenly so they had to get the baby out quickly. Anyway, at 9.34 Callum was born. The operation was completed and I moved to high dependency unit. I was on a sliding scale from 6am on the morning of the operation and despite my reservations, this worked well throughout and sugars stayed at 4 or 5 throughout. I was allowed to eat some toast at around 3pm and the sliding scale was removed. Callum's sugars were tested 6 times after birth and each time was above 2.5 (apparently the cut off they were looking for) and so he was given a clean bill of health.

Since birth, my blood sugars have been more erratic (during pregnancy my control was pretty good - almost all readings were in between 3.5 and 7 ish at all times) which I suspect is now due to hormones. Dropping the insulin to pre pregnancy levels after birth was quite frightening as i was concerned that it just wouldnt be enough (after such huge amounts during pregnancy) but i did do this but have found these to be too high.

I started levemir at 40 which was my pre pregnancy dose but had a bad hypo during the first night after birth at hospital. So I reduced this to 33 the next night and again had another quite bad hypo in the night so reduced again to 25. For the last few days I have been doing 28 units of levemir in the evening (during pregnancy i was doing 120 units of levemir in total!) and for the moment this seems to be about the right amount. Of course because I had a caesarean section, I have been told not to do too much so I am exercising very little at the moment (midwives have even said to be careful with walks longer than 10-15 mins) but I expect doses will change again when I start to get out and about.

I have had the same experience with novorapid in that pre pregnancy doses are just too high. I am currently doing 7 units for breakfast and just 10 for lunch and evening meals (I was doing more before pregnancy). Results are slowly coming together and I am being careful not to keep adjusting before evidence of previous changes are apparent. Im not sure if i is common to drop to even lower levels of insulin post pregnancy and have no idea if it will last or not.

Between my husband and I, we have taken the decision for me not to breastfeed. One of my severe hypos above was caused when my "milk arrived" and for both me and my husband, it was truly frightening. Sadly therefore we felt that the risk of this recurrin was too great and too dangerous so we are bottle feeding. In addition, and I only found this out after birth, apparently after a caesarean there is usually a delay of a couple of days before your milk arrives and so he was being cup fed anyway. Since making the decision to feed by bottle, Callum has been feeding very well and according to the midwife is thriving. To all diabetic mums that are breastfeeding, you have my absolute respect as it cannot be easy to manage, particularly when your partner goes back to work. You should be very, very proud if you have achieved this.

Despite all of the above challenges, Callum is absolutely a million % worth it and we are smitten with our new baby boy and each day we learn more and more about how to care for him. So far he has been very good (and we have even had some sleep - in fact we have been lucky enough to have about 6 hours each night but we strongly suspect it may not last). We can't stop staring and taking pics of him (the amount of pics we are taking is phenomenal!!). He is a lovely little bundle and we are very proud.

Thanks to you all for the advice i have received on here and for your kind congratulation messages. This forum has been a godsend for me and has been very valuable. Good luck to all mums-to-be on here - pregnancy and birth are challenging times for diabetics (and for non-diabetics) but the reward is truly worth it. 🙂

Helen
X

 

[Northerner]

Thank you for sharing your amazing story Helen, brought a lump to my throat! 🙂 I have such admiration for you wonderful mums with diabetes - in fact change that to be 'in awe and admiration!'

 

[Estellaa]

awww, what a wonderful thing to hear 🙂 so glad everything is okay! congratulations! x

 

[Smit]

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your experience. I'm due on the 12th May with my first. I'm also worried about the sliding scale and doctors and nurses thinking they know best. After being diabetic for 27 years I'll be standing my ground.

Thanks for sharing and Congrats again Xx

 

[margie]

I hope that Callum continues to like his sleep, and thank you for sharing your story.

 

[HappyHelen]

Smit I was also really worried about the sliding scale but actually it worked a dream. I did wonder if I would need it once I knew I was having a c section but was advised it would be needed. The only problem I had with it was that wherever they put the cannula, it made me swell up (another reason I think why I wasn't on it for long!). I think if i had been able to progress with a natural birth, the sliding scale would have been beneficial. Like you I have had diabetes for a long time (31 years) and was very sceptical but was proved wrong. Anyway, wishing you all the very best for May - it is a very exciting time!! X

 

[HOBIE]

Pleased for you ! Your bgs are going to be all over the place & i wouldnt like to think my wife was 5.0 & giving birth. Our first was a 22 hour birth & as a father it was a test for me never mind wife. Good luck with Callim life will only get better. 🙂🙂

 

[Tina63]

Thanks for sharing your story in full Helen, I love baby stories! It really is a feeling of instant love when your little bundle arrives, nothing in the world compares to that.

Being non-D I don't have a clue what the sliding scale is!! I hadn't realised too that insulin needs increase so dramatically during pregnancy. It must be pretty scary the first few days knowing even remotely where to base your needs for insulin. Don't feel guilty about the breast feeding, I hadn't even thought about that and it's impact on your BG levels, but of course it must throw things so totally all over the place. I remember having an appetite like I've never had before or since, so it must be a complete nightmare, that and hormones too. You have made the right decision for you, Callum is thriving, that's all that matters.

Being mega ignorant, I did wonder if a T1 mother breast feeding would possibly pre-dispose her baby to T1? As it's an autoimmune disease couldn't your body potentially pass antibodies on to him and therefore cause him to develop T1? I know they promote breast feeding by going on about all the antibodies you pass on to your baby to protect it from various things, so surely this could happen in reverse? (Am I thinking too deeply here???)

I agree 100% that the person with diabetes DOES know best, especially their own body and needs, and from posts I have read on here over the past few months I am so utterly shocked by attitudes and practices by doctors/nurses in hospitals when you are in for a non-D reason. I remember reading someone's story quite recently about an operation and their insulin being locked away and not being allowed to adjust doses themselves - I found that quick shocking - I never realised that's what would happen when in hospital, but I suppose insulin could be dangerous in the wrong hands so it has to be locked away. For the person themselves though not being allowed to adjust their own dose - well I just can't get my head around that. At least I feel prepared now that if my son ever needs to go in for an operation or something that we will need to be prepared to stand our ground over his insulin needs.

Take it easy with your recovery, don't try and do too much too soon, it will not be worth it in the long run. You have plenty of time ahead of you to get back into shape. Just enjoy your baby and get what rest you can these first few weeks.

Congratulations again.
Tina xxx

 

[Sheilagh1958]

Congratulations Helen..............enjoy every minute 🙂

 

[sugarfreerach]

Hi! Congratulations! I remember my hypos when my milk came in but they are a lot better now. I remember having a mild hypo when the midwife came and she looked horrified! Must have been difficult to make the decision but you needed to do whats best for you both.

To the poster who said about holding your own when it comes to sliding scale, do! I did and I was able to go through labour and deliver naturally with the sliding scale on for only half an hour (the pushing!) The midwves were amazed at the control but I had to prove i was in control.

Nearly 5 months on and I'm still on very low amounts of insulin.

 

[MrsCLH]

Hi Helen - Congratulations on the birth of baby Callum 🙂

I was induced at 38 weeks plus 4 days. Waters broke after 18 hours after the pessary went in but it was over 24 hours before I was put on the drip to get labour going because I had to wait for a delivery room to become available. They wouldn't let me eat lunch whilst I waited for the room to become free, only a carb free salad, so by the time I got taken to the delivery suite it was 6pm, I hadn't had any insulin since breakfast and my bg was over 8. Consequently I was put on the sliding scale straight away, as well as antibiotics in case of infection due to waters being broken for over 24 hours. So three canulas altogether - not a great start! I had to check my bg myself every hour and then they adjusted the sliding scale accordingly.

To cut a long story short after 20 hours of labour I ended up with a forceps delivery cos baby was back to back! So we had a very shaky start with feeding but still managing to breastfeed 16 weeks later. I completely completely understand your decision not to breastfeed. I have found it really hard to manage my diabetes while breastfeeding and I've been thinking a lot lately that there really isn't enough support for diabetic mums who want to breastfeed. The care I got during my pregnancy was absolutely fantastic but that would be my one criticism - I don't recall breastfeeding being mentioned at all. We actually ended up back in hospital when my son was 5 days old because there was a delay in my milk coming in (normal if you're diabetic) and feeding was hard to start with due to the difficult birth. I think if I'd been more informed I might have been able to express colostrum before the birth so that there was something to give my son when he was born.

Now I end up having a hypo nearly every night and waking up high after rebounding. Its so different to being pregnant when I often set an alarm in the night to stop this happening but these days sleep is far too important to be doing that! Basically my bloods are all over the place now. D
I'm due my first post-pregnancy hba1c in a couple of weeks and dread to think what its going to be. Breastfeeding definitely reduces your insulin requirements but I just find it varies so much depending on how much my son wants to feed and when and its just so much more difficult to keep testing now. I don't know what the solution is though!

Oh and your baby is definitely not more likely to be T1 if you breastfeed. In fact, breastfeeding is meant to reduce the likelihood of a child developing diabetes later in life.

 

[rachelha]

Helen, thanks for sharing, I am feeling all emotional.

I too found the support I got post birth was pretty much non-existant. There was no advice regarding breast feeding and hypos, no one could answer any of my questions about how to handle it. I did manage to breast feed, but the only solution I could find was to run my sugars high for a few months while I did it. I also ended up putting on weight during this time due to corrections after feeding. So much for breast feeding helping you lose the baby weight. I completely support your decision to bottle feed. The health and happiness of the parents is so important.

I too was v v wary of the sliding scale, but the nurses managed my levels perfectly with it during labour, the section and afterwards.

Congratulations again

 

[PhoebeC]

Well done you. Glad your all safe and sound.

6 hours!! thats ace, hes a good baby.

I had a horrid birth and the sliding scale meant i didnt have to worry about it. Actaully it was the last thing on my mind.

I struggled bf as we where both kept in, baby on neonatal so we didnt have the skin to skin so i expressed and did try but as she was early she hadnt delevopled the sucking reflex so getting her on the boob was too much.

I expressed for only about 2 weeks and i started to try up, with baby in hospital and me at home it just didnt work.

I was really gutted i couldnt combi feed, i remember crying my eyes out in the bath with nothing coming into the bottle.

But i dont feel back about bottle feeding, shes a fit and healthy one year old, you wouldnt know she was early.

Well done agaain. Every every second it flys by.

xxx