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mrsnnm

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Hello everyone i am new here type 1 diabetic and put a post under pregnancy and insulin values. Any advice really would be appreciated thankyou
 
Welcome @mrsnnm 🙂 I’ve replied on your Pregnancy post. I’ve had three pregnancies with Type 1. Don’t panic. Pregnancy is a time of almost constant tweaks. I’m presuming you’ve informed your clinic? Don’t be afraid to speak to a DSN if you want advice with insulin adjustments. I phoned mine very early in pregnancy because I was stressed by the highs. She helped a lot. After that, I was fine doing things myself.
 
You are amazing thankyou! I was thinking of contacting my diabetic nurse at the gp tomorrow. I think i am stressing as unfortunately i had a missed miscarriage last year so just want everything to be okay yes i informed them a couple of weeks ago and have my first appt in a couple of weeks time
 
I’d go with a hospital DSN rather than a GP nurse. My hospital had pregnancy DSNs who were very experienced and so very, very helpful. I was stressed too when I got the early highs. All the hormones make you emotional too. The DSN I spoke to just went through things calmly even though I was flapping and stressed and what she suggested worked. It was great and knowing she was there for me made me feel a lot better. I never got that stressed again.

Try not to worry too much about the highs. I had a number of highs in my pregnancies. It’s impossible not to. All you can do is correct and get your sugars down. Don’t worry too much x
I used mindfulness to keep me calm during pregnancy and it helped a lot.
 
I do not have a contact for a hospital DSN. I will have a look on their website to see if there's any contacts on there. The hospital i am having everything at has a dedicated diabetic antenatal clinic hence why i went with them
I honestly cannot tell you how tired and drained i feel, i am sleeping so much at any given opportunity. I work in a primary school and i came home and slept
Your experiences are really insightful and really helpful, thankyou
Thankyou lovely mindfulness never really worked for me, i try and go for regular walks and just have me time by reading.
 
Walks and reading are excellent too 🙂 You could try phoning the hospital switchboard and asking to be put through to the diabetes centre. They should be able to direct you to a DSN.

Obviously high blood sugars make you feel rough and tired, but pregnancy can do that too, so it could be a combination of both. I don’t know if you’ve told your work yet but don’t be afraid to tell them in confidence and take time off if you need to. I know that’s not so easy in a school, but they’re usually very good about pregnancy things.
 
That is a fab idea! I am going to do that tomorrow in my lunch break
With work, i told my ht today and he was fab! He was very understanding and atm where i am beginning teacher training, i am also undecided whether it is a good idea to continue as i may be due at end of April. And just the extra stress of that. I have been advised to have a think about it. But yes i honestly feel sooooo tired your advice really is invaluable. Did you have any troubles with labour as a type 1?
 
No, labour was fine. Each of my three pregnancies were different but none were C sections. What made them most different was the position of the baby, and that’s nothing to do with diabetes. The only difference was that I was induced for my last baby (had the others before induction). That was a nuisance because I don’t respond well to the induction drugs, but I was fine afterwards and so was baby. Apart from watching my blood sugar, and the induction, I didn’t feel that the diabetes impacted my labours that much at.
 
Hi and welcome from me too.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and wishing you all the luck in the world for a successful outcome this time.
You mention the diabetic nurse at your GP practice.... Is this the practice nurse who has been given special responsibility for overseeing the diabetics at your surgery or is this a Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN), based at the hospital clinic who perhaps holds a one day a month clinic at the GP practice? If the former, then I would not consider them to be suitably qualified to give you appropriate advice as a Type 1 even without being pregnant, which of course puts a whole different slant on things. I am not knocking the GP nurse in any way, but they simply do not have the knowledge and expertise to support a Type 1, let alone a pregnant Type 1.

Can you confirm that you are taking the high dose Folic Acid supplement prescribed for diabetics who are trying to get pregnant? If not, please do ask about that ASAP as they generally like you to be on it for several months before starting the process I believe.

Sorry to read in your other thread that you are already experiencing some BG turbulence, but sounds like you are making good decisions to tackle it.

Libre should not be completely trusted particularly when showing you high or low as it often overshoots both peaks and troughs, so you should finger prick before making treatment decisions. Do you have a graded response to hypos or do you deal with them all exactly the same? ie. 4JBs and 2 biscuits? We are all different but If I had eaten 4 JBs and 2 biscuits, my levels would be in orbit even without pregnancy hormones, so you may need to firstly double check any lows with a finger prick and then cautiously adjust your hypo treatment depending on the circumstances. For me generally 2 JBs is enough and no biscuits, but it depends on my levels ie how hypo I am and if it is bolus insulin dropping me or basal or exercise. If I am just 3.8 and no active bolus insulin then I might just have 1 Jelly Baby, mid 3s I would I would have 2 JBs, if I was low 3s or high 2s I would have 3. I very very rarely need 3. I am not suggesting you do the same as me, but just consider a graded response depending upon how low you have gone and what active insulin you have on board. 4 JBs is 20g carbs plus another 20g carbs in the biscuits would mean 40g carbs. If 10g carbs raises your levels by 3mmols, that 40g carbs is going to raise them by 12mmols, so if you were about 4 then you will end up at 16mmols or there about. It may be that up until now, you were producing enough insulin yourself to deal with that amount of carbs, but clearly that has changed.

Hope you gets lots of support from your clinic and look forward to readings your progress reports..... and keeping fingers crossed for you!
 
Inka said:
No, labour was fine. Each of my three pregnancies were different but none were C sections. What made them most different was the position of the baby, and that’s nothing to do with diabetes. The only difference was that I was induced for my last baby (had the others before induction). That was a nuisance because I don’t respond well to the induction drugs, but I was fine afterwards and so was baby. Apart from watching my blood sugar, and the induction, I didn’t feel that the diabetes impacted my labours that much at.
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It is really refreshing to hear that your labours with all three have been fine. That gives me so much hope as i was told many years ago that i would have to have a c section as im a type 1
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome from me too.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and wishing you all the luck in the world for a successful outcome this time.
You mention the diabetic nurse at your GP practice.... Is this the practice nurse who has been given special responsibility for overseeing the diabetics at your surgery or is this a Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN), based at the hospital clinic who perhaps holds a one day a month clinic at the GP practice? If the former, then I would not consider them to be suitably qualified to give you appropriate advice as a Type 1 even without being pregnant, which of course puts a whole different slant on things. I am not knocking the GP nurse in any way, but they simply do not have the knowledge and expertise to support a Type 1, let alone a pregnant Type 1.

Can you confirm that you are taking the high dose Folic Acid supplement prescribed for diabetics who are trying to get pregnant? If not, please do ask about that ASAP as they generally like you to be on it for several months before starting the process I believe.

Sorry to read in your other thread that you are already experiencing some BG turbulence, but sounds like you are making good decisions to tackle it.

Libre should not be completely trusted particularly when showing you high or low as it often overshoots both peaks and troughs, so you should finger prick before making treatment decisions. Do you have a graded response to hypos or do you deal with them all exactly the same? ie. 4JBs and 2 biscuits? We are all different but If I had eaten 4 JBs and 2 biscuits, my levels would be in orbit even without pregnancy hormones, so you may need to firstly double check any lows with a finger prick and then cautiously adjust your hypo treatment depending on the circumstances. For me generally 2 JBs is enough and no biscuits, but it depends on my levels ie how hypo I am and if it is bolus insulin dropping me or basal or exercise. If I am just 3.8 and no active bolus insulin then I might just have 1 Jelly Baby, mid 3s I would I would have 2 JBs, if I was low 3s or high 2s I would have 3. I very very rarely need 3. I am not suggesting you do the same as me, but just consider a graded response depending upon how low you have gone and what active insulin you have on board. 4 JBs is 20g carbs plus another 20g carbs in the biscuits would mean 40g carbs. If 10g carbs raises your levels by 3mmols, that 40g carbs is going to raise them by 12mmols, so if you were about 4 then you will end up at 16mmols or there about. It may be that up until now, you were producing enough insulin yourself to deal with that amount of carbs, but clearly that has changed.

Hope you gets lots of support from your clinic and look forward to readings your progress reports..... and keeping fingers crossed for you!
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Hello there thankyou so much for your well wishes yes it was the first option but i have been assigned a diabetes nurse at a hospital where i visit every 8 months but they will not be providing me with antenatal care, it is another hospital as they have a specialised diabetic antenatal clinic so i don't know whether to contact them instead as they will be overseeing my antenatal care?

Yes I've been on the 5mg folic acid for years and been taking everyday

Thankyou so much i really appreciate that

I usually deal with my hypos the same but i completely understand your view and experience. It really does make sense. I may have to mention this to the DSN

Thankyou so much lovely
 
Afraid I can't answer your question as I haven't experienced a pregnancy myself.
Good to hear you are on the Folic Acid.
 
mrsnnm said:
@Inka @rebrascora did both of you reach full term as i have read so many on here not reaching full term but reaching anything between 34-38 weeks?
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You won’t be ‘allowed’ to reach full-term. You’ll be offered an induction around 38 weeks. This is because the placenta of someone with diabetes ages faster than a non-diabetic woman’s. So, a person with Type 1 is ‘full term’ at 38 weeks - ie her placenta is similar to a 40 wk placenta in a non-diabetic woman.

It’s not worth the risk of going to term, in my opinion. So, I accepted the induction. My other two babies came early of their own accord so no induction was necessary.
 
Inka said:
You won’t be ‘allowed’ to reach full-term. You’ll be offered an induction around 38 weeks. This is because the placenta of someone with diabetes ages faster than a non-diabetic woman’s. So, a person with Type 1 is ‘full term’ at 38 weeks - ie her placenta is similar to a 40 wk placenta in a non-diabetic woman.

It’s not worth the risk of going to term, in my opinion. So, I accepted the induction. My other two babies came early of their own accord so no induction was necessary.
Click to expand...
Ahhh that makes so much sense. Thankyou for explaining it to me
 
mrsnnm said:
So sorry lovely, i didn't know. Thankyou
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No problem for me, so don't worry. I never wanted children and knew that from a very young age, despite having the happiest of childhoods. I love baby animals and animals in general but have no maternal instinct for human babies. Oddly, my sister and older brother felt the same, so only my other brother has family.
Doesn't mean I can't be very happy for people who do want them though! :D
 
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