pregnant after 8yrs trying

[Nessy]

Hi Katie I have just joined today and have been in fear for the last week.

I have been diabetic for 22yrs and was trying for a baby for 8yrs. I accepted it wasn't going to happen.

My boyfirend left me 2 weeks ago and a week later I was found out I was pregnant. my sugars range from 20's to 3's. on an average day. Even by myself I want this baby so much and are terrified my sugar levels will already have done the damage. I am now doing everything to get them undercontol.

Don't give up hope

 

[Northerner]

Hi Nessy, welcome to the forum 🙂 I do hope that you are able to stabilise your levels - do take advantage of the experienced ladies on the forum and ask for help whenever you want. Hoping things go well for you 🙂

 

[Twitchy]

Welcome to the forum Nessy! I'm sorry to hear about your boyfriend - but I hope meeting everyone on this forum goes some way to giving you some positive support at this time. I know of people who didn't plan their pregnancy but got their control tight asap & things were ok, so please take heart from that. I know it's really easy for me to say but the odd peak sugar level high or low won't be too bad for baby - the key for both of you is to try to smooth out the roller coaster! Also getting on that 5mg folic acid dose asap will help reduce the risks too.

My Doc's advice (which worked a treat) was to try to get rid of the lows to get rid of the highs (which were often down to post hypo liver dump or over eating to correct the hypo). Do you carb count etc? I know when I was pregnant the only way I got good control was being a bit of a carb counting nutter! Being on mdi at the time I also often ended up 'eating up' to the insulin as that was the only way to get accurate carb:insulin matching Added some lbs but it worked for the duration at least! Are you seen by an endocrinologist or diabetic specialist doc? I know most hospitals / areas will have specialist teams to support diabetic mums from the earliest stages of pregnancy (which can be a right pain with hormone / sugar level swings) & will want to see you almost as soon as you know you're pregnant, so it's worth giving your doc's secretary a call to arrange an appointment.

Anyway, I'll stop teaching you to suck eggs now (sorry if you're already doing all this!)! 😱 Take care of yourself - and come on here to left off steam / ask questions any time you need to as it's a lovely supportive forum with lots of experience to offer. All the very best,

Twitchy xx

 

[Monkey]

Congratulations! Hope you're getting lots of support in these early days. It's hard work, but well worth it.

 

[Mark T]

Hope things get better for you Katie.

Trying for 8 years isn't going to be much fun - we were trying for 6 years and that is definitely not something I'd want anyone to go through.

 

[PhoebeC]

Hi Nessy and congratulations How many weeks are you? My advice if you haven't already is see your gp they sort out the folic acidand the midwife Maybe even a scan i had one at about 7 weeks just to make sure all is okay
I didn't plan but my control was okay before hand i got my hb1ac down from 7.2 to 6.4 in a few weeks but the first few months my bloody where all over it's normal i think for diabetics
My daughter is 15months now and fit as a fiddle
any questions you have fire away i lived on here when i was pregnant xx

 

[Nessy]

Twitchy

thanks for your post, trust me at this point I now need all the help I can get sucking eggs!!!

had my first antenatal appt and its like an alien world.... i'm sick of feeling scared and if nothing goes wrong I've got months of worry. I don't think I'm going to have the downs test as a single woman age 37 this may be my only chance to have a child.

Its a good job I already have grey hair, because this journey would have sent me grey.... I have another 2 appt tomorrow to talk about the pump and the fact I'm having stabbing sensations (not pain) on my right side. fingers crossed they can put my mind at rest for a while.

Nessy

Welcome to the forum Nessy! I'm sorry to hear about your boyfriend - but I hope meeting everyone on this forum goes some way to giving you some positive support at this time. I know of people who didn't plan their pregnancy but got their control tight asap & things were ok, so please take heart from that. I know it's really easy for me to say but the odd peak sugar level high or low won't be too bad for baby - the key for both of you is to try to smooth out the roller coaster! Also getting on that 5mg folic acid dose asap will help reduce the risks too.

My Doc's advice (which worked a treat) was to try to get rid of the lows to get rid of the highs (which were often down to post hypo liver dump or over eating to correct the hypo). Do you carb count etc? I know when I was pregnant the only way I got good control was being a bit of a carb counting nutter! Being on mdi at the time I also often ended up 'eating up' to the insulin as that was the only way to get accurate carb:insulin matching Added some lbs but it worked for the duration at least! Are you seen by an endocrinologist or diabetic specialist doc? I know most hospitals / areas will have specialist teams to support diabetic mums from the earliest stages of pregnancy (which can be a right pain with hormone / sugar level swings) & will want to see you almost as soon as you know you're pregnant, so it's worth giving your doc's secretary a call to arrange an appointment.

Anyway, I'll stop teaching you to suck eggs now (sorry if you're already doing all this!)! 😱 Take care of yourself - and come on here to left off steam / ask questions any time you need to as it's a lovely supportive forum with lots of experience to offer. All the very best,

Twitchy xx

 

[novorapidboi26]

Welcome aboard..............

Congratulations on the baby, hopefully you and your boyfriend can work things out.......

its good your trying to regain control.........as many of the mothers here will agree, its vital you get the numbers better.......


Good luck........

 

[Medusa]

Hi nessy, sorry to hear of your split but congrats on your baby news. it is important you get your sugars right, the diabetic team should be able to help you with that, just to say though i am a single mum and went through my last pregnancy alone with no partner and type one diabetes, so you are not alone in the situation, hugs

 

[PhoebeC]

Hi nessy, sorry to hear of your split but congrats on your baby news. it is important you get your sugars right, the diabetic team should be able to help you with that, just to say though i am a single mum and went through my last pregnancy alone with no partner and type one diabetes, so you are not alone in the situation, hugs

How do you people do it?

You amaze me 🙂

Single parents rock!!

 

[topcat123]

hi and welcome to the fourum sorry to hear about your run of luck with your boyfriend tho i am pleased to hear about your forthcomming event.

i am unable to offer advice but you will find plenty of advice and support no questions are daft or silly.

good luck

 

[beckyp]

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I'm also very sorry to read about your boyfriend. Do you have family close by to help you through? A break-up is hard on your emotions...pregnancy hormones on top of that.....jeez I can only imagine!

This forum is fantastic. I'm not living in the UK anymore but with my first pregnancy I lived on here and all my questions got answered and all my fears were put to bed - these people are stars! My advice is to get to the doc, get some folic acid (you need the big dose), he/she will register you with a midwife and you may get an early dating scan too which will put your mind at ease. Expect to get scans at 12, 20, 32, 34 and 36 weeks.

I found that I started setting alarms in the night to test myself (it's good practice for when baby arrives but exhausting all the same). It was a good way of spotting trends. Write down your levels - I was testing at least 10 times a day and there's no way that you can remember them all let along spot the signs that you need to adjust insulin. Your fingers are shot to bits by the end of pregnancy....it's worth it. I'm not the best tester but pregnancy is a good time to turn a leaf - if only for a short time - what's 9 months in the grand scheme of things? The other thing that I did was write a food diary with my insulin intake and sugar levels included. My DSN always found trends depending on what I was eating because I don't carb count - I'm more of a guestimate kinda gal!

Are you on a pump? Perhaps it's worth asking your DSN if you're in a position to get one for pregnancy to help with your control. How many weeks are you now?

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy. 🙂