It is convenient! I am happy to report that for my first day, all my numbers fell in line. Makes me feel super happy! Thank you all again for your help and support!
Thought of my GD ladies today! I had it last pregnancy but passed my 1 hour test this go around but I’m still being carb conscious because I’m terrified of a late onset case. ANYWAYS, I found these chicken tomatillo enchiladas from Costco that are pretty good! It’s a pack of 3 trays that are 40g protein and 8 carbs each! The tortillas are made of chicken, it comes out a little watery and looks a bit weird but is pretty tasty. Just thought I’d share!
You can eat half a cup of plain chocolate or vanilla ice cream. You can try the protein or carb friendly kinds but they spike blood sugars worse for some people. Plus I just really like real ice cream. It's perfectly fine and should not spike your fasting number. A little tip...if you are going to be super active outside in some heat then that's when you eat the ice cream. Your body needs more sugar/carbs when you are in the heat and active. Just make sure to only eat a half cup or small scoop.
I’m the opposite of @krysnicole1022, regular ice cream spikes my sugars so I opt for Halo Top (protein ice cream) or Yasso bars (Greek yogurt ice cream). See what works for you!
I just had a growth scan earlier and he is currently weighing 4 lbs. 7 oz. at 32 weeks — they said he’s in the 65th percentile. However, in looking at the measurements — I’m anxious to speak with my doctor on Monday because his BPD is measuring in the 89th percentile, measuring ahead by a little less than 2 weeks. Thoughts?
I will say that with my first son he was measuring 7lbs 1oz at my 33 week growth scan and he came out exactly 6 weeks later at 10 lbs 1 oz as they predicted. Nearly everyone of my friends growth scans were off. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Mine are all super long so that throws everything off.
Looking for encouragement. Started evening insulin and now need insulin with breakfast. BG sticks 4 times a day. NSTs twice a week. Keep telling myself it’s temporary and am so fortunate to have access to good care. I’m very grateful, I know it could be worse. Keeping appointments organized between MFM and OB is like it’s own job. Trying to not feel ashamed of feeling frustrated with the situation and telling myself it’s only temporary. I feel guilty for wanting this part of the pregnancy journey to just be over. The hours of tests and travel add up and working full time means now needing to spread out hours to work weekends as well (thankful to be employed). Some days all I want is a break, doesn’t help when staff says stuff like “oh just wait to see how tired you are when baby is here.” Sigh.
You're doing what you can,mama! The most important thing is keeping you and the baby healthy by whatever means necessary. Juggling the appointments is so hard and stressful. I get it! I absolutely hate when people tell me what level of tired I am. I usually get more sleep with a newborn than when I'm pregnant and so uncomfortable and exhausted from the constant monitoring and eating and every activity wears me out. GD sucks but you can do this!
Jumping in to say that I also slept better with a newborn than in those last few weeks leading up. It was broken sleep, but regular sleep, and I had way less insomnia.
Adding to this train to reiterate what the intelligent women above have already stated. GD IS HARD. Attempting to manage GD is not an easy feat, it’s a time commitment, it’s all consuming, it takes planning, research, education, and it can be a lonely numbers game. I’m 35 weeks tomorrow, I was diagnosed week 26. I have only hit my fasting number once and that’s after weeks of continual increase of Metformin and now a week of insulin which is also not strong enough. It can feel like shame and self doubt because you ARE trying and even then it’s sometimes not enough to hit your numbers every time. And also - GD food is boring, obviously I wanna penne vodka and a cheesecake for dinner. How unfair that other women are living out my dream. But it’s temporary and it does have health benefits for you and the baby and you are doing enough! Have a cry or a nap or a mani/pedi, take a deep breath and pick your head up because you’re doing great.
@july88kate one of the things that is not stressed enough in GD counseling is the importance of protein in every meal. It's kind of a pain to have to count something else but making sure you are getting between 23-30 grams of protein per meal (depending on carb count) will make a difference for most women. Just remember it's not your fault. It's your body telling you that you need some extra help. I cried and cried when I was diagnosed with my first and felt so much shame. By the second time I realized there was nothing I did to get it. I have large babies. It is not related to the GD. Every doctor and specialist I've seen believes I just have big babies because my GD is diet controlled. But because my babies are big that puts some extra strain on my body/placenta and I need some help. It's hard not to struggle but it is only temporary.
Cheesecake and Penne Vodka…sounds like post delivery celebration meal. Thank you for your kind insight and thoughts, cheering you on along your journey as well! My props to all GD moms…definition of strong women.
@mcclanna sometimes I just eat a double protein English muffin. It kind of just depends on what your body can process that early. I eat the bread because I have a half mile round trip walk to take my daughter to school and I swear the whole time. If I don't have anywhere to go I just mix it up with my eggs. You could eat plain Greek yogurt? Maybe with slivers of almonds in it? I swear after each GD baby is born I don't eat eggs for months. My son suggests cheese and toast. I also will eat a fake meat sausage patty with egg and cheese on an English muffin for a little breakfast sandwich.
@mcclanna last pregnancy I ate granola and plain greek yogurt with 1 tsp of sugar free jam for breakfast almost every day! I think I worked it out to 1/4 cup granola, 1/4 greek yogurt, and then the sugar free jam was to flavour the yoghurt (but obviously check the granola for sugar because some of them are terrible! I read all the nutrition contents to find a good one).
Then I would save my egg for lunch and ate a LOT of egg salad sandwiches on multigrain bread with carrots for lunch! Somehow the egg didn't seem so 'eggy' in a sandwich!
Hi. Long time lurker. First time poster.... Almost 35 weeks here. I have really been struggling with my evening meal numbers. I don't even understand GD at this point. I will have dinner and my numbers are high 130/140 (so I get lectures from doc which is annoying) but I will eat the exact same thing as leftovers the next day for lunch and the numbers are way better 110 range. It makes no sense. I also totally get away with 1/2 a banana in the morning and do just fine in range despite being told to avoid fruit in the AM. It's like I have to go completely carb free in the evening. I don't get it. Example: I had half a whole wheat English muffin, ham steak, eggs, and cheese with a side of asparagus and it was 139. I also had a turkey feta burger with 1/4 of whole wheat bun green beans and a tiny plumcot... It was 149. The next day for lunch it was 100. A lot of recipes for diabetics recommend 30 carbs per meal and there's no way I could get away with that. I read 32-36 weeks is the hardest to control numbers. This is so hard.
@hope42022 I totally get the frustration, I’ve been dealing with it for 10 weeks and am consistently left flabbergasted. I will say that I tend to not be able to eat as many complex carbs for breakfast or dinner as I can for lunch so I tend to stick to mostly protein and veggies (so boring). I think it partially has to do with how mobile I am around day time. In the beginning I barely had ANY carbs for dinner in order to meet my numbers but found myself to be very lethargic. I totally get not being able to eat the “recommended” 30-45g of carbs for meals, I typically stick to 20g for each meal and also for many of my snacks too.
I can’t say I have the answers, it’s just trial and error but also varies based on your activity which is annoying. Try to go with how your body feels too, I find that listening to my energy levels and hunger levels helps drive what I should/should not be eating. Bread for meals other than lunch makes me feel light headed so I know I overdid it. It’s almost over!
GD is very very frustrating and not every one responds the same which makes it incredibly hard to give advice. Lunch is by far the easiest meal for me because I'm fairly active in the middle of the day and I go for a half mile walk after and I go for a half mile walk after breakfast (school drop off/pick up). I struggle to get the right amount of carbs each meal as well. I'm just not hungry. I can only eat one type of English muffin. I can only eat one type of bread. Any other type my body can't break down. I typically avoid all bread at dinner. The other thing to remember is that if you aren't getting enough carbs your blood sugar can elevate by pulling from other sources. I don't know if your doctor recommended ketosis strips but I absolutely do. That way you can know whether or not you are getting enough carbs. I'm not a big breakfast eater so that's a real struggle for me. I try to choke down toast or make an egg scramble but I'm rarely ever actually hungry. I still have seven weeks left. 😭😭 It's really just a lot of trial and error.
There is a common misconception that GD is low carb when in reality it's more of a balanced carb diet. Other things, like high sodium content, can mess with your numbers. Not getting enough carbs in smaller meals throughout the day if you can't eat 30-45 carbs (and 14-20 grams of protein in the same meal minimum) can actually lead to higher blood sugar levels because your body compensates for the lack of "new" carbs. It's incredibly difficult to find your sweet spot. It absolutely gets trickier the later in pregnancy. I'm sorry you're going through this. I didn't get diagnosed until 29 weeks this time but I've been managing/counting/testing since the beginning of the second trimester and I AM TIRED. Good luck!!!
Thanks for the encouragement y'all. It's just so confusing. Think I finally have a hang of it and then everything is out of whack again. I'm actually dropping weight and I'm never hungry. Side effects from the anemia I'm guessing. I'm definitely more active in the morning and after lunch. By the end of the day I'm bone tired after dinner and frequently use my last bit of energy to cook a healthy meal. But even after doing 15 minutes of activity after dinner my numbers were high again. Ugh. Y'all are actually the only ones who mentioned ketosis strips. Didn't even know they were a thing till I read them on the board. The medical care here is trash. I am definitely going to look into adding more carbs in the morning and lunch... Maybe I'm lacking there causing the spikes when I have them in the evening... Also the sodium thing. I could probably cut back on that, especially in this heat! Thanks for the tips y'all.
Editing to add: trying to do more carbs in am and lunch and very little in the evening and numbers are like night and day. Very interesting.... Getting 120s throughout the day.
It's so weird they don't recommend the ketosis strips everywhere. My place did this time as did the place before. It's also a nice reminder that I am actually hitting those carb goals (most of the time) because it feels like I'm not. I would also see where you are after an hour and then two hours to see where you are at there. Sometimes if I feel my numbers are a bit high I'll eat a piece of cheese after an hour.
I also can tell a drastic difference in my numbers throughout the day if I’ve started off lower on the fasting number. This is a new phenomenon as I’m now taking 18 units of insulin and the lowest fasting number I’ve ever had was 92 (once). But I feel like it makes a world of a difference in my energy throughout the day which then trickles into the other numbers!
It’s seriously trial and error and even when you think you got it….it changes. Even trying your hardest can sometimes not be enough for your numbers to be steady and honestly, it’s ok to accept the help of modern medicine. I wish I started on insulin sooner now that I know how much better I feel!
For breakfast almost every morning I have 3/4 cup plain Greek Chobani yogurt, 1/3 cup Purely Elizabeth Pumpkin Cinnamon granola, and one heaping tablespoon of ground flaxseed. I can have up to 30g of carbs for breakfast, and this is ever so slightly under that. Sometimes I wish the breakfast was a little sweeter, but I definitely have taken comfort in the fact that it’s still tasty while being very healthy and packed with nutrition. When I want to mix it up I do half a cup of milk instead of the yogurt, but then I usually need an egg to tide me over until the finger prick and snack time.
Re: Gestational Diabetes Thread!
I absolutely hate when people tell me what level of tired I am. I usually get more sleep with a newborn than when I'm pregnant and so uncomfortable and exhausted from the constant monitoring and eating and every activity wears me out. GD sucks but you can do this!
Then I would save my egg for lunch and ate a LOT of egg salad sandwiches on multigrain bread with carrots for lunch! Somehow the egg didn't seem so 'eggy' in a sandwich!
Almost 35 weeks here. I have really been struggling with my evening meal numbers. I don't even understand GD at this point. I will have dinner and my numbers are high 130/140 (so I get lectures from doc which is annoying) but I will eat the exact same thing as leftovers the next day for lunch and the numbers are way better 110 range. It makes no sense.
I also totally get away with 1/2 a banana in the morning and do just fine in range despite being told to avoid fruit in the AM.
It's like I have to go completely carb free in the evening. I don't get it.
Example: I had half a whole wheat English muffin, ham steak, eggs, and cheese with a side of asparagus and it was 139.
I also had a turkey feta burger with 1/4 of whole wheat bun green beans and a tiny plumcot... It was 149.
The next day for lunch it was 100.
A lot of recipes for diabetics recommend 30 carbs per meal and there's no way I could get away with that. I read 32-36 weeks is the hardest to control numbers. This is so hard.
There is a common misconception that GD is low carb when in reality it's more of a balanced carb diet. Other things, like high sodium content, can mess with your numbers. Not getting enough carbs in smaller meals throughout the day if you can't eat 30-45 carbs (and 14-20 grams of protein in the same meal minimum) can actually lead to higher blood sugar levels because your body compensates for the lack of "new" carbs. It's incredibly difficult to find your sweet spot. It absolutely gets trickier the later in pregnancy. I'm sorry you're going through this. I didn't get diagnosed until 29 weeks this time but I've been managing/counting/testing since the beginning of the second trimester and I AM TIRED.
Good luck!!!
I'm actually dropping weight and I'm never hungry. Side effects from the anemia I'm guessing. I'm definitely more active in the morning and after lunch. By the end of the day I'm bone tired after dinner and frequently use my last bit of energy to cook a healthy meal. But even after doing 15 minutes of activity after dinner my numbers were high again. Ugh.
Y'all are actually the only ones who mentioned ketosis strips. Didn't even know they were a thing till I read them on the board. The medical care here is trash.
I am definitely going to look into adding more carbs in the morning and lunch... Maybe I'm lacking there causing the spikes when I have them in the evening... Also the sodium thing. I could probably cut back on that, especially in this heat!
Thanks for the tips y'all.
Editing to add: trying to do more carbs in am and lunch and very little in the evening and numbers are like night and day. Very interesting....
Getting 120s throughout the day.
I would also see where you are after an hour and then two hours to see where you are at there. Sometimes if I feel my numbers are a bit high I'll eat a piece of cheese after an hour.
It’s seriously trial and error and even when you think you got it….it changes. Even trying your hardest can sometimes not be enough for your numbers to be steady and honestly, it’s ok to accept the help of modern medicine. I wish I started on insulin sooner now that I know how much better I feel!