1st Trimester
spraglin85
member
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Gestational Diabetes
spraglin85
member
My doctor didn't officially say I had it but based on my 3hr glucola test said we should start treating me as such. I got my kit yesterday and did my first official test this morning when I woke.My number was under the recommended so i was happy. The kit is so annoying though. Poke number two was after breakfast . The stupid meter kept giving off an error message which meant I didn't have enough blood on it fast enough. It took me 5 pokes and strips for my reading to come out high . For breakfast I had honey bunches of oats with 2%milk. That was very discouraging cause I just dont know what Im ever gonna eat that I like . For lunch 2 hours later I had a homemade burrito, cheese,ground beef,refried beans, in a whole wheat tortilla wrap. My blood sugar was even lower than when I first woke up. It took me another 5 pokes to get that reading too. Its my first day and im trying to not be too discouraged but this is so hard. Anyone been thru this before ? Any tips?
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Re: Gestational Diabetes
Diabetes runs heavily in my family. Two of my sisters have it. So is the problem that your blood sugars are running too low or too high? Unless your blood sugars in in the 30's, I wouldn't worry about them being too low. If they are too high, stay away from carbs! Carbs carry a lot of sugar and are one of the main factors in keeping your blood sugar high.
I am a type 1 diabetic....diabetic all the time. What type of meter are you using? The one I have takes a very small sample of blood.
Sorry you have to deal with this. I bet its very confusing and frustrating. I am stressed out about blood sugar right now also. My blood sugar does much better on the days that eat low carb meals. Stuff like sausage, eggs, cheese, tomato, veggies, lean meat and sugar free jello are good. Sugar free jello will not affect your blood sugar at all and it is a wonderful dessert. You can even put a little sugar free whipped cream on top. As for the homemade burrito....beans are healthy...but sometimes high in carbs. Flour tortillas are high in carbs too.
Good luck! You will become a pro at poking your fingers in no time.
I was insulin dependent with my last baby, and I started checking my numbers last week. I was so shocked my numbers were already pretty high. I started my GD diet, and my fast and my 1hr after breakfast ones are high every morning. The rest of the day they're ok.
For breakfast I have some kind of egg and toast, or peanut butter on some kind of bread. I try to eat less but my numbers don't come down. Last time I didn't start till 28 weeks, so this stinks!
good luck!
You absolutely can NOT stay away from carbs when you are pregnant. Very dangerous for baby, the baby needs carbs to grow. Also, "too high" and "too low" are going to be different numbers for a pregnant woman.
OP, have you seen a dietician yet? They will give you an eating plan and number range to stay under. I get 15-30 carbs for breakfast and snacks and 45-60 carbs for lunch and dinner. It's actually a decent amount! I use calorieking.com for foods that don't have nutrition facts and most major restaurants publish their nutrition facts online. I am supposed to be under 90 for fasting and under 140 for 1 hour post meals.
The pokes were so hard for me at first and I got quickly discouraged. But I learned some technique and now I don't have an issue. So here are my tips:
1) Wash your hands in warm water, the warm water gets the blood into your hands. Dry well.
2) Hold your finger tips down, shake your hand a little and rub from the base of your finger to the tip to get the blood to your fingertip better.
3) Poke the side of your fingertips, not the tip itself, much less painful. A lot of times I don't even feel it.
4) People will tell you to alternate fingers each time, but I found my ring fingers bled the easiest, so that's what I use.
5)Once you poke, you have to "milk" the blood out a little by squeezing the sides. I keep a tissue/napkin near by and wipe off the first drop and squeeze out a second drop, gives a more accurate read.
This is a tough diagnosis to get in 1st trimester. I was diagnosed at 8 weeks. After 10 weeks on the diet and checking 4x a day, my numbers were all in range, even when I ate above my carbs and so my doctor let me go down to half as many pokes, so now I just check fasting and 1 post meal a day, rather than all 3 post meals.
I still eat pretty much everything I did before, I've just learned to combine protein with carbs so I don't get a spike in my sugar. I didn't switch to all whole wheat products, I don't care for the taste of them and they didn't make any noticeable difference in my sugars.
Above all- don't let yourself get hungry. You are pregnant, you are going to be hungry and you need to eat, for you and for the baby.
Feel free to PM me if you want to chat or need ideas for snacks,meals, etc. Also consider posting on the High Risk board, those ladies have tons of useful advice and are a good support system.
Im on day 4 of my testing and it has gotten easier. I took a lot of your tips, so again thanks so much. I realized to that i was trying to squeeze the blood which did nothing but when I push upwards it came out alot faster which helped me get onto test strip easier . The doctor said they offer coaching but that she wanted me to try to make better choices on my own first. I go back next friday to get a ultrasound and she also said to bring my blood sugar diary so we could go over it. Im actually doing pretty well, Ive only had 2 high numbers. I honestly dont think I even need to be doing this but we will see as time progresses.
When I was trying to get pregnant , i have pcos and it took some work, I was going to another doc. I went in and took pregnancy test and then they scheduled me for an appt almost a month later. I switched docs and ive now had 2 ultrasounds ,a ton of bloodwork, and gd. I would have been way behind on everything if I hadnt switched.