Hi Mama's with Gestational Diabetes!
I was just diagnosed last week. We,
@CecilB93 and I, wanted to start a thread where we can ask questions, support each other, and share GD approved recipes/foods! It's not a fun thing to get diagnosed with but we can get through it together!
Re: Gestational Diabetes
And yea, I feel like my numbers are super strict, it kind of pisses me off how strict they are honestly. For my fasting number, I was told somewhere between 8-10 hours. My OB literally told me, "you should be eating your snack between 10 and midnight" since I wake up between 6-6:45 depending on the day. Umm...seriously dude?? I'm pregnant, which means I'm tired. I was told "after 10 hours the body goes into starvation mode and raises your blood sugar" by the dietician I saw for the education. I'm bad and make sure I take my fasting number during that time frame, but then breakfast is still usually more than 10 hours later...
DS2 due 12/12/18
I was thinking eventually we could share recipes on this thread! I've had to come up with creative ways to get my pizza and pasta fix since those make my numbers too high (per my doctors ranges...), so I've got a couple good ones!
DS2 due 12/12/18
Also, I don't know if you're craving sweets but my diabetes educator suggested Yasso Greek yogurt bars. While you can tell it's not full blown ice cream, they are hitting the spot when I need my sweets at night and they only have 16 carbs!
I haven't tried cauliflower crust pizza, but I do make one that's cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, almond flour, egg, and seasoning, I never have an issue with it!
DS2 due 12/12/18
That pizza sounds amazing! Pizza is my weakness. I have found that I can have a slice of normal pizza paired with veggies but I'd love to be able to have two slices if possible haha!
DS2 due 12/12/18
I second the carb smart ice cream!!
DS2 due 12/12/18
@CecilB93 I would love to be able to have three slices of pizza! Would you be able to share that recipe with me?
https://www.recipe-diaries.com/2017/02/19/fat-head-pizza-crust/
DS2 due 12/12/18
I found this channel, where you guys are taking it more relax and made me feel better.
I'm waiting to schedule the 3h Test; let's see what comes out of it...
I don’t remember what I ate last time but We are all in this together, right?! I’m going to look for my food journal tonight.
@rcultrona ooooh! I love traders! I'll have to give that a try. My diabetes educator also suggested adding zucchini spaghetti in with regular spaghetti so that I get enough food and still get the pasta feel so I'm going to try that!
@LLynde5 Yay, I can't wait to see what ideas you have in your food journal! I'm sorry about having to do the test again later in your pregnancy. The test is so brutal.
@karfatish it's super overwhelming at first! Especially if you're like me and don't have anyone in your family or close friends that's diabetic. Like @mamajudec2018, my diabetes educator and dietician meeting was a big relief. Even still though, I get worked up some days about it all, but in the beginning before I got educated I would break down and cry daily. Today I met with a different nurse educator for instruction on how to administer the insulin since I'll be going on that now (not everyone gets here though!! So don't freak out too much about insulin!), and omg she was great!! Super comforting, great at explaining things, very kind in general. I seriously felt so good after leaving my meeting with her, and the only new things I learned from her was administering the insulin, but she just made me feel good lol. FX that you pass the 3 hour though!!
DS2 due 12/12/18
One slice of low low carb bread with natural peanut butter. And a hard boiled egg.
Steel cut oats flavored with peanut butter again. (This only lasted a few weeks before taking it out of rotation)
Omlets of all kinds, mostly veggie and cheese based. (I hate eggs when I am pregnant but was really the only thing that resulted in good numbers)
Greek yogurt was a go to for a long time too and then my body started to reject it
I could not eat fruit ever in the morning, but then could one small serving with morning snack or lunch.
Snacks: hummus with celery, Almonds, small serving of fruit with cheese, veggie patty, carrots with ranch (small serving. Too many carrots might as well have been fruit)
Lunches I was so boring. Salad, salad, salad. Usually chicken or sometimes tuna.
Dinner was my favorite, 1. because my hubby is a good cook and 2. It was followed by some carb smart. Not kidding ate carb smart ice cream almost every night and the later at night the better my fasting number.
Favorite meals were burgers and
tacos served in lettuce or my hubby’s knock off Cheesecake Factory lettuce wraps. Spaghetti squash with meatballs. (Low sugar sauce was an issue, and I didnt write what brand) Stir fry with udon noodles. Turkey sliders on thick cut pickles with whole grain mustard and tomato. (I could eat as many sliders as i wanted)
I love salmon, looks like I had it pretty much weekly. And it appears sweet potatoes were a big thing for me in the beginning but then stopped do to increased readings. All meals were heavy with veggies.
Side Bar: as my pregnancy progressed my sugar creeped higher and higher, didn’t really matter what I ate. The only way to keep the numbers in range was to walk after every meal at the end. If I didn’t I was high. I was boaderline for insulin at the end.
In regards to experimenting though with what works and what doesn't (because yes, I'm still trying to figure this out lol), I'm shocked by some things. There's this roast I make, that is actually fairly low carb (less that 15g I think) and I usually eat it with one slice of wheat bread, and that puts me over (by just a few points, but still...) or I went to Smokehouse and had pulled pork with BBQ sauce and a few fries, and that put me way over. But then, things like Chick Fil A (grilled nuggets and fries with CFA sauce), home made tots with shredded beef and BBQ sauce, and Dickey's BBQ don't put me over. It almost feels like my body can't decide if it wants to be diabetic or not lol. I was shocked the tots and shredded BBQ beef didn't put me over last night, truly shocked. But, I was happy!! Lol.
DS2 due 12/12/18
It’s normal for foods to react differently on different days if you are active. So say you went shopping and you didn’t realize you walked as much as you did, had BBQ and your number was good. You put that meal on the approved list. The following week you had a lazy Sunday and topped it off with BBQ and it was the worst numbers you ever had. That’s totally normal.
My Endo swore I would be type 2 the whole time. I am a little over weight and had a family history. However, after DD was born I ate chocolate none stop because your body gives you a little break after the added stress of the baby is gone. They tested a1c three or four months later and it was perfect. My advice would be don’t think that far ahead yet.
For this pregnancy, my a1c was on the higher side of the normal range at 8 weeks. Four weeks later I failed the one hour. I am not surprised but kinda disappointed because I know how to control the numbers and I haven’t been doing as good as I could. I’ve been very sick and carbs were life to get me through:(
My high risk OB had me do an A1C a couple weeks ago and I passed well within normal range, so that made me feel a little less worried about being Type 2 since the test was done late enough that it was basically the whole first part of my pregnancy and not before that it tested.
DS2 due 12/12/18
@CecilB93 I had my DD in Wheeling, WV and it was their hospitals policy to see the endocrinologist on top of your OB. My guess is if it was necessary your OB would have already referred you. It was a huge pain in the ass, they were bi-weekly and then weekly appointments too. Plus I had three NST a week for the last 10 weeks.
knottie, welcome to the board! I'm so sorry you're GD, it definitely sucks, but it does get easier with time! Once you see your Diabetes educator you'll feel a lot more at ease, but for now just be mindful of your carb intake. You don't have to completely cut carbs, just minimize. Also, if you plan to stick around be sure to sign in to The Knot and change your screen name so we can recognize and tag you better! It's just hard with how many "knottie(letters and numbers)" come through here.
DS2 due 12/12/18
DS2 due 12/12/18
Also, I'm now amazed at how much physical activity can help. I ate a burger and fries for lunch yesterday knowing I'd go over about 9 points or so. After lunch DH and I worked on cleaning out our basement which require some moving some heavy things. My reading was only 107 after!! I was thrilled that it was a guilt free meal!
DS2 due 12/12/18
DS2 due 12/12/18
I’m 16w 5d today and was diagnosed with GD almost 6 weeks ago at 10w 6d. About 1.5 weeks ago I started doing insulin at bedtime.
The only way i can manage my numbers is by doing some sort of exercise after every single meal. Dinners are usually the toughest as by the time I’m done with dinner I’m very tired and don’t feel like getting up from the sofa. But if I don’t do much the numbers are much higher. Though sometimes I do a lot and the number is still high. Which is very frustrating.
@CecilB93 I totally understand your frustration. Sometimes the exact same meals will give me a totally different number.
I also think that if I wait longer for a meal without a snack, my number is higher.
Hysteroscopy: 2013
IUI #1-2: 2013 BFN
Surgery 10/2015: Planned to start trying again but had a surgery. (Not related to fertility)
Surgery 5/2016: Planned to start trying again but had another surgery. (Not related to fertility)
IUI #3-5 (with Clomid): summer 2016 BFN
IVF #1: 11/2016. 30R; 21M; 20F; 8B (6 day5 & 2 day6); 4 normal after PGS
Medicated FET #1: 1/31/2017 transferred 1 embryo 3AA. BFP. Embryo stopped growing at 6w 1d. MUA at 9w 3d.
Medicated FET #2: June 2017 - cancelled...
Hysteroscopy #2: June 2017
Medicated FET #2: 8/7/2017 transferred 1 embryo 5BB. BFP. Ended in CP.
Medicated FET #3: 10/11/2017 transferred 1 embryo 3AA. BFN
ERA: December 2017 - need an extra 12 hours of PIO
Medicated FET #4: 1/24/2018 transferred 1 embryo 4AA. BFN
Out of embryos.
IVF #2: 03/2018.
@CecilB93 don’t beat yourself up. It’s going to happen from time to time. I would try the meal one more time before you write it off, if it’s one of your favorites. Or maybe cut your portion a little if that’s possible?
@prudence9-2 welcome to the board! Sorry you'll be joining us on this thread though. I just recently started insulin at bedtime myself. It's been mostly helping for me, so hopefully it's working for you, too! It can be frustrating as you're figuring it out, I'm still figuring it out myself honestly. Any particular meals you enjoy that are worse for your numbers? I've found a couple good substitute meals! I know I shared a link for a pizza crust up a few comments, if that's something you don't want to give up (like me...) definitely try that recipe!
DS2 due 12/12/18
Basically, I can’t eat anything that I was craving in the weeks before I found out: pizza, pasta, potatoes and ice cream...
so I will def look up the pizza crust recipe that you posted! Just the thought of pizza.
Hysteroscopy: 2013
IUI #1-2: 2013 BFN
Surgery 10/2015: Planned to start trying again but had a surgery. (Not related to fertility)
Surgery 5/2016: Planned to start trying again but had another surgery. (Not related to fertility)
IUI #3-5 (with Clomid): summer 2016 BFN
IVF #1: 11/2016. 30R; 21M; 20F; 8B (6 day5 & 2 day6); 4 normal after PGS
Medicated FET #1: 1/31/2017 transferred 1 embryo 3AA. BFP. Embryo stopped growing at 6w 1d. MUA at 9w 3d.
Medicated FET #2: June 2017 - cancelled...
Hysteroscopy #2: June 2017
Medicated FET #2: 8/7/2017 transferred 1 embryo 5BB. BFP. Ended in CP.
Medicated FET #3: 10/11/2017 transferred 1 embryo 3AA. BFN
ERA: December 2017 - need an extra 12 hours of PIO
Medicated FET #4: 1/24/2018 transferred 1 embryo 4AA. BFN
Out of embryos.
IVF #2: 03/2018.
@prudence9-2 Welcome to the thread! GD is rough but we do what we have to to hold our sweet munchkins!
I've actually felt like my numbers don't sky rocket too easily. I have a burrito bowl at Chipotle for lunch today with brown rice and black beans and my numbers were only in the 130's (I only have to stay below 140.) But milk is my nemesis which is annoying since baby needs calcium. I've been eating lots of yogurt to try and make up for it. I did make pasta last night but what I did was make ground turkey, whole wheat noodles, and tomato sauce. But I also sauteed 3 zucchinis that I peeled into noodles and so I made exactly 8 servings. It was yummy and I got my pasta kick!
This is unrelated to GD for the most part. But I feel so frustrated because we work so hard to be careful about what we eat and watch our numbers and all I want is a bump. Instead, I have what I'm calling a flump, flubber bump. Stomach is sticking out and you can feel my uterus but instead of a cute bump it's like flubber below my belly button. Sorry needed to complain. I just tried on cute maternity clothes and I know I can't get them because it's not a normal bump.
For pasta we typically do spaghetti squash. I tried zucchini noodles and just did not like them, but I can do the squash. Usually with red meat sauce, but I just tried this recipe (https://www.eatwell101.com/roasted-spaghetti-squash-recipe) and it wasn't bad. We didn't do enough sauce since I think I bought too much squash in comparison, but more sauce and tweaking the seasonings (per mine and DHs tastes at least) and I'm really going to like this dish!
@mamajudec2018 yay! Glad you liked the pizza! It's not the same as regular crust (I like the fluffy hand tossed usually) but definitely works! And I'm feeling you on the bump, or lack there of. I was technically in the overweight category when I got pregnant, so idk when I'll truly feel like I have a baby bump. But, at the same time I've lost quite a few pounds since being on this new diet, yet my waist hasn't gone down. And I can definitely feel my uterus pushing up and out, so I'm just about ready to embrace it as a baby bump lol.
DS2 due 12/12/18