I was diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance, prior to falling pregnant with #1, and put on the maximum dose of metformin daily. It took us such a long time to fall pregnant, anyone who has experience with PCOS I'm sure you can empathise. When I finally fell pregnant, very early on I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (not uncommon for women with PCOS apparently). I'm currently 28 weeks and have been able to control my sugar levels up until a couple of weeks ago. I am now injecting insulin- 5 units at lunch and 4 with dinner. I feel like I'm failing my unborn child with increasing high readings and I'm so scared I'm harming her. I know part of it is hormonal changes but I can't help blaming myself.
My question has a few parts:
- how much insulin did others end up on by the end of their pregnancy?
- did you have complications with birthing a GD bub?
- any complications with bub after birth?
- any further advice?
Thanks,
a-worried-mum-to-be.
2 Replies
I have GD with both my babies and although I just scrapped through managing readings without insulin, I got close both times to needing it.
The further along you get, the harder it is to maintain. Your Ob might suggest induction earlier depending on how hard it does get towards the end. They will help you manage things so don’t feel like you’re alone in this. By 37 weeks, they usually toss up if baby is safer inside or would be better off coming early.
Most babies don’t have any complications afterwards besides possibly a few low readings which can be fixed with lots of colostrum. Have you looked into expressing some colostrum toward the end of your pregnancy (providing you check with your health care team) so that you have a stock pile waiting. I did so with my second and it was very helpful.
Omg don’t feel like a failure! These things just happen and you are already an amazing mum because you’re doing all that you can to ensure you birth a healthy baby by taking your insulin and watching what you eat.
I had GD with both my bubs, I can’t really remember the dosage but I was using needles both times towards the end from about 30 weeks and they were normal dosages, nothing the dr was concerned about anyway and I made sure I saw the dr often and kept a record of my levels and what I ate.
I had a healthy normal birth with slight tear both times, they were both induced around 38 weeks to ensure they weren’t too big and that I didn’t have to risk a cesarean. No major complications. Just follow the specialist’s instructions and find a support group via the NDS (I think that was the acronym) and you’ll be fine! You’re doing great!