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I had it with my 4th child, who is now almost 6. I never had to do insulin at all, just had to follow my meal plan and make sure I got out and about after I ate and my numbers were always just fine.
I have a friend who was diagnosed with it. I don't remember much about what happened, except the child was normal and she had her tubes tied after the baby was born. I do however remember how she got diagnosed. She dropped like she'd been shot while we were walking out of a restaurant after a concert and a dinner out. She fell, face down...went over like a toppled ninepin, broke her nose and had a split lip out of it along with a hefty bill for the ambulance. Scared the stuffing right out of me and everybody else who was there. Her husband about had a coronary, and, quite honestly, we all thought the worst.
I had GD with my daughter and had to take insulin shots. It was a pain and I had to shoot myself in the stomach. It was a difficult pregnancy all around. It's very important to follow the Dr's instructions, the diet and the insulin requirements. Women with GD have a risk of premature labor.
My wife had it with all of our kids. She was able to control it with diet so she avoided the shots. I suggest looking for a diabetic cook book and trying some of the meals before your next appt. It didn't get her back to normal, but it did reduce her down to the low borderline category.
One thing I learned was that during pregnancy while the body makes so many changes to accomodate that pregnancy, one of those side effects that occurs is the making of insulin and/or the effectiveness of the insulin. So it's not necessarily your eating habits that are the problem, but instead how your body is working regarding insulin.
In my case, my body produced insulin but was ineffective in using it effeciently. We found that having a specific meal plan tailored to my specific needs worked just fine. Due to my personal schedule it was some major adjustments to ME. haha
I am not a breakfast person, much less an early morning person and I operate on a later schedule in general. So, where the nutritionist wanted me to eat at 6 AM...it simply wasn't going to happen!
Having said that, in general I had to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day in order to keep the balance going. I had specific amounts of carbs/protein/fat for each time. I ate far more food following that plan than I normally would have, however it was the types of food, and when, I had to eat that kept my GD in check.
For instance, I had to eat a carb/protein combo before bed in order to keep my levels balanced during the night and it took a few days to find out what worked the best. I ended up eating a banana and cheese before bed. Normally I wouldn't have had a bedtime snack at all, much less that combo, however I HAD to have it or my morning level was way too low.
I had to learn that I couldn't eat a Whataburger with fries without it shooting my level higher than they wanted, but a Sonic burger and fries didn't do that. Odd, but true. haha
Eating sweet or sweetened things had no effect on my numbers, but eating less protein did. The longer lasting effects of protein was the key to my specific results, along with exercise of some sort right after eating.
Of course, if meal plan and exercise hadn't done it's job right, I would have been looking at the next step as well.
My son was 6 lbs 15 oz, so no huge baby. He came 3 weeks early, as did ALL 4 of my kids, so nothing unusual. He had no sugar level issues after birth and neither did I.
I'm thankful for all of that.
I had it with my second son. Actually, after I had my first- they thought I did have GD and it just went diagnosed. I had went from 95 pounds to 168!!! My first son was 10lbs 12oz!! Anyway, at first we tried the meal plan. And I loved (sarcasm) having to do the four daily finger pricks and test my blood! Well, after a bit, the meal wasn't working. I had to start the needles. I had to inject myself in my leg. No big deal, until I had to leave to go do it during work!!!!!!!! Before I was diagnosed I was starting to gain a lot of weight. Once diagnosed and on the special diet it was managed a bit better. I was 117 when I got pregnant and went up to 173! My second was 9lbs 6 oz.
I know with GD they say you can have big babies, they can have jaundice, etc. Well - I've had it before and my kids were just a lil over 6lbs.
I told my Doctor if I need to take pills (they start you on them first) Lets do it, but she wants to see what they other Doctor Says, since I was diagnosed so early. I'm High Risk, not only because of the GD....
Sometimes Diet alone doesn't work and I have been following mine - exercising as best as I can...
If diabetes runs in your family you know it is not something to mess with. I had GD with pregnancy and gave birth to 6lb 12 oz boy almost 7 weeks early. No telling how much he would have weighed if I had gone full term. He had to be under bilirubin light but was otherwise healthy.
Nursing for 2 years helped me lose the 55 lbs I gained.
Years later i became type 1 diabetic thru serious illness and not related to GD. But we are all told GD can and usually leads to type 2 in most moms.
I wear insulin pump and it isn't that bad but the minute you start taking insulin you will find it harder to maintain a healthy weight. At least that is how it works for me and most of my diabetic friends.
Good luck
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