pregnant and type 1 diabetes

Hi Femke,

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I'm pregnant too, but with my second child, and I have diabetes. I don't know if you also have a sensor and pump. I do, and I have to say that with the sensor, my pregnancy is going better than with my first one because I only got the sensor at the end back then.

Enjoy your pregnancy, and I hope your blood sugar levels are doing well.

I’m now 9 weeks pregnant with my second. So far, it’s been better than with my first pregnancy, when I suffered really badly from hypos in the first trimestum.

Is it true that you’re induced at 38 weeks? I have to say my birth went well, but my blood sugar was very low throughout the whole delivery, so I didn’t get much out of it... That’s one thing I want to be different next time.

You get a monitoring IV drip because of your hypos, and they check your sugar often. Since I had a CGM sensor during my birth back then, it was really ideal for the nurses; they just had to look at that device and react... Except they gave me lemonade with a contraction. I can tell you one thing: there’s so much strength behind a contraction that now they still have to scrape lemonade off the wall :-)

After the birth, you need to make sure they immediately lower your pump rates. They forgot to do that with me, and then I got a really bad hypo afterwards...

It’s really like that: the baby is out, and your body reacts differently right away... And because you naturally need more insulin towards the end of pregnancy, your pump rates are incredibly high...

How long you have to stay depends on your baby... Often, those little ones get a hypo after birth because they’re so used to producing extra insulin for you towards the end... And that needs to normalize so they don’t have hypos anymore... Thyme stayed in the hospital for a total of 3 days... Of which only 1 was actually related to hypos; the other two were purely because he vomited after his bottle.

I completely understand what you mean about struggling to change your needle. I had that problem too, and now I have to insert a new sensor every 6 days, but my HbA1c has dropped to 3.8 (5.6) thanks to the sensor...

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask... I know I didn’t know what to expect either, and it’s always nice to have more people around.

Greetings, Ingenborg

Hi,
I also have type 1 diabetes and am pregnant with my second. I wasn't really paying attention and didn't prick myself that often, so I'm a bit worried about the fact that I didn't have many high readings! With my first, everything went well; I had an average of 5.2 and pricked myself every 15 minutes or so. I'm only 5 weeks along, so I'm going to be very careful now, but I still wonder if it could be harmful if I had high levels in the past few weeks! Luckily, I'm seeing my internist tomorrow, and then I'll find out how my levels are doing!

Hey!

I also have type 1 and recently stopped the pill. Now my sugar has been extremely low for a week. I'm starting to think I might already be pregnant!?? I was wondering if you all really had low sugar from day 1... The problem is I can't take a test yet, it's too early. But I'm already stressing, I've had wine and smoked...

I have type 1 too!
Last month we discussed that I'd like to stop the pill.

My HbA1c still needs to go down a bit.
First in 6 weeks, then America,
After that I need to start using insulin instead of Levemir.

It's all quite exciting.
Since I absolutely don't want a pump either.

Hey!

I also have type 1 and find it all quite scary.
I'm getting an ultrasound on Monday because they didn't see a beating heart at 6 weeks and 4 days. They think it's nothing, but I feel pregnant and don't have any bleeding. My sugar levels sometimes swing, especially when I'm at work.

Love,

Hi everyone!

So glad I found this forum!!! I got my first positive pregnancy test this morning! We've been trying for a while and I'd even had the feeling before that I was pregnant, but my own body was playing tricks on me. So I could hardly believe it was actually happening! I immediately called my diabetes nurse to share the news. I can see her on Monday afternoon, and we'll discuss the rest of the process and probably schedule an appointment with the gynecologist. I don't know exactly how far along I am yet; over the phone, my diabetes nurse said I'm probably between 4 and 5 weeks pregnant - apparently you get the first two weeks "for free" starting from the first day of your last period ;-)

It's all quite nerve-wracking; my values are good enough to get the green light, but it's still a wait-and-see how things will go with the hormones etc.
Gonna let my husband in on the news tonight...

Hi everyone.
I'm 9 weeks pregnant now.
I use Novorapid and Insulatard, no pump or anything like that.
My sugar levels are mostly quite low when I'm at work (between 3 and 4), and I feel like I might need to reduce my Insulatard dose.

Are there any other people here who only use insulin and don't have a pump?

I like to read along here. I've had type 1 diabetes since last June, and because of that, we lost our daughter after 27 weeks of pregnancy... Now I've tested positive again today, but it's quite nerve-wracking given everything that's happened. I did get the green light on my blood sugar levels, so I'm not too worried about that. Over the past few days, I've been checking once a day, hovering around 11 and otherwise doing pretty well. I have a pump and hopefully will get a sensor soon. I'm calling the diabetes clinic on Monday and am really curious how things will proceed from there. Exciting! Fingers crossed that we get a healthy baby this time

Hi everyone!

I have type 1 diabetes and we're planning to get pregnant next year. I've managed to find quite a bit of information, but unfortunately not everything. My question to you all is: did you manage to work throughout your entire pregnancy? I work at Kruidvat for 32 hours a week and don't have fixed days, so there's no set routine. Also, at Kruidvat we're never sitting still and are always busy. I'm curious to hear your responses. Tips are always welcome too!

syl, I had gestational diabetes, so "normally" I don't have diabetes. My values were extremely high during my pregnancy, often even over 15/16 at the start. I used the FlexPen insulin pens with Insulatard and Novorapid. I was able to work full-time until week 34. But my job involves a lot of stress when it's busy (traffic control), though I work at a desk. The hours are irregular – early, late, night shifts. But I don't have to stand all day, so maybe that makes a difference. I had a notebook from the diabetes nurse to keep track of my values so you know when and why they spike. Good luck with getting pregnant


Pupke, 27 weeks??
Terrible, girl. What a sadness. I can imagine this pregnancy is very stressful for you both. I don't know you, but I'm rooting for you

Type 1 diabetes since I was 7. I've been working on getting my HbA1c under control since September (it was at 58, then we had an appointment and it dropped to 54, and now I'm waiting until April! I need to get it down to 48, which converts to 6.5). Can I ask if you all talked to your endocrinologist beforehand? Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one, and that other diabetics just throw their pills away haha! Greetings and good luck with your pregnancies!!

Hi!

I’m 31 weeks pregnant and have had type 1 diabetes my whole life. How many times did you have monitoring from week 30 onwards?

Hi everyone,

I'm 25 and have been off the pill since June. In July I got my period for just one day, and normally it would last about 10 days! So that was already really weird. Now it's September and I still haven't gotten my period, and I've taken two tests, both negative! My HbA1c is currently 7.6%, which should still be quite a bit lower! I'm doing my best, but stressing about my period not coming does make it worse, right?! Has anyone experienced this before, and for how many months? And how many months before you actually got pregnant??

Cheers

Hi! I'm 33 and would really like to try getting pregnant next year. When I visited an internist, I was told that with my current values, I absolutely shouldn't get pregnant. I've been on a sensor for 3 weeks now, and I have to say that after a very depressing first week (I never stayed between my highest and lowest desired values), things are now heading in a better direction. Hopefully, my values will keep improving, and I'll get the green light in a few months to start trying. I do get a big spike after meals, though, where I go over 11. I inject 20-30 minutes before eating, but it doesn't prevent this. Does anyone have tips??

Hey everyone,

super that I found this forum. My partner and I really want to have kids, but I'm scared of everything that comes with it because of my type 1 diabetes. I'm currently well-managed (5.2%), but I definitely want to switch to a pump since that's the 'best' way to quickly respond to fluctuating blood sugar levels.

Does anyone here have experience using a pump during pregnancy? Could someone tell me more about it, especially regarding practical use (as your belly grows, is there still room for the pump?)?

Is it standard practice to induce labor at 38 weeks?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Hi Svea. Are you on Facebook? There's a group called 'Type 1 diabetes and pregnant/wanting kids/moms' where you can ask all your questions etc. It's a lot more active than this forum Good luck!

Hi, I have type 2... it's definitely not the same, right? Is it true that our baby has to spend the first day in the incubator? My next question is for the OB-GYN next time... maybe you can already give an answer now... best wishes, Stef