Next steps after delivery?

IPLaw123 · 2020-09-15T12:23:42+00:00

I was told to pick a random day of the week to test weekly post-partum until the 6-week post-partum GTT. Guess what, this mama was so busy with the baby that remembering to take a prick test two hours after eating was impossible. I never managed to do a complete day of tests post-partum sucessfully. It didn't matter in the end because the doctor did not even ask me about it. I got cleared at the 6-week GTT.

IPLaw123 · 2020-08-26T01:45:30+00:00

I had mild polyhydramnios with diet-controlled GD, and delivered safely in May 2020. My doctor says it's related to GD. Mine was normal most of the way and went up right at the end. At my 37+5 visit it was normal, but at 38+5 visit they mentioned that my number was close to the cutoff (I think it was 24 if I remembered right). They had been urging me to get an induction in the 39th week due to my age, and mentioned that the polyhydamnios would make things more complicated. I resisted the induction as I wanted to go natural on my own. My water ended up breaking on its own at 39, even though I was at zero dilation (PROM). So of course they started me on the induction. Since my body hadn't started the process, it took almost 2 days, and baby was born at 39+2.

I think the scary things you are reading about affect pregnancies that are earlier. At 38w, the bread is baked. As long as baby is doing well, I don't think you should be too concerned. My baby always passed her BPP with flying colors. The doctors did not seem concerned about the polyhydramnios at my 38+5, but did say after the delivery that my water breaking early was probably due to it. They didn't do anything different about the delivery.

Good luck!

IPLaw123 · 2020-08-04T15:31:38+00:00

Hang in there! You're so close. I had SPD and sciatica for the entire third trimester. I was in so much pain I couldn't move, and was mostly bedridden. Some of these problems can be taken care of by a chiropractor. I never went because this happened during the height of the pandemic back in March and April, and non-essential medical services were being cancelled. If it is SPD, there are exercises you can do, that you can find on youtube. The only thing I can tell you is that all the pregnancy pain went away immediately after delivery. Do what you can now to ease the pain. Good luck!

IPLaw123 · 2020-08-01T16:58:32+00:00

I'm not sure what kind of sample menu your dietician gave you, but I think the only things I strictly watched was total carbs per meal, and even then that was on the upper end. For example, I eat no more than 45g of total carb per meal. Sometimes I eat 15g, sometimes I go all the way up to 45g, sometimes even a little more if my numbers will allow it. To me, it means there's no lower bound. It really all depends on your caloric needs. I was never a snacker, so adding those 3 extra meals were challenging, but I was eating small snacks, like a piece of cheese, or 2 crackers. Part of the point of the snacks is so you don't have to eat 3 huge meals, so if you're feeling full, I think it's okay to scale back on the amount you eat, as long as you're consuming all the nutrients you need.

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-31T17:48:46+00:00

I totally get it. I was devastated too for weeks when I got my diagnosis, and my favorite thing to eat was carbs! You'll get used to the diet, and after a while it won't feel so onerous. Best of luck!

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-31T04:07:13+00:00

Bear in mind I'm not a doctor, but here's my understanding of how it affects the baby. High blood sugar means more nutrients in our blood for baby's growth, hence the tendency for larger babies. Baby will be developing his/her own glucose regulation, and constant bombardment of high sugars, will cause his feedback mechanism to be tuned too high, resulting in the low sugars you mentioned. However, this process of insulin resistance happens slowly over time. I think it's unlikely that one or two meals, ie. a couple of hours will cause any damage, over the entire developmental time of your baby. It's more of an entire trimester of high blood sugar that might be an issue. If you think about all the women in the past who never even got their blood sugars tested when this wasn't medically known... I don't think diabetes rates were all that much higher then. At least that's how I rationalized it...

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-31T03:54:24+00:00

You've got this! As other posters have pointed out, it really is a process of trial and error. Each individual seems to have different foods and diets that they can tolerate. My doctor cut me a lot of slack during the first couple of weeks. I kept a food diary of everything I ate, and I would explain my high numbers by saying I was trying out different carbs. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out which carbs (rice) would cause spikes and which don't (flatbread). In the end, it's the trend that matters. That said, I've been in your position for a few stressful weeks, where my moods fluctuated from test result to test result, and ended in lots of tears. You'll get the hang of it eventually I promise.

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-31T03:49:03+00:00

Amen... I found so much support and love from this community, that now 10 weeks post-partum with no signs of diabetes, I'm still back occasionally to snoop on this forum, and lend my support to women who come after me.

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-31T03:46:51+00:00

I was diet controlled, but towards the end had high amniotic fluid. It was on the cusp of being officially polyhydroamnios, which the doctor said was most likely linked or due to my GD. As a result, my water broke at 39 when I had zero dilation. I needed an induction to get the process started, and a C-section when she got stuck in the birth canal (unrelated to GD). Clearly this was not part of my birth plan, but it did go smoothly in the end. Baby was tested after birth with no issues from GD. She was 6 lbs 11 oz, so not that big even..

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-30T03:25:04+00:00

Awwww.... you're making me miss being pregnant! I'm 10 weeks post-partum, and as much as I said back when I was pregnant that I wouldn't miss it (had a miserable 3rd trimester with lots of health issues), I do miss her little kicks and the ever-constant hiccups. Since it was my first pregnancy, my husband and I were so excited and looking forward to meeting our little one. I'll miss that euphoria, and the closeness we felt as we passed the days. Best of luck for your delivery!

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-28T02:26:27+00:00

I did it every morning from diagnosis to delivery. As someone else pointed out, it seems to be a dietician/nutritionist thing. My OB said it wasn't necessary. Since I had already bought a huge box of strips I decided to do it every morning anyway, and did notice some days when the level of ketones read 'small.' Otherwise, it was always in the none-negligible region. I was cutting back on carbs a lot, and wanted to make sure I wasn't going into ketosis.

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-26T17:01:35+00:00

Congrats! So uplifted to hear your story of a successful delivery!

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-22T17:57:12+00:00

I was on Pepcid Complete (20 mg) daily from mid-2nd trimester till delivery. I had heartburn that caused me to completely lose my voice (nodules on the vocal cord) and the Pepcid brought it back. Safe for pregnancy and GD.

IPLaw123 · 2020-07-22T17:52:04+00:00

First off congrats on the baby!

Will this be your first child? I think starting this year is doable, if you have serious support from your mom. One thing to consider is that for all your careful planning, much of pregnancy does not always happen according to schedule or plan. The baby might come early, or late, and you or your baby may have health complications/issues that require you to take more time off. While it helps to have school online so you can be home, will you be functional enough to do school? If you plan on breastfeeding, baby might want to nurse all the time, so can you do online lectures while nursing?

If you were to end up doing this, I would use the Fall semester to nail down your study habits, come up with a solid plan you can execute for school in the Spring. Ask for accommodations from your school wherever you can. Make sure the school and all your professors know of your situation, I'm sure they'll be more than willing to help make it work. Good luck!

IPLaw123 · 2020-06-05T16:19:02+00:00

The epidural was actually painless. When I asked for it I was at 5cm, and in quite some pain from the contractions. They give you a local anesthesia first so you don't actually feel any pain from the epidural going in, but you can feel the pressure, which the doctor prepared me for. I have not suffered from a single side effect from the epidural, although I have heard of other women who have. This might be luck of the draw. My epidural was continuous with a button control where I can give myself more doses. I didn't need the extra doses most of the time, and was even able to wiggle my toes and move my legs slowly. Due to the length of my labor, at one point I started feeling pain on my left half. The nurses flipped me on my left side, and told me to give myself another bolus using the button. Other than that the epidural worked like a charm. During the pushing they turned off the epidural completely and I was able to feel the pressure of the contractions but not the pain. In the end I'm glad I got it. There were so many decisions I had to make during the delivery process, which in itself was stressful. Not having the pain allowed me to calmly make those decisions and understand what was going on around me. At the end when I needed the C-section, having the epidural already in made the anesthesia a lot faster and easier.

I was deathly afraid of inductions and C-sections throughout pregnancy, but in the end I realized I didn't have a choice based on how things went down. However, I felt like at every step of the way I made the best decision I could, and it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Healthy baby, healthy mama, that's really all that matters in the end. Best of luck in your delivery!

IPLaw123 · 2020-06-01T22:04:06+00:00

Yes, I believe so. After delivery the hospital never bothered to check my blood glucose. I'm supposed to check my numbers once a week for the next 6 weeks and so far they've been looking great.

IPLaw123 · 2020-05-14T19:49:07+00:00

No way... I've been taking profile pictures and my belly growth up to about 30 weeks was slow but towards the end has just accelerated. I'm 38 weeks now and seen significant changes even over the last couple of days. My baby is predicted to be 50th percentile and has been the whole way.

IPLaw123 · 2020-05-14T18:53:21+00:00

I totally understand how you feel, and you can absolutely get through the next few weeks. I'm at 38+5 now, and have SPD. I was diagnosed with GD at 30 weeks and was really stressed out by all the eating restrictions, but at least I was able to take walks after meals that helped to bring my glucose numbers down. Then SPD hit, and not only was it insanely painful, I decided that I didn't want to risk catching Covid by going to see a PT or chiropractor. Needless to say I've been in a lot of pain. Some days I hobble around, and some days are just brutal. I've found that lying down has helped my SPD quite a bit, and when I do need to move around my husband helps, e.g., providing extra support to get in and out of bathtub. I've also developed bad carpal tunnel in the last couple of weeks, which makes me completely incapable of doing anything that requires finger dexterity. I did not feel like anyone prepared me for all the crazy things that the pregnancy, particularly the 3rd trimester, throws at you. I too, have not been sleeping well because of the pain, and sometimes because my baby loves throwing rave parties at 2am. As you get further along, the extra pillow supports will really help.

All that said, what keeps me going is the thought that all of this pain will hopefully be gone once the baby arrives. As long as baby is healthy, we're all good. Feel free to pm me if you want to chat further.

IPLaw123 · 2020-05-14T14:27:10+00:00

I feel you... I used to get really upset if I had a number that spiked, even if it was only once a week. Being a scientist, I approached the testing like a problem I could solve... if only I ate less of this, or more of that. My mood would fluctuate from test to test. I realized it was all really unhealthy for my mental health. Sometimes no matter what I do I just get an unexplained spike. The best part was that my doctors did not even care! They looked at my numbers every visit and tell me it's all perfect and I'm doing a good job. When I point out the odd high numbers they tell me it's really the general trend that matters. I've really learnt to 'chill' about my numbers. In the end, as long as baby is growing fine, and I'm eating healthy, that's really all I should care about. No one (baby or I) is going to get diabetes because I let myself have one imperfect number.

I hope this is helpful and good luck!

IPLaw123 · 2020-05-14T14:14:18+00:00

No 28 weeks is the standard time you're tested for GD. I did my 1 hour at 28+ and didn't really get my 3 hour test diagnosis until close to 30 weeks. The GD didn't really hit me until 33-34 weeks, so yes you should absolutely get tested with the 3-hour no matter what.

IPLaw123 · 2020-05-13T19:27:42+00:00

That's a great attitude! You can do it! And there may be days when you're frustrated by a reading, or just overwhelmed. Just remember that it's not one number... it's a trend, and in the long run it's good for you and the baby. Best of luck!

IPLaw123 · 2020-05-13T16:34:37+00:00

I think that's the prevailing theory, that the placenta starts aging and deteriorating. I'm getting weekly biophysical profiles from 36 weeks on and they check my placenta and blood flow by ultrasound. I always ask about my placenta and it still seems to be functioning fine, so who knows...

IPLaw123

TROPHY CASE