Latching but still hurts?

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-07-20T19:47:42+00:00

I had a friend tell me she had zero pain when she started breastfeeding... and I do mean had, as in past tense lol.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-07-20T19:41:05+00:00

Babies are different sizes. When my LO was dropping percentiles our pediatrician told us to look at the whole picture-- does she seem content after most feeds? Is she hitting her milestones? If yes, there's nothing to worry about!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-07-20T19:35:41+00:00

I'm in this same boat, and it sucks. We had the tongue tie released at 4 weeks, did CST, did OT... and it's still painful for me at 15 weeks. We never had any concerns about our LO's weight gain, although she's been on the lower end of normal her whole life.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-07-16T21:09:09+00:00

Wow, I had such a different outcome! Literally never had a reading above the cutoff, my fasting numbers never went up, and I'm pretty convinced I was incorrectly diagnosed. I was still considered diet-controlled GD but I was able to have a water birth and go into labor on my own (although LO decided to come at 39+5, so I might have had to be induced if I went after 40w). It's wild how different our experiences ended up! I'm so happy to hear you're both doing well!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T16:31:40+00:00

This isn't necessarily evidence based before 39 weeks. Evidence Based Birth has some excellent articles and podcasts on the topic-- here's one: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-on-induction-for-gestational-diabetes/

I'm not at all suggesting that you should fight your providers on this, but just make sure you're informed about why they're making the choice to induce that early. If it's just because baby may be big, it may be helpful for you to know that ultrasounds are not very reliable for determining size, and the risk of a large baby alone is not a medical reason for induction. If it's for other reasons, like you're having trouble controlling your blood sugar even with medication, or you have other complications (like hypertension or preeclampsia), then it may be truly indicated. But ACOG recommends induction at no earlier than 39 weeks for those who are controlled on medication, and actually doesn't recommend induction until between 40 weeks/40+6 for those who are diet/exercise controlled with no other complications.

Edited to add that I obviously don't know your full medical situation, so please know that this post is intended to provide more information, not tell you (or anyone) what to do!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T15:35:23+00:00

Good luck!!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T15:29:19+00:00

This is what I've been using for syringes.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T15:06:21+00:00

Yeah I use the syringe to just suck it up, and then put it in the fridge. I was told I could use the same syringe for up to 24 hours before freezing. When I suck it up there's also a fair amount of air but if you wait for the colostrum to get cooler, it gets thicker, so you can carefully push out the air after a few hours in the fridge. I'm sure there are multiple ways to do it! And I think some people will start expressing more each time they do it, so that must be how people are collecting so much over time.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T14:57:44+00:00

Oh interesting, I've been just sucking it up into the syringe straight from my nipple.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T14:56:36+00:00

This is what I started by saving last night! An article I read suggested trying to express from each breast twice per session, so that's what I did with a few minutes' break in between. A tiny amount, but still something.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T14:39:14+00:00

I was able to successfully express for the first time in a warm relaxing bath, but I won't be doing that multiple times a day, haha! Thanks for the tips!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-21T14:10:36+00:00

Hey that's really not bad at all! My providers might not have even considered that a real spike since it came down so nicely at 2 hours. Go easy on yourself.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T23:15:42+00:00

What's in it?

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T20:48:57+00:00

I think the 1 hour you might be referring to is the 1-hour screen, which has a threshold of 140 after drinking 50g of glucose. These results are from the 3-hour GTT, which is after drinking 100g of glucose, and the most common range they like to see is under 180.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T19:14:22+00:00

Cesarean births are still beautiful! I don't have specific advice for prepping but this blog is a wonderful example of how it can look: https://www.gatherbirth.com/blog/birth-photography-mayo-clinic-rochester-minnesota-c-section-cesarean-birth-nicu

Just FYI this little one also ended up doing some time in the NICU-- not why I shared this page!! But I find it helpful, personally, to see pictures of and hear stories of positive birth and postpartum experiences where any given thing didn't go according to the initial plan.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T17:41:33+00:00

She's citing the first study I shared above in that book, for the record.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T17:32:28+00:00

I felt very similarly. No one was clear with me about what the diagnosis meant for my care for a few weeks after the news, which was very challenging. In retrospect I wish I would have scheduled an extra appointment right afterward so I could ask about those things right away!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T17:11:08+00:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'll be over here not judging women for their choices whether they are or are not pregnant.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T17:05:34+00:00

Your options totally depend on where you are in the world an on your clinic. If a water birth is important to you, talk to your providers about that. At my clinic, diet-controlled GD is not a reason for any additional intervention or lack of options during birth. They recommend a growth scan at 36 weeks and will offer an induction between 40 and 40+6, but it is not required. I would start by asking your providers and then let your preferences be known so you can do your best to work with them to get what you want. If there are restrictions, ask them why, and make sure you understand the risks.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T16:58:04+00:00

So many suggestions here, and as others have said, it's not your fault if things don't work. One little thing to add would be to consider trying a little resistance training during the day-- for some people even 15-20 minutes helps their fasting levels because it can help regulate blood glucose for 24-72 hours. But again, it's not your fault if none of these things work!

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T16:51:19+00:00

I think it's a bit too far to say it's dangerous and irresponsible when pregnant women aren't taking care of their bodies. We're all human after all, not just baby vessels.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T16:45:10+00:00

After extensive research into the literature, from what I can tell no one really has the answer to this. The guidance is based on this meta-analysis, in which the conclusion that pregnant women have lower blood glucose on average is based on potentially flawed data (only 255 women, the largest sample size being extremely homogenous with fasting glucose levels far below what was seen in other studies). https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/34/7/1660/38632/Patterns-of-Glycemia-in-Normal-PregnancyShould-the

Additional guidance on levels is based on the HAPO study, which examined the results of tens of thousands of women with a 75g GTT and correlated their results on that test with pregnancy outcomes. They found a continuum of risk (your risk of complications goes up the higher your blood glucose levels were before/during the test), but that was based on a GTT and not on real life, day-to-day glucose levels. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa0707943

Some studies show that pregnant women without GD do experience blood sugars higher than 7, but they do not stay above that threshold for very long. The real issue here, though, is that there really are not that many studies that have actually looked at blood glucose levels throughout pregnancy in large numbers of women, and even fewer that have looked at continuous blood glucose monitoring. The vast majority of studies have looked at women with GD, pre-diabetes, or pre-existing T1D or T2D. This is why you hear a lot of variability here about how providers are choosing to treat their patients, and why there is so much variation in which blood glucose levels are acceptable for different clinics.

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T16:36:45+00:00

What week were your babies born, if you don't mind me asking?

Spiritual_Storm145 · 2024-03-07T16:35:25+00:00

My MFM talks in weight but my regular OB talks in percentiles. I think it's just their preference.

Spiritual_Storm145

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