gestational diabetes

[shubunkin]

Hello all. I am currently 33 weeks pregnant and have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I am now on a restricted diet and I am doing well with it. The only thing is my fasting #'S are a little higher than I feel they should be. She wrote on my chart that she wants them under 95. And most of the time they are but for instance they were 102 this morning. But they are still in the low ninties. My other #'s should be as following: 1 hour after meal: below 140, that is when I test. They are always fine. They are usually between 95 and 115. What can I do to bring my fasting #'s down. She said my #'s look great but I want the fasting ones lower. Would exercising at night bring them down in the morning? I am so scared of having to go on insulin and will do anything to avoid it. I am allowed 30 carbs in morning( which I do not eat because it will be high.) 3- 30 carb snacks between meals, 45 carbs for lunch, and 105 for supper which I do not eat because it will be high. I usually eat 50 for supper. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated becasue this has really been a slap in the face to me and really unexpected. Thankyou and God bless, Danielle

[JDRF-Team-BL]

Dear Shubunkin, i am going to do my best to answer your question from my own experience but i am not a doctor or female. Any numbers lower than 115 are considered good and why do you worry about your fasting blood sugars for when you say your doctor thinks that your sugars are good.
     i don't blame you for not wanting to be on insulin, i have been on it for 31 years, and though it doesn't bother me to have to sometimes remember my period of injecting myself  but i'm on an insulin pump now. But i don't think your doctor is thinking of putting you on insulin by what you said. So just try to stay within the ranges you currently are and see if your doctor has more to say. You could ask him/her at your next visit if the plan in the future includes going on insulin.
    Good luck and best wishes for your baby. i am a grandfather now for 6 months and having children is just great. bret

[JDRF-Team-LRS]

I'm also not a physician, but I have done some reading on gestational diabetes.  

I udnerstand that docs (and good moms & dads) seek to keep BG at low levels to minimize risks of complications and miscarriages.  Are you being followed by a specialist, BTW?  Diabetes, even gestational diabetes, is best handled by an physician who knows every little detail and keeps current in diabetes research.

Exercise "in general" is a superb way to help our bodies metabolize food more efficiently.  To the extent that your docs allow, consider exercise that includes both aerobic and weight-bearing work so that your muscles will burn the carbos you take on.

Be sure to get enough carbohydrates in your body to avoid building ketones -- a byproduct of fat metabolism that occurs when we starve ourselves of adequate carbos for fuel.  Your docs/nutritionist can work with you to make sure your intake of carbohydrates and other nutrients is sufficient to nourish you and your growing baby.

Some folk with Type 2 report that they can lower their morning fasting BG by having a small snack at night that includes both protein and some carbo.  One cause of morning highs can be that a person actually gets too LOW during the night and their liver dumps some glucose to bring up their BG.  For folks who experience this, a small snack keeps them from dropping too low.  Anyone can test to see if this is what's happening to them by foregoing "good sleep" to do tests during the night.

Many women delivery healthy babies without complications to themselves or their child -- even with gestational diabetes.  As your doc as told you, the key is to keep your BG in a rather narrow range.  Given the "measurement error" inherent in all BG meters, I'm not certain if a BG of 102 *is* really different from a BG of 95.  Many meters have a margin of error in the 15%-20% range and those 2 numbers are within the margin of error.

You are already a good mom -- being diligent about your prenatal care.  Hope this is helpful.