Evening everyone, I'm having to do the glucose test early due to travel plans, and failed the first test. I likely won't have an appointment before my trip to address what to do because I failed and if I fail the second one - what's a good resource to use in the meantime if I do have it?

I was diagnosed today at 28w5d and I’m feeling so overwhelmed. I’m stressed about the increased risk of C-section, having a really big baby, and mostly just feeling like I’ve already failed my daughter. I know it’s not my fault but I can’t help feeling like if I had taken better care of myself before pregnancy this wouldn’t be happening. I had a BMI of about 29 pre-pregnancy, but was relatively active and didn’t eat terribly. I don’t even believe in BMI being an indicator of anything really, but it’s hard when I got this news.

I really think this diagnosis will be manageable but also I feel like I’ve set myself and my baby up for a lifetime of continuous testing.

I keep reading that now I’m 8-10x more likely to get Type 2 Diabetes, and that my daughter is more likely too. I don’t know how to deal with that unknown.

I have type 2 diabetes. I can’t find a forum for pregnant women with type 2. I hope it’s ok to post here. Did anyone take medical leave from work early on in pregnancy because of your symptoms? Not related to high blood pressure which I know you might get placed on bed rest.

I’m 17 weeks and I can’t take it anymore. It’s one thing after the other. The stress of keeping my numbers in line but more so, the headaches, and now low blood pressure which don’t seem to concern the doctors. But it’s making me so unproductive and so miserable. I don’t know what to do and I’m gathering up the courage to advocate for myself and send my care team a plea to help me out. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore.

Any feedback is appreciated. I feel like I’m beginning to somewhat neglect my toddler and my husband is picking up after me a lot.

The other day my vision blacked out and I got dizzy and almost blacked out myself. I’m glad I was home and I told my care team but once again, that didn’t concern them.

This is all starting to fk with my mental health :(

Thanks in advance.

I walked 2 miles yesterday in addition to chasing my 18 mo around, I ate to my diet perfectly and as a result had BEAUTIFUL numbers all day, I did 18u of insulin at bedtime. And I still had a fasting of 117.

My first pregnancy it only took 10u and I never needed more. So today I am having a little pity party about increasing to 20u tonight. I had to start insulin earlier this time around, and I'm already DOUBLE what I used in my first pregnancy and it's not touching my fasting number at all.

I know 20u is still low... but I am overweight and so I face a lot of criticism that this is my fault and today I am just in my feels about it.

Last week, my glucose meter (One Touch Verio Flex) started giving me abnormally low glucose readings (as in it's saying I'm in the 20s, which I'm clearly not as I'm typing this right now). It's happened about three times now and there doesn't appear to be a reason for it as I'm using the same procedures I always have. It gives a much more normal number when I retest a couple seconds later.

Any idea what's going on? I just hate that I'm wasting test strips on this.

I'm not even American but I swear this election stress just gave me a spike on a very safe meal.

reading that popsicles are popular for hydration snacks but that mgiht be too much sugar for us GD mamas... also reading that dates are good to prepare for labor, but same thing, might be too sweet...

any seasoned GD mamas have tips for what to eat + drink leading up to and during labor?

hi everyone! just got diagnosed and i am only at 20 weeks. i failed my fasting, my 1 hour and my 2 hour. my a1c prior to this was 5.6.

right now my fasting fsbg levels range between 96-108.

does the fasting rely on what you eat at night as a snack? the last thing you eat?

what should be my target glucose level ? i know that i should have less than 140 after 1st hour and then 120 after 2nd hour but is it okay to linger at 110s?

please share your expertise. xoxo

I’m 31 weeks and this is my second time with GD (had it in 2022 with my son) but this time around my doctors “upgraded me” to the FreeStyle Libre 3 plus, which is a monitor that stays in the back of my arm for 15 days, no finger pricks anymore! However I’m struggling with sleep. Being pregnant we can only sleep on our sides basically but I keep setting my sensor off from the pressure and I can feel it and it hurts when I lay on it.. it’s in my left back upper arm. I see my doctor Wednesday and will bring this up but any help, tips, tricks would be greatly appreciated! TIA from a tired Mom

I’m 15 weeks and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at week 10. It’s suspected pre-gestational diabetes but hard to really know right now.

I’m just feeling so defeated and alone… OB mentioned that I’m high risk now due to the diabetes… she prescribed me insulin to take before bed since I wasn’t able to lower my fasting levels enough. It’s been so overwhelming having to check my blood glucose 4x/day especially while at work where I hardly have time to scarf down my lunch. But the biggest obstacle I’m still trying to work through is the possibility that this low carb/sugar diet could be for the rest of my life.

I am a huge foodie, my favorite hobby is checking out new restaurants/bakeries and trying new foods. And I can’t really do that anymore. It’s been really hard trying to manage my diet and being happy because the thing that makes me happy is eating. My husband is trying to keep my spirits up but I can’t help but feel extremely depressed and anxious over my current situation. None of my closest friends have been pregnant before so this pregnancy journey has just been so hard on me.

My birthday is coming up and all I can think about is how I would just love to go have high tea with my girlfriends or go to a nice steakhouse to celebrate but I can’t eat the pastries and I can’t enjoy a medium rare steak so what’s the point.

Hi! Is anyone still experiencing spikes even while on insulin?

I'm 23 weeks and currently on 15 units of fast-acting insulin because I had at least one spike a day before being put on insulin. Now that I'm on insulin, it's still the same. I still spike during either lunch or dinner time (or sometimes both).

I thought insulin would be a game-changer but I still struggle with controlling my meal time numbers. :( I have been monitoring and experimenting for a little over a month to find out what works for me but it seems my food options are super limited now considering how I spike every single day.

Is having a spike every day dangerous? :( I might need to resign to my fate of eating only the very limited food options that I have.

Thanks in advance!

Starting on a Dexcom G6 soon. Where do you wear yours? Trying to decide the best place to put it.

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone would share their induction stories if they were not dilated at all? Did anyone have a positive experience? I have my 38 week appt on Thursday and I’ll have to decide if I want to get induced at 39 or 40 weeks. Last week I was not dilated at all (even though the previous week I was 1cm????) so I’m nervous on Thursday I’ll still be closed. I’m trying to decide if I want to get induced at 39 weeks to mitigate macrosomia or if I want to wait until 40 weeks to try to get a more favorable cervix. My baby is measuring a week - a week and a half ahead but her head is over 90th percentile. FTM and I have no idea what to do 🙃

Diet-controlled GD. Was diagnosed a bit late... 29 or 30 weeks due to travel / schedule. Before diagnosis I was craving and eating a LOT of sugar.

I had to be induced at 38 weeks due to moderate/heavy bleeding that they thought could be placenta abruption. They weren't able to find an abruption after delivery but the induction/labor went smoothly. He had no problems with low blood sugar after birth and only weighed 6 pounds 4 oz.

I have been testing my blood sugar and seem to no longer have diabetes!! 🤞

Thanks for the support and good luck to you all!

I’m 24+3 today, second pregnancy. I had gestational diabetes my first pregnancy. I was surprised to learn that my doctor wanted to me to do the 1-hour glucose test at the usual time (27-28 weeks) as I have heard of others testing early.

My sister just had a baby, and she also had GD. I asked if I could have her testing supplies just to see how things were going (I got rid of my own supplies just so I COULDN’T do this lol).

The other day I had a bagel with cream cheese — I intentionally didn’t drink any water and sat on the couch afterwards, I wanted to push the limits with carbs to sort of test it — and my 1-hour result was 141, 2-hour result was 105. Today, I had just half a bagel plus an egg for lunch, and I also went for a walk afterwards, drank a little water, and took a fiber supplement. Result after 1 hour was 139.

I guess my questions are: are these results at all normal, even for those without GD? Based on this, should I ask to test early? Should I just follow the GD diet for the next 2 weeks and take the test at the normal time?

I was very lucky to have an easy time controlling my blood sugar with diet and exercise my first pregnancy, but I also never ate something like a bagel after being diagnosed. If you can’t tell by this post, I am pretty anxious around health/pregnancy so I was always afraid to eat anything outside of the prescribed diet. I thought I was going to be able to enjoy this time, I was even considering testing a little bit on the later side so I could get to enjoy thanksgiving, but I’m very much not feeling that way now.

Appreciate any thoughts or advice!

For nearly 2 weeks I have been sick with a lingering cold and my fasting sugars have been above threshold (95-102). I’m now 33 weeks, been monitoring since 15 weeks, so this is the first time I’ve had consistently high numbers. Hard to tell if this is just from being sick, or I’m starting to reach the hard point of this GD.

Dr says this is normal and fine, we’ll keep an eye on it for another week. Today at my growth scan (33 weeks), baby was measuring average, around 50th percentile. This gave me a little more peace of mind.

Did anyone have high fasting numbers but normal baby growth and have any issues?

TL;DR: Cryptic pregnancy, severe gestational diabetes, no c-section, healthy baby.

Hello friends! For the first 5ish months of this year, I was a very active participant in this and some other pregnancy subreddits. I had a cryptic pregnancy, discovering in a single day that I was pregnant with a baby girl, I was almost 20 weeks along, and I had severe gestational diabetes. The last one led to a very different pregnancy experience than I could have ever expected and has continued to affect me after birth. So, I decided to come back around here and tell you guys my story and offer any help I can do anyone on this journey.

I discovered my cryptic pregnancy in the first week of January 2024. Within 3 days I had to start insulin, as my A1C was 8.0 and my first blood glucose reading was 220. I saw my MFM (Specialist) about 1 week later due to many factors (Gestational Diabetes, advanced maternal age [34], cryptic pregnancy resulting in lack of healthcare) and it was thankfully confirmed that my baby was a good health and weight and appeared to be developmentally healthy and normal. No genetic or health issues were discovered through NIPT testing either.

Before starting medications, my average glucose readings were as follows: AM Fast 203, After breakfast 175, After lunch 192, After dinner 168. I started on 4 units of insulin 3 times a day. Each morning I had 4 units of Humilin R and 4 units of Humilin N, Then Humilin R with dinner and Humilin N before bed. These did nothing for me and I was quickly met with weekly increases. By the end of my pregnancy, I was on a combined total of 110 units of daily insulin. On these doses, my average daily glucose numbers were as follows: AM Fast 76, After Breakfast 100, After Lunch 93, After Dinner 117.

About 3 weeks after starting insulin, I was finally able to sit down with a diabetic nutritionist. At this point I had done a TON of research on my own and had completely overhauled my diet. I was exhausted, baby felt exhausted, but I figured it was just both of adjusting to a less-sugar, less-carb diet. Imagine my surprise when the Nutritionist, in no uncertain terms, made me promise to leave my appointment and eat a cheeseburger. I had gone TOO HARD in my limitations and was eating less than 40g of carbs a day. This was exactly why the baby and I were exhausted. Carbs are so important for mamas and babies. She upped me to 150g of carbs a day and told me I would notice an immediate difference.

Woooo boy did I notice an immediate difference. I was suddenly aware of how pregnant I truly was at about the 6 month mark. She was suddenly so active and alive. She was stretching and flipping and punching and kicking. I suddenly had the energy to make it through the day and instead of continuing to lose weight, I was finally maintaining. We were doing so well that my primary OB announced we would schedule an induction instead of a c-section if I was interested in laboring. Of course I was!!

Things went nice and smooth from about the 6 month mark to 37 weeks. My specialist was a bit of a drama queen, but his job is to help mamas get healthy and have healthy babies, so I understood. He was desperately pushing for a 37 week induction but my Primary/Delivering OB was adamantly against it. The baby and I were doing so well, he was very comfortable waiting until our original stance: May 20th, 38 weeks + 4 days. At 37 weeks, my specialist found something that caused some concern. A pericardial Effusion next to Baby Girl's heart. Fluid around her heart. It felt like my own heart stopped. I was shipped off to a bigger MFM clinic in a larger city nearby and had a follow up scan the next day. The Specialist told me to be prepared to be hospitalized and induced in Larger City Nearby.

My husband and I tried to stay positive the next day as we drove to the scan. A colleague of my specialist was who interpreted the scan for us and after 6-7 silent minutes he looked at me and said "Why are you here?" I was equally parts shocked and bristling like a cat. "What do you mean?? The Pericardial Effusion??" And this poor man let out a huge sigh. "Your baby is fine, her heart is fine. She's developmentally perfect. Your blood sugar is perfect. If you were my patient I wouldn't schedule an induction at all, much less at 37 weeks. What is your induction plan?" So I told him, gave him the exact date, and he wrote it down as the recommended plan of action.

We drove home relieved and realized that we had less than 2 weeks until baby girl was here. We spent the week putting the nursery together and then in the of week 37, my specialist grew concerned over my slightly elevated BP and reached out to my delivery OB, saying that induction had to happen in 24 hours. My Delivery OB, frustrated, called for my side of the story and I told him straight up "I'm fine, the baby is fine, if you think we can wait, we can wait." And he regrettably said "If the specialist recommends it, we at least need to try."

So try we did. My original induction date was 5 days away when I walked into the hospital at 5 AM on a Thursday morning. By 8 AM I had taken my first dose of cytotec. They let me eat and drink and kept me strapped up with monitors for 30 straight hours. Friday afternoon, the most terrified looking nurse came in and told me they wanted to send me home. My Delivery OB called and said specifically HE wanted to send me home. He said she's not ready to come yet and she's shown us that. He apologized for the failed induction and sent me home to wait out the contractions and see what she does.

On the following Monday I returned for my originally schedule induction. They started Pitocin at 8 AM. No food, only water. I started feeling her moving down by 8 PM. I had an epidural placed and my water broken by 10 PM.

About 130AM, I called my nurse and told her "These contractions feel different. I'm bearing down, my body wants to push". She was in the room within 15 minutes and attempted a cervical check. She reached over me and pressed the nurse call button and calmly said "Hi, we are in active labor. Call her doctor and tell him to get here faster than he's ever gotten here and let's prepare for the birth" and then she smiled down at me and said "I'm touching her little head!"

It all changed in a flash. My room had been dark and quiet, Law & Order SVU barely audible, lights off, a little fan blowing cool air on my face, water and ice within licking distance. Suddenly, my room was filled with a half dozen people. All the lights were on, equipment was being rolled in, my blankets and towels were being changed out, everything was being prepared. After about 20 minutes, a nurse walked in and said "Dr said to call him when its time" and my nurse turned and said "It IS time. This baby is coming." The second nurse panicked and sprinted back to the station to call him back and the Charge Nurse came to the head of the bed to walk me through some breathing and ask me "not to push" as much as possible.

My Delivery OB sprinted through the door less than 10 minutes later (A personal record for him apparently) and barely had time to throw on his scrubs and get my husband dressed out before I said "I can't not push. I can't not push. She's coming." And I was more right than I could have ever imagined. I actively pushed for less than 20 minutes before I suddenly felt a giant weight come off my bladder and after a second, I heard her cry.

Admittedly the next 20 minutes or so are a blur. They placed my baby on my chest and she immediately went from crying to cooing. I was able to hold her until she needed to be weighed, wiped, and dressed. At some point, a nurse said "Oh no she's pooping" and I said "Me? Or the baby?" and the whole room erupted in laughter.

We both passed all of our glucose checks (me, just barely. Her, perfectly) and were allowed to leave less than 48 hours after birth. When she was born by blood glucose was 111 and my A1C was 6.4.

My daughter was born 6 lbs, 12 oz, and 19 inches long. She is now almost 6 months old and we're, with pediatrician approval, gonna celebrate her half-year by venturing into semi-solid foods. She has hit all of her milestones and the only medical care she has needed after birth was a quick ultrasound to check for Pyloric Stenosis when she was slow to gain weight. She was perfectly fine and I'm pretty sure the Ultrasound Tech fell in love with her.

I, on the other hand, am now a certified pre-diabetic. I am on 1000mg of metformin a day after my A1C jumped up to 6.7 without insulin. I have loosened my dietary restrictions but am still maintaining a healthier lifestyle than what I had before my pregnancy, and now have regular care to manage my blood sugar and health.

And there you go! That's my story and experience, beginning to end. If anyone has any specific questions, or just needed a story with a happy ending, here you go!

Sending good vibes and a great cheat meal to you all. Love you, stay hydrated. ✌

I'm considered obese...I had a LOT of struggles with mental health over the course of the last 6 years, and over the course of the last 18 months I've FINALLY started feeling more like myself, and then I found out I was pregnant. I was on insanely high doses of mental health meds that made me gain A LOT of weight prior to getting pregnant.

I was just recently diagnosed with GD (31+4), and have appointments set up. One person I've seen imparticular has been making non-stop comments about my weight, and has been super rude about it. My BS have been high (105 fasting, 173 an hour after breakfast), and I know I'll need medication to treat it. I'm dreading going in tomorrow and dealing with her and what she's going to say, and the judgement she'll drop. So I know she'll be like "eat healthier" even though I'm down 4lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight this far into my pregnancy.

How does one manage it? I HATE myself for how I look, I feel absolutely grotesque. But my goal was surviving another day for awhile there, and I'm just happy I came out of it alive. I'm afraid she's going to make me spiral at the end of my pregnancy.

What does this mean?? From week 28-33 I had fasting numbers as low as 68-75 and now they’re 79-87 :( is it because I’m going 10hrs without snacking at night? I’m completely diet controlled and want to try and keep it that way until I give birth. They’ve never spoke to me about induction or adding meds/insulin but now I’m so scared it’s going to get to that point. Does anyone have some insight for me please??😩

Always been a big potato fan but potatoes spike me badly, unfortunately. I really wanted a yellow thai curry but I'd normally make it with potatoes, which means there won't be enough carb allowance left for rice. Apparently, an old keto trick, substitute potatoes in cooked/fried dishes with... radishes.

I used a big white daikon radish (mooli), cut it cubes as I would with potato and added to my normal recipe. It worked for me! The radish becomes potato-like when cooked and I thorougly enjoyed my dinner last night and leftovers for lunch today.

I miss spicy food but yellow curry at 80-90% strength is still not too spicy so I would have it as an occasional treat.

Hey everyoone, I am on a search for others who have been diagnosed early. So I went to see endocrinologist at week 7 already for elevated fasting numbers. I am week 9 now, mostly doing fine with occasional spike here and there. So, my doc notes says gestational diabetes, but the more I read about it, It cannot be gestational diabetes this early on. Does anyone have any experience? I will ask at my next appointment, but I wanted to hear from others in the same boat.

Hi everyone,

I had gestational diabetes during pregnancy, and I recently delivered my baby (10 days ago). I just had my blood sugar checked, and the results indicate that I’m in the pre-diabetic range. My fasting blood sugar was a bit elevated, and I’m worried about whether this will go back to normal.

Has anyone else experienced lingering blood sugar issues after GDM? If so, how long did it take for your levels to normalize postpartum? Did you need any medication or lifestyle changes to help with this?

I’d appreciate any insights or advice on what to expect. Thanks!

Here's a place to share your small victories

Here's a place to share your small complaints

So I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago. I was put on night time insulin after 5 days and then another couple days later started breakfast insulin. Then they upped my night time insulin again. Nothing I do is controlling my fasting or post breakfast numbers. They now have me waking up at 3am to check my sugar to see if I’m dipping causing the spike but so far that’s not the case either. Does anyone have any advice on what else I can do? So frustrated. I’m 30 weeks!

I gained 4kg from this preg so far. After being diagnosed with GD, I cut out sugar, sweets and reduced carbs for 1 week. I lost a kilo so far. Is this a cause for worry?

FTM, diagnosed after my (almost) 29 week appointment, I’m now 33 weeks. Took 3 weeks to schedule with MFM who is in charge of giving me instructions/monitoring me and bebe (saw them at almost 32 weeks). 4 days later and my prescription for the monitor still isn’t filled so had to go to Walmart and get a temp one. I can’t help but wonder how much time has been wasted and how often during my pregnancy my glucose has been elevated without me knowing, potentially affecting bebe. I tested for the first time tonight 2 hrs after dinner and my number was 154 when it’s supposed to be <120 🙃 idk what I’m looking for here, I guess I’m just anxious that I’m figuring this all out too late since I have 6 weeks max left (already confirmed I will deliver between 38-40 weeks depending on how well I control everything).

Met with my dietitian today. She says she doesn’t think I’m having enough carbs. My fasting numbers are somewhere between high 70s and mid to low 80s. My numbers after I eat are usually around 120 and under. I thought eating carbs was a bad thing for GD? I eat two toast a day and whole wheat crackers at times. She thinks I eat too much protein…