I am 15 week pregnant now and my baby is doing good as my doctor says. But my BG is just out of control . No idea how to make it in range. its swings from 200s to 60s… I cannot stop eating at all 
I am using insulin pump .
Anyone there with my same situation? Please share ur experiences …
my daughter is pregnant she goes to a Dr who deals with women with T1 diabetes and pregnant he put her on old school inslin nph and r and does it in shot form she has had some up and downs but over all her numbers are really good her last 2 A1C’s have been in range baby is set to come on Monday. Her Dr. told her there is not any study’s done with the newer inslin in pregnant women. I would have a sit down with you Dr. and find out how often he deals with this and ask alot of questions you are going to have up and downs but not crazy ups and downs. make sure he is the right kind of dr. you need and if not look for ont that is.
Open for sugg from everyone …I m seeing Endocrinologist , a high risk preg doc n my OB. my A1C was 6.7 before I got preg n when I last checked it was 7 . I feel tensed thinking abut my baby when I see above 200 , when i give a quick bolus it always came back to normal . But still in a day there is 200s and 50s even 40s in my graph
YIKES! I did one pregnancy on R and N and honestly I’m surprised I made it through it… R and N are about the worst insulins to use while pregnant! I did SO much better on Novolog and a pump, and later Lantus and Novolog.
While I was pregnant with my first… ALL INSULINS were still category C… because they can’t do studies on pregnant women to document their safety. When I was on a pump with my second, Novolog was still category C (it’s now B, making it no more ‘unsafe’ than regular) Now, only the long-acting analogs (Levemir and Lantus) and Apidra are still Category C.
Any doctor that actually recommends R and N for pregnancy is just dead wrong, relying on OUTDATED information. I’m sorry your daughter has to experience that.
Hi Lis! You should join the group Oh!Baby! (click here). There are many discussions there that might be useful.
I also recommend the Yahoo Group, Positive Diabetic Pregnancies (click here). There are many women there with lots of info to share.
I think that many women experience such swings in their blood sugar when pregnant. It is difficult because the changes in hormones change the resistance to insulin-- so you constantly need to be adjusting.
I understand your concern-- we would all be concerned about the highs during pregnancy. But know that you are not the only one struggling like this. Did you talk to your doctor about these numbers? You might need to be adjusting your pump settings every 1-2 weeks!! Do you have an endocrinologist that you are working closely with?
My endocrinologist says that it’s perfectly normal to need more and more insulin with each passing week of pregnancy. If you are not making adjustments to your basal insulin (long-acting if on shots, basal rates if on pump), then you may not be accounting for your hormones.
My suggestions are:
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Eat often, yes, but can you make sure that you’re eating less carbs at one time? Smaller, more frequent meals will help you deal with the swings post-meal, where you’re likely to have the most insulin resistance. My CDE suggests 6 smaller meals a day.
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Talk to your doctor about how much you should raise your dosages (as in, what increment) as you notice changes. My CDE suggested changing basal rates by .05 units at a time each week as your needs change.
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Your average matters more than your highs. And the lows will not hurt your baby, so it’s okay to run low. Remember that the baby gets all of your sugar and none of your insulin. So keeping yourself running lower will be healthier overall. Don’t overtreat or fear lows. Just stay functional.
My doctor suggests striving for a fasting blood sugar of 70-90 during pregnancy, so even the tiniest correction of a 65 will pull you back up into that range. Treat sparingly. -
Try taking insulin earlier before meals - like 20 minutes before you eat, rather than right on top of the meal - to get insulin on board before your food converts to glucose. It’s harder to bring down highs while pregnant, so try not to keep it from spiking due to meals.
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Try eating high protein, lower-carb snacks - like string cheese, nuts, yogurt, veggies and hummus, sugar-free jello - when you are hungry. Your doctor and all the pregnancy websites will tell you that pregnant women need and crave carbs, but if it’s making your sugars spike, trade some carbs out for something that will have less effect on your levels. Or at least low-carb or low glycemic index like berries.
Hi, I have gone through 2 pregnancies on an insulin pump.
Your insulin requirements are going to go up like you would not believe - I was easlily taking 20 units of insulin for one meal.
All I can say is that I was being followed by a team that deals with diabetic pregnancies.
I was there once a week for the duration of my pregnancies - twice a week from week 32 till I delivered. I had a A1C of 5.7 and all I can say is to keep your sugars as close to normal as possible -
You would need to check yourself before and after every meal. I know it is not easy sometimes but it is the only way to track the changes you need to make on your basal rates. I put my rates at 4 hour intervals since I was using Humalog and found that was the easist way to make the changes I needed to my basal rates.
The endo that was following me would make adjustments everyweek to keep up with all the changes happening during pregnancy. Perhaps you can email your endo and you would be able to adjust your insulin requirements regularly.
Just remember - If you run your sugars hi - your baby will take on more weight as diabetic women give birth to big babies
if during delivery your sugars are hi during delivery the baby run risk of low blood sugars and for that I suggest nursing the baby as soon as possible.
There is just so much more I can say let me know what you would like info on.
Hi Thanks for the suggestions from all of you. I feel more relaxed now. I am checking my BG everytime b4 a meal and after that also , 8 times a day.
I had to change my insulin settings a number of times after my last visit to Endo. Basal and Bolus . But most of the time after breakfast my BG seems to be high . i am giving more bolus for breakfast now and the basal rate at that time is also very high. I think I have to control my food. Even half a banana and 2 pieces of bread raise my BG high.
My concern is how the varying blood sugar will affect my baby? How the transition from a low BG To high BG affect my baby?
From Diabetes Health:
Article 1: “An A1c below seven percent carries no increased risk of abnormalities. With an A1c between 7.2 and 8.1 percent, the risk of abnormalities jumps to fourteen percent.”
Article 2: "Pregnant women with type 1 diabetes should frequently check their glucose levels in order to avoid asymptomatic hypoglycemia. An ideal testing frequency is eight times per day. These would consist of:
once before each meal, for the assessment of asymptomatic hypoglycemia
one hour after each meal, for the evaluation of the effect of a particular meal and insulin doses
bedtime, to determine reactions and their appropriate treatment
during the middle of the night, to detect hypoglycemia.=
Target ranges for each test are patterned after maternal plasma glucose levels in a normal pregnancy:
fasting glucose: 60-90 mg/dl
premeal glucose: 60-105 mg/dl
2 to 6 a.m.: 60-120 mg/dl"
Lis, I think you’re right to be concerned about control during pregnancy, but cut yourself some slack about the highs. Your A1c was 7 and you’re experiencing 200s, not 300s thankfully. Make the adjustments you think you need to be making to insulin and diet and try to correct your sugars back to where you know they need to be. You’re doing the best you can. Every pregnant diabetic ever will tell you that highs happen. You can’t stress out too much - that’s not good for the baby or the mommy.
I was insulin dependent during my pregnancy and the below comment from MellisaBL was the one thing that kept my on a ‘somewhat’ even keel…I would literally pack all my food for one day and every hour take a couple of bites. I ate from the minute I woke up to the minute I went to sleep, a couple of bites at a time. My problem hours, no matter what, where between 2 and 4 pm. I always had a spike, short lived, but there none the less. My baby is now 3 years old and doing very well. I do still worry about the effects all of it had on her, even now.
- Eat often, yes, but can you make sure that you’re eating less carbs at one time? Smaller, more frequent meals will help you deal with the swings post-meal, where you’re likely to have the most insulin resistance. My CDE suggests 6 smaller meals a day.