My husband and I have decided that we want to add to the family.
I want to do this right though, so far we have booked an appointment with the diabetes pregnancy center here, for July 18. I've done a ton of research, and my number 1 fear is doing it wrong and having my baby enter the world with anything less then a normal start. I have lowered my A1c from 11% to 8.5% in the last 2 months, I know there is still a way to go, but my next A1c is on track to be in the low 7's.
To say that we haven't already attempted a few times would be a lie, but I figure everytime it doesn't happen is probably a good thing because obviously my body isn't the baby supporting machine it needs to be.
Has anyone done it all through this process, what was it like? Did you find having a high A1c around 8 made it so you couldn't get pregnant?
Your body will try to do everything that it can to produce healthy kids. Not saying you COULDN"T get pregnant with a high A1c, but it's challenging. Your body is more likely to have a condition called PCOS with a higher A1c. I was having severe insulin absorption issues even before my first pregnancy, so I am a type 1 on lots of injections, plus Metformin pills to help me absorb the insulin I inject. Metformin also is known to increase fertility.
Be careful: I know a fellow type 1 who unexpectedly got pregnant when she wasn't ready. Her A1c was over 10% at conception and she brought it down below 8% by the end of pregnancy. However, the doctors believe that due to her elevated A1c, her daughter was born with a hole in her heart.
The high risk team in my area suggests an A1c of at LEAST below 8% before conception. They state that an A1c below 7% will lower the birth defect risk to that of a normal woman... only IF you can get your A1c leveled out without highs and lows, as steady of a line for daily glucose levels as you can (fasting 60-90, 1 hour post prandial below 180, 2 hour post prandial 120).
It's a lot of work, but like you said, you don't want your baby to enter the world with anything less than a normal start.
So much luck and patience to you and your husband. It takes a lot of perseverance to get that A1c down. Then, the 9 months of pregnancy are extremely long and difficult.
I wake once or twice every night to check my glucose and correct. I test about 12 times per day. I limit my carbs to 30-45g per DAY to maintain my glucose fluxuations (I have severe insulin absorption issues and carbohydrate sensitivity). I inject about 15 shots per day. I exercise daily. This is my 2nd successful pregnancy at 18 weeks. We lost our first pregnancy and I also have a one year old daughter. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was keeping such tight control that I went into 10 insulin shock comas. Then, I delivered with pre eclampsia, which diabetics are more prone to developing. It ain't no walk in the park. haha. But, it can't be too bad cuz I'm crazy enough to do it again, willingly, right?
Good luck to you. Keep asking questions and we will try our best to help you through. There are a lot of really good conversations in this birth club from last year. This group was really active last summer when I was pregnant with my daughter. Lots of great advice and answers from last year's posts. People don't seem to be as active with this year's pregnancies.
Pregnancy with type 1 diabetes is totally doable, but requires a lot of work! I have a one year old too (just a bit older than Marps' daughter -- and yes, we had some awesome discussions last year, particularly April-July 2011 if you check the archives). Somehow once I was pregnant, it felt much easier to get my blood sugars under tight control. We have the ultimate motivation!!
Getting your A1c down now is important for the health of the baby and for your own stress levels. I learned a lot about how to better control my blood sugars in the months preparing for pregnancy. I thought that I could NEVER get an A1c under 7 (because I hadn't done it before), but it is possible. We started trying when my A1c was 6.8%, but we wanted to start trying about a year earlier!! Just keep up the good work and get those blood sugars stable!!
I followed a strict schedule and diet, which helped me and made things a bit more predictable. Your insulin needs change throughout the pregnancy so I liked anything that made my life more predictable!
