I know this is extremely irresponsible, but I was in between birth control at the time. I just found out today that I am 4 weeks and I am so scared :( it's bad enough that I am just 20 but now I am probably hurting my baby because my last A1C was 11- but that was in December. I've seen my endo since then in March, but we didn't do an A1C test because I saw him to set up my insulin pump. So maybe it is better now? I can't stop crying. I know I need to see my endo, but do I see a gyno first? I went to planned parenhood for my test... and even worse is I moved 3 hours away from my endo in February and have just been driving up here for appointments, so I should just find a new one in my area right? Has anyone else made such a huge mistake like this? Are your babies okay? :(
I know that this must be really scary, but keep in mind that you CAN have a healthy baby! But you have to start taking care of yourself right away!
What matters now is your blood sugars NOW (not what your A1c was before). Test often and be sure to correct your highs and check again to catch lows after correcting. You still need to eat carbs, but try to eat healthier carbs and in smaller amounts at once. I never ate more than 50g of carb at one time during pregnancy so that I would avoid high highs.
When I got pregnant, I saw my endo first and the OB-GYN only after a couple weeks. Call your endo (who is 3 hours away) and see if he or she can help you for now OR if they can recommend an endo who is closer. You need to see someone soon!
Are you using the pump? Do you adjust your own basal rates or does an endo or CDE do it?
There are many, many women who have gotten pregnant with high A1cs and go on to have beautiful, healthy babies, but you need to work hard and really stay on top of your blood sugars right away!
He adjusts my basal rates. I've been using the Animas Ping since March. If I see my endo or a new endo next week is that soon enough? :( I am so angry with myself.
I also am having an Opps Baby. I scheduled an appointment with my regular OB right away and was referred to a High Risk OB. I got my blood sugars under control and everything has been great. Baby is healthy; he's just measuring rather big right now. I'm 7 months so as far as my advice call your doctor and schedule an appointment. Your OB might work with your Endo if there isn't a High Risk OB in the area you could see. Getting your blood sugars under control and trying your best to keep them that way is the most important right now.
Try not to scare yourself too much - the main issue with being pregnant and having high sugars is that the baby will get too fat in there. But since you are so early in the pregnancy, you still have lots of time to avoid that and get on track.
Just get yourself to a good high risk OBGYN (and I know that sounds scary, but it just is for anyone who has a non-average pregnancy is all) and get yourself on track.
You and the baby will be just fine!! :)
Oh and I have had two very healthy babies with no problems while having type 2 :)
Yes, I can correct my highs and I have an alarm that tells me to check my sugar two hours after any bolus.
I know it is hard, but try not to be mad at yourself and just focus on what you need to do!
I would call your endo as soon as possible and see if you can see him or if he can recommend someone closer. I would go as soon as you can and I hope that they will see this as urgent as well, but if they can only see you next week, then it should be OK.
During pregnancy, I was told to check my blood sugar one hour after eating to catch the peak. You will want to give a correction, for any high, but you need to watch for the lows that might come later. I corrected EVERYTHING over 140 and then would check two hours later and if I went too low, I would eat a 10g snack (like an apple or half an orange).
For now, eat lots of vegetables, eggs, meat, and lower amounts of healthy carbs to avoid highs. Avoid all cereal, big pasta dishes, high carb junk food for now, as those can quickly lead to high highs! I ate a lot of eggs and frozen veggies during my pregnancy.
Keep us posted on how you are doing!
Also the first twelve weeks are VERY important -- this is when the baby is forming. So good control now is important and your endo will know that. I hope that they will be able to get you in urgently. If not, I would try calling other endo offices and see if any endo or certified diabetes educator can see you soon!
I called a new endo in the area I moved to and his office told me that all he would do is refer me to a perinatologist so I called them at the hospital in the city we live and they referred me to a high-risk OBGYN. So next thursday I have an appointment with the nurse in her office to do bloodwork and fill out my medical history and I will see the actual doctor around June 21st the office said that I won't need to see an endo because they work closely with the perinatologist whose office is next door. Does that sound right?
Hmmm... I'm not sure. I know that perinatologists often manage the blood sugar for people with gestational diabetes, but I don't know about for type 1. That doesn't sound common. I doubt that the perinatologist knows how to change basal rates.
Do they know that you use an insulin pump? I would STILL try to get an appointment with an endo or a certified diabetes educator at the endo's office. If I were you, I would call them back and try to get an appointment earlier. You will need an endo in the area anyway and I don't think that a type one on an insulin pump is usually managed by a perinatologist alone.
But... maybe I am wrong?
Click here and here for some other discussions about when women saw which doctor.
Actually most perinatologists do know how to work with a Type 1 diabetic women and insulin pumps. I have been seeing mine my whole pregnancy and they knew more about how to deal with my blood sugars and the needed changes than my endo. So yes, you really only need your perinatologist during your pregnancy.
What kind of insulin are you taking? I won't see the doctor till June 21st and I am on Novolog in my pump, do they have pregnant women use different insulin?
My peri (=high risk OB) would have been happy to manage my sugars, but also was OK working with my endo's office. So at least some of them will take on the main managing for T1s.
But. Knowing him better now, I'm definitely glad he's not primarily in charge of my D. He is very good at how D affects pregnancy, but clearly not very good about D in general. I.e. he knows what my goals need to be -- very tight control, recommending the exact same numbers as my endo -- and he knows exactly what the risks to the baby are, and watches like a hawk for any problems. But he also seems to believe I'd be ok testing 4 times a day (as a T1???), that I can't eat ice cream (oh please), and that my postprandial peaks are always at 1 hour regardless of what I've eaten. Ha.
Wow. I didn't realize this! Thanks for sharing. I must say that I love my endo and she specializes in pregnancy with pre-existing diabetes. So I was happy to work with her. My high risk OB-GYN just asked how my blood sugars when we met.
I picked up some prenatal vitamins with DHA today and some folic acid tablets, even though there is folic acid in the prenatals it's okay to take extra right? Or should I wait and ask at my nurse's appointment next Thursday? I read online that folic acid is recommended for pregnant T1's or TI's trying to conceive. Maybe I could just take it every other day until I see the nurse next week?
I use novolog too and have been for years. No special kind of insulin it all works the same. Just be prepared because as your pregnancy progresses your body will naturally become more insulin resistant so you will probably be taking a lot more insulin than you are use to.
I would check with your doctor. Because there is usually enough in the prenatal vitamins so taking an extra supplement could possibly be "too much of a good thing" for your body. But just check with your doctor about the extra folic acid supplement. It is important to take your prenatals everyday.
Okay thank-you!