Hey everyone!
My husband and I are trying for our first as of last week 
I am currently on a low carb diet where I have cut out breads, pasta, rice, tortillas etc. all those complex carbs, I was just finding that even with eating everything whole wheat I would still go high a couple hours later, so I have basocally been eating, meat, cheese, veggies, some fruit, and I have been reading that carbs are important for pregnancy, but what about a Type 1 pregnancy?
Has anyone done this kind of a thing while pregnant and I just wanted to hear what some people thought.
Thank you!
Mariah
Hi Mariah!
I am also a Type 1 that has serious spikes after eating carbs. In an attempt to get ready for getting pregnant, I started limiting my carbs pretty drastically, although not as drastic as you it sounds like! I’m not sure about how healthy it would be to keep that diet while pregnant, but I will say that as soon as I hit 6 weeks (I’m currently 13), I was too hungry to NOT eat carbs! It helps that during the first trimester you generally are not insulin resistent and have lower blood sugars on average, so I am not sure what my sugars will look like later on. But for now, I’ve dropped from an A1C of 6.7 to 6.3. I know for me, in order not to spike, I generally end up going low by the two hour mark due to the large bolus. But I do try to give myself a temp. basal to avoid the lows. Are you on a pump by chance? I think they call it “super bolusing” or something. I’m not sure how helpful that is, but I know I’ve read a lot on the discussion boards and wonder how people manage their sugars to such low A1Cs and if anyone spikes after eating like I do- so I appreciate I’m not alone. A lot of pregnant type 1’s talk about tripling their insulin and bolus to ratio’s of 1 to 5, but that is where my ratio for a bolus is when I’m not pregnant! So, I guess that is all to say we are all unique, but there are ways to lower your A1C and be a healthy mom to be!
Hi Megan
Thanks for replying back to me Congrats on your pregnancy first of all This is the first month my husband and I are officially “trying” so it’s an exciting time I get worried like most people about not being able to get pregnant, even though it’s only our first month of trying! I am going to start tracking my temperature and stuff next month if I dont get pregnant this month. Do you have any tips or ideas on how you got pregnant? Sorry to be so upfront lol I am kinda baby crazy over here! lol
My last A1C in the beginning of January was 7.4, that however was before I got on my pump I am using the MiniMed Paradigm pump and so far I really love it! Unfortunately the last couple of days I have had a bad cold and my morning numbers have been around the 250s after eating breakfast 
Hopefully I can kick this cold soon! My doctor said that my numbers should be in the 6 range this next A1C test (early March) and then she would give us the green light I would have waitied if I thought I really needed to but my numbers on my meter are averaging between 129-136 and that is definatelt 6 A1C range! So my husband and I decided to get a liyttle head start and start trying
How were your first trimester lows? I am very nervous about those! Congrats on the lower A1C too!
Yeah I just dont know how I’m going to do carbs I spike always like 1 to 2 hours after eating carbs and so I have just revamped my diet and stick to meat, cheese, nuts, fruit and veggies mostly. I would really like to continue this throughout my pregnancy since I have had such good results but I have read other things that say that isn’t so good, I guess I will just need to talk to my doctor about it when the time comes
Are you going to find out what you are having? How excitng
Hope to talk to you soon!
Mariah
Thanks Mariah! Those first few months of trying can be really hard, especially when you know people who get pregnant the first month! It took four months of being off birth control for us to get pregnant. My one thought is that the more you stress out about it, the less likely you are to get pregnant. So maybe hold off on the whole temperature stuff for a bit. Sometimes it just takes awhile. (Its so hard to be relaxed when you really want to get pregnant, but do your best That’s great about being on the pump. Are you also on the continuous glucose monitor? That helped me lower my A1C also, although I feel a bit like a bionic woman now!
Lows have been hard for me. Your range shifts when your pregnant so that its 60-120, so when you go low, you drop really quickly. I’ve had a few lows in the 30’s which are scary, but I’ve educated everyone on the glucagon at work and home! But it does add to the exhaustion! I did see a dietician once we found out I was pregnant, so that could be really helpful to you too!
And we’re definitely going to find out the sex. I feel like there are too many unknowns as it is!!
Hi Mariah! Yay for trying!
I’m type 1 for 12 years and am 15 weeks pregnant. I, too, was on a low carb diet and had an A1c of 6.9% when we conceived. It is currently 6.8%… or possibly lower. The first trimester brought me a few insulin shock comas. i researched and talked to my doctors about them and they said while insulin shock comas aren’t good for the mom, they don’t hurt the baby. During the first 8 weeks of the pregnancy, the Joslin Diabetes center in Boston MA states to have an A1c closest to 6.5% because during the first 8 weeks, the baby is developing its most important organs. So, congrats on the 7.4% so far, just keep chugging along even while you’re trying to conceive because the lower during the first 8 weeks, the better.
I’m currently still on a pretty strict diet. I still eat a lot a lot of veggies, less meat than I used to, but I’ve added wheat breads to my diet to help the baby. Don’t forget the pre-natal vitamins will help give the baby the nutrients that your diet may be lacking.
I’m at 15 weeks, and this past week I’ve just started to NOT be able to eaat any carbs in the morning- otherwise I suffer hours of high 200s (which is terrifying when you’ve got a baby on board). So… sometimes, even when the baby needs carbs, you won’t be able to give them to him. I’ve just added a wheat english muffin to my dinnertime meal to make up for not being able to eat carbs in the morning time.
The first trimester also brings MUCH hunger sometimes. This is my second pregnancy, though, and this time around I’m not nearly as hungry as with the first one.
As far as methods of trying… haha… we didn’t do anything different than what most people do, I think? My older sister used to tell me that she would have to scoop “the stuff” up and hold it in her for a few minutes. It took her a year to conceive her baby (and she’s not type 1). But, I didn’t even do any of that. We just did the deed and within three weeks we conceived. Don’t forget that it takes up to 4 weeks for the pregnancy test to show a positive. So, you could be pregnant now, but you might not get a positive until 4 weeks from now. So, keep to a strict glucose regimen even if you’re still getting negative tests.
We miscarried in October 2010 due to the baby missing one of the chromosomes. All of the docs I talked to INSISTED this had NOTHING to do with type 1. My A1c was 6.9%. Had the D&C to remove the pregnancy and three weeks later, was pregnant again- no menstrual cycle in between. This next pregnancy is the one I’m currently on and we are with a healthy baby at 15 weeks. I guess it depends on how fertile you are.
Good luck!!
Hi Megan!
Yes it has been difficult trying to be patient and everyone says that stress can cause just the reverse effect! yikes! I feel like I have times of stress but that I’m not chronically stressed, I was actually trying to figure out my stress level the other day lol I don’t even know if I’m stressed or not! lol
One thing that I am a little nervous about is I am starting a new job on Sunday, I havent worked since moving to California (my husband is in the military) I am getting tired of staying home and I want to work, however I am scared that if I do my numbers will be not so good, at my last job I didnt have good control and I never want to be that way again, especially since we are trying to have a baby, I havent told my boss about my Diabetes yet and I dont want him to get mad at me, it’s silly to think that he would since I cant help this, but its just something that you think about 
I am however now on a pump, and I wasnt last time around so I’m hoping that will eliminate some of my highs and lows like I had at the last job. I dont have a CGM, unfortunately, that would be the solution to it all I feel! My husband wants us to hold off on getting that since I just started on my pump about a month ago. So I guess I am just going to see how it goes on Sunday and hope for the best! The good news is the shifts are relatively short and it is a pretty laid back enviornment so I feel blessed about that.
Wow I have been hearing that people in their first trimester have had 30’s and that absolutely terrifies me! I feel really bad and low at like 55, but 30 eek! I have a glucagon shot at home though and my husband knows how to use it, so I just count on that if that were to ever happen! I am happy that you are basically out of the first trimester now, right? now on to insulin resistance if I understand right? It sounds like you are doing great though Megan! Congrats on that!
Hope to talk to you soon!
Hey Marps!
Thanks for writing me
Congratulations on your pregnancy (both of them ) I hope that we get pregnant soon and easy! I am trying to keep my stress level down and for the most part I think I do ok. What I wrote to Megan is geared toward you too so that’s kinda where I am with everything.
I am surprisingly very calm and I feel good about getting pregnant in the near future, my husband does a lot of encouraging, so that helps I just want to be pregnant so bad! lol but this is our very first month of trying so I just need to relax a bit
Thank you for the tips! lol I have a question, I have been reading conflicting reports that say that you should try everyday or every other day when you’re ovulating? I don’t really know which one to go off of, what did you guys do?
That makes me feel so much better about the bread thing! I have been taking a prenatal vitamin and folic acid for about 3 months now, so that is comforting to know that what the baby doesnt get from me it will get from the vitamin I have heard a lot of positive things about whole wheat english muffins, I will have to give those a try and see what happens, I just feel like everytime I eat something “bready” like that, bam! two hours later 250 and it’s hard to get it to go down
I am sorry to hear about your miscarriage but I am very happy to hear that your baby now is 15 weeks and is doing great in there! I hope that I am very fertile lol but there is no way to really know I guess, I 've never been pregnant before, I have this crazy idea that I just wont be able to get pregnant but I think a lot of people think that when they’re first starting out lol
I hope to talk to you soon Marps!
I eat 185g of carbs per day during pregnancy and I am able to rarely spike above 140. I do this by eating mostly slow acting carbs (whole grain pasta, bread) and no more than 10g of fast acting carb at a time (one cup of milk after lunch and dinner or 10g of carb from fruit). At 4pm when I am the most insulin sensitive, I am able to eat a snack with 20g of carb from fruit and yogurt with no spike. For breakfast, I eat 25g of carb from whole wheat bread and NO other carbs (I eat two eggs and veggies). So it is not about whether to eat carb or not, but I think to find the right time and amounts that you can handle without spiking. I do eat 50g of carb at both lunch and dinner, but most of this (40g) is slow acting carbs.
Hi kristin!
Wow! You really have a routine down! i have seen some of your other posts that you’ve written to other women while manuvering around the page and I am so impressed! You seem so knowlegeable and to have such a great pregnancy system! Did it take you awhile to get it down? I have had a lot of trouble with complex, slow acting carbs, I just find that I spike so badly 1 to 2 hrs after eating them and they stick with me, so that’s why I did this in the first place. I think I just need to find my balance like you said, but I am not even pregnant yet and then it will all change lol
To add to the problem lol I dont eat eggs I cant stand them and have been searching for other protein sources to replace them. I am thinking about like protein shakes or something along those lines but I dont know if those are good for pregnancy? What kinds of veggies do you eat in the morning?
Hope to talk to you soon!
I spent about 2 years getting ready for pregnancy and it took me a lot of trial and error to get my A1c down. I also had a hard time staying disciplined (it’s much easier once the baby is actually inside of you!!). I was never able to get my A1c under 6 before pregnancy, which would have been the ideal. My endo let me start trying at 6.5 though. I think that my A1c is probably under 6 now, but I haven’t had it measured since November.
My endo is really strict about the diet and she convinced me that it is worth it. Given that I eat the same number of carbs at approximately the same times everyday, we are able to better adjust my basal and bolus levels with less data (I don’t have a CGMS – so this is even more important). We have been able to accurately adjust my basals without ever requiring me to fast.
One year ago, I would never have believed that I could follow this strict of a diet, but it will amaze you what you will be ready to do to have stable blood sugars once you are pregnant!
If you are spiking so high at 1-2 hours after eating (better to check at 1 hour during pregnancy to be sure you catch the spikes), then you probably need to increase your boluses (lower your insulin to carb ratio). Talk to you endo about this. If this seems to cause lows at 3-4 hours, then you also may try bolusing early. Many people find that they need to bolus Humalog or Novolog 15-25 minutes before eating in order to avoid the spike. In my system, I eat every 3-4 hours. So even if my bolus is too high, I’m not seeing lows at 3-4 hours because I eat then. So I think that routine eating is really helpful and I didn’t have a day of morning sickness during pregnancy. I don’t know the reason for this, but I think that it helped that I ate SO regularly. The longest stretch without eating is from 10pm to 7am.
It is genuinely too bad that you don’t like eggs. I know other women who ate turkey bacon for breakfast. For veggies, I eat raw veggies with my breakfast, depending on what looks good that week. Usually I eat bell peppers, radishes, green olives, carrots (but not to many cause they have carbs), green onions, …
I’m not sure about protein shakes. You should ask someone about this. You can start eating European style breakfasts with includes cheese plates and meats and veggies. I think it is important to fill up in the morning to avoid unnecessary snacking.
Hope that you are doing well!
haha. That’s actually why we started trying for a baby only 4 weeks after we married. We both thought it would be difficult for me to get pregnant- just because my body is weakened from the disease. But, nope! three weeks and we were pregnant! Thought I wouldn’t be able to conceive again for a while due to the m/c- but nope! Three weeks later, we were pregnant again! No worries, Mariah.
I read about the ovulating thing too. My sister had to track her ovulation because she was trying for a year. She would take her temperature before she got up in the morning to see if she was ovulating. And it was supposed to be every other day.
I never did that stuff. I didn’t track my ovulation, my cycles, or anything. We just… conceived. blush We were of the mindset “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.” It took the pressure off and I think made it easier to conceive because there wasn’t too much stress surrounding it.
The CGM is actually not regulated for pregnancy. In all the manuals it says it won’t read accurately on a pregnant woman. I don’t know if it’s due to hormones or something? Just like if you’re wearing the Dexcom and take a Tylenol, it won’t display your BG for 4 hours- until the Tylenol is out of your bloodstream.
I’ve had a LOT of lows with pregnancy. I’ve been in 4 insulin shock comas because I’ve lost a lot of my hypo symptoms. What I used to feel shaky and “off” at 50, now I feel fine until 25, so by the time I notice something’s wrong, I have very little time to correct. But, the key is to stay calm.
If you’ve never used a glucagon shot before, let me warn you that they hurt. Remind your husband that they have to go right into the meat of your buttock. OUCH. But, they do work. You’ll be up and moving in about 10 minutes. Be prepared for the rebound after the glucagon shot, though. Whenever I used them (haven’t for about 8 years now) I used to rebound to the high 200s, then an hour later, I’d plummet back down to the 30s again.
My husband tests my BG while I’m sleeping some nights if he’s worried that I’m in a coma. If I’m low, he brings me juice. We also keep a can of cake frosting (the cupcake decorating stuff by Betty Crocker that has the spray nozzle) in the pantry at all times. The cake frosting is what he uses to save me. He tests, gives me a squirt of frosting, waits 5 minutes, tests again. Repeat. If it’s showing an increase in BG, then he waits patiently for me to come around. If it stays “LO”, then he calls the ambulance. He hasn’t had to call the ambulance yet. Thank goodness! Those are expensive!
If you and your husband have never experienced an insulin shock coma, here are a few symptoms that you may do, that he may not expect:
- cold, clammy skin
- You may fight him while he’s trying to help you. My husband had to hold my nose so I’d open my mouth, so he could get the frosting down there. He said I was pulling the sheets up, pushing him away, and yelling.
- Recently, I went into insulin shock while I was in the middle of talking to him. He said I just started looping. I said the same sentence over and over and over again. Then, I started screaming. He looked in my eyes and noticed the pupils were dilated. He tested me and I was at a dropping 27. When he gave me the bottle of juice, I took it and threw it across the room. Three times. (Mind you, I only remember pieces of this). Eventually he sat on my chest (He weighs only slightly more than I do) and sprayed cake frosting down my throat.
- Just remind your husband that if you’re acting really strange, don’t assume “wife’s gone batty”, have him test your BG and get help.
If he doesn’t do it already, have him test your BG sometimes now. Maybe have him administer a correction bolus for you- having him do the calculations- so he’s more involved with your diabetes and will be able to help you when you need him the most. I have my husband give me shots while I’m driving. I could easily do it myself, but it helps him feel involved and gives me confidence that he will be able to care for me if / when I need him to.
Thank you so much for asking this question I have been trying to figure out the same thing!
Wow! Did you pass out in the 30s? Were they during the day or night??
Congrats on your pregnancy! Keep us updated on the sex how exciting!!
Congrats! So happy for you!! What do you mean by diabetic comas in the beginning of your pregnancyl ike severe lows where you pass out? What weeks of your pregnancy did you struggle with this? I have read about this, that you can have severe hypoglycemia during the first trimester which to me as an insulin newbie scares me to death!!
The CGM doesnt work during pregnancy!? Seriously!?! Is this just on certain people or everyone?
Are you required to test for ketones in the morning? I know most diabetic pregnant women do, I am just curious if you ever come up positive eating 50 carbs a day. I would like to stay at least semi low carb during pregnancy (am currently eating about 35-40 carbs day) and would like to not eat more than 100 if I were to become pregnant so I could stay on smallest doses of insulin as possible I just did not know how drs felt about this as they are sooo ketone concerned!
Just wanted to chime in that I have trace urine ketones every morning that I test (they don’t usually show up on the hospital lab results though). This is with 185g of carb per day. I’m not sure if it has much to do with the total daily carbs or rather how long that I have been fasting (for me, it’s 9 hours fasting from bedtime snack to breakfast).
I had trace ketones every morning before pregnancy as well. I asked my old endo about it once and he said that even non-diabetics have trace ketones when they fast and we should only worry if it is higher than trace.
Wow yeah I have read that as well! Thanks for the reply Kristin.
Thanks for all the info everyone! Hopefully I will be pregnant in not too long and then I can add into these chats and help others!