I’m 4 weeks into austerity and my goal is to keep doing practice sugars for one more menstrual cycle before I go off of birth control and start trying.
Can I just say…this makes me feel like a crazy person. Right? Isn’t pretending you’re pregnant when you’re not pregnant what crazy people do? And I get a piece of data from my Dexcom every 5 minutes that tells me whether I should have a baby, so I may also be going crazy. People are starting to ask if I’m pregnant because I just got married and I’m eating like a bunny and laying off caffeine and alcohol. What do I say? No, I’m just pretending I’m pregnant, like an insane person, because my doctor told me to? No, but diabetes really sucks and I have to eat like I’m pregnant way before I’m actually pregnant but don’t get excited because I’m not going to tell you until I’m like 20 weeks because I’m scared?
Plus side I feel good and I’ve recalibrated what feels unreasonably high. I’ve gotten more physically accustomed to cruising along around 100. Which is good for me. Why couldn’t I be this motivated without wanting a baby anyway?
10 days later I’m getting really good at this sugar stuff. I feel like I go a little low more often but fewer crashes because I don’t get on the roller coaster of high/low. Overall better sugar makes me feel great. My high risk consult is August 10 so I’m going to get another A1C August 3 even though it’s only 6 weeks since my last one.
I’m relying heavily on exercise to do this. I’m growing concerned that if I have problems with nausea my whole scheme is going to get thrown way out of whack. I run 3x/week at least and lift once or twice, and often have a post meal power walk to prevent spikes. Can anyone share what they did if they reached a point where pregnancy symptoms interfered with exercise? Husband has suggested recumbent bike. I’ve read about chewing mint leaves. Any other tips would be appreciated.
Hi friends. Just got the news that I lowered my A1C from 7.3 to 6.6 in only FIVE WEEKS with my insaneperson eating plan. Bad news is my trainer worried I wasn’t eating enough during this process so I’m upping the calories a bit but still keeping my sugars good. Visit with high risk maternal-fetal doctors is on Monday, I think they will be so happy with my numbers.
Awesome job!! i have been lurking on here forever - I am 27, type1 for about 8 years and hoping to have a baby in the next 1-2 years i am also planning to start austerity (i love that you called it that) soon so i feel comfortable and confident and henerally have my bg stuff together when we Ttc. My a1cs have ranged between 6.2-8.6 over the years depending… I am hoping to get and stay to 6.7 or lower without having many lows please let me know if any of you have blogs or jave written down your pregnancy/birth experiences anywhere online
Maternal-fetal medicine visit today. She was very positive about the 6.6 and my overall decent lifetime control. THAT SAID she thinks a 6 would be better, recommended a post-meal target of 130 which used to be my PRE-meal target, and wants me to get an EKG, an eye exam, and a bunch of labs.
BUT she also gave us the go ahead to start trying if we want.
I highly recommend going low carb. it will help with the post meal spikes, I limit my carbs to 8-18 per meal and my post meal bg averages 125 to 145. I’ve been exactly where you are THREE TIMES. It’s worth all the hard work.
So, I started this group and want to say thank you for all the stories, experiences and advice shared. It helped me to destress just a little and wrap my head around this idea of preparing for pregnancy. There were some very helpful pieces of advice that I used- especially bolusing 15 min. before my meal-- I noticed an immediate improvement with my numbers overall, and treating lows with fewer carbs to avoid a spike.
So I say all this to share that I am currently 9 weeks and 5 days pregnant and I’m happy, scared and quite a bit stressed (fears). I’m going to find (or maybe start) another group because I’d really like some support and company with all that I’ve been experiencing thus far (this group calls for different folk). I hope that this group continues and I know I’ll be happy to check back and share what I can about this experience.
My husband and I ar 11 weeks pregnant with a little girl. A1c pre pregnancy was 5.6. Yesterday’s was 4.7. I hydrate like crazy and get up twice a night to pee, finger stick every time I’m up. (I have a cgm but only depend on it for alerts up or down, not the actual #). Low carb is key, as is weighing and measuring everything. We walk after dinner every day. This has become my first job. I am determined to prevent any complications that are in my control. This has been harder than anything ever. But look at the end goal-a healthy baby!! Best of luck to you!!!
Hey, @HamrGirl – congratulations on your pregnancy! Sounds like a great start.
You responded to an inactive thread from 2015; if you want to see some more recent posts, go to the Diabetes and Pregnancy sub-forum and look for the most recent discussions (Baby is here; Birth story; Pregnant!; Pregnancy/labor update; etc.).
(I myself will be 32 weeks tomorrow and am fairly active on the sub-forum. So I am sure we’ll chat more in the future! )
There is a little reading glass symbol at the RH top of this page which is for searches. All sorts of things about pregnancy will be found there if you do a search. Good luck.
Just make sure you get an eye exam EVERY trimester, pregnant diabetic women are more likely to get retinopathy. I gave birth to my son 5 months ago. Everything turned out great but I have proliferative retinopathy. Nobody told me to get an eye exam every 3 months, but with a good a1c and multiple eye exams, you will be fine.
Getting target A1c is a combination of having the right tools and the right knowledge.
The tools are insulin (Levemir and Humalog are the two approved for pregnancy, so is NPH and Regular insulin) delivered using basal-bolus dosing, diet (lower carb is usually easier), and frequent testing of blood sugar (CGM can be very very useful if you can get one).
Make sure you have the tools you need to succeed.
The knowledge then comes with 1. setting of basal and bolus dose rates, 2. Learning How to correct highs and lows, 3. Determining how diet affects blood sugars and adjusting, 4. Determining how exercise affects blood sugars and adjusting.
Your skill with all of these should improve over time with practice and fine-tuning.
I would recommend the following resources:-
Bernstein Diabetes University (U-tube) and/or the book Diabetes Solutions. If you want tight control, I think you really can’t go past this resource. Take what you want (he is quite strident about the importance of low carb), but even if you don’t decide to go as low carb as he recommends (30g/day), there is much very valuable information. Check out basal and bolus testing procedures. Pay attention to “law of small numbers” (small amounts of carbs need small amounts of insulin and thus the risks of errors - over or underdosing - are also small).
shoot, no one told me that! i just had one this spring, since I was due, and i think i heard vague noises about having one again before delivery but no one mentioned it when i got into my third trimester!
i ended up with an emergency c-section at 34w6d anyways. that was 2 months ago and not having any problems with my eyes, thank goodness.
i am also planning to start austerity (i love that you called it that) soon so i feel comfortable and confident and henerally have my bg stuff together when we Ttc. My a1cs have ranged between 6.2-8.6 over the years depending… I am hoping to get and stay to 6.7 or lower without having many lows 
)