I,was releaved to read some of you ladys blogs about unplaned pregnencys and being diabetic. Im releaved to hear that there are great out comes and that Im not the only one that is scared shitless everyday about my pregnency.
So my story is when i found out I was pregnent my A1C was 8.2. So they hospitalized me to get my blood sugar down and switch my insulin. I was on Lantis and Humalog and they told me that wasn’t good for the baby so they switched me to Humulin NPH and Novolog witch is more work but Im getting the hang of it and I feel like i have more freedom to eat a little more carbs if I like and just give more insulin. So I have now moved and have a new doc. He insistes on me switching to Humulin NPH and Humulin R and being on a strick diet ( 30 carbs mor. 45 lunch 45din snack inbetween) and cant cheat on my carbs ever. (telling that to a pregnent woman that craves Myds and will kill anyone in here was of getting it). This does not make any sence to me to switch because he just cheaked my A1C and its 5.8.
PLEASE if anyone could tell me what insulin worked wile they were prego or tell me their storys of insulin switching it would help me out!
Also I live in Du Page IL if anyone could recomend a doc for high risk they liked that would be great
THANKS!
Hi Nicole! Congrats on your lower A1c – that is GREAT!
You should also check out our group on pregnancy HERE
I am currently 21 weeks pregnant and on the pump using Novolog. Novolog should be fine for pregnancy. I don’t know why your doctor would want to switch you to R when you blood sugars are so good! Did he say WHY R would be better?
Also, is this doctor an endocrinologist or a high risk OB-GYN?? Many women get very different advice from endos or high risk OB-GYNs. The OB-GYNs often have more experience dealing with gestational diabetes (people who become diabetic only during pregnancy). I think you trust an endo for the recommendation of which insulin to use. If this is an endo, then I think that you should see if you can find a new one!
My endo does have me on a strict diet with carbs: 25g at breakfast, 20g at 10am snack, 50g at lunch, 20g at 4pm snack, 50g at dinner, and 20g at 10pm snack. I’m not allowed to just eat extra carbs when I want them, but this is enough carbs to keep the baby healthy and I try to eat big enough snacks so that I am not hungry in between. I do know that other women managed their blood sugars without following a strict schedule of when to eat the carbs.
I have relatives in Naperville, IL. Is that near you? I can ask them.
Congrats on the baby!! I wish I had some advice for you but my friend who had an encounter w/ high risk TG (bed rest for 3 months…this was my martial arts instructor who was likely not thrilled about it?) was in Champaign, rather than Naperville (very close to Glen Ellyn Jean…). I know there’s some other people from around here floating around.
I have not had a pregnancy since diagnosis but I am planning on TTC again since diagnosis and just spoke with my endo about this on Monday, he told me the newer insulins are not approved for pregnancy because they have not been studied enough but if I were to become pregnant I could stay on my current insulin regimen- Humalog and Levemir. Congrats! Keep us updated!! I would love to learn more about diabetic pregnancies so I will be more confident.
This may be a silly question but I am very new at this…how do you bolus for meals and snacks so close together without overlapping your boluses, how does this work?? I usually wait 4 hours because I am scared of overlapping boluses. I am currently very low carb like 40 g per day and know if I become pregnant I will be forced to eat more carbs per day (did they tell you a minimum of what you should have per day?) I am trying to learn what the meal plan for pregnancy would be so thanks for sharing!
I know other endos also allow type 1 diabetics to continue using Levemir and Lantus. They do not know that they harm the baby – they simply haven’t been studied.
I think that people with gestational diabetes are usually started on NPH instead though.
Congrats Sally! Sorry to hear about your struggles with your new insulin regimen maybe they would let you switch back to your old one??
Did your endo or diabetes educator say that eating that amount of carbs per day is sufficient? I have been looking for information on this but can’t seem to find any on low carbing with insulin while pregnant.
Basically my doctor said not to worry about overlapping boluses. The baby needs more frequent snacks. Actually my endo’s main goal is to not have periods of fasting be too long because that can lead to ketones quickly for some women in pregnancy (fasting ketones – not ones caused by high blood sugar). This is because if the baby needs calories then the baby takes them. If you don’t eat often enough, then the calories come from breaking down fat, which if it happens too quickly can lead to ketones.
My endo really wants to avoid ketones in pregnancy. Other endos say that they do not damage the baby at all.
My endo gave me this fixed diet (which is 185g of carb per day). She said this would be the right balance for the needs of pregnancy and my diabetes. However, she insisted that I never eat more than 10g of fast acting carbs (fruit, milk, yogurt, cookies, …) at a time. The only exception is my 4pm snack, which is when I am most insulin sensitive and then I can eat 20g with no spike. At breakfast, I am only allowed slow acting carbs (real whole grain bread).
I used to struggle a lot with post-prandial high blood sugars. And I did not think it would be possible to keep my post-prandials under 140 mg/dl (8 mmol/L) during pregnancy with this many carbs, but I have been doing it. Getting my bolus doses right and limiting fast acting carbs did the trick. I am eating a lot more healthy carbs (whole grain everything) than I did before pregnancy and that is also good for pregnancy (whole grains have folic acid in them and other nutrients). You can get those nutrients also on a low carb diet, but need to be very careful that you are getting enough!
Awesome!! Thanks for the detailed meal plan, I have been wondering how doctors feel about ketones and low carbs during pregnancy. Are you having a little boy or girl?? Did you have a lot of lows during your first trimester? How have your insulin needs changed during pregnancy?
Oh ok makes sense! I was hoping he would give me the okay to stay on the same insulin so that would at least be one less worry so I was relieved when he said yes!
It’s a boy 
My insulin needs were slightly higher from weeks 3-8. Then I started having lots of lows in week 9. We lowered my basal insulin a lot in week 9 and my insulin needs continued to lower until week 18 (!). This is longer than other women that I have heard from.
Last week was week 20 and it was the first week when we began in increase my basal insulin again.
Pre-pregnancy my total daily basal (on the pump) was 13-14 units. That got down to 6.5. Now in week 21, I am still taking under 9 units. Every woman seems to be a bit different when they need to increase or decrease their insulin. My endo’s philosophy is that we follow what my numbers tell us. So far so good!
I had 2 pregnancies both while managing diabetes. Though with the first one We believe now that I was in the very early stages of coming down with Type 1 but was able to manage on a verynstrict diet. My second was planned and I was already on a pump, so I won’t have anything to offer you on what type of insulin to use. But it sounds strange to me that if the insulin regimen that you are on now is working, the doctor would want to change it. I did a little poking around on the Internet and found a Diabetes Center that I think is near you. I don’t know anything about it personally, but I know that the care I received at the center I go to was great. They worked closely with my blood sugars and I emailed them weekly to have my CDE look at them. It’s worth a try. If you can’t get an appointment soon enough, tell them you are pregnant and have a doctor that is currently trying to change your meds though you are doing well. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and wish you and the baby well.
http://www.cdh.org/medical-services/services-A-Z/diabetes-center.aspx
