So I knew going into this pregnancy that there was a greater than normal risk my baby would be larger than the average. Genetics, hormones, etc.
I was fully expecting a 10lb baby. Preparing for it.
At my appointment the other day, at 28w+6d, my high risk ob tells me this child is 4.5 lbs already and if his growth doesn’t slow down a bit, we’ll be looking at an 11 lb baby. And of course I’m concerned about induction, although she didn’t mention that yet. (I have had that mama sense that he’ll arrive a bit earlier than planned however…) She also said I have a lot of fluid, but to drink more water (ehh, what?) but didn’t seem too concerned about that. Just to get my blood sugars down lower. Lady, I have a 5.2 a1c, I told her.
His heart & kidneys and everything have been checked and all is fine. My regular midwife is not concerned. My doula swears I need to lay off the dairy and he’ll quite gaining as much weight.
I live on dairy. I was actually eating MORE dairy last year when I was doing keto and starting to lose weight. Except ice cream. Ice cream does, for a fact, make me gain weight - the sugar and calories. So I know it can affect the baby differently than myself…but here’s my thought: my blood sugars are still running low, I drink a lot of juice boxes to help keep them up. My endo and I tweak my basal and bolus rates EVERY WEEK but I still have nights like last night where I can’t get above 60 until I’ve drunk a total of 3 juiceboxes at 25g each, and reduced my basal by 75% for a few hours. That is a LOT of juice! And a LOT LESS sleep with Dexcom going off every 15 minutes.
I feel like the extra calories and fructose in the juice are more of what’s contributing to his weight gain than the dairy I eat, but I don’t know how to fix that or test the theory. Glucose tabs have traditionally not worked as quickly for me, which is why I switched to juice boxes. I’ve tried to lower my dairy intake…but literally have no idea what to eat now.
My endo is more concerned with me being high still, and I know I can get better at bolusing 20 minutes before I eat. Still working on that. But it’s so hard to figure out when I’m already dropping LOW when I sit down to bolus for a meal.
I guess I’m just frustrated and wondering at other diabetic mamas thoughts on this whole thing.
I have two boys and have been T1D since I was 17. My first was born at 34 weeks and weighted 8.4lbs. My second was born at 26 weeks and weighed 4.2 lbs. They both would have been over 10 lbs if I had carried to term! I struggled with multiple lows throughout the pregnancies. Sounds like you and baby are doing good!! My only advise would be to eat more frequently to avoid the lows and load of sugar. Good luck!
My two children were a long time ago but like all of us with diabetes too many lows lead to more calories and weight gain. I also had more lows than I was expecting at first but my endo ( her specialty was pregnancy & diabetes!), just had me turn down the basal and change to carb ratio. But I had to be on the alert for when I switched into the next trimester and blood sugars start climbing.
I know how doctors freak out about highs but as long as you correct them down quickly, you should be ok. Nothing is guaranteed but this is very doable! This is when pumps come in very handy! Good luck! You’ve got those!
Thanks, Dani! I’ve been eating more often than I did before i was pregnant. I usually need a midmorning snack, then my stomach is growling before I eat lunch at 12:30, then I usually have another snack mid- to late afternoon before going home. I definitely have times when my bg is consistently low…until I think I’m getting the hang of it, then of course I’m thrown for a loop. And I try to eat as low carb in my snacks as I can - beef jerky in the morning and some of the Skinny Pop popcorn in the afternoons.
I just thought the third trimester was supposed to be crazy high blood sugars…
I’m guessing you weren’t induced with your 26 weeker, but what about your 34 weeker?
Even against 75g of carbs?? I’d be chomping down chalk all night at that rate!
I reduce my basal at least 50% for 2 hours when I have lows like I did last night which is what I did first and that got me up to maybe 80 for an hour, but then I tanked again, so reduced basal 75% for 2 hours plus 75g of sugar, which seems like a ridiculous amount. But I leveled out at 112 when I woke up.
I see your point. I rarely need to consider corrections that large. Liquid pre-mixed is likely better and preferable to you. You mentioned that you thought fructose was part of the problem. You should be able to identify some liquid alternative to fruit juice.
I wish you the best of luck with your pregnancy and delivery!
Is it possible that the jerky and popcorn-both high in sodium-could be the cause of the extra fluid? I would add more protein to your diet. This will help your BS stay up. Greek yogurt and lunch meat wrapped around a cheese stick are a couple of my go to snacks. Fair life milk has half the carbs and double the protein of regular milk. That’s another good option and of course peanut butter! Glucerna has several snack items that hold my sugar up without spiking my BS. I went into pre-term labor with both my boys and they spent several weeks in the NICU with pulmonary hypertension and other complications. Thankfully, neither of them have any longer term issues.
I do eat a lot of protein, per my doula. 80-100g per day. But as I’m realizing now, a good bit of that was from dairy.
I don’t even really like cow’s milk, I prefer almond or cashew milk now.
I like the chobani yogurts that have more protein than carbs! Just those few grams difference in each really helps. I stock up when they go on sale 10 for $10, which I just did last weekend. Now I guess I’ll be looking for coconut based yogurt or something.
