A couple of gestational diabetes questions..
I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes yesterday. At first I was upset about it but realized I had to suck it up and put on my big girl panties and just deal with it for the sake of my little bean. I’m 28 weeks pregnant. I have to meet with a dietitian August 11 and they will tell me what to eat and how to check my sugar. Question #1 is, what can I eat until then to be healthy and get a jump start on the diet? Question #2 is, do they normally induce labor if you have GD? If so, at what week? Well, I guess that’s 3 questions. 
Thank you for your help in advance!
i dont know what to eat but id call the dr or nurse and ask them. my mom had gestational diabetes and was induced because my brother and sister were already 9 lbs+ and i believe she was induced at 40 weeks. so, i assume it depends how big the babys are
ok eat a portion of fish baked or chicked… half an apple and a slice of whole grain bread that would be one meal… fruit try to eat only half per sitting as it breaks down into sugar and makes your sugars go quite high that is why the half apple… drink milk and water, avoid fruit juices… i was induced at 37 wks because my sugars were out of control…. good luck
1- minimal carbs, starches, and NO sweets. My dietician had me eating chicken sandwiches with 1 piece of bread – because i wanted mayo, otherwise i could have had 2…. 1/2 cup of veggie (not corn) and water to drink. things like that will be better specified. hopefully you can work with them to prepare a menu that suits you. fruits are better than starchy veggies! they are a different kind of sugar
2- they induced me at 37 weeks but only because i was 5 cms dialated. i think they will only induce if you are exceptionally large… or show signs of labor minus the actual labor…if that makes sense
I would stay away from sugars, and anything with a lot of carbs. You want to go on a low fat, high protein diet. Eat more meats, and vegetables. If you want fruit, eat fresh, not canned. I don’t think they will induce you unless there are complications. I would definitely follow the diet, the dietitian gives you…and eat smart, you don’t want harm coming to you or your baby. Good Luck! Hope you have a safe and healthy delivery.
the doc will keep a closer eye on you, they will monitor the baby’s size, the only bad thing is they have to stick the poor baby so many times to check their levels when they are born.
stay away from sugar if you can, carbs are big too, when you have diabetes it takes your body longer to break down carbs which then turn into sugar, so watch what you eat, and starches are also kinda a no no, you will have to watch what you eat and when you eat it, you will also have to keep an eye on your blood sugars to make sure they dont get to high.natural sugars in food are alright just do them in moderation.they will not induce you unless your baby gets too big. if you need sugar you can use sugar free sweetners, you can get them at any store, splenda, nutrasweet, etc.
1. Eat like a diabetic. There are many resources online.
2. No, they don’t induce unless you are very overdue.
I ate lots of veggies, legumes and low glycemic foods. It was boring but easy.
I had gestational diabetes. The first thing that they had me do was cut out a lot of carbs. I was drinking and eating a lot of fruits. Those were high in carbs, so I just had to monitor the amount that I was eating. The dietitian suggested that I have 3 meals that were around 30 carbs a piece and 3 snacks in between those meals of 15 carbs a piece. I found that this was hard to do at first, but once you get the hang of looking at packages and serving sizes, it gets a lot easier. I got the Healthy Life Low carb wheat bread, because I couldn’t live without bread. I ate a lot of cheese, meats and vegetables.
I had to test my blood (finger prick) before and after breakfast and dinner. It is not that bad. You can barely feel it. I am terrified of needles and I made it through. When I first started they thought I might have to go on insulin, but the diet made a huge difference and I never had to.
Now they told me that they were going to try to induce me, because gestational diabetes, but my son came 12 days early anyway (4 days before they were going to induce). He was 7 pounds and 8 ounces, so not huge as I was afraid of. They had talked about inducing at the end of week 38 or beginning of week 39, so it probably won’t be really early if they do. I am very glad that I did not have to do that. When we discussed inducing they did a stress test on me and an activity test on the baby (basically monitoring his movement and my heart rate etc). They did this every week starting at 35 weeks.
I think that we might have talked about inducing sooner if there were problems there. I just really wanted to make it as long as I could for his sake. If it was up to me before 35 weeks I was ready.
Good luck and don’t worry. A lot of women go through it. It seems scary, but as long as you keep track it gets easier every day. I hope this helps.
I’m so sorry to hear that, I too had GD and I won’t even try and lie, it’s not fun. But you are right, the best thing to do is try and control it for you the baby’s sake but don’t forget YOUR sake, pushing out a big baby is not fun and hard on you!
I was diagnosed at 33 wks so you have a jumpstart on me. I was allowed to eat the following:
30g Carbs for breakfast
60g Carbs for lunch/dinner
15-45g carbs twice a day for snacks
Now mind you I could eat “unlimited” calories, and meats don’t generally count for carbs, most veggies are very low. Fresh fruits are alright as well. Though they say an apple equal about 30g carbs. Pudding and jello are GREAT, pudding is low carbs (one little snack cup is like 16g) and jello is FREE! Yeah! They were my best friends until the end. Remember things like juice and milk are really high in carbs, the best drink is truly water! And yes by the end you will be sick of water, I normally drank a lot of water anyway but after that being almost all I could have I was so ready for something else!
For question 2, it depends on a few things. If you are controlling your GD well and keeping things inline, no probably not. They will also probably run quite a few NST (non stress tests) on you towards the end just to make sure the baby is doing alright (GD can put stress on them since they can be big babys). They will also do an ultrasound and check baby’s weight, if things look ok they will let you go full term.
I just delivered one week ago today (yeah!), i’m 5’1″ and had a 9lb 4oz baby! I controlled my GD very well but he was still a big boy. I did have him vaginally too, the doc said if he would have been any bigger he would have done a c-section.
When you meet with the dietitian it will make probably make you feel loads better, just remember that you are doing the right thing for both of you, it is so tough (especially going out for dinner) in the end you will be pleased! Hang in there and best wishes for a healthy happy delivery!