Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Heather Nielsen on July 6, 2012 at 1:24pm

Congratulations!!!!
Kari, this is very exciting news! Kudos on the A1c and on getting a CGMS - that will be hugely helpful.
Eight years ago, I found out I was expecting twins (I also have type 1) and it was terrifying. But everything went well, my girls are now very healthy 7.5 yr olds, and I'm so grateful for the blessing of twins.
Pregnancy IS a hard time for blood sugar management. Working with your educator and hopefully an experienced perinatologist (high risk pregnancy OB) will be key to your mental and physical health.
I essentially limited my carbs as much as possible. Hard at first bc I was very nauseous, and all that settled it was a daily scone!!! But that passed by week 14 and the rests of the way I ate no more than 30 gm of carbs at lunch and dinner, and had eggs and fruit for breakfast almost every day. AM was hardest for insulin resistance.

Please keep posting on here and connecting w people who inspire you and help you feel optimistic and supported!!!

GOOD LUCk!

Heather (mom of three healthy girls!)

Permalink Reply by bardowlatry on July 6, 2012 at 1:48pm

Congratulations! I was in your shoes a little over a year ago - only I'm LADA, not type 1, and I had just been diagnosed two months before I got pregnant. :) The CGMS will be a huge help for you - I absolutely loved my Dexcom throughout my pregnancy. I had highs early in the first trimester, and then leveled out a bit between around week 10-11, before the steady climb in the second tri.

I second Heather's recommendation for an experienced perinatologist or maternal fetal medicine specialist. And what kind of twins are you having? My identical boys are 9 months old now. :)

Permalink Reply by E. Louise on July 6, 2012 at 2:19pm

You will probably feel like you can't keep up your whole pregnancy. Things change so fast. As soon as you feel like you've made a good change and it's working, it's time to make a new one! Not to discourage you, but it's just good to know that, so that you won't think the change you made isn't working, you'll just know it's already time to make another change! Best of luck, and keep up the frequent testing; that will be really helpful.

PS I also had pretty high sugars in early pregnancy because I was also sick with bronchitis (not sure if it was related to pregnancy or not). I was increasing my insulin but not being super aggressive because I didn't realize I was pregnant--just thought it was the temporary effects of being sick! My baby girl was born healthy at 37 weeks and is now a happy 8-month-old.

Permalink Reply by Kristin on July 6, 2012 at 7:20pm

Congratulations Kari! I had some highs in the early pregnancy as well. It's good that you are working closely with your educator. I literally changed my insulin does every week all pregnancy (many weeks of just tweaking). The goal is good blood sugars, which is hard because the amount of insulin you will need to keep those will change from week to week. As the others said, I ate very low carb in the morning. I had two eggs and lots of veggies for breakfast every morning. Then I ate 50g of whole grain bread. This was the only way to stay under 140 after breakfast for me. I avoided fruit in the morning and ate it after lunch and in the afternoon. Another thing that worked for me was to bolus for 10-15 grams EXTRA and I didn't eat it unless I needed it. When I measured 1 hours after eating, if I had a huge spike then I didn't eat the fruit. If I didn't spike, then I would eat the 10-15g of carb then. It helped me keep things more even. Sometimes I couldn't tell if I would need it so I would measure again in 30-60 minutes.

Please post questions whenever you have them. There are lots of Moms who have been there!!

Permalink Reply by Diana on July 7, 2012 at 2:17pm

Congratulations :)

Kari, I had the same problem weeks 6-8 of pregnancy. I am now 17 weeks pregnant(not with twins). The CGMS will help a lot. Your endo will probably want you to check in once a week with your Bg readings and will make adjustments throughout your pregnancy. After weeks 6-8, I started getting lows but my endo and CGMS helped me through that time. I am doing well but something tells me it will be time for another adjustment soon ;) Good Luck! Keep posting if you have any questions.

Permalink Reply by Kristin on July 7, 2012 at 8:26pm

Yes, for me the lows started around week 9 too. Then there was just tweaking from weeks 9-18. Weeks 19 on were the start of major insulin resistance and crazy increases in my doses. So hold on Diana -- it's probably coming!!

Permalink Reply by Super_sally on July 9, 2012 at 1:21am

Congratulations!

During pregnancy I felt like I was injecting insulin like water (and it seemed to have as little effect). I made very agressive adjustments to bring down highs (got to like I needed 1 unit of insulin to go down by 5 points), with very frequent testing to avoid lows. I didn't have any major lows either.

For safety I ate early in the evenings and didn't go to bed until I was sure that there was no or insignificant fast acting insulin on board. Basals also went up phenomenally.

So don't be scared, just do what you need to do. And test frequently.

What you are experiencing is normal. It can also change super quickly. Hence, the frequent testing.

Permalink Reply by KariC on September 4, 2012 at 11:56am

Just wanted to check in! Hope everyone is doing well. I found out I am having a baby BOY! :) One twin only made it to about 9 weeks, but the 1 boy left is so far so healthy. Sugars have been good, but past few days they have been trying to creep up. Let the increased insulin amounts begin! :)