Nancy, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 24 weeks. I have high blood pressure and also had to be monitored closely. I live in a very rural area and my OB didn't feel like he had all the technology to monitor the baby and my blood pressure issues, so he refered me to another doctor about 2 hours away. The blood pressure medicine that I was on was a class C drug and you aren't supposed to take those during pregnancy, but the docs said I had no choice. For the last 2 months of pregnancy I had to go once or twice a week for a biophysical profile. This is a detailed ultrasound that measures everything under the sun to make sure the baby's growth and development wasn't affected by my medication or my diabetes.
As for the diabetes, I was given a high protein, low-carb diet to follow. I was allowed 30 carbs for breakfast but I also had to balance it out with at least 15 grams of protein. Lunch and Dinner allowed me 45 carbs, but I had to have around 20 grams of protein. As for snacks, they could be 15 carbs, and 8 protein. Sticking to the diet was easier than you would think, especially since your babies health depended on it. We tried to control the blood sugar with glucophage, but it didn't help. So, they started me on long acting insulin twice a day. And, I had to check my blood sugar about 5 times a day, and keep the readings, along with my diet for the day logged in a journal for the docs to see. As your pregnancy progresses, the amount of insulin that you have to take will probably be increased periodically. When I first started on it, I was taking around 14 units twice a day. When I delivered, I was up to like 37 units twice a day. They say as the baby grows, the increase in hormones make the diabetes worse.
Due to blood pressure issues, I was induced and Andrew was born 3 weeks early, but he was completely healthy...other than the fact that he had CF (which I didn't find out till later.) I knew that I was a carrier, but was told my husband wasn't. They didn't do the amplified test and he was actually carrying a very rare mutation.
Being a gestational diabetic was very scary, and there were times that I was hesitant to do things because I didn't wanna hurt the baby, but ultimately I trusted the doctors and everything came out ok. I think the most important thing is the diet. If you want a copy of my diet plan just let me know and I can email it to you or something. Everything will work out, just take it day by day and enjoy your pregnancy. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
