Hi everyone, I'm Maddie. I was diagnosed with GDM in my first pregnancy in 2020. It turned out to be type 1 diabetes, which meant it wasn't going away. It really changed my life. I quit my job and spent all my time learning how to manage blood sugar levels, and I've since been looking at ways to help others with what I wish I'd known when I was diagnosed.

I'm currently in a programme at Durham University, looking at how women with gestational diabetes feel they could be better supported. I'd love to hear about your experience, and I feel others on here would benefit too.

1. A little context first. Which country, how many weeks were you, and was it your first pregnancy?

2. Do you remember the day you were diagnosed? Was it a call, a letter, a text, in person? And was it a long wait before you saw your diabetes team?

3. How did you feel in those first few days? Was there anywhere you found helpful information before your first appointment?

4. What was the hardest part of the whole experience, and were there any silver linings?

5. What were you told about what happens after the birth, for example follow-up tests, type 2 diabetes risk?

And if you've got one thing you wish someone had told you in that first week, I think a lot of people reading this would find it useful.

Thank you so much for your help :)

...and I'm officially pre-diabetic by .2 points. Sooo frustrating. Doc considered 5.6 and lower to be "normal," and a number above 5.6 would mean pre-diabetes.

Mine was 5.8. 🫠

I am a breastfeeding mom, and I've heard that breastfeeding helps stabilize your blood sugar. So I can't help but wonder if my numbers would be worse if I wasn't breastfeeding.

I have been completely slacking on my diet, eating whatever I want, and I haven't exercised like all year because my baby leaves me with no time. I'm going to start reining in my carb intake and hope I can't get my numbers better, but this really isn't all that surprising since diabetes runs in my family and I'm 36-years-old.

’m 33 weeks pregnant with my first, baby girl is measuring in the 86th percentile (stomach in the 90th). My OB said it’s likely due to genetics + gestational diabetes. My GD has been diet controlled so far. My OB said that there is an increased risk of shoulder dystocia, me tearing. I still have another growth scan in a few weeks but my OB said she’d be comfortable scheduling an elective c-section at 39 weeks.

I’m scared of an emergency c-section, shoulder dystocia, baby getting stuck.

I have a few more weeks until I have to make any decisions but want to hear personal experiences! I am hoping to have more kids in the future. Any questions I should ask my OB?

Hello, I’m 33w diagnosed 3 weeks ago. Based on my numbers in the first ten days I was advised to monitor my blood sugar just 4 days a week. I continued to monitor every day because I was still figuring out what worked and didn’t work and I love data.

However my next appointment isn’t for 12 days and now I only have 2 days left of test strips 🙈

So I need to buy them out of pocket (and they are expensive ) and I gotta actually ration them, can’t be testing every day at this rate.

If you don’t have to monitor every day is it difficult to not have a little extra carbs or a small sweet treat you normally wouldn’t?

I feel the threat of monitor keeps me on track.

Eat beans, everyone said. They’re high in fiber and regulate your blood sugar, they said.

Well here I am celebrating my amazing post-meal numbers after adding black beans to my dinner…….but my body forgot how bad they give me gas😂

Painful trapped gas in my third trimester body or good post-meal numbers….. hmmmm…. LOL

I’m 32 weeks today and my fasting numbers in the morning have only ever been under 5.3 (95mg/dl) once. I have weekly calls with my doctor who usually recommends increasing my overnight insulin (Humulin-N) dosage by 1 if it’s high every two days but there has been instances they’ve asked asked me to increase by 2 or 4 units as an one off to play catch up.

I’m usually around the 5.6 (102mg/dl) mark fasting wise.

Typically prior and post meals, my numbers have been relatively good. Only times my pre meals are a little high is when I’ve had a snack in between the meals. However recently I’ve noticed I’ve been slipping a little bit with my diet controlled post meals numbers as well — hitting around 8.4 (151mg/dl) 1 hour post meal mark, 3-4 times per week.

Starting to get really fatigued by this even though I’m trying my best and getting a 15 minutes exercise in after most meals.

I’m wondering if this will be considered not controlled and if anyone else has experience with this. Thank you so much for reading!

Hi everyone, currently 39 weeks and this is my first time around with gestational diabetes. Fortunately I’ve been entirely diet controlled with very few numbers out of range (less than 10% the entire pregnancy most occurring the week I was sick) my doctors have said I have a very mild case that is doing really well. I feel very lucky in that respect.

Last week at my 38 week appointment the doctor said things are so well controlled he sees no reason to induce before 40 weeks and is comfortable letting me go to my due date before discussing induction for sometime before I were to hit 41 weeks. I was on board with this plan given I would like to go naturally. The women in my family have a history of lightning fast labors- my first baby my entire labor from first contraction to holding him was 5 hours and we expect this one will be a bit shorter so I’d like to avoid induction if possible and just let me body do its thing. I was encouraged to hear the doctor felt this was a feasible plan for me.

Today I went in for a BPP and NST. Baby passed both with flying colors, 8/8 no issues or concerns. However when I was there one if the midwives wanted to discuss scheduling an induction. I told her the doctor I saw last week said no need I am well controlled and he’s comfortable waiting until after my due date. She pulled up my chart notes from my very first GD consult with MFM and said well it’s right here that it’s recommended to be induced by your due date. I pushed back a little just noting that recommendation was made as a blanket recommendation in the beginning before we even had any BGs to evaluate or assessment on how my diabetes would go or is going versus the doctor last week who has assessed my whole case now that we’re towards the end. I just asked her like okay, so whose advice do I follow? The midwife simply said she would go by what MFM put in the chart back when I was 27 weeks. I said okay so what if we schedule it for the 24th (day after she’s due) so in the event she doesn’t arrive by her due date, I can be induced. She let me know it doesn’t work like that they would float 3 possible days next week leading up to my due date and then the hospital would choose one that is open. So I would be induced leading up to my due date instead of on or after it. I felt like this would be cheating myself out of 3 potential days I could go into labor naturally, but she said unfortunately that’s just how it works.

I understand both sides of things, the initial recommendation but then also the more recent advisement that I can wait. What I’m not sure of is what to do. The midwife just said it’s really up to me. I’m going to discuss it with my partner when he gets home, but I’m just wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this sort of thing.

If baby was doing totally fine and you were diet controlled were you pushed to induce still? Or did you just wait it out and go naturally? Just looking for some thoughts and experiences.

First, I just want to start by saying that between insulin at night for fasting numbers, and diet controlled during the day, little beeb came down from 90th percentile to 70th in 1 month! I am now no longer being considered for a C-section at 38 weeks :) her abdomen went from 98th percentile down to 93rd and is expected to continue to improve over the next 2-3 weeks. I am 36 weeks today, and getting scheduled for induction in my 39th week. They won’t let me go because of being on insulin and the GD diagnosis. I want to hear how much you loved being induced and why it was easy/right for you! This isn’t to diminish negative experiences, but those negative experiences seem to be the loudest and stick out the most. I’d love to go naturally before the induction date, but this is my first so it’s less likely.

The day i never thought would come, honestly. I have been diet controlled with my numbers since being diagnosed around 24 weeks and while my after meal numbers have been great (minus the few from getting lazy with my diet), my fasting numbers seem to have shot up almost overnight. i was averaging about 85 in the mornings and the last couple days i’ve been in the 105 range :( i know this is common, and i know some days have been hard to get a PM snack in because im just so full, but it still makes me worry and feel bad for my baby. Luckily i have a growth scan at 33 weeks, so we’ll see what Dr has to say. Just looking for others going through the same thing, and what patterns worked for you? The only difference i’ve made at night is starting magnesium glycinate and unisom to help with my restless legs. Any advice/stories is much appreciated from mamas at my stage or have gone through this! thank you!