16 Comments
Happy Mother’s Day to all T1D moms, moms of children with T1D, and T1D caregivers out there! If you have navigated pregnancy with T1D, did you find any helpful resources?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
© 2023 T1D Exchange. All Rights Reserved.
I have T1-diabetes and have never had children. I did, however, for a short while keep care of a cousin who also had T1-diabetes. I didn’t use any resources to take care of her. I just used my knowledge of how I kept care of myself to help keep care of her. She had suffered a major brain injury after a fall down some steps, and since her husband couldn’t find an in-home-caretaker who knew how to take care of his diabetic wife, I stepped in to help care for her while her husband was at work.
I didn’t have T1D yet when I was pregnant.
Both of my pregnancies were before I developed Type 1.
I had three children while I had T1D. My endocrinologist, his nursing team and dieticians, as well as an excellent obgyn at the big women’s hospital here in Vancouver Canada all kept me feeling very well taken care of.
My little girl was born in 1979. This was before home blood testing equipment pumps. Anything I relied on the help of specialist and my family doctor.
Got lots of horror stories from people and negative comments
My family doctor saved me. He said take care of yourself get on his schedule and your baby will be fine and that’s what I did. Exercised every day ate the same food at the same time got plenty of rest had a natural birth, low weight gain
No computers, she had to go to the library not much information. It was a different world then for being a diabetic I was about nine injections a day not insulin, but I covered every meal every snack and the little vile with the pill to check my blood different different world than.
You must have a positive attitude with diabetes there’s no way to get around it. You’re the one in control and it’s up to you.
Typo sorry pronouns I dictated
My first pregnancy was in 1980. Very difficult pregnancy. No resources available and the doctors and hospital staff were not very knowledgeable about managing my condition and pre-eclampsia. My second pregnancy was in 1991. Very different circumstances. I had nausea and vomiting which caused extreme drops in blood sugar. I passed out numerous times. My husband was in the military and the doctors had no experience with diabetic pregnancies. Luckily the baby was born healthy, only two weeks early and 7 pounds 8 oz.
Back then special resources weren’t available to me.
Yes, my old diabetologist (aka: endo)! I wasn’t completely thrilled with the endo I was seeing, but since I was living in a new state, I didn’t have much choice. So, when I found out I was pregnant, I called my old endo who I trust to this day. He was the one who told me that low blood sugars are good during pregnancy. Infact, fetus’ like low blood sugar. The endo I was seeing locally was worried about my morning lows. I’m so glad I had someone I trusted to ask!
I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my now 18 year old daughter. Diabetes runs on both sides of my family and skipped both my mom and dad, skipped a generation and both sides a grand parent had type 1 and actually both died from complications. I was not diabetic before my pregnancy and it began with gestational. I also had the encephalitus virus when I was 7 years old and almost died. My imune system attached my apancrease and I began having low blood sugars after that and my pancreas did not work properly after that. The pregnancy brought it on full blown type one gestational and then after my daughter was born I got a sinus infection and the doctor gave me steroids’, Levaquin antibiotic and sugar codeine cough syrup which I believe brought it back since it had went away after delivery as far as the hospital told me before leaving. I have not been full blown type 1 diabetic for 18 years with Dexcom CGM and many different insulin pumps and now on the iLet Bionic Pancreas. It has done great bringing my A1C down from 10.7 to 7.2 yesterday test in just a couple of months. Yay! I am getting many lows though with it and have to keep glucose tabs with me everywhere I go. I hate lows! Ugh!
I meant I have NOW been full blown diabetic.. instead of NOT
No kids of my own. I was in the diabetes and pregnancy arm of the DCCT in the early to mid-1980s, but unfortunately I had two miscarriages then got a divorce. Subsequently I went to nursing school, earned my RN, CDE, BSN, and MSN, CDCES as a clinical specialist in diabetes nursing.
Pregnancy with T1D by Ginger Vieira
It was 44 and 38 years ago not many resources available then
It was because I was diagnosed with T1d as a child in 1972 that I chose never to have children…the risks of harm from a pregnancy combined with the likelihood of passing T1D onto a child was too much to risk.
Facebook groups and other online resources.
As well a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who was well-versed in T1D pregnancy.
44 years ago when I was pregnant, my OB doctor suggested maybe terminating the pregnancy due to my diabetes. The endo doctor not so much. I just got preached at regularly about the danger of high blood sugars. If there were resources available then, I never heard about them.