adamiamelia

my babies

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Gestational Diabetes

The first thing that the diabetic midwife told me when we meet her was that the gestational diabetis did not occur because of anything I did or ate. The reason it happened is that during pregnancy my body requires extra insulin for the growing baby and so, there is now not enough insulin. Or, because of the many hormones running through the body because of pregnancy, the insulin in my body is not acting as efficiently as it should. Therefore, it is NOT my fault! Fuh..what a relief..

The risk in having GD is that the baby may get bigger and requires a c-sect later to deliver. The baby's body will also produce extra insulin to cope with the extra glucose and will result in the baby having low glucose after birth and will have to be taken to special care unit for her glucose levels to be monitored. Having GD also means that I am at risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life..

Then she goes on to explain some modifications that I will need to do to my diet to control my glucose levels. I should eat regular meals, avoid sugary and fattening foods, increase intake of starchy food like rice and pasta, eat low-fat dairy etc. The suprising thing is that i need to decrease intake of fruits and vegetables from the recommended amount of 5 portions a day to 4 portions a day. The reason is that fruits contain natural sugar. I should also watch out for sweet fruits like over-ripe banana, melons etc.

As i control my diet, I will need to monitor my glucose levels daily. She gave me a home glucose testing kit, and explained to me how to use it. It's really quite complicated to do...maybe i'm not used to it yet..i have to take blood sample twice or sometimes once a day.

my glucose kit. I like the package, neat ada bag dia sendiri. The monitor is digital and gives the reading. This machine must be calibrated for every new pack of strips and it must be checked every week with glucose water to make sure it works properly.

Here's the prick! with needles, and strips. Try sekali tadi prick my finger and read the reading in front of the midwife, to make sure i know how to do it...sakit jugak! tapi oklah...

My glucose monitoring diary...she gave me a schedule for when i need to check my glucose levels daily for this week. Next week on Wednesday I will have to come in to see her again. I guess i cannot cheat in my diet lah..she will check it every week..I was quite surprise how frequent i will have to have my ante-natal check-up now..in addition to the weekly check-up, I will also have to come in for frequent scanning to make sure the baby's not growing too big (separate sessions) kesian my husband..nanti his work will pile up..dahla dia tgh busy skarang...sorry bang...

to dispose of the needles

There is quite a long procedure that she taught me to use this kit. How to calibrate, how to test the machine, how to set up the needle, how to put in the strip, how to prick etc. My husband said I should write it all down or else I might forget how. I'm thinking I will have to lock myself up in a room before I conduct the tests otherwise i can never get it done with Adam around..

I really hope controlling my diet can help control my glucose levels...If by dieting my insulin is still not enough...i may need tablets or insulin shots..

The midwife also checked my belly and the baby's heartbeat...then she said, wait, where's your baby's head?? she quickly then ordered a scan for me....tgk2...la...the babys is breeched! Alamak Baby sayang...pls turn soon ok...if she is breeched, dahla size might be big..payahla nak dpt deliver normally...at 34 weeks they will check again, if still breech, they will refer me to...(ok lupa department ape) where they will try to turn the baby from outside..

hmm...hopefully everything will be ok..

Looking at it from another angle though, it's amazing how the NHS here works. I mean, all of this care for me is free! Is there a similar system by hospital kerajaan in Malaysia? We took things for granted with Adam because we have insurance kan..with NHS, any pregnant lady in similar condition would have this special care available...imagine someone with no money...this free medical care would really help! alhamdulillah...

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm quite impressed with their govt hospital. just now before u wrote this entry, i'm about to suggest you to buy that particular test kit at boots (siap dah google, and paste u the link!), but it turns out, they provide it for you for free!

btw, take care of urself and baby.
hope everything will be fine.
~aina

Ernie Khairina said...

aida,
ko akan lebih berani lepas ni..anything occur in life, u'll be better - such experience makes u stronger! i'm sure the reason because ur baby girl adalah sgt istimewa =) hehe..take care aida

p/s tak sabar nk sampai sana..wait until i deliver jun 2010 <--aku ke yg taip 'deliver2' ni? hehe ..masih dalam fasa terkejut =)

aidafiqs adamia said...

aina,
wah...ko dah surveykan utk aku ke?tq!hehe...

ernie,
insyaAllah ok...ernie, i'm so excited for you!!!congrats!!

farah said...

aida, i'm impressed with the healthcare here too...everything is free....just make sure u monitor your glucose level and doa for the best.....good luck

p/s:i've sent u an email, not sure u got it or not?

Ariana said...

yeah.. very good healthcare...

recently my mom got mild stroke due to high blood sugar...

then they just give pills to control sugar..
im the one that have to buy... learn.. and teach my mom how to use a blood sugar monitor kit..

so have to guniea pig on myself for a bit before I teach my mom...

Fathinz the wedding planner said...

bestnyee, kat sini private hospital pun tunggu 2jam, tp jumpe doc 5min je. tkde consultation sangat terus scan, tgk baby ok and ambik ubat..
ernie, best best,, baby Jun.. congrets!

ummu umar said...

hope everything will be ok..dont worry GDM (gestational diabetes mellitus) is common to occur. However take care of yourself and your diet kay..make sure sugar not to high coz other complication may happen if level is too high..but i'm very sure that you'll take a very good care of yourself and baby as u are a good caring mother..

Anonymous said...

aida, same goes to government hosp in Msia...i have both experience with NHS and government hosp in Msia...cuma org2 Msia nie sceptical sket, apa yg Mat salleh buat semuanya bagus, but our govern hos mcm x bagus...
the NHS midwife pun sama mcm jururawat desa kat msia...cuma midwife NHS boleh dtg rumah masa kita pregnant whereas for Msia, kita kena g clinic kerajaan utk check up..tp clinic kerajaan pun check glucose level, hb count, baby's heartbeat and if anything goes wrong, they will refer us to the doctor kat Hosp which is the same procedure mcm NHS jugak...and maybe ramai org Msia yg tak tau pasal nie becoz they prefer to go for private hosp...but from my exp,private hosp in Msia x check details mcm yg klinik kerajaan buat...
and one more, if we deliver kat private hosp, nurse kerajaan nie still boleh dtg visit kita kat rumah masa kita on confinement period...they will come at least 3 times...but let say ur baby ada jaundice, lagi kerap diorang dtg...they will check for both mother n baby...and all the services are free!!
maybe bila aida balik Msia nanti, for ur next baby, u should try to go for check up kat clinic kerajaan... :)
take care, sis...
-kak wawa-

aidafiqs adamia said...

farah,
OMG i'm so sorry...i did get your email! i read it then forgot to reply! ok i'll get to it right away...hehe..

err..elly ke tu?
hows ur mom?is she better?

kak fathin,
a'ah private hops kat msia mmg camtu kan...skejap je jumpa doc

ummu umar,
thank you...

kak wawa,
cop..ni kak wawa sheffield ke? akak and abg lan ape kaba?cop...ade both experience tu..maknenye akak dah tambah anak lagi satu ke??heheh..lama tak dgr citer!i miss you!yeke kak wawa..taktau sistem kat hosp kerajaan msia...bagusla ek hospital kerajaan kite pun..alhamdulillah...

~Mommy ZuE~ said...

aida..share la ur diet everyday diet nnt..hehe..if u dun mind la..i pon risau ni coz i develope sweet tooth syndrome laa skrg..huhu..dh laa asyik nak mengunyah jekk..tatau what kind of snack yg healthy laa..haihh..

Anonymous said...

hello aida,

sama mcm ummu umar ckp GDM boleh control. eventho i tried to control my glucose, tp sbb sgt2 suka mkn manis terlajak jugak la. that explains kenapa my 2nd baby is bigger than his abang, with extra extra amniotic fluid (yg membanjiri labor room).. kalau rajin boleh baca my GDM pregnancy experience. hahha

bagusnya kat sana siap bg bekas utk buang semua ni. i kat sini buang mcm tu je, tp masuk kotak kecik before buang. takut terpijak.

i have exactly the same glucometer! best je buat tu kat opis sambil org lain tgk. hahha

i could not take nasi and pasta a lot. confirm gula naik pastu pening sgt.

from what i know, GDM mom tak boleh amik tablets sbb nnt effect kat baby. oleh kerana sangat takut dgn insulin injection, i hari2 dgn tekun monitor glucose level.

take care aida.

aidafiqs adamia said...

Zue,
insyaAllah i try share nnt ape i mkn...hehe...i pun blur jugak ni ape nak snack kadang tu...

tuty,
bestkan glucometer tu..hehe. tp i kene buat dlm toilet otherwise adam kacau.kesiannye u takleh mkn pasta n rice..dah tu u mkn ape?the midwife lak bgtau i the best food nak mkn is starchy food like rice n pasta tulah sbb dia release the sugar slowly throughout the day, and not give u a sugar rush. what happened bila you mkn yg sweet?mesti lg pening!the midwife told me kat sini kalau diet ni tak jalan dia kasi tablet dulu...then baru insulin. takutnye ade effect kat baby ke?i'm definitely going to read you GDM experience!tq tuty!

Controlled diabetes diet said...

Thanks for posting this kind of information. It will help a lot of people, especially those who already have diabetes and to those who wants to control it. Aside from the above information, what are the other advise you can share to us?

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