# Birth stories



## rachelha (Aug 7, 2010)

Hello

I was wondering if any of the diabetic mums on here would be willing to share their birth stories.  In particular were you given any choices as to how your birth would go (induction/csection/natural birth), did you have skin to skin contact afterwards, was your baby given formula straight away, how were your blood sugars controlled (were you put on a sliding scale, did you do your own testing), how was the baby monitored?

Sorry I have been to an antenatal class today and come back with lots of diabetes related questions

Rachel


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## am64 (Aug 7, 2010)

rachelha said:


> Hello
> 
> I was wondering if any of the diabetic mums on here would be willing to share their birth stories.  In particular were you given any choices as to how your birth would go (induction/csection/natural birth), did you have skin to skin contact afterwards, was your baby given formula straight away?
> 
> Rachel



Rachel  good luck xx cant be long now good luck XXXX...even if you dont get the initial contact re caesarian the bond will be there what ever.. xxx hugs xx 'with my first they ended up giving epidural through vien in hand which bashed her when she tried to feed ..after 6 hours trying to breastfeed her lop sided i used a bottle and it was such a relief ...so i know there is alot of presuure on breast feeding but if is not for you its important too ...BIG HUGS xxx


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## xxlou_lxx (Aug 7, 2010)

Hi Rachel, I was booked in to be induced at 38 weeks but that ended up being a week early, was still induced with the prostin gel. The whole night and the next morning I was alowed to monitor my own blood gucose, I didnt really need to administer insulin but was alowed to do it all so long as I updated them for their notes! 
I ended up going on a sliding scale and told not to eat when it got to mid afternoon I actually cant remember why now! lol Im sure that isnt normal procedure though, I ended up with a c section after the 3rd lot of gel didnt work. 
The week of my last antenatal appointment was meant to be a demonstration on how to expess 1st milk for baby (didnt get this though as I ended up a week earlier than planned of course) I know you can do it though.
Grace ended up taking some formula as she had trouble latching on but in the morning when I was taken up to see her in scbu I managedd to express some for taking up for her then, They do like you to have skin to skin as they do for any other situation, They take baby away for a few mins and check them over before they are returned (just the same as any other birth, unless there are obvious problems)

I was told the  plan at 36 weeks rachel, so dont worry too much  

hop i managed to answer some questions for u xx


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## rachelha (Aug 7, 2010)

Thanks Lou, that answers,lots of my questions.  I think my hormones have gone wonky today, I know rationally I should just be grateful that I am pregnant, and have got this far without any complications.


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## Twitchy (Aug 7, 2010)

Hiya,

I'd had T1 for 28 years when I had my first baby, 31 when I had my second (underactive thyroid too);

Baby number 1: I was told from the get-go that I had a 70% chance of a C section, as this would be more 'controlled' (ie could be planned during the day, with all the consultant support necessary available).  At 33 wks I was admitted for severe pre-eclampsia, whisked upstairs & plugged with drips in both hands, insulin / glucose in one & I think something to stop me fitting in the other (after the experts all had a gaggle & row in the room over what they could give without making things worse!  Jabbed with a couple of steroid shots & told they might have to deliver that day, but would try to see how long they could sustain the pregnancy for baby's sake.  Michael was born by "semi-elective emergency C-section" at 34w 5 days, weighing 5lb 12oz.  I had been terrified of having a section, but actually the staff were brilliant - they really did their best to still make it a good experience.  I got to say hello to him briefly before they whisked him off to the scbu & did checks.  We had an initial scare with a shadow on his lung, but it went thankfully! He was in an incubator, fed via a nose tube for a few days (formula as no-one had told me about expressing or helped me to do it post-op), and then needed photo therapy for jaundice for about a week & a half from memory.  I am not aware that he had any hypos.  So all in all, a highly medicalised, stressful arrival!  I always struggled to breastfeed him, partly as he really just didn't get how to suckle and partly because we had to give him formula top-ups via a bottle as he was so small, but not being daft he soon twigged that bottle is easier than breast!  I did try expressing, but even with a really good pump a) it is incredibly time consuming as you have to express, feed, wash & sterilise bottles rather than either breast feed or bottle feed alone.  That said, he thrived on aptamil, and is now a robust, strapping big 3yr old who certainly seems to have a robust immune system!  

Baby number two was born after I reported to hospital having had a couple of really big hypos - my consultant had warned me that unexplained hypos in 3rd Tri can be an indicator that the placenta is starting to fail - no-one really knows why but this tends to happen in diabetics earlier than 'normal' mums, hence the no later than 38wks approach most docs take with diabetic mums!  My doc decided baby needed to come out that day, so again a 'semi-elective emergency C-section'.  Charlotte was born at 35w 6 d, weighing a hefty 7lb 13 oz as she was macrosomic - though apparently not due to poor control (HbA1c of 6.4-5.7% whilst pregnant).  I did actually get to have a few hours of skin to skin in recovery after they had checked her over which was AMAZING!  Wonderful!  They did then take her to scbu overnight because they thought her breathing was laboured & her sugar levels were low (so although I was hand expressing & she'd had a bit of a breast feed & cup feed by then she got a dose of formula too!).  I got her back early the next morning, having asked every hour or so!  Breastfeeding went better this time, although because she lost more than 10% of birth weight we were instructed to top-up again, which I think can mean you don't end up producing enough as your body doesn't get the signal from extra feeding to produce more milk.... then gastric reflux kicked in, so ended up expressing milk to add infant gaviscon to, whilst toddler & baby wrangling, so same problems as last time time-wise, only more so...doh!

Long story short - we did nct lessons first time & had a bad experience with some judgemental 'alphamummies' in the group.  My C sections were NOT as scary as I'd been led to beleive, in fact the staff went out of their way to make them a good experience.  Breast feeding is probably 'best' (& if it is going well is a lovely bonding experience), but only if it's not driving you to despair because baby won't co-operate, or it's just not working for you!  Diabetes control post birth can be really hard, mainly because you have a demanding baby to juggle too (!), so that last thing you need is to feel judged by other people's attitudes to motherhood and whether or not they feel you conform to them...  You just have to go with what works best for you & baby - after all, all that really matters is that you & baby are healthy - anything else is just lifestyle choice! 

Wishing you all the very best in your own experience - just be kind to yourself! )


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## Cate (Aug 7, 2010)

rachelha said:


> Hello
> 
> I was wondering if any of the diabetic mums on here would be willing to share their birth stories.  In particular were you given any choices as to how your birth would go (induction/csection/natural birth), did you have skin to skin contact afterwards, was your baby given formula straight away, how were your blood sugars controlled (were you put on a sliding scale, did you do your own testing), how was the baby monitored?
> 
> ...



Hi Rachel,

Edward's birth was emergency section after my waters broke at 31 weeks, so none of the above really applied, though I was on a sliding scale and did my own testing.

Hannah's birth was up in the air till about 38 weeks.  My eye consultant eventually wrote to the obs/diabetic team recommending a section as he was concerned about labour making my retinopathy worse.  So I had a planned section at just over 39 weeks - initially it was scheduled for exactly 40 weeks, but a bank holiday weekend got in the way so I had her the Friday before.  My husband did skin to skin with her while I was being stitched up, she had a small amount of formula in the middle of the night on day 1 (I think it was!) as she was sleepy and hadn't fed properly for so long and her sugars were a bit low.  She had heel pricks done every so often for the first 2 or 3 days but that was all the monitoring that happened (unless you meant during labour?).

I know you post on BC, so here's a link to my BSs.  Hannah: http://community.babycentre.co.uk/journal/mumofhannah/1095875/an_old_bs_hannah_4th_may_2007  and Edward & Daniel: http://community.babycentre.co.uk/journal/mumofhannah/1010315/my_bs_edward_anthony_daniel_robert


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## newbs (Aug 8, 2010)

I have 2 daughters, both pregnancies were very much planned and blood sugars controlled before hand and the pregnancies themselves both went well.  I attended the antenatal diabetic clinic fortnightly from 5 wks to 34 wks, then weekly from 34 wks to 38 wks.

My first pregnancy went smoothly and I managed to keep my sugars quite well controlled.  I was offered an induction at 38 wks and chose to go ahead with that as my baby was estimated between 8-9lbs.  I went into hospital the day before the induction and, luckily, went into labour naturally during the night before the induction was planned.  I had a straight forward 5.5hr labour but was on a sliding scale and the baby continuously monitored throughout the labour.  My husband or myself did my blood testing throughout.  The actual birth didn't go to plan as my baby had the cord around her neck so I had to have an episiotomy and my baby was born blue so she was whisked away to get her breathing.  Whilst away she was bathed and dressed so I didn't get skin to skin contact with her.  She refused to breastfeed despite trying for 2 hrs and, as her blood sugar was then quite low, it was decided by myself any my team that I should give her a bottle and she stayed on bottles after that.  She weighed a healthy 8lb 3oz at birth and is now a healthy 5 year old.

My second pregnancy was more difficult as I found it harder to control my blood sugars and passed out several times during the pregnancy, once with a very bad hypo, other times due to low blood pressure.  I was booked in again for an induction at 38 weeks and this time it went ahead but didn't go according to plan at all.  The pessary started off very strong frequent contractions immediately and my baby became distressed.  I spent several hours lying on my side as this was considered the best position for the baby - but this made the labour more difficult and longer.  I was only offered gas and air as the team were concerned about other options because of the distress my baby was suffering and after 15 hours my baby's heartbeat dropped off the monitor and I was given a general anaesthetic to get my baby out as quick as possible by emergency caesarean.  I didn't have to have a sliding scale this time around and my husband or myself monitored my sugars again but was hypo and allowed to have lucozade just before I had to have the caesarean.  This meant that I was very sick after the anaesthetic and didn't get to hold my daughter until 4 hours after her birth.  She was given a bottle whilst I was still unconscious and didn't take to breastfeeding afterwards despite trying.  My second daughter was also 8lb 3oz and is now a healthy 1 year old.

I found my antenatal care to be really good, the team were excellent and I had a HbA1c of between 5 and 5.5% throughout both pregnancies.  However, the care on the delivery suite differed a lot, the first labour was managed really well but the second wasn't.  It all depends on your hospital and the team you get in delivery suite on the day.  As long as you share your concerns and let everyone know how you feel things should be fine.  It is definitely well worth it in the end!  

Good luck.


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## Emmal31 (Aug 9, 2010)

Hi Rachel,

It must be getting close now for you! I was told the friday before I was induced on the monday that that's when it would happen I was 38 weeks. I was told that the first lot of pessary's (spelling?) wouldn't work and it would probably be the 2nd lot that would. I went in at 9 in the morning they left it until 10 to do an iternal exam to see how my cervix were they said they were very tight they put the first lot of pessary's in which didn't work then they had to wait for a few hours and then did another internal check which hadn't changed then they put a 2nd lot of pessary's in by which time it was getting late in the day. The second lot didn't seem to do anything so they moved me from the labour ward to the day ward. At 11pm I started to get contractions, it wasn't until the morning they moved me down to the labour ward again by which point I was only 3cm dialated they did a check on Jessica's heartbeat which they said they weren't entirely happy with and if it didn't improve they'd have to give me an emergency c section. A couple of minutes after that Jessica's heartbeat started getting really distressed so they decided then and there they would do a c section. It was only then that I was attatched to a sliding scale my bg's were stable throughout the c section. Jessica was taken away straight away to the neo natal unit without me being able to look at her and stayed there for 4 days I think because of low bg's. She was fed on formula even though I said I wanted to breastfeed so I had trouble right from the start trying to get her to take the breast. Sorry it really does sound negative my birth story but I really wasn't happy with my care there. 

p.s I was in charge of monitoring my bg's apart from right before the c section and at the very end. xxx


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## Claire (Aug 9, 2010)

Hi Rachel

My pregnancy went to full term and my daughter Lydia weighed 7lbs14oz but I found during pregnancy that there was a huge emphasis on my diabetes but very little discussion of my pregnancy/labour.  I did not have a birthplan but I did attend the hospital every two weeks and then weekly (with scans) from 36 weeks.

During labour, I monitored my own sugars up until the forceps were called for. I always wanted a natural birth and I had also wanted to breastfeed my daughter.  However after birth I did not get skin to skin contact (as Lydia was in shock due to the forceps delivery) but I got to hold her a few mintues later and tried breastfeeding but to no avail.  She was then given a bottle as her bloodsugar was a bit low.  

I tried breastfeeding a lot after she was born but with no luck (due to the forceps, her head was badly gashed and I did not want her to be in a lot of discomfort).  The midwife recommended that I expressed which I did for a month until Lydia's reflux got so bad that I gave it up. If I was to have another baby, I would not put the same pressure on myself as expressing is very time consuming!

Lydia was given heel pricks every few hours after she was born and they were not near the threshold for the doctor's to be worried.  

Good luck with your pregnancy and I hope my feedback has helped.


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## PhoebeC (Aug 9, 2010)

Last night i dreamt i had my baby and it was crying and i wanted to breast fed it and i just wasnt happening. I was crying and so was baby. Dont like these hormonal dreams 

xx


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## rachelha (Aug 10, 2010)

Hello all

 Thank you all so much for sharing your birth stories on here.  They have helped me enourmously. I know feel like I understand a bit more what will happen,and dont feel anywhere near so alone.

Rx


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