I've never had anything to do with diabetes before, and now have to do injections into my tummy twice a day.

i'm nervous about how it will affect me. i know it is safe, and it is safe for baby.
i know that insulin helps to manage blood sugar levels, what else does it do? are there any side effects?

Hi Cindy, I am hoping you got good instruction when you were prescribed the insulin because if not, that was irresponsible of your doctor!

Insulin is a hormone that your body produces naturally. However, if you have GD this means your pregnancy hormones are interfering with the efficiency of your endocrine system, which means you need a little help getting the proper amount of insulin for the food you're eating.

It doesn't have "side affects" exactly, it has direct affects. It lowers the level of glucose in your blood. The problem is that if you take too much insulin it can lower your glucose too much, which will then make you feel wonky - if that's what you mean by side effects, it's really just that if you have too much insulin you will feel some funny symptoms such as sweating, blurry vision, feeling woozy and hard to think.

The main thing is to have your meter handy and carry some glucose tablets around just in case. You are of course trying to avoid high blood sugars, but low blood sugars will feel awful and can be dangerous if you're driving. So just be prepared. In pregnancy, anything under 60 is considered low and should be treated with fast sugar. Now I have to warn you that 60 feels very low and most diabetics will treat at 70 or below. But they want us to have lower sugars when we are pregnant. I admit it - I start treating low blood sugars at about 65 because I don't feel safe. So the best thing to do is to measure your blood sugar so you know if you're feeling it at 60 or at 80. If you've had high blood sugars up until now, you might start feeling those symptoms at a higher glucose level until your body adjusts to having lower sugars.

One more thing: I also would personally not inject my tummy when pregnant but maybe I'm paranoid. It's just that my stomach is so hard and even though I know I wouldn't hit the uterus, I think it would hurt more! There are other injection sites available. I use the area right around my hip bones where I can pinch a bit, or inner thigh works well for that. If I can't pinch it, I won't inject there. Too painful!

Good luck and remember you are doing what's best for your child!