Pregnancy / gestational diabete

D

donniemcm

Registered User
Hi all,

I am a dad-to-be and lately my wife discovered she has a pregnancy diabete.
We are being followed at Union and we wanted to make some check up in Public hospital just in case if later there are some complications.
The diabete was diagnosised at the Public one, then the OGTT was performed there as well as 2 long days stay for further check up.
And the funny thing is that once we knew about it we wanted to see if all the checks could be performed at Union and the doctor (well it was the nurse passing the message) said we better do this with the public hospital ...

Has anyone experienced this kind of scenario?

After this incident we were quite skeptical about the Union doctor professionalism (even though we have friends telling us it was quite common they push the ball to Public hospital if there are those kind of things) as she didn't found out the diabete earlier and was only giving light warning such as "please watch your weight".
 
Gestational diabetes is quite common and mainly doctors tell youth watch your weight cause the diabetes normally returns to normal after childbirth. I wouldn't worry too much...public might give you more attention compared to the private hospital if you have a problem...the public is probably more thorough too...so wouldn't worry about being sent to the public system.
 
Yes that's what we were thinking at the beginning that public system is following more seriously this common issue.
Though after my wife spent 2 days and 1 night in there, she came out exhausted and quite down.
Actually I am still quite confused about the purpose of the stay in hospital.
The program was like this :
- Check in the hospital and poke the finger to check sugar level
- Had lunch and after 2 hours poke again
- poke before dinner
- Had dinner and after 2 hours poke again
- Early in the morning poke finger
- Breakfast followed by poking.

I only know that if you fail in one of this sugar check you have to extend your stay. Meaning worse case, you can extend your stay for an undefined period which is psychologically harsh for a mum-to-be i think.
My wife failed at the 6 and last time and in this case they took some blood sample to thoroughly check the level.
Thing is that it was done at 12:30 and my wife waited until 5pm before the doctor came in to read the report that stayed the whole afternoon on her bed desk to say she can get out ! and she was able to check out at 6pm!
During the whole afternoon she was stressed out on the results that could extend her stay indefinably without counting the rudeness of some nurse in charge ...

What I don't get in this exercise is that there are no clear communication on what they are doing, how the results are interpreted but no scale of diabetes she is in and how strict should her diet be. I just saw my wife being fed "healthy" meal, poke, harass by nurse who didn't want to let her do exercise by just walking in the corridor (she thinks that is where she failed at the last test, as the nurse forbid her to get out her room).

Hope this little story give a picture of what to be expected if diagnosed having gestational diabetes.
 
Public hospitals do tend to be very by the book that way and they are also bad at communication, at least in English.

For some things - like neonatal ICU - public hospitals have the most advanced equipment and so private hospitals will refer you there. During my last pregnancy, I was considering have a procedure called an ECV done to turn a breech baby; there are only a few qualified experts in this and my private doctor referred me to the public hospital.

However, for something like gestational diabetes, which is a complication but not something requiring specialised equipment, I think your private doctor should be able to handle it. If you would rather private care, maybe try getting a hold of your private doctor and explaining the situation and hearing why exactly you need to go public for this. Many people do some tests in public to save costs - I did - and then ask the private doctor for an opinion if something is diagnosed. The problem is that the public hospital doesn't release reports right away, which the private doctor would need to see to treat your wife or she would need to repeat the tests. You could also apply to the public hospital for the records, if it's not a scan btu something that has to be photocopied and you pick it up yourself it could be give to you within a few days (but for mailing, it takes 2 weeks).
 
I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy and went public. Your wife should have seen a dietician already to work out a healthy eating plan. Thus plan isn't just about controlling weight but also making sure her sugar levels don't fluctuate too much. I'm surprised the nurse didn't let your wife exercise! iWeb they checked my levels in hospital I failed the first reading as they wre too slow to get organized and so it was too late. After I ate lunch I actually went outside and walked around for about 45 minutes and they were fine with it. What hospital are you using? I was at PMH. If you have any questions
 
Sugar levels will not be too high just because your wife did not walk around, if its normal it will be normal with or without walking!

Public hospitals are good for some things and not as good for other things.... And they are understaffed also.... When I stayed at public hospital for 1 day of monitoring due to some complications I only saw the doctor first thing when. Admitted then normal schedules visits for all patients!

Anyway if you feel the need, a dietitian will be able to help your wife control her GDM!

Good luck
 
I found that doing exercise (brisk 20 minute walk) after eating did help to control my sugar levels (in combination with the diet I was given). The dietician at the hospital actually strongly recommended that I walk after eating.
 
Exercise helps control your sugar level of course but if its normal its normal without the walking, if you have DM or GDM then it will help to control and lower your blood sugar
 
Thanks for your inputs :)

She is being followed by Kwong Wah hospital and is getting use to it now.
I guess she was in shock when she knew about it and was not prepared for so many follow up.

Though she is still not used to the 6 checks in one day.
Plus we have a cat so she is also checking for diseases related to it.

The best I can do is to support her and hope all is well then :)
 
Wow! 6 time per day? I only had to do it 3 times per day every second day! I think this was because my readings were never too high. I think I only hit 7.something a couple of times. Good luck to your wife and just remember after she has the baby everything should be fine!
 
Yes 6 times, 3 meals, one before and one after.

Looks like her basic sugar level has increased and might need to have insulin shot.
She is again in hospital and mood is down again :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top