Complications

Since starting the glyburide, I've been doing much better with my glucose levels. My fasting blood glucose has been 90 or below every day since I starting the glyburide, usually around 85. And the few times I've gone over 130 after a meal, it's never been over 135 (with one exception) and I could usually pinpoint something in my diet (or lack of exercise) that caused it.

The one exception was Monday night. That afternoon, I noticed a contraction just before 3pm. I thought it was a BH contraction at first, but realized it was a little painful. Only about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10, but the BH contractions have never been painful. I was working at the computer and jotted down the time. Twelve minutes later, I had another one. And another 12 minutes after that. I knew that 6 contractions in an hour, even BH contractions, warranted a call to the OB, and if they continued at 12 minutes apart, that would be 6 within an hour. The next came 10 minutes later, but was milder. And another mild one came 10 minutes after that. By then, my son woke up and I couldn't keep track. But I called my husband to come home and called my OB's office. The nurse called back and said to go to triage.

I spent 2 1/2 hours at triage, being monitored. It was over the dinner hour and I asked if they had food since I was due for a meal and I had gestational diabetes. They brought me a turkey sandwich with an apple and some kind of sugar-free gel dessert. I ate the whole sandwich although I suspected it had more carbs than the bread I normally eat, but I only ate half the apple.

Immediately before I ate, they also gave me a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions. One hour after I started eating, my blood sugar was 152. That was pretty high even for a higher carb bread. I also hadn't gone for a walk, obviously, but considering that my post-dinner blood sugar when I do take a walk is in the low 100s or even mid-90s, I suspect the terbutaline had something to do with it.

When they released me, they said no exercise or lifting until my OB cleared me. This worried me since the last time I skipped my post-meal walks, my blood sugar was too high. Fortunately, I got ahold of my OB on Tuesday and he cleared me to resume normal activities. The contractions hadn't opened or thinned my cervix and the fetal fibronectin test they did came back negative, meaning I was unlikely to deliver in the next 2 week. He said controlling the gestational diabetes was more important. So although I skipped my morning walk on Tuesday (and had a blood sugar of 131 after breakfast), I resumed my walks that night and have been doing OK ever since.