I had it as well, and was able to control it completely with food and exercise. Hopefully they have you meet with a GD nurse or nutritionist and give you a food plan of sorts. Mine was very easy to follow and I felt great on it! I also stopped gaining weight while following the GD plan, and lost all the baby weight--plus some--in the first 2 weeks post-partum. It's a "silver lining" of GD, as it seems somewhat common. Feel free to add me or PM me if you have any questions.

My baby is 5 weeks, 2 days old now.

I felt the same way as well.
I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and was taking Metformin, which is a diabetes drug, when I got pregnant. PCOS is somewhat related to diabetes in that there is an endocrine/hormone imbalance that can cause insulin resistance. I have always had a slight insulin resistance but nothing terrible. I was taking the Metformin because it helps with other PCOS symptoms.
Anyway, my doctor told me to take the Metformin for the first trimester because women with PCOS have a 40% miscarriage risk and taking Metformin throughout the first trimester will reduce that to 8%. I took my first one hour glucose test while I was still on it and failed it. I took the three hour and passed it. About a month later, the doctor told me to go off of Metformin because the first trimester was over. I wanted to stay on as I know plenty of women who stayed on Metformin their whole pregnancy with no issues but I guess recently they have stopped doing that and it is now not recommended for the whole pregnancy.
Anyway, even leading up to my second test I could tell I had it. If I ate certain meals or snacks I would feel really lightheaded and weird. I was not surprised when I got the results back.
I started the GD diet right before Thanksgiving. The main thing is that from taking your blood sugar, you will find out what foods affect YOU. The dietician told us this and it really is true - what sends my blood sugar up really high might be fine for you. For me, I've found the main things I can't tolerate are white rice, sweets, and flour tortillas. But I've had pasta (I always do whole grain at home but I've had white pasta and other people's houses and I've been fine), pizza (now I only have one piece at a time with a big salad) and all kinds of bread with little to no effect. So you'll need to find out through testing what works for you.
It's hard sometimes, especially for me being diagnosed around the holidays because people really socialize around food and I don't think you even realize it until you're trying to avoid those foods. Our vendors kept sending up cookies and candy at work in the weeks around Christmas and it was hard to block out everyone talking about them all day (Seriously! Just eat the cookie and shut up about it!). But I'm happy to say that I found Christmas to be easier than Thanksgiving was. I think now I am more used to not eating sweets and stuff. Last weekend my husband and I went to a party and I had a very small piece of angel food cake with berries (blood sugar was fine afterward BTW) and I was like "This is so sweet!" and my husband said it really wasn't. If I want chocolate or peanut butter or whatever, I eat granola bars, trail mix, or sugar free pudding or jello with sugar free whipped topping.
I think the hardest thing is when you get a high reading it can be very stressful and I always feel guilty about it. The walking really does help and also my numbers have improved as I've figured out what I can and can't have.
A month ago I went for the 32 week scan and they did tell me that my son is very big (85th percentile) and that in particular his abdomen is big (95th percentile). I have my next growth scan on 1/13. I've had to go for ultrasounds every week and two non stress tests every week. Also, I've been seeing the OB weekly since 32 weeks. My blood sugars have been good for the most part so we suspect that the growth happened prior to me being diagnosed - after I went off the Metformin but before I knew about the GD.

I took the test at 28 weeks, was diagnosed at 29 weeks and took a GD class at 30 weeks. At 32 weeks, I met with the nutritionist again. I fax my numbers to them every week and they call a few days later to let me know if I need to change anything. Honestly, I've been worried a couple of times that they're going to put me on meds, especially when they did the growth scan and said the baby is big. It's especially bad for me because I am allergic to the only oral medication that they give (Glyburide) so would have to go right to insulin. But at this point, I'm 37 weeks and they haven't even come close to talking about meds. They have had me do a few extra things like taking it at one hour after meals and then again at 2 hours to see if I was spiking later (I wasn't) and more recently, taking it before and after each meal to see if I was spiking then (I wasn't).
I talked to another mom who had GD and went to the same specialist as me and she said the main thing they worry about is if your fasting is high as opposed to the post-meal ones. She said no matter what she ate, she could not get her fasting under 95 and so they did put her on meds. That just goes to show you that it's caused by hormones because her diet had no effect whatsoever. I think if they think your diet is causing the issue, they will continue to work with you but if no matter what you eat, your #s are still high, they will go with meds.

They told me that if I had to go on meds, they would induce at 39-40 weeks, if not, they would let me go to 41, which is what they let everyone go to at my practice.
Things are kind of up in the air right now because I had a growth scan and his abdominal circumference percentile went way down but his weight percentile went up a little. Last time the doctor told me that they are more concerned about a high abdominal circumference than a high weight but we'll see what they say on Thursday. They told me if the baby's big they might not put me on meds but they would still induce between 39 and 40 weeks. However, at my 36 week appointment, the doctor told me that since I am already dilated 2 cm and fully engaged, he's confident that I can go into labor on my own.

I've already told anyone who wants to visit at the hospital that they must bring me carbs

This made me laugh! I had a LIST of foods that people were to bring me in the hospital! Turns out I had a rough induction and didn't really want all the sweets I thought I would. BUT I remember my first hospital meal after giving birth (on the 3rd day in the hospital) I was so excited to get a cupcake! I was THRILLED. All of my meals before that had been diabetic ones and I wasn't allowed anything to drink besides water or crystal light. I was miserable, such bland terrible foods for 2-3 days while being poked and prodded. After I had my daughter (I had her at 5:30 so they didn't feed me dinner??? - also wasn't diabetic with her) I asked for food at like 11:30 pm. The nurse brought my husband and I some turkey sandwiches and some yogurt and chips. (easy foods they had laying around for hungry moms). That was such a feast and one of the best meals of my life. I still remember how great that sandwich tasted. That first meal (that you can stomach to eat) after birth is so wonderful.


Oh, and one thing I found helpful if anyone reads this. I brought my own lancet (I think? The stabby thingy - it's been 2.5 years give me a break) to the hospital. The Dr's offices and hospital use a bigger needle that hurt way more. THey let me stab myself then they took my blood for my numbers. I was monitored after every meal, so to me it was much nicer than using their stuff and hurting more.

Best of luck to those giving birth soon!

This reminds me....all I wanted was a piece of Portillo's (small Chicago chain) chocolate cake and I still haven't had it! You're wise to bring your treat food to the hospital!

Not just a Chicago chain, we've got a couple in California too and OMG their cheese fries and strawberry shortcake are to die for!

Wonderful! As much as I complain, it really is not that hard. I had my baby shower tonight and I was able to eat most of the food there. I waited for a teeny tiny piece of cake until after I took my two hour, at 99! I wish I would have eaten more now... oh well

I think it fairly common to fail the one hour and pass the three hour.