An estimated 4 percent of pregnant women develop diabetes during pregnancy, which is called gestational diabetes. It is one of the most common complications of pregnancy, occurring in 3 to 8 in 100 pregnancies or 135,000 women in the United States. Tests for gestational diabetes are usually done in the 28th week of pregnancy, and taking good care of yourself will mean a lot for the health of both your baby and yourself.
Elevated blood glucose levels are indicative of gestational diabetes, although no one seems to know exactly what causes it. Hormones in the placenta can block the action of the mother’s insulin in her body; insulin resistance makes it hard for the mother’s body to use insulin, and without enough insulin glucose is turned into energy because it can’t leave the body. A high level of blood glucose, called hyperglycemia, requires the baby to work harder.
Causes and risk factors
Because gestational diabetes occurs in women who did not have diabetes before their pregnancy, it can be quite a shock to discover you have it. If a family member has diabetes, a woman is more likely to develop diabetes during the gestational period, or the time when a baby is growing inside the womb. Although any woman may develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, some of the other factors that increase the risk are having previously given birth to a very large baby, a stillborn baby, or a baby with a birth defect, or being older than 25. Women who are significantly overweight or underweight before becoming pregnant seem to be the ones who are most effected by gestational diabetes.
Signs, symptoms and diagnosis
Gestational diabetes is found using a glucose tolerance test between weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy, which involves drinking a glucose drink and having blood tested for glucose levels after one hour. If the first test shows a high number, a second three-hour test with three blood draws will be performed. If the numbers on the second test are high or abnormal, gestational diabetes is diagnosed. Excessive hunger or thirst is often the first warning sign of gestational diabetes during pregnancy, along with excessive urination, excessive weight gain, and reoccurring vaginal infections.
Treatment
Although it can be scary when first diagnosed, there is little need to worry because gestational diabetes is easy to control if you’re aware of how to do so. Simply changing your eating habits can help to get your gestational diabetes under control. Cutting sugars and carbohydrates, which break down into sugar after ingested, is the most recommended method
While some women have to take insulin pills or do insulin injections daily, the problem can almost always be controlled by diet.
Many obstetricians or pregnancy care providers suggest that the pregnant woman keep a record of everything she eats as well as using a blood glucose meter called a glucometer to prick her finger a few times a day to test her blood sugar. The best times to test blood sugar are first thing in the morning after fasting all night and two hours after a meal.
It is extremely important to begin treating gestational diabetes as soon as it’s diagnosed because it can cause harm to you and your baby.
Effects on the baby
The most common problem with an unborn baby when gestational diabetes goes untreated is a fat baby, called “macrosomia,” or a baby that grows too large inside the womb. In severe cases, babies are born weighing more than 10 pounds and can easily get stuck in the birth canal during delivery.
Shoulder dystocia, where the baby’s shoulder gets stuck in the woman’s pelvis after his head is delivered, is not uncommon. Babies born to mothers who have gestational diabetes face problems of their own, such as breathing difficulties and low blood glucose levels at birth because of the extra insulin made by the baby’s pancreas. At birth, babies of untreated diabetic mothers are likely to have a low blood sugar level, jaundice, and be very large. These babies are also at a higher risk for obesity when they reach childhood.
Future issues
Usually gestational diabetes will disappear after pregnancy. However, if a woman has gestational diabetes, there is a 2 in 3 chance that she will have it in subsequent pregnancies. It is also more likely that she will develop Type 2 — or insulin-dependent — diabetes over the next few years. Because of this, some doctors recommend sticking with the diet and blood sugar checks for a period of time after the baby is born.
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