Gestational diabetes
What is gestational diabetes?
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that starts during pregnancy. If you have diabetes, your body isn’t able to use the sugar (glucose) in your blood as well as it should, so the level of sugar in your blood becomes higher than normal.
Signs and symptoms:
Rarely, gestational diabetes may cause excessive thirst or increased urination. For most women, however, gestational diabetes doesn’t cause noticeable signs or symptoms. During digestion, your body breaks down carbohydrates from foods such as bread, pasta, vegetables, fruits and dairy products into various sugar molecules. One of these sugar molecules is glucose, a main source of energy. Glucose is absorbed directly into your bloodstream after you eat, but it can’t enter your cells without the help of insulin.
When will I be checked for gestational diabetes?
Your doctor will decide when you need to be checked for diabetes depending on your risk factors. If you are at high risk, your blood glucose level may be checked at your first prenatal visit. If your test results are normal, you will be checked again sometime between weeks 24 and 28 of your pregnancy. If you have an average risk for gestational diabetes, you will be tested sometime between weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy. If you are at low risk, your doctor may decide that you do not need to be checked.
How does having gestational diabetes affect my pregnancy?
These days, most women who develop diabetes during pregnancy go on to have healthy babies. Your practitioner will monitor you closely and you’ll most likely be able to keep your blood sugar levels under control with diet and exercise, and by getting insulin shots if you need them. But poorly controlled diabetes can have serious consequences for you and your baby. For most women with gestational diabetes, the main worry is that too much glucose will end up in the baby’s blood. When that happens, your baby’s pancreas needs to produce more insulin to process the extra glucose. All this excess blood sugar and insulin can cause your baby to make more fat and put on extra weight, particularly in the upper body.
Gestational diabetes: Preventing complications in pregnancy:
Pregnancy is a time of promise and expectation, but it can also raise the possibility for some women that they will develop gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). GDM, like other forms of diabetes, is defined as glucose intolerance, but with its first onset during pregnancy. Approximately 3.5% of non-Aboriginal women, and up to 18% of Aboriginal women will develop GDM.
Treatment:
The goals of treatment are to keep blood glucose levels within normal limits during the pregnancy, and to make sure that the fetus is healthy.Your health care provider should closely check both you and your fetus throughout the pregnancy. You also can self-monitor your blood glucose levels. Fetal monitoring to check the size and health of the fetus may include ultrasound and nonstress tests. A nonstress test is a very simple, painless test for you and your baby. A machine that hears and displays your baby’s heartbeat (electronic fetal monitor) is placed on your abdomen. When the baby moves, its heart rate normally increases 15 - 20 beats above its regular rate.
