How to Deal With Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes can occur in some women during pregnancy when the pancreas is not able to provide the body with enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels stable. In general, doctors check for gestational diabetes around the 6th month, or 24 weeks gestation. If blood sugar levels are above 90 fasting and above 130 after meals (these ranges vary from care provider to care provider, but they are meant as a general guideline), your OBGYN will tell you that you currently have gestational diabetes.

Why, you ask, after the sleepless nights, the exploding belly size and morning sickness do you now have to worry about something like gestational diabetes? Does this mean you are now a diabetic and will have to deal with fluctuating blood sugar levels the rest of your life? You are pregnant and just want to sit and eat a cupcake, not a fiber dense nutritional bar.

Gestational diabetes occurs when your pancreas is not able to produce enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels in check. What is important to remember is that your blood volume may be up to three times that of when you are not pregnant and your pancreas is put to the test during pregnancy. Once you are no longer pregnant and your blood volume returns to normal, so should your blood sugar levels.

Does having gestational diabetes mean you will become diabetic? The best answer our endocrinologist gave us was, "maybe". If you had gestational diabetes, when push came to shove, your pancreas had some trouble. This might mean that "in the future", "if you are not careful", you might have trouble as you age with blood sugar levels. We were given a 15 to 20 year timeline that if the body continued to be abused, diabetes was an option. Maintaining an appropriate weight and keeping active should keep potential diabetes at bay.

When you have gestational diabetes, one of the main concerns is how big the baby is going to grow. When you have high sugar levels, your baby has high sugar levels and will store this sugar as fat. If you are pregnant and were diagnosed with gestational diabetes your practitioner will want to measure the baby often (about every other week) and make sure that they baby is not under stress by having you undergo a non-stress test. A non-stress test consists of laying down on a comfortable (sure, sure) OBGYN table and having a monitor strapped to your belly to measure the baby's heart beat.

A baby that is growing inside a mother with gestational diabetes may also have a larger than normal belly due to the increase in weight and a baby with too large a belly will be very difficult to birth vaginally.

If you have gestational diabetes, don't panic. Talk to your doctor, talk to your endocrinologist. Follow the advice you are given but don't feel that you can't eat a thing. You and your baby will be fine if you stick to a reasonable diet and if necessary, you take insulin as prescribed. Many pregnant women are afraid to take insulin for fear they are hurting their baby, but insulin will help you keep blood sugar levels at appropriate ranges without you having the fear of putting any food in your mouth.

Melissa Nykorchuk is the primary writer for http://www.parentingtricks.blogspot.com and writes for a number of websites about parenting and pregnancy related topics.

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