Gestational Diabetes among Pregnant Women

Details: Category: Region 9; Published: 28 March 2022

Gestational Diabetes Did you know that a certain type of diabetes could occur only during pregnancy? Yes, it is possible and a lot of pregnant women experienced it which leads to health implications for their developing fetus.

Gestational diabetes is diabetes analyzed for the first time during pregnancy (gestation). Like other forms of diabetes, gestational diabetes influences how your cells utilize sugar (glucose). Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can influence your pregnancy and your baby's health. Pregnant women can help control gestational diabetes by eating healthy foods, working out, and taking vitamins. Controlling blood sugar can keep you and your child healthy. There are two classes of gestational diabetes. Women who belong to class A which can be managed through strict dietary management prescribed by your doctor and as instructed by a clinical dietitian; class B which is not manageable by diet but through insulin until the time of labor or as ordered by your healthcare provider.

Your higher level of blood sugar influences your child as well since they get nourishment from your blood. Your child stores that additional sugar as fat which can make them grow bigger than normal. They're more likely to develop certain complications like:

Excessive birth weight. Higher than normal blood sugar in mothers can cause their babies to develop bigger than normal. Exceptionally expansive babies — those who weigh 9 pounds or more — are more likely to end up wedged in the birth canal, have birth wounds or require a C-section birth.
Early (preterm) birth. High blood sugar may increment women's chance of early labor and delivery before the actual due date. Or early delivery may be suggested since the infant is large.
Serious breathing troubles. Babies born early to mothers with gestational diabetes may encounter respiratory distress syndrome — a condition that makes breathing hard.
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Sometimes babies of mothers with gestational diabetes have low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in no time after birth. Serious scenes of hypoglycemia may cause seizures in infants. Provoke feedings and sometimes an intravenous glucose solution can return the baby's blood sugar level to normal.
Obesity and type 2 diabetes afterward in life. Babies of mothers who have gestational diabetes have a higher chance of acquiring type 2 diabetes later on in their life.
Stillbirth. Untreated gestational diabetes can result in a baby's death either before or shortly after birth.

Gestational diabetes will stop after you gave birth. But it can influence your baby’s well-being and it increases your chance of getting type 2 diabetes afterward. You should take healthy actions to keep you and your baby healthy. It’s time for you to act NOW and save LIFE!

NO II Joanna Marie E. Baltazar, RND

References: