Somewhere between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy, most moms-to-be are subjected to the dreaded glucose test.
Although the test itself isn’t bad ““ you get to drink a syrupy, sweet solution ““ you have to wait one hour before a nurse can draw your blood to measure your blood sugar level. If your level is in the normal range, you pass, but if your level is too high, you have to take another test, and this one is a little more complicated.
First, you fast overnight, then a nurse draws your blood to measure your blood sugar level. Next, you drink another sweet solution, this one with a higher concentration of glucose, and have your blood sugar level checked every hour for three hours.
If at least two of the readings show a higher-than-normal blood sugar level, you’re diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
At its core, gestational diabetes is diabetes with onset during pregnancy, said Dr. Lily Hahn, an OB-GYN with St. Elizabeth Physicians. What’s scary about it is that any woman who has had gestational diabetes during pregnancy is at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
And type 2 diabetes is no laughing matter. It significantly increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. It also can cause damage to your hearing, your nerves, your kidneys, eyes, feet and skin, and may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
So, who’s at risk for gestational diabetes?
Although obese women, women who have had a history of gestational diabetes during prior pregnancies, Hispanic and African American women, and women who experience excessive weight gain during pregnancy are all at a higher risk for gestational diabetes than the general population, women who fit none of the classic risk factors can develop it, too.
Having gestational diabetes during pregnancy makes a woman more likely to require a cesarean section delivery and more susceptible to high blood pressure issues, including preeclampsia, which could lead to a premature delivery.
For the baby, complications of gestational diabetes include the risk of the baby becoming stuck during delivery, which could cause birth trauma. Babies whose moms have gestational diabetes during pregnancy also could have problems with their own blood sugar levels after delivery.
To prevent these complications from occurring, Hahn said, doctors work with pregnant women with gestational diabetes to implement diet changes.
“We have them meet with a diabetic educator to discuss limiting carbs,” she said. “If they’re unable to control their blood sugars by diet changes and exercise, then we recommend oral medications or insulin for the remainder of the pregnancy.”
Doctors also recommend pregnant women who have normal body mass indexes (BMIs) at the beginning of pregnancy only gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy to lessen their risk of developing gestational diabetes, and pregnant women who are obese at the beginning of pregnancy only gain up to 15 pounds.
