Diabetes
Sugars in your body are processed by the hormone insulin. If too little insulin is produced in your body by the pregnancy hormones, the sugar level in your blood will become too high (hyperglycemia) resulting in gestational diabetes (diabetes gravidarum).
RISK FACTORS
About one in twenty pregnant women develops gestational diabetes. Some women have an increased risk for this. Risk factors for gestational diabetes include:
- Having had gestational diabetes during previous pregnancy
- Overweight (BMI > 30)
- Having previously given birth to a large baby
- Diabetes in the family
- South Asian, Surinamese, Hindustani, Antillean, Moroccan, Turkish or Egyptian descent
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
BLOOD TEST
At the beginning of pregnancy, in women with one or more of the risk factors, the sugar level is checked by means of a blood test. You will then have another sugar check (OGTT) between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. In this test you will be pricked three times in one morning. The first time you must be sober, which means that you can't eat anything from the night before (12 hours before your first injection). After the blood test you will be given a sugar drink and you will be tested again after one hour and after two hours. You will have to stay in the hospital while waiting. The blood test shows how your body processes the sugar. If the sugar levels are too high, you have gestational diabetes.
WHAT TO DO?
It is important to reduce the high sugar level in your blood to prevent the baby from becoming overweight due to all the sugars. Which treatment you receive depends on how deviating the sugar values are. After a conversation with your midwife about the results of your sugar test, you will be seen by the dietician. She helps you with a diet to stabilize sugar levels. If this is not possible, treatment with insulin injections via the internist is necessary and you will be checked by the gynecologist. With insulin treatment, your labor is often triggered around 38-39 weeks of pregnancy, so that the baby does not become too heavy.
In 95% of women, the diabetes disappears after childbirth. It is important to check your sugar level with your doctor every year, because you have a 50% chance that you will develop diabetes (diabetes mellitus) within five years after giving birth. Check the website of the Diabetes Fund for more information.
