Gestational diabetes

Of all the women who have diabetes during pregnancy, 90% have gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is diabetes that is diagnosed during pregnancy, generally between 24-28 weeks. Most pregnant women are screened for gestational diabetes by drinking 50grams of a glucose solution and measuring their blood glucose level one hour later. If this test is abnormal, additional testing may be done to verify whether a woman really has gestational diabetes. Most women with gestational diabetes do not have symptoms, but some may experience extreme thirst, hunger or fatigue. For most women with gestational diabetes, blood glucose levels return to normal after pregnancy, although 40% of women with a history of gestational diabetes develop diabetes at some point in the future. Most women with gestational diabetes can control blood glucose levels with dietary changes, while 10-15% may require insulin injections.

Because gestational diabetes typically occurs late in the second trimester when the baby’s body is already formed, it does not usually increase the risk of birth defects, but is associated with a chance for delivering a large baby. You should discuss with your doctor whether vaginal delivery or cesarean section is most appropriate given the baby’s size. If gestational diabetes is not well controlled, there is an increased chance for the baby to have hypoglycemia and breathing problems at birth. In rare cases where gestational diabetes is present in the first trimester, there may be a small increased risk for birth defects similar to that seen with other forms of diabetes. It is not clear whether gestational diabetes truly increases these risks, or whether the women in these studies simply had Type 1 diabetes that had not previously been identified.