Symptoms of diabetes developing during pregnancy are classified under
gestational diabetes. Like other types of diabetes, gestational diabetes
affects how your cells use sugar (glucose) your body's main fuel.
Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect your
pregnancy and your baby's health. Complications from pregnancy can be alarming,
but there's good news. Expectant moms can help control gestational
diabetes by eating healthy foods, exercising and, if necessary, using
medication. Taking good care of yourself can ensure a healthy pregnancy
for you and a healthy start for your baby. Blood sugar usually
returns to normal soon after delivery in gestational diabetes. But if
you've had gestational diabetes, you're at risk for future type 2
diabetes. You'll continue working with your health care team to monitor
and manage your blood sugar.Causes
It is not known how and why some women develop
gestational diabetes. To understand how gestational diabetes occurs, it
can help to understand how pregnancy affects your body's normal
processing of glucose. The food eaten is digested by the body to produce
sugar (glucose) that enters your bloodstream. In response, your pancreas
a large gland behind your stomach produces insulin. Insulin is a
hormone that helps glucose move from your bloodstream into your body's
cells, where it's used as energy.The placenta that connects your
growing baby to your blood supply produces high levels of various other
hormones during pregnancy. Almost all of them impair the action of
insulin in your cells, raising your blood sugar. Modest elevation of
blood sugar after meals is normal during pregnancy. The placenta produces more and more
insulin-blocking hormones as your baby grows. In gestational diabetes,
the placental hormones provoke a rise in blood sugar to a level that can
affect the growth and welfare of your baby. Gestational diabetes
usually develops during the last half of pregnancy sometimes as early
as the 20th week, but usually not until later.
Risk factors
Gestational diabetes can develop in any female,
but some women are at greater risk. Risk factors for gestational
diabetes include:
Greater than 25 age. Women older than age 25 are more likely to develop gestational diabetes.
Personal or family health history. Your risk
of developing gestational diabetes increases if you have prediabetes
slightly elevated blood sugar that may be a precursor to type 2 diabetes
or if a close family member, such as a parent or sibling, has type 2
diabetes. You're also more likely to develop gestational diabetes if you
had it during a previous pregnancy, if you delivered a baby who weighed
more than 9 pounds (4.1 kilograms), or if you had an unexplained
stillbirth.
Being overweight. You're more likely to
develop gestational diabetes if you're significantly overweight with a
body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
Racial factors. For reasons that aren't
clear, women who are black, Hispanic, American Indian or Asian are more
likely to develop gestational diabetes.