Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes sometimes occurs in women right about the 26th or more week of pregnancy. What causes gestational diabetes is not exactly known, but some ideas have been found. The baby gets its support from the placenta which helps the child develop properly. Those hormones from the placenta though, also block the action of the woman's insulin in her body. This problem is defined as insulin resistance. The insulin resistance makes it very difficult to use insulin. This means then, that a pregnant woman may need up to three times as much insulin than normal. Gestational diabetes will start if your body is unable to produce and use the insulin it needs for pregnancy. And when you don't have enough insulin, the blood sugar cannot leave the blood and be used for energy as it should. The blood sugar then keeps building up in your blood to high levels. It is then labeled as hyperglycemia. This type of diabetes does not cause the types of birth defects seen in babies where the woman has had diabetes before pregnancy.If this diabetes is not under control during the pregnancy period, however, it can hurt the baby.The reason being is that your pancreas when pregnant works overtime to produce insulin. And whatever insulin is produced does not lower your blood sugar or cross the placenta. Extra blood sugars then get into the placenta, giving the baby high blood sugar levels. The baby's pancreas is made to produce extra insulin to get rid of the blood glucose. With the baby getting more energy than it needs to grow and develop, that extra energy is stored as fat, This process in turn, can lead to a fat baby. Babies that are born overweight face potential health problems of their own. And then because of the extra insulin made by the baby's pancreas, infants may experience hypoglycemia, (low blood sugars), at birth, and therefore at higher risk for breathing problems.Babies can also be at risk for obesity and adults geared toward type 2 diabetes. To treat this form of diabetes since it can hurt you and your baby, you need treatment immediately. The treatment goal is to keep blood sugar levels like other women who do not have this diabetic problem. Treatment also includes meal plans low in carbs, and exercise as you are able, even light activity. Frequent doctor visits are necessary, and glucose testing at home too.
If you stick with your treatment plan, it will help to protect the growing baby, and protect the child from as many problems as possible after birth.
|
