Gestational Diabetes – Risks for Mothers during Pregnancy
Even though in most cases gestational diabetes is temporary and is rectified after your baby is born, it is still serious and needs to be managed properly. You will have the support of your doctor and most likely an endocrinologist and a dietician but the actual work of eating properly and exercising falls into your lap. There are risks for your baby if you don’t and risks for yourself too.
For moms, the knowledge that having gestational diabetes can cause complications for their unborn child is incentive enough to stick to the diet and exercise even when they are too tired to do so. But, it needs to be done for the better health of the mother too.
The risks for mothers during pregnancy are as follows:
- One of the complications that is associated with gestational diabetes is high-blood pressure that can lead to preeclampsia in pregnancy – dangerous to both mom and baby.
- When a baby becomes bigger than average due to mismanaged diabetes during pregnancy, the large size is not good for the mother. It can lead to a more complicated delivery where the baby could be hurt or the mother can have a third or fourth degree tear due to the baby’s size.
- If a baby is considered macrosomic (big baby) it increases the chances that the mother is going to have to have a caesarian section. Having a caesarian section is a major surgery and comes with all the risks associated with that, including infection.
- Having gestational diabetes with one pregnancy significantly increases the chances that you will have it again with subsequent pregnancies. It is wise to be tested for the disease as soon as you fall pregnant to ensure the healthiest pregnancy for both you and your baby.
It is best to follow the diabetic diet you were given from your first pregnancy as soon as you know or even before you become pregnant again.
Check your blood glucose levels with Control D regularly to manage your Gestational Diabetes.
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