You’ve Been Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes – Now What?
One of the most important jobs of the placenta in the second and third trimesters is to help your baby grow. It accomplishes this by encouraging extra sugar to circulate in your blood and reach the baby. Your pancreas, however, works to get the sugar out of your blood and stored into cells, as it’s supposed to. This push and pull between the pancreas wanting to store the sugar and the placenta wanting to use it to support growing the baby usually happens while keeping your blood sugar levels within a normal range.
If you’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, though, the placenta has won and your blood sugar (or glucose) levels are too high. The diabetes typically resolves itself after the birth of your baby, but we will complete tests to check during your postpartum period.
Having gestational diabetes and not maintaining normal blood sugar levels comes with the risk of having a baby that is considered large for your gestational age, specifically with wider than usual shoulders and abdomen making it difficult to birth the baby vaginally, contributing to high blood pressure in pregnancy, and too much amniotic fluid.
One of the most important things you can do to maintain normal blood sugar levels is to pay close attention to what you eat and monitor your sugar levels regularly.
How to monitor your sugar levels:
- You will be asked to check your glucose levels several times throughout the day by pricking your finger and using a machine.
- You will also be asked to check a fasting level in the morning before you eat and then again an hour after each meal (called postprandial)
- Your fasting (taken in the morning before you eat or drink anything) levels should be less than or equal to 95
- One hour after eating, your levels should be less than or equal to 140
- Our team will give you more specific details, based on your individual needs
Here are some nutrition tips to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels:
- Limit foods that are high in sugar
- Pay close attention to when and how many carbohydrates you eat
- Eat smaller portions more frequently
- Eat less fat
- Use less salt on your foods
- Use this food composition database for carb counting: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
- Additional Resources at your disposal: https://www.diabetes.org/healthy-living/recipes-nutrition/understanding-carbs/carb-counting-and-diabetes
https://www.diabetesfoodhub.org/articles/what-is-the-diabetes-plate-method.html
Activity tips for those with Gestational Diabetes:
- Getting up and walking around for 10-15 minutes after each meal can be greatly helpful in keeping your glucose levels within a normal range. This can be a walk outside or even just around your house or office.
- Exercising 3-5 times a week with an increased heart rate for 30 minutes also supports a healthy pregnancy and positive outcomes.
Medication Support
- Insulin injections: Occasionally your diet alone does not get the blood sugar levels to a normal range; in those cases, you will need insulin injections throughout the day to support your healthy diet. We are here to get this set up, educate, and support you.
Obstetric Support
- We will watch your baby a bit more carefully throughout the third trimester.
- Growth scan- we’ll do an ultrasound in the third trimester to check in on the baby’s growth and weight.
- Depending on how well your glucose levels are doing, we may also
- Complete a nonstress test (20-minute check of the baby’s heart rate) twice a week
- Check the amniotic fluid level once a week
- Recommend an induction of labor
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