Gestational Diabetes

During pregnancy your body makes more hormones and goes through other changes such as weight gain.

Gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs when your body can t make enough insulin during your pregnancy. Gestational diabetes can also start when the mother s body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. This condition is known as gestational diabetes mellitus gdm or gestational diabetes. A blood sugar below 140 mg dl 7 8 mmol l is usually considered normal on a glucose challenge test although this may vary by clinic or lab.

Like other types of diabetes gestational diabetes affects how your cells use sugar glucose. Like type 1 and type 2 diabetes gestational diabetes causes blood sugar levels to become too high. The word gestational means the time when the baby grows in the womb. Gestational diabetes is diabetes diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy gestation.

Gestational diabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar levels become high during pregnancy. About 3 to 5 out of every 100 pregnant women. When glucose builds up in the blood it s called hyperglycemia. Gestational diabetes typically develops between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that you get only when you re pregnant. Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that occurs only during pregnancy. Glucose enters your bloodstream so your cells can use it as fuel. Without enough insulin glucose can t leave the blood and be changed into energy.

Managing your diabetes can help protect you and your baby. A blood sugar level of 190 milligrams per deciliter mg dl or 10 6 millimoles per liter mmol l indicates gestational diabetes. Doctors most often test for it between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. Gestational diabetes can cause health problems in both mother and baby.

Some women have more than one pregnancy affected by gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect your pregnancy and your baby s health. It affects up to 10 of women who are pregnant in the u s. Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for use as energy.

Gestational diabetes usually shows up in the middle of pregnancy. When you eat your digestive system breaks down most of the food into a sugar called glucose.