Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that develops in pregnancy. Diabetes involves dangerously high blood sugar levels, caused by the inability of insulin to process sugar. Gestational diabetes can occur in pregnant women with no family history of diabetes, but there are some risk factors. As many as two to ten percent develop diabetes, making it a relatively frequent pregnancy condition. That has earned gestational diabetes its own place on our pregnancy signs page!
Of course, the first thing you want to know about gestational diabetes is what its symptoms are. Unfortunately, there are usually no symptoms. Sometimes gestational diabetes is associated with rapid maternal or fetal weight gain, but not always. Fortunately, most women are screened for gestational diabetes as part of their routine prenatal appointments (what to expect from a glucose test) between 24 and 28 weeks. Women who have gestational diabetes don’t have a problem with insulin production, but instead hormonal changes make the body less reactive to insulin.
Women who have obesity, those who already went through gestational diabetes in previous pregnancies, those whose urine tests showed sugar spillage, and those with a family history of Diabetes Type 2, are at higher risk of developing gestational diabetes and might be screened more carefully.
You might also ask your doctor for additional screening earlier in your pregnancy if you do have some of the typical diabetes symptoms, though this is rare for gestational diabetes. The symptoms that should alarm you are continuous and extreme thirst, that does not go away with drinking water, and frequent peeing as a result of your water intake. Rapid weight gain can also be a sign.
Gestational diabetes can sometimes be managed through a good diet, though other women require medication. Normally, it goes away after the woman gives birth. But those who had gestational diabetes are at a slightly higher risk of getting Diabetes Type 2 later in life.