Are you a diabetic? How diabetes can affect your pregnancy

Conception may be more difficult for a woman with diabetes. In order to make the smartest, safest decisions for you and your to-be baby, learn more about diabetes' effects on pregnancy.

Knowing if you have diabetes is the first step to protecting you and your baby. Typical diabetes symptoms include:

• Fatigue and irritability
• Extreme thirst and hunger
• Frequent trips to the toilet
• Skin problems
• Yeast infections
• Nausea

Most of these symptoms are also associated with pregnancy, so women trying to conceive might be overjoyed if these symptoms appear, but the results may not be what they expect. Getting tested for diabetes is very important because if it is left untreated, the disease can affect other organs.

Babies with mothers who have diabetes face certain risks during their development in the womb.

• Babies that are born from a mother with diabetes can develop a condition called macrosomia, which literally translates to "large body."
• This means the babies will grow larger than they would if the mother didn't have diabetes. This happens because the placenta is directing too much sugar to the unborn child as a result of the high blood sugar levels in the mother.
• The immature pancreas in the baby senses the excessive amounts of sugar and tries to compensate by producing more insulin in order to turn the extra sugar into energy.
• However, the unborn child can't use the extra energy, so the sugar is stored as fat, increasing the size of the child.
• Starting life as an overweight infant can also put a child at a higher risk for obesity and weight gain in his or her early years of life.

• In some cases with babies of diabetic mothers, the baby can grow too large for a vaginal delivery.
• This makes a Cesarean delivery the safest choice for both the mother and her child.

• For the baby, the constant overproduction of insulin within the mother can lead to insulin resistance in the infant, which is how type 2 diabetes develops.
• Medications used to treat the disease can also affect the development of the foetus.
• If you know you have diabetes before getting pregnant, be sure to discuss the options for medications with your OBGYN.

• Women with consistently high blood sugar levels during pregnancy, especially those with elevated levels just before delivery, risk delivering a baby with dangerously low blood sugar levels.
• This occurs because the excess insulin the baby's pancreas has been producing to use up the extra sugar in the mother, suddenly isn't anymore.
• When this supply of sugar is stopped, the baby's blood sugar levels plummet.

It is important for all people with diabetes to carefully monitor and manage the disease, however pregnant women also have their baby to think about. Diabetes can have serious effects on an unborn child, but with proper management, these can minimal.