Pregnancy diabetes symptoms look so much like normal pregnancy discomforts that many women suffering from pregnancy diabetes, also known as gestational diabetes, do not even realize that they may have pregnancy related diabetes.

The signs and symptoms of diabetes in pregnancy typically begin somewhere in the middle of the second trimester. The condition is usually diagnosed at about 24 week’s gestation because your physician will order a gestational diabetes screening that needs to be scheduled and done in the laboratory. The ADA (American Diabetes Association) website infers that around 18% of pregnant women are diagnosed with pregnancy related diabetes.

A diagnosis of gestational diabetes does not mean that you had diabetes before you were pregnant or that you will have it after the pregnancy is over. Many women have gestational diabetes who have never previously had diabetes and who go through life never experiencing diabetes again.

The important thing to …

In diabetes, your blood glucose levels are too high; when you are pregnant this is not a good thing. It is estimated that gestational diabetes in pregnancy occurs in about 18% of pregnancies. Gestational diabetes goes away after the baby is born, but both you and your baby have a high risk of developing diabetes later on in your lives (Diabetes.org, 2011).

What is Gestational Diabetes in Pregnancy?

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that happens for the first time when a woman is pregnant. Though it is unknown what exactly causes it, it is known that hormones from the mother’s placenta help the baby to develop. Some of these hormones are blocked by the mother’s insulin in her body. However, gestational diabetes occurs when there is not enough insulin in her body. Without enough insulin the glucose cannot leave the body and be changed to energy.

Though mothers with gestational …