You have diabetes and you just found out you’re pregnant. Like other women you feel the joy and the fear of making a child. But you are afraid of the effects that diabetes could have on your health and especially on your child health. Because of the disease you will have to face more problems during pregnancy. But the most important challenge is to keep your blood sugar under control. With your doctor you can monitor your blood sugar and can prevent complications throughout pregnancy.
Keeping an optimal level of blood glucose levels throughout pregnancy is easier if you know a team of doctors that are specialized in diabetes problems. Among physicians it should be there:
- A specialist in diabetes. May be an endocrinologist specialized in the treatment of people with diabetes, including pregnant women.
- An obstetrician. It should have experience in tracking high-risk pregnancy.
-A child or neonatology doctor. The difference between them is that the pediatric care of children while neonatology care of newborns. These specialists should have experience in treating babies whose mothers suffer from diabetes.
- A nutritionist. It can help you keep your blood sugar under control, making a meal plan during pregnancy.
The most common symptoms of gestational diabetes are thirst, urination (urinary) common feeling of hunger, blurred vision. However the majority of patients have no symptoms. Sometimes symptoms can go unnoticed for as frequent urination and increased hunger frequently occur during normal pregnancy. If symptoms are present, may be an indication that diabetes was present even before pregnancy.
Treatment
Watchful waiting – Watchful waiting is a clinical evaluation period that is without treatment. This is not indicated for pregnant women with high risk factors for gestational diabetes. Watchful waiting also is not 
indicated if the pregnant woman is treated with insulin, and symptoms of hypoglycemia do not resolve despite therapy. The pregnant woman in this case have to present herself to the emergency room.
Exercise – regular physical activity, moderate during pregnancy result in efficient use of insulin and glucose to maintain normal levels. Most times regular physical activity and diet are the only measures for gestational diabetes. If exercise and diet maintain normal blood glucose, insulin therapy is not necessary. In case of insulin administration is necessary that the pregnant woman need to have something sweet all the time available to prevent symptoms of hypoglycemia that can occur during physical activity.
Monitoring blood glucose – blood glucose monitoring at home is 4 times a day for pregnant women with gestational diabetes without insulin treatment – before breakfast and 1-2 hours after each meal and 6 times a day for pregnant women treated with insulin — before each meal and 1-2 hours after. Monitoring is appropriate to make by the device that measures blood sugar, not paper testers because they are less sensitive. Higher levels than those normal blood glucose increase the risk of complications to both baby and mother.
Your doctors will tell you how to take insulin if you switch to intensive insulin therapy and how often to measure the blood sugar. You do not have to wonder that masseurs are a lot. Your body suffers rapid change to help the child. Blood glucose control is important both for you and the baby. If in the first 6-8 weeks of pregnancy – when there are developing the heart, lungs, kidneys and fetal brain – your blood sugar is high, the child may be born with congenital diseases and you can suffer a miscarriage. If your body is too little insulin can cause blood acid levels and also abortion. Later, during pregnancy, high blood sugar can cause death of the child, and less extreme levels of glucose may determine the child to develop more than normal and make the birth more complicated.
If your blood sugar is high, the child could be born with a very low blood sugar, which required emergency treatment. Another possible complication is a yellowish skin due to accumulation of old blood cells that the liver cannot remove from the children quickly enough. Complications that can occur in pregnant women with diabetes include high blood pressure, worsening of complications caused by diabetes, especially eye diseases.