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It’s true that pregnancy with gestational diabetes (GD) is more challenging since it poses to the risk of some pregnancy complications. Poorly controlled high blood sugar in pregnancy can cause serious problems such as premature birth, excessive birth weight, preeclampsia, and even stillbirth or miscarriage.
The good news, GD often responds with lifestyle measures. But again – while lifestyle changes (such as getting plenty of physical activity and eating right) can help a lot to cope with the condition, whether you can actually reverse it is a different matter! Once you are diagnosed with GD, it will not go away over the course of your pregnancy – but you can control it.
The good news, lifestyle measures to control GD are also good for the overall health of your pregnancy. These include:
- Eating right. Just make sure what you eat is safe for your pregnancy and good for your blood sugar control, learn more diet for GD in here.
- Regular exercise. Being pregnant doesn’t mean you should engage with sedentary lifestyles! Instead, getting adequate physical activity is always important either for your pregnancy and your blood sugar control! Walking and swimming are excellent choices to start your exercise when pregnant. Remember that your exercise should be safe for your pregnancy, too. High impact exercises are not recommended!
- Keep monitoring your blood glucose levels. Your doctor usually will ask you to check it at particular times of the day such as after fasting or after meal. See also the blood sugar targets for women with GD in this table!
Furthermore, gaining weight when pregnant is perfectly normal – but don’t go too far! The recommended pregnancy weight gain is dependent on your weight before pregnant (learn more in here).
Having GD doesn’t mean you are different! You’re not alone and fortunately many women with it can successfully deliver healthy babies. Again, it’s manageable condition! Even many women can control it without medication.
And it’s not your fault if you have made a lot of changes and your GD doesn’t improve – your genes may also have a role. For such case you may need to take diabetic medication to help cope with.
Taking diabetic medication along with your pregnancy is not always bad. As long as it is good for your pregnancy, there should be nothing to worry. Discuss more with your healthcare provider for more assistance!
