Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes | What this means for me and baby?

In case you’ve missed my last couple of pregnancy updates that I’ve shared on our YouTube channel—I’ve recently been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. While I’m finally getting the hang of keeping it under control and managing it now after a few weeks, I want to share my experience so far and all of the details that I know about Gestational Diabetes and how it affects pregnancy.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. This post contains no medical advice. These are simply my personal experiences.

What is Gestational Diabetes?

According to the Mayo Clinic: “Gestational diabetes is diabetes diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy (gestation). Like other types of diabetes, gestational diabetes affects how your cells use sugar (glucose). Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect your pregnancy and your baby's health.”

In women with gestational diabetes, they say that your blood sugar usually returns to normal soon after delivery. However, that being said, apparently if you've had gestational diabetes, you have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes later. This means that I’ll need to be tested for changes in blood sugar more often throughout my life.

Testing for gestational diabetes is done usually somewhere within the second trimester. Based on what I’ve been reading and the forums I am part of, I believe that we caught it pretty early on. My doctor likes to test for GD earlier than some, so I did the 1hr glucose test somewhere between 21 and 24 weeks (I can’t quite remember now). After those results came back and were slightly elevated, they scheduled me to return for a 3 hour test.

To test for GD they make you drink this super sugar drink. I didn’t actually find it to be too bad—it kind of just tasted like really flat Fanta. The only issue I had was that it was room temperature, so choking it down warm was a little weird. For the 3 hour test they took a blood draw as soon as I got there, then they made me drink the drink, and finally for the next 3 hours they had me continue to give more blood every hour to see the changes in my blood sugar levels.

How this affects my pregnancy?

Because my blood sugar levels were high, this qualifies me as someone with gestational diabetes. Without the test I probably would have never known that, and for most women, GD doesn't cause noticeable signs or symptoms besides sometimes increased thirst and more-frequent needs to go to the bathroom.

Finding out was a little overwhelming at first. I didn’t really know what this meant, I wasn’t quite sure what to do, and to be honest, my doctor didn’t give me much information to go off of. So, here comes the good ol’ internet search. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Gestational diabetes that's not carefully managed can lead to high blood sugar levels. High blood sugar can cause problems for you and your baby, including an increased likelihood of needing a C-section to deliver.” GD also puts my baby at risk for excessive birth weight, early (preterm) birth, serious breathing difficulties, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life, and stillbirth.

So, what am I doing now?

Based on what I’ve learned so far, there are no guarantees when it comes to preventing gestational diabetes — but the more healthy habits I can adopt, the better. GD happens because of an imbalance in my sugar levels and sometimes all of the healthy habits in the world can’t change my outcome. That being said, healthy choices may also reduce my risk of having it again in future pregnancies or developing type 2 diabetes in the future.

I’ve been on a pretty strict diet. I saw a specialist in South Bend who helped me create a meal plan that suits me well. I have to check my blood sugar levels 4 times a day. Once as soon as I wake up (this is my fasting number and needs to be below 95), and then one hour after ever meal (this number needs to be below 140). My diet now includes limited carbs, lots more protein, and essentially nothing with added sugars when I can.

I have also been trying really hard to continue to keep active. My morning routine usually includes a 2 mile walk when the weather is nice, and I aim for 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. This is also helping me to not gain more weight than recommended. Gaining some weight during pregnancy is normal and healthy (and I’m still within that range), but gaining too much weight too quickly can up my risk of GD complications.

So for now, I’m happy to say that it’s mostly under control without any medication. I will definitely be keeping you all updated as I continue through my pregnancy. For quicker updates be sure to follow me on Instagram and subscribe to our vlog channel.