Valuable to people with diabetes who want a baby
A woman with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes can have a healthy pregnancy because of advances in diabetes research and knowledge gained.
Still, high blood glucose can be harmful to both for mother and her unborn baby. Even before becoming pregnant, you should maintain it close to the normal range. Keeping blood-glucose as required before and during pregnancy, helps protect both mother and baby.
Insulin needs may change when pregnant; the doctor may advise you to take more insulin and check blood-glucose more often. If you take diabetes pills, you will take insulin instead.
Women with diabetic pregnancy should need to have some extra.
- effort and commitment
- care on blood-sugar control
- knowledge on all areas of diabetes management
- Plan financial needs to meet laboratory tests and hospitalization if necessary.
Diabetes tips for before and during pregnancy
- Work with your health care team to get your blood glucose as close to the normal range as possible even before pregnancy.
- See a doctor who has experience in taking care of pregnant women with diabetes.
- Have your eyes and kidneys checked, because pregnancy can make it worse?
- Do not smoke, drink alcohol, or use harmful drugs.
- Follow the meal plan you get from your dietitian or diabetes educator to make sure you and your unborn baby have a healthy diet.
If you are already pregnant, see your doctor right away. It is not too late to bring your blood-glucose close to be normal so that you will stay healthy during the rest of your pregnancy.
Some risks of diabetes pregnancy
- Miscarriages - poorly controlled blood-sugar level or having severe complications are at some risk for miscarriage. Otherwise, the risk is no higher than that of the general population.
- Large Babies – chances may increase by high maternal blood-glucose level, makes the delivery more complicated, and needs to perform cesarean. Reduce this effect by maintaining blood-sugar near normal.
- Polyhydramnios - too many amounts of amniotic fluid throughout pregnancy, it is a less common effect. It causes an overly distended belly, rarely may cause harmful consequences.
- Toxemia - increase in blood pressure with the presence of protein in the urine, and swelling of hands/feet. It is a common complication of diabetic pregnancy, but with proper blood-sugar control, it is not common than in a non-diabetic pregnancy.
- Edema - Swelling is commonly happening during pregnancy. Limiting salt intake can help to reduce this excessive accumulation of fluids.