Diabetes

There are two types of diabetes that can affect pregnant women. Insulin-dependent diabetes is a permanent condition which develops early in life and which needs to be treated with insulin. Gestational diabetes develops for the first time during pregnancy and is usually temporary.

If you are a diabetic who takes insulin to control your diabetes, it's a good idea to see your doctor before you become pregnant so that you can discuss how pregnancy might affect your diabetes and vice versa.

Once you are pregnant, it's important to have your blood sugar levels carefully monitored. This is because pregnancy can cause changes in the way your body processes sugar, and you may need to change your insulin dosage to take account of this. With the right dose, there's no reason why pregnancy should be any more complicated for a diabetic woman than for any other woman. But without enough insulin, it's possible that complications may develop, affecting both you and your baby. In particular, the baby may grow very large, and need to be delivered by Caesarean section. The baby can also develop more serious problems, including certain illnesses and abnormalities. The insulin itself won't affect the baby.

If you're insulin-dependent, you'll probably have more frequent antenatal appointments than non-diabetics. This is not only so that your blood sugar levels can be monitored - you can do this at home yourself - but because you're more at risk of other complications, such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and having too much amniotic fluid.

This type of diabetes isn't a disease but a temporary change that occurs during pregnancy and which usually disappears within hours of your baby being born. It causes a higher level of sugar in your blood or urine than usual. This doesn't necessarily lead to the complications that can be connected with insulin-dependent diabetes, though in a small percentage of cases it can lead to problems in the baby. There is also a very slight possibility of gestational diabetes progressing to permanent non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

The condition is picked up from the urine tests that are routinely done at your antenatal appointments. If you're found to have sugar in your urine, you may be given a blood test to check your blood sugar levels. In some areas this blood test is routinely carried out at around 28 weeks. If the test shows that your sugar levels are high, you'll probably be offered a glucose tolerance test. Depending on the results of this test, you may be asked to monitor your own blood sugar levels, to modify your diet by cutting out sugary foods, or even possibly to take insulin.

For more information about diabetes, visit the Diabetes UK website which has links to other relevant sites.