A pregnant women can be diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes during her second or third trimester of pregnancy. This is a direct result of intolerance to glucose and is typically detected during a routine screening. With 2-5% of expectant mothers being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, it makes this disease one of the most common health issues during pregnancy.
Without knowing the exact cause of gestational diabetes, doctors do have an idea of how it is developed. Similar to type 2 diabetes, a women with GD becomes insulin resistant which prevents her body from making and using insulin to break down the sugar in her blood stream. This leads to high blood sugar levels (often referred to as hyperglcremia) and could cause harm to the mother and baby.
To avoid harm to mother and baby, doctors will schedule a test to determine if a mother is at risk for GD. This test (also referred to as a glucose challenge test or GCT) is often recommend during 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. During a glucose screening test the mother will be given a sugary drink and after waiting an hour, a blood sample is taken to determine if the sugar was broken down correctly and efficiently.
The results should be available within a few days and if (which happens 15-23% of the time) the reading is too high, the mother is asked to come back and take a another tests that last three hours to determine if they do in fact have gestational diabetes.
If diagnosed, GD affects the mother in late pregnancy, typically after the baby is formed, and will not cause birth defects otherwise seen in babies whose mother was previously diagnosed with type 1 or 2 diabetes. This however, does not mean untreated or poorly controlled GD can't hurt the baby.
When a mother has high blood sugar and the pancreas is working in over drive to produce insulin but can't compensate, certain levels of blood glucose will make its way into the placenta, giving the baby high blood sugar levels. These high blood sugars will cause the babies body to store the glucose and lead to macrosomia, or a "fat" baby. Babies who suffer from macrosomia are at risk for shoulder damage, breathing problems and developing type 2 diabetes later in life. All of these risks can be avoided by closely monitoring your diabetes and eating a well-balanced and healthy diet.
While gestational diabetes only last the length of pregnancy, women who suffered from GD are at a higher risk to develop Type 2 Diabetes later on in life. This can be avoided by living a well-balanced and healthy lifestyle.