Gestational Diabetes can develop during the second or third trimester of pregnancy. This is important to manage carefully as it can impact your and baby’s future health.

 

We screen all pregnant people for gestational diabetes in the second trimester. You will go to the lab and drink a sugary drink then have your blood checked one hour later. If this test is elevated you will need to do a second, two hour test to confirm it is accurate. 

 

If you do have gestational diabetes we will refer you to the excellent nurses at Chronic Disease Management for further education. Some people manage their blood sugar with diet and exercise while some might need help with medications like metformin or insulin.

 

Diabetes in pregnancy can cause the baby to grow too large, have difficulty getting born or lead to stillbirth. We will discuss timing of induction with each patient individually depending on their blood sugar control and other medical factors. 

 

It is important to test again 6 weeks postpartum to make sure the gestational diabetes has gone away. Having ever had gestational diabetes doubles your lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes so it is important to pay attention to for life.