1. Stages of Pregnancy Slideshow Pictures
2. Early Pregnancy Symptoms
3. Conception (Egg to Embryo) Slideshow Pictures

In this Article

• What is gestational diabetes?
• What causes gestational diabetes?
• What are the complications of gestational diabetes?
• Who is at risk for gestational diabetes?
• How is gestational diabetes diagnosed?
• How is gestational diabetes managed?
• Do I need to take insulin?
• How do I monitor my blood glucose levels?
• How will my diet change?
• How much exercise is safe?
• How much weight gain is safe during pregnancy?
• What happens to my baby after delivery?
• Will gestational diabetes cause the baby to have diabetes?
• Will I still have diabetes after I deliver my baby?
• Find a local Obstetrician-Gynecologist in your town
• Gestational Diabetes Index

The following factors increase the risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy:

• Being overweight prior to becoming pregnant (if you are 20% or more over your ideal body weight).
• Being a member of a high risk ethnic group (Hispanic, Black, Native American, or Asian).
• Having sugar in your urine.
• Impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose (blood sugar levels are high, but not high enough to be diabetes).
• Family history of diabetes (if your parents or siblings have diabetes).
• Previously giving birth to a baby over 9 pounds.
• Previously giving birth to a stillborn baby.
• Having gestational diabetes with a previous pregnancy.
• Having too much amniotic fluid (a condition called polyhydramnios).

Many women who develop gestational diabetes have no known risk factors.

High risk women should be screened for gestational diabetes as early as possible during their pregnancies. All other women will be screened between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy.

To screen for gestational diabetes, you will take a test called the oral glucose tolerance test. This test involves quickly drinking a sweetened liquid, which contains 50g of sugar. The body absorbs this sugar rapidly, causing blood sugar levels to rise within 30-60 minutes. A blood sample will be taken from a vein in your arm 1 hour after drinking the solution. The blood test measures how the sugar solution was metabolized (processed by the body).

A blood sugar level greater than or equal to 140mg/dL is recognized as abnormal. If your results are abnormal based on the oral glucose tolerance test, another test will be given after fasting for several hours.

In women at high risk of developing gestational diabetes, a normal screening test result is followed up with another screening test at 24-28 weeks for confirmation of the diagnosis.

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