Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy

Gestational diabetes means high blood sugar that is first found during pregnancy.

Untreated high blood sugar can carry risks for you and your baby. Checks let your care team spot it early. A care plan helps you both stay well.

Your provider can tell you which food or activity changes fit your pregnancy.

The placenta is an organ that forms during pregnancy. It passes food and oxygen to the baby.

The placenta also makes hormones. Insulin is the hormone that moves sugar from blood into cells. Placental hormones can make cells respond less to insulin.

Think of a radio turned low. Insulin still sends its message, but the cells hear it less. This mostly happens in the second half of pregnancy.

A pregnant person stands beside a round close-up of the womb, with a band of blood at the top, the placenta below it and the baby on its cord. Hormones from the placenta float out and more sugar cubes stay in the blood. The cubes cross to the baby, the baby grows larger, and after birth the wrapped newborn gets a blood sugar check while a test vial stands for the parent's glucose test later.

Screening is usually done in mid pregnancy, around weeks 24 to 28.

The first step is a one-hour glucose test. You drink a sweet glucose drink. Blood is drawn an hour later. A high result leads to a longer three-hour test.

A high first result is not a final answer. It is a first check. The longer test gives more information.

Key takeaways

• Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar first found during pregnancy.
• Placenta hormones can make cells respond less to insulin, mostly in the second half.
• A high first screen leads to a longer test, not a final answer.

Try it

If you are expecting, ask your provider when your screening is planned. If not, tell someone who is that a high first result is only a first check.