Pregnant women who have diabetes before getting pregnant have special
health concerns, such as keeping blood glucose (sugar) levels in good control,
managing diabetes medicines, adjusting meal plans, and exercising regularly.
Preparing for pregnancy
Meeting with your health care provider before becoming pregnant is
very important to ensuring a healthy pregnancy. Your diabetes health care provider
can help you determine if your diabetes is controlled well enough for you to
stop your birth control method. A blood test called the glycosylated hemoglobin
test (HbA1c) can help your health care provider evaluate how well your diabetes
has been controlled over the past six to 12 weeks. This test is used along with home
glucose monitoring to make treatment adjustments.
Having other medical tests before you become pregnant can help your diabetes
health care provider monitor your health and prevent the development of diabetes-related
complications during pregnancy. Some of the tests your health care provider might
order include:
- A urinalysis to screen for diabetes-related kidney
complications
- Cholesterol and triglyceride blood tests
- Eye exam to screen for glaucoma, cataracts,
and retinopathy
A pre-conception counseling appointment with your health care provider is
another important step in preparing for pregnancy. Pre-conception counseling
helps educate women so they can be physically and emotionally prepared – and
healthy – for pregnancy. A pre-conception appointment usually
includes:
1. An evaluation of your weight —Your health care provider will tell you
to try to reach your ideal body weight before becoming pregnant. This means
losing weight if you are overweight to reduce your risk of high blood pressure
complications, or gaining weight if you are underweight to reduce the risk of
delivering a low birth-weight baby.
2. A discussion of your lifestyle —Smoking and drinking alcohol are two
habits that must be stopped in order for you to have a healthy pregnancy.
Smoking during pregnancy affects you and your baby's health before, during,
and after your baby is born. The nicotine (the addictive substance in
cigarettes), carbon monoxide, and numerous other poisons you inhale from a
cigarette are carried through your bloodstream and go directly to your baby.
Smoking while pregnant will:
- Lower the amount of oxygen available to you
and your growing baby
- Increase your baby's heart rate
- Increase the chances of miscarriage and
stillbirth
- Increase the risk that your baby is born
prematurely and/or born with low birth weight
- Increase your baby's risk of developing
respiratory problems