Antenatal testing includes routine testing of the urine. This is necessary to detect the presence of sugar that may indicate diabetes.

Diabetes means that the pancreas is not doing its job correctly and there is too much sugar in your blood. If your system is working normally, sugar is turned into stored energy through the insulin produced in the pancreas. Symptoms of diabetes can be feeling very thirsty and not having much energy.

If your doctor suspects that your body is not producing enough insulin, then you may need to take a Glucose Tolerance Test, which involves drinking a glucose mixture and then having your blood tested over a period of several hours afterwards. In fact many antenatal clinics offer this test to all women when they reach somewhere between 24-28 weeks pregnant. If diabetes is suspected before this time, a glucose tolerance test may be given to you as early as 16 weeks, although it is the hormonal changes and therefore hormones made by the placenta to resist insulin, along with the growth demands of your baby in the second and third trimesters which can cause a woman's insulin levels to become unbalanced.

Gestational diabetes is unique to pregnancy and it occurs in three to five percent of all pregnancies. The good news is that it can be managed with a good diet and exercise and in most cases, goes away after your baby is born.

If you have diabetes, you will need to change your diet and possibly take tablets or insulin injections to control your blood sugar level. Women who develop diabetes during pregnancy, for the most part, do not carry on being diabetic after their babies are born, although there is more risk that these women will develop diabetes later in life.

Will my antenatal care change?
You may be referred to a special antenatal team where you are monitored and seen by a consultant as well as a midwife. Your urine should be tested regularly but what medicine you take (if any) remains the decision of your medical team.

Delivery of your baby
If your diabetes is managed and you have experienced no complications, your pregnancy may be continued until around 39-40 weeks. After this you will have to talk to your medical team about the possibility of being induced. Caesarean section rates are often higher in women with gestational diabetes but this isn't to say that you cannot have a normal vaginal birth.

Post-natal care
All women with gestational diabetes will be monitored closely after the delivery of their babies, but as this condition seems to diminish after the baby is born, many women's insulin levels return to normal. You will also require a six week check with the diabetes team.

If you would like to talk to other mums about gestational diabetes, you can do this on our chat forum. If you would prefer to ask a question, you can visit the Guide to Pregnancy area of our answers page.

Last Modified: 21/06/2007