Gestational diabetes - common symptoms

Your doctor or midwife will check your blood sugar already at your first visit and monitor it throughout your pregnancy by pricking your finger. During pregnancy, your metabolism changes and the quantity of sugar in the blood can get too high. The need for insulin, which is the hormone that regulates blood glucose levels, increases during pregnancy. This is because the hormones made in the placenta make you less sensitive to insulin, which means you need more. If your pancreas can’t handle the increased insulin production, you might develop gestational diabetes.

Symptoms and signs of gestational diabetes

How do you know if you’re in the danger zone? The tricky thing about gestational diabetes is that you often won’t notice it sneaking up, which is why all pregnant people are checked regularly.
If your blood sugar is really high, the symptoms will be the same as with other kinds of diabetes. You will be:

• tired
• thirsty
• have to pee more often

Do these symptoms sound familiar? Perhaps deceptively like the common symptoms of pregnancy – indeed, it’s not unusual to be tired, thirsty, and to have to pee more often when you’re pregnant. And that’s why your doctor or midwife will monitor your blood sugar throughout your pregnancy journey.

Who is at risk of getting gestational diabetes?

It isn’t possible to say with certainty who will or will not get it, but factors that increase your risk of gestational diabetes are:

• having had gestational diabetes before
• previously giving birth to a large baby (4,500 g)
• overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) of 30
• parents or siblings with diabetes
• advanced age

Diabetes test: sugary drink and a blood test

If you are at elevated risk or if a routine blood test shows higher values, you will do a glucose challenge test. The test involves drinking a glucose solution on an empty stomach. After a few hours, your blood sugar is checked. If the test indicates an insulin imbalance, there are various ways to handle it.

How do you treat gestational diabetes?

If the glucose challenge test shows that you have gestational diabetes with moderately elevated blood sugar, lifestyle changes might be enough – eating less sugar and fat and exercising more. But if the values are a bit higher, then insulin tablets or shots might be necessary.
People with gestational diabetes might be referred to a specialist clinic to have their values checked regularly.

Risks when you have gestational diabetes

Untreated gestational diabetes isn’t good for the baby or for the pregnant person. The risk of complications goes up both during the pregnancy, with a higher risk of preeclampsia – and during childbirth. In addition, the baby is often bigger, with a birthweight of over 4500 grams at term.

Giving birth with gestational diabetes

If you have gestational diabetes, you might have labour induced. Induction would typically be planned for week 40 at the latest, if your pregnancy was problem-free otherwise. But if the baby is clearly getting bigger at a rapid-fire pace, if there is a sudden increase in amniotic fluid, if the mother’s blood pressure is high, or if there is more protein in the urine, then labour might be induced earlier.
It can be good to prepare for the fact that when you have gestational diabetes, you might have to fast before giving birth, and you may also have an insulin and glucose IV – and of course, your blood sugar will be closely monitored. Once the baby has arrived, their blood sugar will also be monitored a little extra carefully.

Gestational diabetes after childbirth

If you had gestational diabetes, it may be nice to know that blood glucose values usually return to normal again after giving birth. But if you’ve had diabetes during pregnancy, you should probably count on the fact that you will continue to be sensitive, and you also have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people without gestational diabetes. So it isn’t wrong to be extra intentional about your diet and to try to get regular exercise, which will reduce the risk. It’s also good to know that if you get pregnant again, your high blood sugar values might return.

If you already have diabetes before getting pregnant

If you already have diabetes, you will visit the doctor more often throughout your pregnancy. This is because, as you know, your need for insulin changes and the dose must be modified accordingly. Your baby’s growth and development will also be followed carefully, with extra ultrasound exams, to provide the best conditions for a pregnancy that will be slightly riskier.

Please note that all information above is based on Swedish recommendations.