Throughout my last two pregnancies, it was a struggle to eat enough when so many foods repulsed me. This time my nausea has taken a vacation, and suddenly food tastes delicious. As a result, I’ve started to gain too much weight, too fast.
A woman who begins a pregnancy at a normal weight should gain 25 to 35 pounds during the course of her pregnancy, according to the March of Dimes. I have gained almost that much in the last two months alone—and I can’t imagine curbing my monster appetite now.
Pregnancy has heightened my senses of smell and taste, and I feel like this is my big chance to eat everything I’ve always wanted to eat. If I can’t have a beer, then I might as well get whipped cream on my hot chocolate, right?
Not so fast. If I keep gaining weight at this impressive clip, I could put the baby and myself in danger. Not only do I risk high blood pressure and varicose veins, but it’s possible I could bring on the dreaded gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes, which affects 4% of all pregnancies, has no unique symptoms. The main indicators—increased appetite, thirst, and frequent urination—are identical to pregnancy symptoms. Without a lab test, I have no way of knowing if my baby and I are at risk.
This particular type of diabetes strikes when a pregnant woman’s pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to maintain safe blood sugar levels. The placenta produces hormones that can make it harder for the body to use insulin, which causes blood glucose levels to spike. In an attempt to lower blood glucose levels, the baby’s pancreas will produce more insulin. Babies born with excessive insulin are at higher risk for shoulder damage and breathing problems.
Could I give myself diabetes?
In order to investigate further, I put down my quart of chocolate peanut butter ice cream and asked Bart Putterman, MD, an OB/GYN at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, my burning question: Could I potentially give myself gestational diabetes?
The short answer is yes.
According to Dr. Putterman, I can control my baseline weight and the amount of weight gained during the pregnancy. “Both of these factors have a significant bearing on the likelihood of becoming diabetic during pregnancy,” he says. Sounds simple enough: The more I eat, the more more weight I gain, and the more I increase my risk.
But there is also a genetic connection. “If there is a family history of diabetes, the patient will have an increased risk. This risk is independent of the weight issue, but both are significant risk factors,” Dr. Putterman explains. Upon hearing this, I mentally scanned the women in my family and instantly came up with three diabetics closely related to me. Whoops!
Next: The dreaded test
Comments (6)
Hi there!
Thanks for the article, it was really helpful! I’ve been on this website called http://www.Melslife.com, which has a very informative page on Mom Diet and Baby Diet. I hope you go through it, it’s VERY helpful! In fact, Melslife also has pages on Baby health and the various things that could be potentially harmful to your baby, pre and post birth. Do check it out. It helped me, and I think it’ll help you too. :)
I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes early and not necessarily because of what I eat but the genetic connection. So if you have a parent or sibling who has diabetes your md will probably test you early. Gestational diabetes does suck but it will keep you from gaining more weight and the baby will be fine as long as mom eats right.
One more thing the testing sucks the most I think, man three hours and you can’t leave and come back.
My practioner stated that it’s not necessarily how much weight you put on. I was at goal weight for my height prior to conception & had only put 15 pounds on by 28 weeks before being diagnosed with GDM. I was told sometimes there’s no way to avoid it even with proper weight management and no family history -sometimes the placenta just goes into overload with producing hormones to cause GDM.
I do hope the author of this article was joking about the delicious tasting syrupy substance. It tastes horrible -especially the lemon-lime flavor!
And yes, GDM sucks! Especially testing blood levels 4 times a day.
I hear you on the syrupy substance, Kari. Ordinarily, when I am not pregnant, it would taste heinous. But with all of my pregnancies, I crave that kind of awful super-sugary stuff. Ridiculous, I know!
I was diagnosed w/GDM at 33 weeks, and yup, that 3-hour test was gross! It did help me get over my fear of needles, though.
My endocrinologist was a bit trigger-happy, trying to get me on insulin right away even though my glucose levels weren’t extraordinarily high. I refused to go on insulin and decided to control my blood sugar with diet alone. It wasn’t easy, and I still had to use a finger-stabby glucose monitor 4x daily but I avoided insulin and had a beautiful baby boy in an uncomplicated delivery on my due date. The plus side? I only gained 30lbs while pregnant and my son was a respectable 8lbs, 4oz at birth.
The GDM disappeared like magic and I made sure to have some cookies to reward myself. :)
Best of luck!