Skip to main content

Gestational Diabetes

Diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy is known as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). During pregnancy, placenta generates hormones which causes glucose levels to rise in blood and if the body doesn't produce enough insulin to handle this additional glucose, it results in GDM. 

The intention of this post is to create awareness and let you know you are not alone or the first to experience gestational diabetes. 

Just to quote few examples, one of my friends who had gestational diabetes, was able to control her glucose levels just by modifying her diet; my cousin, who was diagnosed in her first trimester, got rid of it completely within a month by following strict diet regimen. In my case, I was diagnosed with GDM in early 2nd trimester. Doctor advised me to follow low glycemic diet and walk at least half an hour, twice a day. In spite of following these, I had to take insulin shots till baby's birth to control the glucose levels. So point to remember is, every person's experience is different.

  • Mother's age, obesity and family history of diabetes are quoted as usual reasons for developing GDM. In certain cases, type 2 diabetes might surface, if it the sugar levels weren't tested before pregnancy.
  • Doctors test blood glucose level along with regular blood tests in the first and second trimesters. In case of any anomalies in the results or any family history, doctor will ask the mother to take glucose tolerance test in the second trimester to check for GDM. 
  • Generally mom's with GDM are told to check their glucose levels 4 times a day (once in the morning i.e., fasting and once 2hrs after breakfast, lunch and dinner) to ensure the level is within control, else suggest modifications to food/ medication.
  • In the womb, the baby produces additional insulin to compensate the increased blood glucose levels of mother with GDM. So the baby might grow bigger in size, leading to birth complications. So doctors will put mothers on regular monitoring, to ensure the baby growth is as expected.
  • Usually, gestational diabetes gets cured automatically after the child's birth. However doctors continue to monitor blood sugar levels after delivery, on a periodic basis to ensure the mother is no longer diabetic. Also, chances are high for such mothers to have GDM in subsequent pregnancies.
  • GDM can be controlled through dietary changes, exercise, lifestyle changes, oral medication and in certain cases insulin shots and mothers can deliver healthy babies. 
To check out the dietary changes I incorporated for controlling my GDM, check out this post.

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to get notified about my latest articles!!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Anex Monkey Smart Watch

Hello Readers,  Welcome back. While browsing through a weekly flyer by Canadian Tire, my eyes got hold of a smart watch, primarily for its name - Monkey Smart Watch. It's original price was $89.99. On account of Father's Day, the price was slashed 70% and offered for just $24.99 (from June 9th to June 16th).  As it was listed on Canadian Tire website, I thought the product should be genuine and googled to know more about the product. But there weren't sufficient reviews online. So I decided to try it myself and booked it online. This smart watch was launched in the last quarter of 2021 as Anex Monkey Smart Watch. Last year, it had been sold for just $19.99 as part of Black Friday deal. Even after 5 days of waiting, Canadian Tire didn't process my order. On the other hand, the stock was vanishing real quick and only 80 watches were available in our near by store. When checked with their customer service executive, I was told to cancel my online order or wait until they p...
32 comments
Read more

Gearing up for First day of School

The day you first held your little one, the first time he smiled at you, those first steps, first tears, first words, first bike ride... You would have experienced countless firsts with your child so far. Before you knew it, your kid is just few days away from a very important milestone - his first day of school.  If your kid is starting kindergarten this academic year, I totally feel you. I was in the same state of mind, exactly an year ago. After tending to my son for more than 3 years, that too as a stay at home mom, he is very attached to me. I was with him literally 24 x 7, except for those very few minutes I sneak into the washroom. The thought of how he would survive those 7 hours of school without me, haunted me for days. Next his preparedness to face the whole new world (without us) was dreadful. I had infinite questions/ doubts in my head. It is quite natural if you have an endless loop going on in your head. In this post, I sum up my experience of preparing my child and ...
8 comments
Read more

Recipe: Masala Vada (Split chickpeas fritters)

Hello Readers, I received few requests to post the recipe for masala vada. There are multiple ways to prepare this yummy tea time snack. I am sharing how it is made in our house. Ingredients: Split chickpeas (chana dal) - 1 cup Fennel seeds (saunf) - 3/4 teaspoon Cloves (lavang) - 2 Cinnamon stick (dalchini) - 1/4 inch Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon Green chillies - 3 Onions - 1 medium sized (chopped) Ginger - 1/2 inch Garlic - 5 cloves Mint leaves (pudina) - 1 tablespoon (finely chopped) Coriander leaves  - 1 tablespoon (finely chopped) Salt, as per taste Oil, for deep frying                               Like what you read? Follow me on  YouTube  for fresh videos and updates on every new post! Procedure: Soak chana dal for at least 2 hours Grind the dal without water (or by using maximum of 2 tablespoons), till it attains coarse texture. See to that at least 10% of the dal is not we...
3 comments
Read more

Recipe: Idiyappam | Sevai | String Hoppers

Idiyappam, is a well known break fast item in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka. It is also known as sevai or string hoppers (in English) and is primarily made out of rice floor. Like idli, idiyappam is made through steaming using no oil, making it very easily digestible and light on stomach.  When I think about idiyappam, I remember 2 instances from my childhood. One of my friend's mom, used to feed her 2 year old with different colourful sevais for evening snack - white, yellow, red along with a liquid version of it too, almost 3-4 times in a week. Later I learnt from her elder daughter (my friend) that they are coconut sevai (sweet version), lemon sevai, tomato sevai and rasam sevai. Though born and brought up in Chennai, we aren't much into idiyappams.  I don't remember eating them until I crossed 10 years. Whenever we visit a doctor with fever, our doctor used to give a list of food items - kanji, bread, idli, idiyappam and rasam rice, which I was usually averse to even...
9 comments
Read more

My experiments making baingan bartha (Roasted brinjal curry)

Brinjal is known as "the King of vegetables", for its beautiful purple body with a crown and rich nutritional value. There are umpteen varieties of brinjal and is known by different names grown across  the world - eggplant, baingan, aubergine, garden egg etc. This versatile vegetable can be easily turned into a variety of mouth watering dishes. In many recipes, it is also used as a substitute to meat. When I come across people who don't eat this wonderful vegetable, I silently laugh inside knowing what they are missing.  Fortunately, everyone in our family loves brinjal in whatever form it is prepared - sambar, fry, nune vankaya, guthi vankaya, vankaya pachadi (chutney), katrika kootu, katrika karakuzhambu, aloo baingan, baingan bartha, baba ganoush (mediterranean eggplant dip), grilled eggplant, eggplant parmesan (similar to lasagna) and the list goes on..... Baingan ka bartha is a very popular Punjabi recipe. As a pre-preparation, we have to roast the brinjal on direct ...
1 comment
Read more