These symptoms are relatively common during pregnancy and not necessarily a sign of GMD. If you are pregnant and have noticed these symptoms, you should speak to a VOG doctor or a general physician, via oDoc who will provide a prescription for a lab test. You can carry out the lab tests from the comfort of you home via oLabs too. 

Who is at risk?

GMD can affect any woman, but a list of risk factors identified by scientists increases the chances of developing GMD. 

The risk factors include

• Being overweight before pregnancy
• Having a family  history of diabetes 
• Being Prediabetic (if you have a blood glucose level higher than normal but not high enough to be classed as diabetic.
• Having PCOS 
• Being older than 25 as they are at a greater risk for developing gestational diabetes than younger women
• Having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, or other medical complications
• Having  given birth to a large baby (weighing more than 9 pounds)
• Having had a miscarriage

How does GMD affect the mother and the baby?

More often than not, women who have GMD go on to have normal pregnancies and deliver healthy babies. However, in other circumstances, GMD can lead to:

• Macrosomia. This is where the baby grows very large as they absorb the excess glucose in the mother’s blood and convert it into fat and are deposited. This leads to difficulties during labour, causing doctors to opt for induced labour and c-section. 
• Too much amniotic fluid (the fluid that surrounds the baby) in the womb can cause premature labour or problems at delivery, known as polyhydramnios.
• Premature birth
• Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in the baby after delivery. This happens because the mum’s high blood sugar level also causes the baby to have a high blood sugar level, and after birth, it no longer has the high level of sugar from its mother, resulting in the newborn’s blood sugar level becoming very low.
• Obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life for babies. Babies of mothers with gestational diabetes have a higher risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Stillbirth. Untreated, gestational diabetes can result in a baby’s death before or shortly after birth.
• Future diabetes for the mother. If you have gestational diabetes, you’re more likely to get it again during a future pregnancy. You also have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes as you get older.

What are the treatment options?

The American Diabetes Association recommends screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes at the first prenatal visit in women with diabetes risk factors. In pregnant women not known to have diabetes, GDM testing should be performed at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation. 

If you are found to have GMD, don’t worry, as it can be treated, and complications can be reduced. The doctor may ask you to monitor your blood sugar level often, exercise often, eat healthily and maybe give insulin injections if necessary.