Blood glucose measurement is one of the routine tests to be performed every month when you are expecting a baby.
Measurement of blood glucose in pregnancy
The basal blood glucose measurement during pregnancy is performed about once a month, through a blood test, to check that the values are normal. Fasting blood glucose levels during pregnancy tend to be lower because glucose passes through the placenta to the fetus; a baseline blood sugar above 95 is already considered high.
In addition to the monthly withdrawal, a test that is often prescribed during pregnancy, to control blood sugar, is the oral glucose load . The test is usually carried out between the twenty-fourth and twenty-eighth week and includes a blood test on an empty stomach and at a distance of 60 and 120 minutes from the assumption of a solution containing 75 grams of glucose.
The test can be anticipated at the fourteenth / eighteenth week when the mother presents risk factors such as family history of diabetes, personal history of gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy, obesity.
Often, during pregnancy, the glucose loading test just described is replaced with an exam called oral glucose minicar, in which a solution is administered with 50 grams (and not 75 grams) of glucose and only two blood samples are taken, one fasting and one 60 minutes after taking the glucose load.
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Because it is important to monitor your blood sugar during pregnancy
In the case of high blood sugar during pregnancy, if gestational diabetes is not controlled, the child may grow more than necessary, with the risk of a more complicated natural birth or the need to resort to cesarean section. More rarely, at the time of delivery, being used to living in a hyperglycemic environment, the newborn could experience a hypoglycemic crisis. Furthermore, the child could be predisposed to develop hypertension, type II diabetes and obesity in childhood and later age groups.
Poor blood glucose control during pregnancy can also cause complications in the mother's cardiovascular health as it predisposes to the onset of hypertension and the development, in the future, of type 2 diabetes.
How to control your blood sugar during pregnancy
Diabetes, even gestational diabetes, has a family component and therefore there are genetically predisposed women to develop it.
In all cases, however, with proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, much can be done to control blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Furthermore, it is important to pay attention to the weight gain that, in a normal weight woman, should not exceed ten / twelve kilos.
An excessive weight gain, in fact, constitutes a risk factor for the onset of gestational diabetes, as well as the habitual consumption of foods too rich in simple sugars and animal fats. Finally, if the course of the pregnancy allows it, it is advisable to maintain an active lifestyle and carry out a light physical activity, for example walking, gentle exercise, swimming ...
Every woman, then, is a special case; it is therefore important to talk to your doctor to get personalized advice on how to control your blood sugar during pregnancy.
