Your Pregnancy: Week 24 for Mom
By: ePregnancy
By week 24, your belly is the equivalent of the Black Pearl -- everyone wants to lay their hands on it! It’s hard to blame them: pregnancy is even more magical than Johnny Depp’s navigational skills. This doesn’t mean that you are public property however, and if it bothers you, you have every right to ask those well-wishers to stop.
It’s also time for another important prenatal test, the glucose screening, to check for gestational diabetes. It’s a super simple -- and super significant -- blood test.
If you have developed gestational diabetes, it means that you are at higher risk for a caesarean section, and your baby is at higher risk of blood sugar complications after birth. The good news is that it is fairly easy to manage gestational diabetes; it can be resolved through dietary changes such as limiting sweets and carbs. Giving up the ice cream is a small price to pay for a healthy pregnancy!
Overheard on the Forums:
Lisa, mother to Kyle: You won't necessarily have to take insulin. That's kind of a last resort. My doc started off with diet management (low carb, high protein). You will probably have to check your sugars periodically thru the day (just a finger prick, no biggie). In my case, the diet wasn't controlling the sugars, so then I went on oral diabetes medication. When I got to about 35 weeks along, my sugars went a bit wacky again, so I went on insulin 4x/day. Basically, I was the worst case scenario. It's scary, no doubt. BUT..it is controllable and women with GD deliver completely healthy babies everyday.