
How Does Gestational Diabetes Affect Your Baby? Experts Weigh In
Ashley Batz/Romper
Gestational diabetes [GD] is a very common worry among pregnant ladies. Especially because in addition to all the other stuff you put up with while you're pregnant, who wants to give themselves insulin injections or prick their finger several times a day to check their glucose levels? According to the American Pregnancy Association (APA), 2 to 5 percent of women develop GD. And if you have certain risk factors, that number rises to 7 to 9 percent. But in addition to how gestational diabetes affects you, how does gestational diabetes affect your baby?
What is gestational diabetes exactly, and how do you get it? The APA noted that, much like having diabetes when you’re not pregnant, it’s a condition where your body doesn’t produce enough insulin while you’re pregnant, which affects how your body regulates sugar. "It may also be called glucose intolerance or carbohydrate intolerance," the website added.
Thankfully, only 5 percent of women develop diabetes during their pregnancy, says Dr. Kurt Martinuzzi, OB-GYN at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, in an email to Romper.
So how do some women end up with gestational diabetes and others do not?
According to Martinuzzi, unfortunately, women who have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), or are Hispanic, African American, Native American, or Pacific Islander have an increased risk of getting gestational diabetes. He also notes that some women's bodies naturally produce too much blood sugar in their bloodstreams through no fault of their own, because the placenta is producing large amounts of hormones th
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