What You Should Know If You Have Diabetes And Want To Have A Baby

When you have diabetes, every day can be like a wrestling match with you body to keep your blood sugar under control. However, that does not mean that you do not get to continue to live your life and have dreams and goals. If one of your current goals is to get pregnant and have a baby, you may be wondering what kind of impact your diabetes may have on the process. Get to know some facts you should be aware of if you have diabetes and want to have a baby. Then, you can be sure you are prepared for the process and you get the care and support you need throughout your pregnancy. 

You Should Get a Checkup

One of the first steps you should take before you even try to get pregnant is to go to your primary care doctor for a checkup and blood workup. It is important to know about your overall health as well as how your diabetes is managed before you try to get pregnant. 

If you have high blood pressure or cholesterol, for example, your doctor may recommend a several month plan  to lower those numbers before you conceive. If your A1C is not at recommended levels, you may need to adjust your diabetes medications to get things under control before you get pregnant. 

Knowledge is power as well. Knowing your overall health can help you to make the right choices before and during pregnancy in terms of your lifestyle and medical care. Also, if you work with an endocrinologist for your diabetes, you will want to meet with them before trying to conceive. 

You Need to Be Sure You Have Your Blood Sugars Under Control 

Before you try to conceive, it is important to make sure you have your blood sugars under control on a daily basis. Start tracking your daily blood sugars. If your blood sugars are consistently higher than the recommended levels of 70 to 130 mg/dl before eating and no more than 180 after eating, you should probably wait to try to conceive until you get your levels stabilized in normal ranges. 

High blood sugar during early pregnancy can cause numerous problems with the fetus and can result in birth defects. You want to avoid this and to have the healthiest baby and pregnancy possible.

Track these numbers in a notebook every day and compare and chart your levels. Then, bring this to your doctors if you notice your blood sugars are high consistently. They can adjust your medications and recommend lifestyle changes to make your chances of a healthy pregnancy higher. 

You Must Work Closely with an Obstetrician When You Do Get Pregnant

When a woman has diabetes, depending on the type and other health factors related to diabetes, her pregnancy may be considered high-risk. Because of the potential for complications and health issues for the baby and the mother, it is important to work closely with an obstetrician once you do get pregnant. 

You may have to come in for checkups and check-ins more often than other pregnant women and may be monitored more closely. This is all to preserve your health and your baby's health. Do not skip appointments with your obstetrician and follow their advice on what you should do medically during pregnancy. 

It is a good idea to sign a release to have your endocrinologist (or primary care doctor if you don't have an endocrinologist) and your obstetrician share records with one another. That way, they can hopefully work together to keep you as healthy as possible during your pregnancy. 

Now that you know some of the facts to be aware of when you have diabetes and are planning to have a baby, you can be sure you are doing everything you can to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. Contact a doctor, like Xiao-Mei Zeng MD, for more help.