Can I give birth with diabetes?

The happiness of motherhood for almost every woman is the most cherished desire. However, due to some circumstances, including diabetes mellitus, the reproductive function of the female body may be at risk. Men who suffer from diabetes are also quite difficult, and their health suffers no less than women. But before the fair sex, who are sick with this disease, the question always arises - can they give birth to a child?

What is the problem?

In order for a woman to be able to bear and give birth to a full and healthy child, she herself, first of all, must have good health and a strong, hardy organism. In case of diabetes mellitus, the conditions necessary for comfortable carrying and delivery are excluded, since the woman’s body is weakened due to the disease and impaired glucose metabolism, which does not convert her cellular energy. This is the main problem of pregnancy with this ailment, since for the development of a fertilized egg, it is this energy and nutrition, penetrating with the umbilical cord, that is extremely necessary.

1. Due to the fact that pregnancy involves increasing the load on the woman’s body, complications may occur in the work of the kidneys, blood vessels, and heart failure often appears.
2. Due to the fact that there is a high sugar content in the mother’s blood, its excess can be transmitted to the baby via the umbilical cord, and this, in turn, in most cases leads to problems in the development of the pancreas and insufficient secretion of insulin in his body.
3. For a pregnant woman, the entire period of gestation, there is a risk of falling into a hypoglycemic coma due to non-observance of a special diet for diabetics or the wrong dosage of an insulin preparation.
4. In pregnant women with diabetes mellitus, with an untimely registration with a gynecologist and further monitoring of pregnancy, the risk of losing a child in the early term is significantly higher.
5. If the future mother, who is sick with this disease, does not follow all the recommendations of her gynecologist, there is a high probability that the child will gain a lot of body weight during the entire period of gestation, and this, in turn, will significantly complicate the birth.
6. Pregnant women with diabetes should avoid any infectious diseases, as they can become deadly for them and the baby. This is justified by the fact that, unlike healthy mothers who can be given influenza vaccinations during pregnancy, the administration of such vaccines is contraindicated for patients with diabetes. Therefore, all nine months such women need to carefully observe hygiene and in no case do not come into contact with sick people.
7. If the future mother has type 1 diabetes mellitus, the term of labor is appointed earlier by one or two of the prescribed forty weeks. In the absence of an independent maternity process, obstetricians resort to stimulation of contractions or cesarean section.

During pregnancy, a danger to life and health appears both in relation to the child and in relation to his mother. Not so long ago, most gynecologists were categorically against the possibility that women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes should bear babies during pregnancy. Thanks to the successful development of modern medicine, at the moment doctors are not so categorical in this matter, and more and more women with diabetes are successfully carrying and giving birth to healthy babies.

Does pregnancy and childbirth depend on the form of diabetes?

There is no time frame for getting pregnant, but there are still some recommendations from doctors regarding when to plan a baby. Early pregnancy, both in healthy and sick women, may not proceed very well, this also applies to pregnancy at a later age. Nevertheless, most couples over forty years old quite successfully become parents of absolutely healthy babies.

With different types of diabetes, the expectant mother has various complications. So, for example, women with type 1 diabetes, adhering to a certain treatment regimen for the disease, can inform their doctor in advance that they plan to become pregnant. But women who are sick with the second type of diabetes may not even suspect the presence of the disease until they become pregnant. In more than half of cases, type 2 diabetes is detected during pregnancy. Unfortunately, not following a certain diet and lifestyle, which is so important for people with this disease, gestation ends in a miscarriage or freezing of the fetus.

The occurrence of diabetes in a child whose mother is sick, according to the results of genetic studies is minimized:

1. When the father of the child is sick with diabetes - 95% of the children are born completely healthy.
2. If the mother is ill with diabetes, then the chance of having a healthy baby is 98%.
3. But if both spouses are sick with diabetes, then in 25% of cases, diabetes is transmitted to the fetus.

Obstetric practice provides for the special management of the entire period of pregnancy and childbirth in mothers with diabetes.

Diabetes that appeared during pregnancy

In addition to the first and second type of this disease, in medical circles there is also such a definition as gestational diabetes. It can occur in a completely healthy woman who, before becoming pregnant, had no problems with high sugar.

Such a phenomenon as gestational diabetes manifests itself after the twentieth week of pregnancy. The occurrence of the disease is justified by the fact that upon reaching this stage of intrauterine development of the baby, in the body of some women, the insulin produced by the mother is blocked by special substances that are produced by the placenta. Due to the fact that the sensitivity of female cells to insulin is significantly reduced, glucose entering the body of a woman cannot be fully absorbed. As a result, its level in the blood rises.

Gestational diabetes is a temporary illness, and after a woman gives birth, it disappears by itself. The risk of this disease occurs in only 5 percent of pregnant women.

A woman with gestational diabetes is prescribed special therapy and additional supervision by an endocrinologist. In addition, she should often take blood and urine for tests, as well as be sure to adhere to the prescribed diet in order to maintain a normal blood sugar level, since a violation of the diet threatens obesity of the mother and child. Also, the fetus may experience intrauterine hypoglycemic coma.

With temporary diabetes, childbirth is prescribed a few weeks earlier, as with normal. For the birth of a fetus with a body weight of more than four kilograms, doctors use a cesarean section.

Pregnancy for diabetes needs to be planned in advance!

If a woman with diabetes wants to become a mother, then she should plan a pregnancy in advance, and be well prepared for the period of bearing a child, because it is significantly different from ordinary pregnancy:

1. In addition to the gynecologist, a pregnancy with diabetes is simultaneously conducted by a nephrologist, endocrinologist, nutritionist and therapist.
2. Frequent in-patient examinations - in most cases, a pregnant woman can spend almost the entire period in a hospital, under the supervision of doctors.
3. If the expectant mother is insulin-dependent, then the dosage of the drug changes, and is prescribed individually, depending on the state of health of the mother and child.
4. A woman must follow a specially designed diet for her.
5. Women with diabetes almost always give birth several weeks earlier than healthy mothers, almost always on their own, but with a fetal body weight of more than 4 kg, they resort to artificial births.

With proper observance of all the recommendations of doctors throughout the entire period of gestation, problems with childbirth should not arise, and therefore many women with diabetes have every chance to experience the happiness of motherhood.

Video: pregnancy and childbirth in diabetes