What can pregnant women with diabetes do to live a healthy life?
- Check your blood glucose
- Take insulin and diabetes medicine
- Eat the right food
- Exercise
Pregnancy is an exciting time for a woman. New experiences and changes in the body are happening all at once. These nine months can also be difficult for women with diabetes. Handling a disease and a pregnancy might be hard, but it is certainly possible as long as you have a plan.
It might not be as simple as taking your medicine for diabetes, but with good care and planning, women can have safe pregnancies and healthy babies. Whether you opt for branded or generic drugs, following this healthy living guide can help pregnant women with diabetes.
Check your blood glucose
Your body undergoes change as the baby inside you grows. Diabetes can affect these changes in your blood glucose level, making symptoms of low blood glucose hard to detect. Diabetes requires more control during pregnancy. Checking your blood glucose before, during, and after your pregnancy. is an important part of taking care of your baby and yourself.
Meeting your target blood glucose level helps lower the risk of birth defects and miscarriages. It is also designed to prevent your baby from growing too large. Do not be afraid to consult your physician when you’re having trouble staying in your target range or often experience low blood glucose levels. Consult with different diabetic teams to set your goals before and during pregnancy.
Take insulin and diabetes medicine
Insulin is still the first-choice treatment for blood glucose control during pregnancy. Insulin is effective in fine-tuning blood glucose, but perhaps most importantly, it does not cross the placenta. This makes insulin safe to take during pregnancy since there is little chance it affects the baby. Whether injected with a syringe, an insulin pen, or through an insulin pump, all methods of taking the medicine are safe for pregnant women.
Because there is insufficient data about its safety, taking oral medications during pregnancy is highly discouraged. Oral medications, unlike insulin, can cross through the placenta to the unborn baby in different degrees.
Eat the right food
Your diet may need to change according to the recommendation of your doctor or dietician to avoid problems with high and low glucose. Creating good meal plan during pregnancy involves eating food that is better quality instead of just increasing the amount eaten. Designing a good meal plan can help you avoid low and high glucose levels and can provide the nutrients your baby needs to grow. Eating a wide variety of food, as well as strictly watching your portion sizes is an important part of a healthy diet. Healthy eating includes:
- Lean meats
- Poultry
- Fish
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Whole grains
- Low-fat dairy products
- Beans
Exercise
Exercise is an important part of diabetes treatment. It is a key part of blood glucose control even before getting pregnant, and even more so during pregnancy. Ask your doctor what exercises you can do safely while pregnant. Contrary to popular belief, regular physical activity is considered safe for pregnant women. It can also prevent a host of problems that come with pregnancy such as leg cramps, varicose veins, constipation, and fatigue. Exercise, especially after meals, encourages muscles to use more glucose in the bloodstream, helping keep your blood glucose levels in a healthy range.
Some recommended exercise activities for pregnant women with diabetes include swimming, water aerobics, low-impact aerobics, or simply walking. Avoid doing any strenuous activities during pregnancy such as contact sports, scuba diving, running, high-impact aerobics, or horseback riding.
Key Takeaway
Pregnancy does not need to be a difficult ordeal for a woman with diabetes. As long as they follow a carefully organized plan and take their diabetes medicine, pregnancy can be safe for both the mother and the baby. Keep a healthy lifestyle, take your branded or generic drugs, and enjoy a worry-free pregnancy!