When you have gestational diabetes, your wellness, and the current and future wellbeing of your baby is at risk. However, there is reliable gestational diabetes testing that can help you find out if you are affected and the sooner you know, the easier it will be to build a safe and healthy life for you and your new baby.
The process begins with your first prenatal medical visit with a risk assessment. At this appointment, you will give your doctor a complete personal and family medical history, which will help him or her determine your risk for gestational diabetes. Complications in your past pregnancies, delivering a baby larger than nine pounds, past glucose intolerance issues, your race and age and family history of any type of diabetes can all play a role in your risk of the disease.
If you are at a high risk of gestational diabetes, your doctor should test you as soon as possible after your pregnancy is discovered, and even if this test comes back negative, it would be wise to have a second test done between weeks 24 and 28 of your pregnancy, just to be safe. This is also the period of your pregnancy where you should be tested if you are have an average level of gestational diabetes risk, but if you have low risk, meaning you are younger than age 25 and have no personal or family medical history that indicates otherwise, you may not need to be tested.
There are two types of gestational diabetes test, both of which measure any leftover sugar in your blood, indicating diabetes if the blood sugar level is higher than a particular value. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) will often be performed on women at high risk for gestational diabetes. For four to eight hours, you only consume water and then the technician will draw your blood and measure its sugar level. The technician will then give you a carefully measured sugar drink, and check your blood levels again two hours later.
A glucose challenge test (GCT) measures your blood sugar one hour after you have a sugar drink, and if sugar levels are too high, then the OGTT will be ordered. Overall, the OGTT is the more invasive test, but it may save you time and a quicker diagnosis means an earlier start to treatment, which means a better chance of wellness for you and your little one.
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