Deciding to have a child is one of the most important decisions ofpeoples lives. Diabetes is a very serious disease. It attacks million peoplearound the world many of them women. These women one day may be thinking abouthaving a baby.
Numerous precautions must be taken by women during pregnancy. Special safeguard must be taken by women with diabetes. These precautions needto be taken due to birth defects. An estimated 1. 5 million women ofchild-bearing age in the United States have diabetes. A diabetic pregnancy isone of the leading causes of birth defects.
(Henderson pNA) Diabetes canstrike at any age and can occur in anyone. Although it is not exactly known forsure about the what causes it. Diabetes is believed to do with the bodys ownimmune system attacking and destroying insulin producing cells in the pancreas. There are two forms of Diabetes, Type I diabetes, also called insulin dependentdiabetes.
The second form, Type II diabetes, or non insulin dependent diabetes. Before insulin was introduced women with diabetes were told that pregnancy wasnot for them. It is true that in the past, pregnancy did present major problemsfor women with diabetes. In the pre-insulin era, Many diabetic women diedbefore the child bearing age and those that survived were often infertile. (Ellenberg696) Their babies did not often survive. When insulin became available in the1920s, pregnancies became more common with diabetic women.
Yet, the number ofsuccessful pregnancies remained far below that of women who did not havediabetes. Today Tabarez 2 the news is good, It is now known that the key to ahealthy pregnancy for women with diabetes is tight blood glucose control. Thegoal of tight control is to keep blood glucose levels as close to non-diabeteicor normal as possible. Although the rate of successful pregnancies among womenwith diabetes has improved, there are still some problems with to be concernedabout. Pregnant women are who are insulin dependent Diabetic are more likelyto deliver children with birth defects and more likely to deliver stillborn thenthe general population. They also have a much higher rate of miscarriages.
(CassonI. F. 275) We now know that many birth defects are related to the mothersblood glucose control during the first eight weeks of pregnancy. What isimportant to note is that many women may not even know they are pregnant at thistime. For women who have diabetes or with any pregnancy, the solution to thisproblem is obvious.
You must plan ahead for your pregnancy. If you are adiabetic and dont already practice good diabetes control regularly, yourpriority should change. Patients with pre existing diabetes require intensiveinsulin therapy before conception and during pregnancy. Glucose self monitoringassists in achieving near normal glucose levels during pregnancy. (Pasui, K.
273) Women should maintain good blood glucose control three to six months beforeshe plans to become pregnant. Another problem that rarely occurs is stillbirth. The baby dies before birth, still births used to occur more frequently amongwomen with diabetes. But now, with care and good diabetes control the chancesfor still births are low.
One more problem , called jaundice, is common amongall babies. But increase more so among those born to women who have diabetes. Jaundice is a yellowing of the skin caused from a waste Tabarez 3 product. Before birth the baby needs a large supply of red blood cells.
However, at birththe baby no longer needs this supply. The babys body will work through theliver to break down and excrete the old red blood cells. If the babys liveris not mature enough, it may have trouble handling this work load. The brokendown red blood cells are called bilirubin. Instead of being excreted, bilirubinis deposited in the babys tissues.
Bilirubin is what colors the skin yellow. Babies with jaundice are sometimes treated by being exposed to special lights. The lights help break down and get rid of bilirubin. Treatment of the problemis usually by photo therapy but exchange transfusions may be necessary.
(Hollinssworth,D. R. 266) But high levels of bilirubin becomes toxic. A baby might need a bloodtransfusion, but the chance of this happening is rare. Finally, as womenconsider pregnancy, they must realize that managing diabetes during pregnancy istime-consuming and expensive. There will be more doctor visits, special tests,more frequent blood glucose testing, and more insulin injections each day.
Therewill also be more time away from .
