What is Covered in Our Gestational Diabetes Class?

What is Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)?

Our class covers:

• What GDM is
• How it is diagnosed
• The evidence behind how to screen and diagnose GDM
• Our manual also includes 32 pages on:
  • The evidence of GDM diagnosis
  • Effectiveness of treatment
  • Epidemiology
  • What happens after pregnancy
  • Long-term risks after gestational diabetes
  • Benefits of treatment during pregnancy
  • Cesarean rates for GDM
  • The typical pregnancy without GDM and with GDM
  • Induction with GDM

Is The Glucola Test Really The Best Way To Screen For Gestational Diabetes?

We discuss the benefits and risks of the alternatives to the Glucola test and the evidence behind each screening method.

Treatments for GDM

The class covers evidence-based treatments available for GDM including diet and exercise, Metformin, Glyburide, and insulin. We discuss diet implementations, calorie distribution, and provide sample meal plans.

PCOS and Diabetes

Researchers have found that those who had PCOS were 4 to 8.8 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women who didn’t have PCOS. We discuss the research about PCOS and diabetes and treatment options.

Symptoms of High and Low Blood Sugar

What are the symptoms of high and low blood glucose? How are they treated and prevented?

Common Complications during Pregnancy

We discuss the common complications during pregnancy for mothers with gestational diabetes including pre-eclampisa, IUGR, macrosomia, and preterm delivery. We cover how to prevent each of these, and how they will be managed if you do experience them.

Common Complications for Infants of Diabetic Mothers (IDM)

We cover the common complications for your newborn baby including hypoglycemia after delivery, birth injuries, jaundice, respiratory distress syndrome, and your baby’s risk of developing diabetes in the future.

We discuss how to prevent the common complications for babies of diabetic mothers and what to expect if these do occur.

Who Can You See?

We go over the care providers you can see from OBGYN’s to out of hospital midwives and how to decide who is right for you. We provide a list of questions to ask your care provider, both for medicated births and un-medicated births, so that you can have the birth experience you desire.

We give you examples of un-medicated birth plans, medicated birth plans, and cesarean birth plans.

Lowering Your Risk

An important way to avoid the common complications for both you and your baby is to lower your risk while pregnant. Nutrition, exercise, medication, the dawn phenomenon, blood sugar targets during pregnancy and how to achieve those targets are all things covered.

Common Tests and Monitoring during Pregnancy

We discuss the common tests and monitoring used during pregnancy so that you can know what to expect, what each one means, the evidence behind them, and your options for each.

Common Interventions during Labor and Birth

We talk about the common interventions you might expect during your labor and birth including induction (when, the evidence supporting it), IV insulin and blood glucose monitoring, and fetal monitoring during labor.

Shoulder Dystocia and Diabetes

This one is huge, as it is a common reason for induction. We discuss how to prevent this during pregnancy and labor, the likelihood you will experience this, and the evidence regarding planned cesareans to “prevent” shoulder dystocia.

Cesareans and Diabetes

Since diabetes does increase your risk of having a cesarean, we discuss the pros and cons to a planned cesarean vs vaginal delivery, VBAC for future babies, blood sugar control prior to cesarean delivery, and how to have a family-centered cesarean.

Blood Sugar during Labor, Delivery, and Immediate Postpartum

Your blood sugar control during labor will drastically affect your baby’s risk of hypoglycemia after birth. We discuss the evidence-based targets during labor, how to achieve these targets, how often to check your blood sugar during delivery, and blood sugar control in the immediate postpartum.

Breastfeeding

We discuss the importance of breastfeeding, especially with gestational diabetes, how to have a successful breastfeeding relationship, and where to go for help.

Postpartum

Since having gestational diabetes increases your risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life, we discuss the recommended follow-up testing and how to prevent future diabetes for both you and your baby.

Resources

The manual includes a plethora of resources for you including:

• Utah International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC)
• Birth Stories
• Websites
• Blogs
• Yahoo Groups
• Books
• Logs for Blood Sugars, Insulin, Food, and Exercise
• 7-Day Meal Plan
• Diabetes Trained Doulas
• Utah Childbirth Education Classes
• Utah Craniosacral Therapists
• Favorite Utah Hospital Care Providers
• International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN)
• VBAC Classes
• Utah Prenatal and Postpartum Massage
• Utah Maternity Photographers
• Utah Birth Photographers
• Utah Placenta Encapsulation Specialists
• Postpartum Mood Disorder Support
• Pelvic Floor Health
• Utah Emergency Resource Guide
• Utah Support Groups

Our hope from this class is to educate you on all of your options and help empower you to make decisions based on facts and your intuition instead of fear. We want to help you have a safe and satisfying birth experience; one that you will cherish instead of repress.

Don’t live in Utah? Our classes don’t fit your schedule? Sign up for our online class.