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At Joslin Diabetes Center, we’re here to help you enjoy a healthier pregnancy and delivery. We partner with high-risk maternal-fetal medicine specialists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to provide expert care from the moment you learn you’re expecting to after the delivery of your baby. Our multidisciplinary team includes obstetric physicians, nurse educators, dietitians, and exercise physiologists. We also closely coordinate with your own obstetrician to ensure continuity of care.
Even though women with type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes have slighter higher risks, the vast majority of their babies are born healthy. It just takes extra attention and care, which we provide at Joslin. We offer frequent blood glucose monitoring, medication adjustments, and support and education along the way. It’s everything you and your growing family need to enjoy peace of mind during this unique season of life.
If your primary care physician has diagnosed you with gestational diabetes or if you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant and have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you’ve come to the right place. Joslin Diabetes Center is one of the nation’s top institutes for diabetes care, education, and research.
We work with women before they get pregnant, during their pregnancies, and following the delivery of a baby.
If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, chances are, you learned about your condition before getting pregnant.
Even though you have diabetes, you can still stay healthy throughout your pregnancy and have a healthy baby. That said, it’s important to lay the groundwork for a safe pregnancy, even before you get pregnant. To support a healthy pregnancy, try to:
Sometimes diabetes is diagnosed during pregnancy, usually around the 24th week. This is called gestational diabetes.
If you’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, it doesn’t mean that you had diabetes before getting pregnant or that you’ll necessarily have it after you deliver your baby. In fact, most women’s blood glucose levels return to normal after they have their babies.
During your 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy, your doctor will give you a routine screening, called the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to check for gestational diabetes. The OGTT checks your blood glucose levels before and two hours after you drink a special liquid. With this test, your doctor can learn how your body processes glucose.
If your blood sugar level is high, your doctor will give you a glucose tolerance test to find out if you have gestational diabetes.
Our treatment approach is different for every patient — and varies depending on whether a patient is diagnosed with type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes.
That’s because every one of our patients has unique healthcare needs. In general, we we’ve found these techniques help our patients, and their babies, thrive:
After delivery, your healthcare team will closely monitor you and your baby. You’ll be encouraged to feed your baby frequently in the hours after birth to help stabilize blood glucose levels. And, your team will check your baby’s blood glucose levels too.
Your doctors will also test your blood glucose levels before you leave the hospital. For many mothers with gestational diabetes, their blood glucose levels return to normal right away. But, whether they’ve returned to normal or not, your doctors will inform you about the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as ways to prevent this condition.
In the months after you have your baby, your care team will continue to monitor you. Together, we'll watch for type 2 diabetes, and if you develop it, begin treatment and care. Our team understands this unique season of life — caring for a newborn. It’s exciting but can be stressful too. That’s why, when you visit Joslin, you’ll experience a unique support system who will not only care for you, but will encourage you as a mother.
If your primary care physician has diagnosed you with gestational diabetes or if you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant and have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you’ve come to the right place. Joslin Diabetes Center is one of the nation’s top institutes for diabetes care, education, and research.