Lesson #6

Planning your pregnancy

It is very important to plan ahead if you want to have a baby. High blood sugar can be harmful to both the mother and unborn baby. Even before you become pregnant, your blood sugar should be in a normal range. Keeping blood sugar near normal before and during pregnancy helps protect the baby and mother.

Your insulin needs may change when you are pregnant. Your doctor may want you to take more insulin and test your blood sugar more often. If you take diabetes pills, your doctor will switch you to insulin when you are pregnant.

If you plan to have a baby, you should:

• Work with your doctor to get your blood sugar as close to the normal range as possible.

• See a doctor who has experience in taking care of pregnant women with diabetes. The doctor should also be with a large hospital or medical center that can care for you and your baby properly.

• Have your eyes and kidneys checked. Pregnancy can make eye and kidney problems worse.

• Do not smoke, drink alcohol, or use harmful drugs.

• Follow the meal plan given to you by the dietitian or diabetes educator to be sure you and your unborn baby have a healthy diet.

If you are already pregnant, see your doctor right away. It's not too late to get your blood sugar in good control so that you stay healthy during the rest of your pregnancy. Then follow rules 2, 3, 4, and 5 listed above.

See also:
What is Gestational Diabetes?

Pre-operative considerations
If you're going into surgery, you may not be able to eat or drink for twelve hours before your operation. You should consult your doctor about what to do with your oral medications in this special case. Most likely, your doctor will ask you to discontinue your diabetes medication, and put you on a special insulin regimen to be determined by the doctor.

Congratulations! You're well on your way to taking good care of your diabetes in any situation.

Assignment #2

If you think you have it down, show your know-how by taking our quiz.

That was the last quiz of this class. We hope you learned a lot from taking them, and that you enjoyed them as much as we did.

But, there's still more work to be done. Ready for some other assignments?

Assignment #3
Think of a few of your favorite restaurants and see if you can’t get your hands on their menus. Choose appropriate foods and fit them into your meal plan. Next time you go out, choose from these favorites!

Assignment #4
Pack your virtual suitcase. Pretend you'll be taking a trip soon and need to pack supplies. Where will your journey take you and what should you pack?

Assignment #5 (for people caring for a child)
Write down a plan of action in case your child's blood sugar is very high or low which can lead to severe hypoglycemia or diabetic ketoacidosis and go over it with your child's teacher and school nurse. Make sure these people know what to do in case of an emergency.

That does it folks. That's all the learning we've got to offer in this class. All you have left is one last wrap up message.

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