Diabetes and Pregnancy Analysis Essay Sample

Diabetes
Name
Institution
Due Date
Diabetes and Pregnancy
Introduction
Diabetes is a widely known disease that affects millions around the world. It is a disease that leads to high blood sugar levels in one's system. The two most common types of diabetes are Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. For Type 1 diabetes, the body is not able to produce enough insulin, which then means that it cannot process the glucose in the system. The result is that blood sugar levels increase. For Type 2 diabetes, there are two conditions that are noticeable: either the body (pancreas) is not able to produce enough insulin to process the glucose in the system, or the body is resisting the insulin that is being produced. Diabetes is a condition that affects all age groups and everyone. However, when it comes to pregnant women, diabetes impacts not only their lives but that of their unborn children. For pregnant women, the risk is much more pronounced because their choices directly impact their children's health. This literature review seeks to go a mile deep and assess the effects diabetes could have on the unborn child and mother and the interventions that could help alleviate these effects.
How Diabetes could affect Mother and Baby
As already indicated, diabetes poses direct effects on the mother and the baby. First, it is crucial to note that this paper will focus on Type 1 and 2 diabetes. Attention will not be directed towards gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes present in pregnant women with no previous issue of diabetes. Below are some of the effects on the baby and the mother.
Macrosomia
This is a condition where the newborn is larger than average. According to Shakya and Zhang (2015), macrosomia is "defined as a birth weight ≥ 4,000 g." The authors continue to report that this condition affects "about 15-45% of babies born to diabetic mothers." What happens is that with the mother having high blood sugar, the transfer of the same happens via the placenta. The result of this is that the pancreas of the baby produces more insulin to process this glucose. However, not all of this sugar is processed, and some of it is converted to fat. The result is that the baby becomes larger than usual.
For the mother, the effect of this condition is that vaginal birth is made incredibly difficult because of the baby's size. For most women, this condition forces them to give birth through cesarean section, which may not be their preference.
Neonatal Hypoglycemia
Neonatal hypoglycemia can be described as the aspect of the baby having low blood sugar after birth. As already explained, the baby's system has high blood sugar from the mother. The result is that the baby's system ends up producing more insulin to process the glucose. However, after birth, the supply of high blood sugar is cut short, but the high insulin levels continue to process the glucose in the baby's system. In the end, the baby ends up having low blood sugar, which could be fatal if not dealt with immediately (Begum, Dey, & Fatema, 2018).
Birth Defects
Aside from the above, there is also the issue of mothers giving birth to children with notable birth defects. According to Stanford Children's Health (2021), children born by diabetic mothers are likely ...