Expectant mothers with diabetes face risky challenge

by Mary Brophy Marcus Copyright 2009 USA TODAY
Before she became pregnant, Molly Duerr never understood why expectant moms would say they didn't care if it were a boy or a girl, only that the baby be healthy.
"I thought, 'Of course you'd want to know what the baby's going to be,' " says Duerr, 30, who has type 1 diabetes. But after becoming pregnant last year and realizing all the health risks associated with diabetes, she says, "I got it."
A growing number of women, like Duerr, are either heading into pregnancy with diabetes — type 1 and type 2 — or developing gestational diabetes while pregnant, says endocrinologist Sue Kirkman, vice president of clinical affairs for the American Diabetes Association. Kirkman says diabetes raises the risk of miscarriages, delivery complications, maternal health problems and birth defects, but she adds that the risks can be slashed with pre-conception counseling, tight control of blood sugar and maintaining a healthy weight before and during pregnancy.
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