How to correctly measure sugar in pregnancy? Principles of measuring sugar with a glucometer

Pregnancy is a special time for every woman, in which you need to take care of yourself and your baby in a special way. The dream of most women is to have a healthy baby and make his or her entire life healthy and happy as well. In pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes or in women with pre-pregnancy diabetes, the fear for the health of their future baby is much greater. It depends largely on them whether the pregnancy will be safe and the baby will be born healthy, without problems that could result, for example, from poorly controlled diabetes. 

Sugar in pregnancy

Diabetes for women with newly diagnosed gestational diabetes is a great unknown. They feel fear and insecurity about the unknown. Often the world simply doesn't believe it affects them. It also happens that they do not believe the obtained results and expect repeated tests.

If you have an abnormal sugar level in your pregnancy in the OGTT test, even if the indication slightly exceeds the acceptable limits, it is a sign that you need to take more care of yourself. You should also start to monitor that the sugar level (both on an empty stomach and after eating) during pregnancy does not exceed the standards discussed below in this article. Take it easy, in addition to indicating the sugar norms in pregnancy, we will advise you on how to correctly measure and at what time it is best to measure sugar during pregnancy.

Normal sugar levels in pregnancy

Make sure that your sugar level during pregnancy is correct. As soon as gestational diabetes is diagnosed, treatment is initiated to obtain the correct blood sugar level. Components of this treatment, in addition to measuring your blood sugar daily during pregnancy, include:

• a diet with a low glycemic index;
• physical activity adapted to the period of pregnancy, age and possibilities of the pregnant woman;
• urine test for ketone bodies;
• insulin therapy (implemented when diet fails to achieve the correct level of sugar during pregnancy).

Pregnant diabetic women must be under constant medical care. Visits to the diabetologist must be frequent. These appointments will discuss your sugar level during pregnancy, controlled weight gain, blood pressure, and treatment options that may be modified depending on the course of your pregnancy.

Sugar measurements in pregnancy

This, how to measure sugar in pregnancy diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you will be taught by the nurse at the diabetes clinic. This is what you will get at the clinic glucometerto keep your sugar under control during pregnancy. During the first visit to the diabetologist, you will certainly also receive a lot of other information about diet, treatment, sugar standards, exceptional situations where you need to contact your doctor. There may be times when you miss some information. Remember to write down the most important ones.

The most important thing you need to know when struggling with gestational diabetes is how correctly measure sugar.

Jak correctly to measure sugar in pregnancy?

Measurement of sugar in pregnancy for women with pre-pregnancy diabetes is a daily bread. However, remembering the basic principles of measuring sugar with a glucose meter will also not hurt them, and will allow you to spot errors that you may not have known about before.

Wash your hands in warm soapy water

Remember to wash your hands in warm soapy water. It is really very important! Thanks to this, you will remove factors that may interfere with the measurement, e.g. sugar residue that comes from previously consumed fruit, or other products, creams or disinfectants.

Do not disinfect your hands before measuring! This can only distort your sugar results. If you cannot wash your hands, you can exceptionally wipe the first drop of blood squeezed out with a gauze pad and measure the second drop. Warm water warms the hands. This makes it very easy to obtain the correct size of a drop of blood.

Dry your hands thoroughly

After washing, dry your hands thoroughly. Wet skin on the hand may dilute the blood drop obtained and may also cause an incorrect result.

Insert the test strip into the meter 

Wait for it to start and immediately close the multipack for strips. Exposing the strips to light for a long time can have a negative effect on their performance. Remember that each meter has a manual attached to it. If you don't remember the training details like measure sugar in pregnancy, see the instruction manual of the meter.

Pierce the side of the tip of the middle or ring finger

Do not prick your thumb and forefinger as they have more blood flow and are more sensitive to pain than other fingers. You also use them most often. Small fingers have too thin tissue to puncture. Remember to change fingers and puncture sites.

Puncturing your fingertip is practically painless if you have the correct puncture depth for your lancing device and you change the lancet needle (lancet) in the lancing device before each measurement.

Apply a drop of blood to the test strip

Apply the blood drop to the test strip when the appropriate notification appears on the meter (most often it is a flashing drop of blood). Move the drop closer to the tip of the strip and it will "absorb" the necessary amount of blood. If there is not enough blood, you can try massaging the hand from the root towards the pricked finger (do not put pressure on the tip of the finger!). Remember to use the first drop of blood for the measurement, because repeated squeezing of it dilutes it with tissue fluid and can also distort the sugar result.

When the draw is complete, apply a sterile gauze over the puncture site.

Normal sugar levels in pregnancy a blood glucose meter

The meter that you will receive from the clinic is certainly a tested glucometer that meets all the necessary standards for measurement.

Measure sugar in pregnancy on one meter only! Don't compare sugar measurements on different blood glucose meters, because it doesn't make sense. You will notice the difference on each meter and it is acceptable in accordance with the requirements of the current ISO standard, and only needlessly arouse fear, anxiety and uncertainty about what you see on the screen.

Record the result in the self-test diary or in the app. You will get the diary at the diabetes clinic. Just don't forget to take the self-examination diary with you to your diabetologist's check-up! It is on the basis of your sugars that the doctor will determine your further treatment and assess whether there is a need to introduce changes in it.

If you have any doubts about how to measure your sugar in pregnancy, or if you are not sure if you are taking these measurements correctly, please tell the nurse at the diabetes clinic. This one will definitely assess whether the technique of measuring sugar in pregnancy is right for you.

The essence of level control sugar in pregnancy

If you have gestational diabetes, your best bet in addition to taking sugar measurements is she also wrote down all meals, along with the portions you eat or used specially designed mobile applications to help monitor diabetes. This will certainly make it easier for you to "manage" this disease, and the diabetologist or dietitian who leads you will allow you to have a full overview of your treatment.

Insulin pump w diabetes Type 1

Pregnant women with type 1 diabetes are usually treated with an insulin pump and all data from this device (sugar levels, insulin doses) are generated directly in the form of an appointment report or can also be generated at home. Based on these reports, the doctor assesses whether pregnant sugars are correct and makes adjustments to insulin dosing, if necessary.

Remember! Maintaining normal sugars during pregnancy, regardless of the type of diabetes, is essential for your baby's health. So a lot depends on you how you take care of them.

When to measure sugar in pregnancy? 

If you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you will need to measure fasting sugar and in 1 hour after starting the meal (after these main meals, i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner). When else do you need to measure sugar in pregnancy? In some cases, measurements are also taken 2 hours after eating and at night between 2:00 and 4:00. If this measurement is necessary, your diabetes doctor will tell you about it.

If you had type 1 diabetes before pregnancy, you will need to measure your blood sugar:

• on empty stomach;
• before main meals;
• 1 hour after the start of the meal;
• bedtime;

What time to fasting to measure sugar in pregnancy? 

Fasting sugar is sugar measured at least 8 hours after the last meal. What time is the best time to measure sugar in pregnancy? It's best to do it right after waking up. Make it a habit to start your day by measuring your sugar in pregnancy. If you get up, take a shower, prepare breakfast, send the kids to school, and then measure sugar later, your score will certainly be higher.

Our body works in such a way that to provide us with energy to perform basic activities, some of the glucose stored in the liver is released. Therefore, over time, sugar increases. Getting up late, e.g. at 10: 00-11: 00, can also make fasting sugars in pregnancy higher.

Ile time measure sugar in pregnancy after a meal? 

When learning how to manage diabetes, you will often ask yourself basic questions such as: How much time after a meal to measure your sugar in pregnancy? You measure sugar 1 hour after you start eating pregnant. The word "beginning" is very significant here. 

Important! If you start eating breakfast at 8:00 AM and finish at 8:15 AM, you measure your sugar at 9:00 AM. Remember to count the time to measure your pregnancy sugar from the start of eating the meal, not the end of it. Check your watch before you start eating.

What is the correct sugar in pregnancy? What are the sugar standards fasting and after eating while pregnant with diabetes? 

Both in women with gestational diabetes and in those with pre-gestational diabetes sugar standards (whether on an empty stomach or after eating) Pregnant they are the same. You need to keep your sugar in pregnancy at the same level as in a healthy woman without diabetes. It's not an easy task, but believe it can be done.

Normal blood sugar in fasting pregnancy should be in the range of 70-90 mg / dl. Remember! You do not have much influence on morning sugar, in gestational diabetes, it is not a dietary effect. Significant impact on sugar on empty stomach Pregnant have hormones. If you have high sugar on an empty stomach, i.e. immediately after waking up, you have high sugar for 2-3 consecutive days, i.e. > 90 mg / dL it could be that you already need insulin on at night. Be sure to contact your diabetes doctorm! 

Insulin is a drug that is used to lower blood sugar levels. She is supposed to help you, not harm you. Insulin is completely safe for you and your baby. Don't hesitate to turn it on.

Sugar standards, that is, sugar at the right level after eating while pregnant

Sugar in pregnancy in 1 hour po start of the meal must be below 140 mg / dl. If the sugar level after eating during pregnancy and diagnosed with gestational diabetes is high, i.e.> 140 mg / dl, it may also mean that you need to put insulin on before a meal. Sometimes, however, just modifying your diet is enough to bring your sugar back to normal.

You have a large influence on the sugar level after eating during pregnancy with diabetes, although unfortunately sometimes, despite following the diet, it is also necessary to include insulin in the meal. If you have high blood sugar after a pregnancy meal for 2-3 days after following your diet, see your diabetologist. 

If, in women with pre-pregnancy diabetes, sugar after a meal is high, i.e.> 140 mg / dl, it is necessary to increase the dose of insulin administered before a meal, also in pregnancy. Increasing the insulin ratio / exchanger or extending the interval between administering insulin and eating a meal may help, when consuming meals with a high glycemic index. Normal blood sugar levels after (about 2 hours) a pregnant meal should be below 120 mg / dL.

It's also worth checking your sugar levels between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. It should also be in the range of 70-90 mg / dl.

Blood sugar measurements and treatment

Ultimately, the diabetologist will decide on the number of blood sugar measurements per day based on the type of therapy and the results of your diabetes treatment.

Measurement sugar in pregnancy is an essential component of diabetes management. If diabetes is not properly treated (levels remain elevated) sugar in the blood in pregnancy) the risk of miscarriage and of having a baby with birth defects increases. You need to be aware of how much you can influence the development and health of your child by keeping the level pregnancy sugar at the correct level.

"Don't let what you can't do affect what you can do" - John Wooden