Mommy Monday: Pregnancy hormones and Gestational diabetes

Pregnancy Hormones

During pregnancy, it is your hormones that is the reason for just about everything that happens. Here is a list of the different hormones produced while pregnant and an overview of their functions.

RELAXIN
Relaxes and softens cartilage and ligaments that support your joint. This will make your joints looser to prepare it for your delivery but it also causes your balance and coordination to wane. Exercise helps prevent injury by improving joint stability and body awareness.

ANDROGEN
This is a male hormone that promotes energy and strength as well as a higher libido. This should help get you through the days that more energy and strength is required.

PROGESTERONE
This is the hormone that maintains the pregnancy. It supports the growth of the fetus, uterus, and the breasts, and speeds up the metabolism. It will reduce your muscle tone, relax your bowel muscles, and make your heart and lungs work harder.
It also causes your body to accumulate fat in the 1st and 2nd trimester which is to cushion the uterus and then later stored to be used up in the last trimester when the fetus needs fat for brain development. This extra fat is normal and necessary so DO NOT try to lose this weight.
Progesterone also makes your retain fluid, up to 8.5 liters of water during your pregnancy. At the end of pregnancy, the drop in progesterone helps initiate labor.

ESTROGEN
Just like progesterone, estrogen helps maintain the pregnancy. (If you’re too skinny or malnourished, estrogen production is reduced, often resulting in irregular or absence of periods, which can affect your ability to become pregnant) Estrogen makes the uterus more elastic, allowing it to stretch and grow. This helps it contract at labor. Estrogen also contributes to softening of the joints, fluid retention, and growth of the breasts and uterus. High levels of estrogen could be one of the reasons for experiencing “morning sickness”.

hCG
or human chorionic gonadotropin, is produced by the placenta in early pregnancy. It stimulates the ovaries to produce estrogen and progesterone.

INSULIN
This hormone permits blood sugar to enter muscle cells, where it is converted into energy. In a diabetic person, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin resulting in high blood sugar levels or hyperglycemia. Without medical attention, it can lead to blindness and kidney failure. In pregnancy, gestational diabetes can increase your chance of having a very large baby and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
In the case you produce too much insulin and too little blood sugar, you have hypoglycemia. This normally occurs in athletes or anybody exercising a lot because exercise causes your muscles to use glucose better. This is easier to remedy, should you feel any of the symptoms (blurry vision, sweating, disorientation, dizziness, weakness, shakiness, and headache), eat something containing carbohydrates, and you should feel better almost instantly. Report any such symptoms to your physician.

Gestational Diabetes

About 3 percent of women who did not have diabetes prior to becoming pregnant may develop diabetes during pregnancy, called gestational diabetes. It usually occurs after the 24th week. Obese women have the highest risk of becoming diabetic during pregnancy. This can be controlled with regular exercise and a special diet designed to control blood sugar levels. Exercise will make your muscles more efficient at utilizing blood sugar for energy, thereby lowering your blood sugar levels.
Gestational diabetes usually goes away after the baby is born. However, long-term follow-up has shown that 50 percent of the cases will become diabetic again within 15 years after pregnancy. Maintaining good exercise and nutritional habits can deter this from happening. If you are diabetic before you become pregnant, it is essential to exercise and normalize your blood sugar levels prior to becoming pregnant and for the first 8 weeks of pregnancy when the fetus’s organs are developing.

Until next time mommys, it is wise to know what is going on inside your body so you can understand why you are feeling and changing the way you are from the outside!

Health respect & happiness,
Beki