[Dr. Nicholson] "Gestational diabetes is not going to give your baby diabetes, but it can affect your baby's health in several important ways.
First of all, if your blood glucose or blood sugar levels are high in your body, that can make your baby's blood sugar levels high.
Your baby will respond and manage their blood sugars while they are still developing in your uterus.
But over the course of the whole pregnancy, those high blood sugar levels can cause your baby to become overweight or too big.
And so at the time of delivery, you may have a baby that weighs 9 or 10 pounds, and that can be a health risk for both the mother and the child.
Managing your blood sugars and your weight during pregnancy can help you provide your baby with the nutrition that it needs, but also help the baby not to be too large.
We know that babies born to moms with gestational diabetes can be at risk of being overweight as toddlers and as they enter grade school.
So it's very important that their moms continue to practice healthy health habits that they can also teach to their children."
[Lish] "I can't stress how many times people have complimented us on how well our kids eat.
'I can't believe your kids eat that many vegetables.' Totally it's because of our good habits at home."
[Alex] "And, as far as Josiah is concerned ...
diabetes is not an issue for him, just maybe later on in life?"
[Dr. Nicholson] "Correct. He could be at risk of developing diabetes in childhood or in his teen years if he does not continue with a healthy diet.
So the changes that you all have made now during pregnancy ...
They're going to be important changes to not only keep you all healthy, but to keep your kids healthy as well.
Our goal is to teach you these health habits now while you're pregnant, so we can get through that first important event of your delivery.
But then we want to continue in the years after your delivery to make sure you maintain these healthy habits."
