What is diabetes during pregnancy?

Sometimes women get diabetes when they are pregnant. Doctors and nurses call this gestational (Gest-TAy-shu-nal) diabetes mellitus or GDM. When a woman has diabetes, her body cannot use sugar from the food she eats. Instead, the extra sugar stays in her blood. This can cause problems for both the woman and her baby. The best way that a woman can avoid getting diabetes while pregnant is to be at a healthy weight before pregnancy. She can also avoid gestational diabetes by not gaining too much weight during pregnancy.