Testing Your Blood Sugar

When you have gestational diabetes your doctor is going to run tests at the beginning but then it is going to be up to you to monitor your own blood sugar on a daily basis. You will still get the support that you will need but a lot of the process of keeping your blood sugar under control is going to be left in your hands.

This will be done with a glucose monitor. It is a very quick and simple procedure. You prick your finger with a lancet using a lancet device. A lancet is a plastic piece with a pointed metal tip that is put into a pen-like device that is used to draw blood from your finger. It is relatively painless and with newer monitors there is very little blood that is needed to run the test.

Your monitor will also come with testing strips, a piece of plastic that has a microchip in one and a place to put the droop of blood on the other. This strip is placed into the monitor, you put the drop of blood from your finger onto the strip and the monitor performs the test. Different monitors take varying amounts of time but the average is between five and twenty seconds.

When you are first diagnosed with gestational diabetes you will be asked to test your blood sugar seven times in one day. You will test:

* First thing in the morning before you eat (a fasting test)
* 1 hour after eating breakfast
* Before you eat lunch
* 1 hour after eating lunch
* Before you eat dinner
* 1 hour after eating dinner
* Before going to bed

The more you test the better idea you will have on how well you are managing your diabetes. It is all the way to determine if you are giving yourself enough insulin.