Pregnant women are at a higher risk of suffering from diabetes as hormones released during pregnancy can prevent insulin from processing glucose in the blood correctly. If you have been identified as being at a ‘high risk’ of developing diabetes in pregnancy (also known as gestational diabetes), it’s recommended you have an oral glucose tolerance test. Gestational diabetes is not uncommon and is estimated to affect around 14 in every 100 pregnant women.

Risk factors include:

· A family history of diabetes

· Being overweight

· Developing gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy

· Having high blood pressure

· Having an excess of amniotic fluid

· Having previously given birth to a large baby weighing more than 9.9lb

If any of these risk factors apply to you, or if you are worried about gestational diabetes, speak to one of our experts about having a test to check for gestational diabetes. The test is usually done between 26-28 weeks unless you developed gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy, in which case you should be tested at 16 weeks.

The test will be performed whilst you relax in the comfort of one of our city centre clinics. Once the test is complete, we will contact you with the results the same day and a printed copy of the result will be available for you to include in your pregnancy notes.