Meghan Trainor Shares How Gestational Diabetes Is Impacting Her Pregnancy

Meghan Trainor has entered into her third trimester and is so ready to welcome her first baby—a son—into the world come February 2021. But, while she and husband Daryl Sabara wait for baby to arrive, Trainor says she'll be paying close attention to what she eats due to her recent diagnosis of gestational diabetes.

“Got a little little tiny bump in the road—I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes,” Trainor announced on TODAY on December 2nd. “But it’s manageable and it’s OK and I’m healthy and the baby’s healthy. I just have to really pay attention to everything I eat.”

As TODAY reports, the CDC estimates that 2-10% of pregnancies are affected by gestational diabetes in the United States every year. It's a condition that develops when a pregnant person cannot make enough insulin, a hormone necessary to allow blood sugar into the cells for energy purposes, during pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes usually doesn't cause any symptoms, the CDC reports, so it's necessary to get tested while pregnant to ensure your insulin levels are normal. However, gestational diabetes can affect pregnancy in a variety of different ways. The baby could be born early, be born with low blood sugar, and carries the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life.

And pregnant people with gestational diabetes have an increased risk of high blood pressure and their delivery may be more difficult (and may require baby being delivered by cesarean section) due to the fact that gestational diabetes oftentimes results in a larger baby.

But again, gestational diabetes is a common diagnosis, and can even be prevented if you exercise regularly and/or lose weight before getting pregnant. And staying active during pregnancy and after a gestational diabetes diagnosis is also key to keeping risk factors low.

"It's nice to learn so much about food and health and nice to hear that so many women experienced this," Trainor said. And talking about her own diagnosis only raises awareness and normalizes gestational diabetes. "I'm so happy," Trainor said, noting that she' feels so accomplished knowing that her baby is healthy. "We're doing good."

This story originally appeared on hellogiggles.com

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