The Fetus of the Diabetic Mother

Before the discovery of insulin few successful pregnancy outcomes were reported for women with diabetes mellitus, as most of these women died during labor or shortly thereafter. There were also higher rates of spontaneous abortions and premature labor in those pregnancies that continued into the third trimester. In 1920, DeLee1 observed that spontaneous abortion and premature labor occurred in about 33% of all diabetic pregnancies.