Meaning unit, condensations, subthemes included in the fourth theme (trying to adjust and adapt to life with GDM)
| Meaning unit | Condensation | Subtheme |
| ‘Slowly and slowly … Everything seems to be OK, I enjoy my pregnant months. … I don’t know why I was so nervous in the early pregnant period. … My baby is growing and growing, and my belly is also bigger and bigger. I will think how my baby looks like in the future. The bigger my belly is, the more happiness I have. I am becoming a mother.’ (Participant 5) | Enjoy being a mother | Gradually adapting to being a mother with GDM |
| ‘I relax my emotion and keep a peaceful mood … It will influence my sleep if I am upset, thus I won’t sleep well. If I have a good emotion, I will be happy, and my body and mood will be in a good situation. It is certainly good to my health.’ (Participant 7) | Try to be happy for the health of baby and themselves | |
| ‘I know much about the GDM knowledge now. I pay more attention to my diet. I do more exercise. I think that I will be easy to get diabetes in the future, so I will pay attention to my diet, and I won’t be lazy and will do more exercise.’ (Participant 14) | Try to be in a healthy lifestyle | Trying to keep balance in life |
| ‘My mother in law thinks that a pregnant woman is easy to be hit by a ghost when she goes out in the evening … I do not insist on going out for a walk in the evening … I do exercise at lunch time. Anyway, just follow her saying. I hope I can be filial to my parents in law, I try not to be against their ideas as much as possible on behaviour and talking, although I sometimes do not like their old-fashioned views.’ (Participant 4) | Avoid practical difficulties | |
| ‘I think that GDM is an alarm for me. It tells me that I will be easy to get type 2 diabetes in the future.’ (Participant 28) | Think GDM is an alarm for the future health | Continuously reflecting on GDM |
| ‘I worried about that my baby will get diabetes in the future, because I think that living with diabetes is really a very painful thing. It will restrict his freedom, for example, he cannot eat what he wants to eat. … Chinese people look at food as heaven … It affects life much … I also fear that I will get diabetes when I am old.’ (Participant 55) | Reflect on the effects of GDM on the future health | |
| ‘I feel that the doctor isn’t professional. She doesn’t pay attention to GDM … I know most of the knowledge about GDM from internet … The dissmeniation and health education about GDM are not enough. Therefore, some severe consequences, such as a baby dying in stomach, happened … It is important to make society pay attention to GDM.’ (Participant 10) | Reflect on the health education about GDM |
GDM, gestational diabetes mellitus.