Just some basic info. The glucose test is done to see how well the mother's pancreas is functioning. Some women can develop gestational diabetes while pregnant. This means, their pancreas cannot provide the insulin needed to absorb excess sugar in the blood stream. It may be that not enough insulin is produced or that the insulin that is produced is a lower potency. The extra sugar in the bloodstream can cause various health problems, but when she is pregnant, all that extra sugar gets sent down to the baby.
If the baby is receiving this extra sugar, his/her body must produce insulin to offset it. This might be marginally fine for the baby while in mom's womb, but it means he/she will pack on fat cells (a result of the insulin production). A bigger baby at birth is not be a concern outright, but one immediate complication can be the sudden removal of sugar to the baby's system. In such a case, the baby's body would be used to producing increased amounts of insulin and when he/she is born, the baby is no longer getting that sugar supply from the mother. This could cause an immediate drop in blood sugar in the baby which is pretty dangerous. In some cases, the baby has to be given sugar after being delivered to help ween his/her body safely off sugar.
This is why it is important for pregnant women to check the function of their pancreas between 24 and 28 weeks. It helps the mother determine if she will need to make changes (or in severe cases, take insulin injections) to maintain the health of her baby through the rest of the pregnancy.
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