Yesterday I had to go in for a three hour glucose blood test for gestational diabetes.
That means this:
I failed the first blood screening by ONE POINT over what is acceptable.
I had to fast for 12 hours, then show up at the doc's office at 9am. That wouldn't be a big deal except I had to get Bella up early, drive her to her Gran's house, then drive back the other way to the doc office.
The nurse took one vial of blood at 9:30. By then I was dying for some nourishment so the glucola drink was the best tasting orange syrup ever.
She suggested I either lay down in the room or I could hang out in the lobby. I chose to lay down and rest.
Rest. What a joke.
Ever try laying down on an exam room table, on your left side so you don't throw up and because laying on your back at this point causes your internal organs to be squished up to your throat due to a 3+ lb child squirming around uncomfortably?
Not only did she squirm, baby decided to take up jazzercise. I'm guessing she was really keen on the glucola since that's all she'd had in 12 hours too.
I got three more vials of blood taken from me at 10:30, 11:30 and 12:30.
By the time I left, I felt abused from the inside out and I left my frost bitten toes on the exam table.
Now I just hope that I passed the test this time. Otherwise, I'll have to go on a strict diet, eating 8 meals a day and checking my sugar levels all day long. Yippee.
The bad part? I think I messed up the very first test by having coffee and a cereal bar that morning, even if it was 5 hours before the test.
But then, I've never been good at taking tests. Remember the Follow The Directions quiz you had to take in junior high? Same test every year and each year I failed to read all the directions. Guess it finally came back to bite me. Or at least take half my blood out.
8 comments:
Making a pregnant woman not eat for 12 hours? Now that is just torture.
You do make me laugh. so when do you get the results?
3-4 days. I don't know if I'll be more irritated that I don't have diabetes and had to endure starvation or if I have diabetes and have to cut out pans of brownies.
*sigh*
I just had to do the same thing. What a pain in the butt for someone who already has a child, eh? They told me I could bring my 18mo old to the lab if I needed to. Yeah right! 3 hours and we can't leave and I'm already starving and crabby? I don't have family around, so asking a friend to stop by at 8am and not leave until 1pm was a real stressor. Although the lab ladies took good care of me, I still felt pretty lousy about the whole thing. I was "slightly elevated" when I took my screening test, and my results of the second came back fine. I've heard that this particular screening has the highest failure rate of any of the prenatal tests, so although perhaps you should stick to half a pan of brownies, you'll probably be fine too. (I've learned to make the weekly pint of Ben and Jerry's last nearly the whole week. Now that's truly a feat.) Good luck. ~michelle
Thanks, Michelle! The nurse pretty much said the same thing about the failure rate of the initial test.
Congrats on your baby #2!
Oh my gosh. I thought I was the only one who took the "Follow the Directions" test in middle school. DID YOU WRITE YOUR NAME ON THE BOARD BEFORE THE ENTIRE CLASS, TOO, AND THEN THINK TO YOUSELF HOW SMART YOU MUST BE, AND HOW QUICK OF A READER YOU MUST BE?
I thought I was totally HAWT STUFF until I realized I just made an idiot of myself.
HA!
I am laughing at Jes. I guess it's worth going through all this because at least you will know that it wasn't gestational diabetes.
I just had to take that nasty orange drink this past Wednesday! It made me burp all day and I almost lost my cookies waiting for the doctor. And now I have a bruise from where they stole my blood! But, I just hope I passed the test. I don't think I could go 12 hours without eating!
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