Last week at my OB appointment I did a glucose screening, in which they look at your blood sugar levels to see if there are indicators of gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes can cause, among other things, the baby to grow too large, thus making delivery difficult, or jaundice in the baby.
I didn't think anything of the glucose screening. I've never had issues with blood sugar or blood pressure or anything. Never had a problem with my first pregnancy, didn't occur to me that anything would be different with my second. I don't eat a lot of sweets, I'm not overweight, etc. etc.
Wrong.
My numbers came back pretty high, so the next step was to go in for a 3-hour glucose test. This involves fasting for a night, going to the doctor's office in the morning, having them take a baseline blood sample, and then drinking two bottles of this sicky-sweet glucose solution, and then having blood drawn every hour for 3 hours. For those of you keeping track, that's 4 blood drawings in 3 hours. Oh, and they decided to give me another shot that I need to get before giving birth, since I was there and all.
It's a good thing I don't have needle issues.
I still wasn't too worried, because my friend who is an OB told me that 80% of women who have to do the 3-hour glucose test end up passing it. I figured my odds were decent.
Wrong again.
I failed the test, and now I have to go take a class at the hospital on how to monitor my blood sugar levels and how to maintain a diet appropriate for diabetics. Which is fine, whatever, but it's a two-hour class, and these days, I don't really have two hours to spare. I don't understand why they can't just give me a blood glucose monitor with an instructional video on how to use it, and a list of what I can and can't eat.* I'm a smart girl. I'll figure it out. But I get the sense that they have these classes because people get all panicky and are too stupid to just follow basic instructions. So I have to go waste two hours of my time because most people are dumb.
And I know that everything will be fine, but it's still one more thing to deal with. I'm just so ready for this pregnancy to be over.
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*My understanding of the recommended diet is that it's basically South Beach -- limited simple carbs, limited fruit, lots of whole grains and veggies and protein. Boring, but certainly doable.
That sucks. I'm sorry you have to deal with GD and sorry you have to give up 2 hours of your life because other women can't follow directions.
ReplyDeleteI know you and the joey will be fine, but I still hate that you have one more one thing to worry about and deal with.
I'm so sorry, that's terrible. Very excited for your new baby to arrive and it all be worth it!
ReplyDeleteUgh. I'm so very sorry. As if there isn't enough to deal with. It's not the worst thing, but it certainly is a big, unexpected inconvenience. I just assumed that if your first was fine, it would be fine with your second as well.
ReplyDeleteBet the prize at the end of the pregnancy will be your biggest reward!
ReplyDeleteHang in there!
Sherice
Dawn -- thanks. I know everything will be fine, I'm just finding the whole thing really annoying. But this too shall pass.
ReplyDeleteHKW -- it will be worth it. The next two months can't go quickly enough.
Lisa -- apparently it's not uncommon for GD to develop with a second pregnancy even where it did not show up in the first. But my OB friend speculated that I might have had a borderline case with Zeke and that may have accounted for his large size. So I'm definitely going to toe the line as far as monitoring my sugars properly and watching my diet.
Sherice -- meeting the Joey will be a big reward. Can't wait!!