The Glucose Test

While I was at the EKG appointment, I asked the doctor when I’d need to be tested for gestational diabetes. It’s something all pregnant women have to be tested for, and I’d honestly been worried about it most of the pregnancy. 

My sister experienced it in her second pregnancy and said it wasn’t fun. Hers was manageable, but she couldn’t have the biggest thing she craved – an oreo blizzard from Dairy Queen –  for a good chunk of her pregnancy. (Pretty sure that was an errand my dad had to run very shortly after Connor’s birth!)

Anyway, the doctor let me know it was coming up soon (at 28 weeks). 

While I was at my regularly schedule 28-week appointment, they had me do the one-hour glucose test. I had to drink what tasted like an overly sweet and flat orang soda and then wait for an hour to have my blood sugar tested. 

I found out later that day I didn’t pass and would have to go in for the three-hour glucose test. Boo. 

I went in first-thing that Friday morning, and the test was much the same. This time, though, it was a blood draw before the nasty drink, an overly sweet and flat Sprite, and a three-hour wait (with blood draws at every hour). 

I had heard from a couple of friends who had experience with someone they loved failing the one-hour test but then passing the longer test, so I was hopeful. 

I got some of the first test results while I was still waiting to complete the test, and when I saw my fasting blood sugar was high (even before the sugary drink), I had a feeling that didn’t bode well. 

I was right. All four of my sugar-level readings were high. I had gestational diabetes. Once again, boo. 

I should probably mention here that gestational diabetes is fairly common in pregnancy, with about 8% of women getting it. It should go away after Rowan’s born, and it mostly means my pregnancy hormones are interfering with my body’s natural insulin resistance.

It does, however, mean I’m likely to have it again in any subsequent pregnancies, and I’ll be pre-disposed to developing diabetes later in life. (Which is something I already knew given my family’s long history of the disease—on both sides.)

Anyway, I had Rowan’s growth scan coming up soon after the test, so they went ahead and tacked on an appointment to teach me how to use a glucometer and test my blood sugars each day. 

I was so hopeful my days of stabbing myself were in the past, but here we are. Four finger pricks a day. I have to take readings first-thing in the morning (fasting) and then one hour after each meal. 

After talking it through with my sis, she was confident I could manage it with diet and exercise and hopefully not need to go on insulin. 

I’m now currently 32 weeks (don’t worry, I’ll go back and talk more about the growth scan next week), and after testing my sugar levels for the past couple of weeks, I will have to go on insulin. For now, it’s just in the evenings to try and manage my fasting levels. 

Apparently, the body is most insulin resistant in the mornings. My levels haven’t been overly high. They like to see them at 95 or below, and mine have mostly been hovering in the 96-100 range. So close, yet so far away. 

So, let’s just add in another needle poke.

Oh well, this is what I need to do to keep myself and Rowan healthy for the remainder of the pregnancy, and sometimes you just “got to do what you’ve got to do.”