...A Three Hour Test

I really prefer the lyrics "....a Three Hour Tour" from Gilligan's island over the title of this post. But it is what it is. Just got a call from my doctor's office about my initial Glucose Tolerance Test. And it came back saying my blood sugar level was too high after drinking the 12 oz of pure sugar they call "Glucola." So, I need to go in and do a 3 hour screening to see if I have Gestational Diabetes. Loverly. I'm so thrilled. Can you hear the sarcasm as I type?

Here's the deal-- I'm an incredibly healthy eater. Plain and simple, very little sugar goes into my body. I eat fruit, which does have a high quantity of sugar, but that's really it. Someone must of extracted my sweet tooth a long time ago. But, I've done a lot to be sure that I eat well-- its been a life choice of mine over the past year and a half. My body isn't used to high quantities of sugar being consumed in a 5 minute period (which is what you have to do when you drink the Glucola). As a result, my arms and legs got tingly and I felt like I was going to be sick big time for about 2 hours.

At first, hearing about the prospects of gestational diabetes totally shocked me, because people comment daily on how healthy I eat, especially for being preggers. But, as it turns out, having gestational diabetes isn't neccessarily related to your diet. In fact, it is tied to PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), which is what originally caused the massive ovarian tumors I had removed. In addition, many times when pregncancy hormones are high (and mine are very high-- they had to be b/c of my medical circumstances), they can actually block the usual action of insulin. As a result, your body need to produce additional amounts of insulin to maintain the proper breakdown of sugar in your bloodstream. Sometimes your body can't do this naturally and this condition emerges.

As for the dreaded "3 Hour Glucose Tolerance Test"...its like the first one, only longer and with a much higher quantity of sugary drink. After 12 hours of fasting, they'll prick me periodically throughout a 3 hour period and give me more of my favorite Glucola (with higher sugar quantities). Fun. I made the mistake of mentioning how upset the drink made my stomache-- and got a very comforting response from the lab technician-- "well, we'll block off 5 hours so that if you do get sick, we can restart the test." Thanks. Boy am I looking forward to Monday morning.

I guess when it all comes down to it-- all we care about is a healthy Little B. If it turns out that I do have gestational diabetes, we'll be able to take the preventative steps to be sure that Little B doesn't get too big and that we both maintain a healthy blood sugar level. I already have a very healthy diet, and that's usually the first thing they ask people with this condition to stick too, so that won't be a problem. In addition, my blood pressure is very low, so the risks of this leading to Preclamsyia are low. I'm not overweight (I was at a perfect BMI when we did IVF)-- and my weight gain has been minimal-- 12 lbs to date, 2 of which are Little B. So, the other factors that can cause trouble when coupled with gestational diabetes are well in check.

I just hope this next screen shows normal results-- i.e. no gestational diabetes. If it turns out that I do have it, my doctor will monitor my pregnancy more regularly-- like weekly with blood tests-- until the baby arrives. I'm sure I'll learn more about the precautions we'll need to take to be sure that Little B arrives as healthy as can be. I'll find out more if we end up crossing this bridge-- hopefully we won't though. Fingers crossed. I'll update the minute I learn more.