3 Hour Glucose Test - Passed!

I had my 3 hour glucose test today and I am so, so happy to report that I passed! The test was not fun and I absolutely would recommend you try and not screw up your 1 hour test so you don't have to take it.

For the 3 hour test, you have to come in fasting. I stopped eating at about 8:30pm but didn't make it to the lab until 10:15am. This made my first fasting draw 10:30 and set me up for an 11:40, 12:40 and 1:40 draw. That's an obscene amount of time to go without eating when you're pregnant.

This time they gave me a choice between the orange Glucola or the Fruit Punch. I'd probably recommend the Fruit Punch but they're both gross, especially since I stopped drinking soda and other sugary drinks at least 4 years ago. The 3 hour drink is twice as sugary as the 1 hour, 100 grams of glucose instead of 50g, and man do you feel that extra glucose. If you can, try to get a cold bottle since it burns a lot going down when it's warm.

For me, the hardest parts were the beginning and the end.  In the first 15 minutes after downing the drink I had a really tough time not throwing it up. I came really, really close and felt awful but the tech was watching me pretty close and kept telling me I'd have to come back and do the test over if I couldn't keep it down. That was enough incentive for me, I took shallow breaths, small sips of water and that sucker stayed down.

Three hours, three more blood draws and a bruised arm later, I was really not okay. Sweaty, clammy, shaky, a little dizzy when I stood up. I had E pick me up from the lab and immediately go for food where I practically inhaled bread, a Caesar salad, and half a Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken. My hands didn't stop shaking until about half way through the pasta and it took a few hours after for me to feel normal again. 

 

Most importantly though, I passed! And it wasn't even a close pass, I passed with plenty of room to spare. Now I have something concrete to point to when people complain about my 'big' baby :)

1 Hour Glucose Test

Ugh and double ugh. I had my 1 hour glucose test this morning and flunked it. Under the original guidelines, I passed no problem but they've changed the cut off and now I have to take the miserable 3 hour test. I can already feel them digging around in my arm looking for my teensy, pain in the tush veins.

I'm 28 weeks and at my appointment this morning baby looked great. Heartbeat is strong, baby is active, blood pressure is low and I still haven't gained any weight. I'm sure they're going to make me take the 3 hour glucose test in the next few days and then the next official appointment is in 2 weeks since we've now made it to the third trimester.

Gestational Diabetes usually pops up towards the end of pregnancy when the placenta produces too many insulin-blocking hormones. This raises your blood sugar which can lead to baby getting excess glucose and growing larger. The placenta produces insulin-blocking hormones normally, but you don't have an issue until it produces them in such high levels that your blood sugar is too high after every meal.

My family has a history of big babies, almost all our full term littles are over 8lbs. Only my sister, who is tiny and petite as an adult, was full term at 7 and change. There's no family history of diabetes, gestational diabetes or any other pregnancy complication. They're just bigger kiddos who grow mostly grow into average adults.

I'm sure I will pass the 3 hour test, but I really, really hope they don't try to use this test as an opportunity to complain about baby's size -_-