glucose tolerance test

During my second pregnancy, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  So for this pregnancy, my OB wanted me to get tested sooner than normal.

Soooo last month when I was 20 weeks pregnant, I had to take the 1 hour glucose tolerance test.  I just had to fast for three hours.  I had breakfast that morning around 6:30 and fasted until 12:30 (call me an overachiever).  First off, I had to drink the 8 oz glucola within 5 minutes.  Since I was 10 months out from my surgery, I was able to do that.  It wasn't comfortable, and I would never choose to drink that fast, but I was able to get it down.  But but but.  Within about 10-20 minutes of guzzling the 8 oz drink, my forehead broke out in a light sweat and I started to feel extremely nauseated.  My mouth watered up several times and I honestly thought I was going to vomit.  But I never did.  My head also felt cloudy, like I couldn't think straight.  Sort of like being drunk.  I sat in my chair wondering if it was possible to go into a coma after drinking only 50g of glucose.  I wondered if that was a lot of sugar.  

When I got home, I looked at a 12 oz coca-cola and it had 39g of sugar.  So there's your comparison.  

Anyway, after an hour they drew my blood and told me I could go.  The lab tech could tell I felt terrible so she brought me a wet rag to put on my face.  It helped.  But I knew I was in no shape to drive so I sat in the lobby for an extra 30 minutes until I felt like my head was clear.  Also, I'd stashed a protein bar in my purse because I knew I'd be starving by the time the test was over.  Ha!  For the record, I wasn't hungry---hard to feel hungry when you feel like puking.  But I ate it anyway, hoping the food would somehow help me feel better.  

I felt sick and disgusting for the rest of the day.  My head hurt.  My stomach hurt.  I got diarrhea within two hours.  Yeah, you needed to know that detail.  I was at Target doing some shopping when all of a sudden......okay, I won't go in too many details.  :)  But the test really made me feel awful!

AND, I just knew I'd failed the test.  I felt like it took forever for my body to clear the sugar so I figured there was no way I'd passed it.

I started freaking out about how I'd have to go and get the THREE HOUR glucose tolerance test which requires you to drink DOUBLE the amount of liquid in the same amount of time.  Technically, the 1 hour test is just a screen.  Most people who fail the screen will go on to pass the 3 hour test (and not get diagnosed with GD like I did).  I wondered if I'd be able to do the 3 hr GTT without puking.  I mean, my tummy is small.  I couldn't dream of how 100g of glucose would make me feel if 50g made me feel so bad.  I honestly thought 100g could put me in a sugar coma.

 But you know what? 

I was wrong.  Hooray!

My OB's office called to tell me I'd passed and I honestly couldn't believe it.  

The bad news?   I have to take the test again around 26 weeks.  

Right now I'm 24 weeks.  Hopefully I'll pass the test again.  But I'm kinda dreading it.  I read somewhere on the internet there's a different test for WLS patients.  Something about eating 18 jelly beans instead of drinking the glucola.  That would be cool.  I'm going to ask my OB about it when I see her this Thursday. 

After having gestational diabetes during my second pregnancy, let me tell you--it was awful having to stick my fingers 5 times a day to check my blood sugar.  At first, I didn't think it hurt at all.  The needles are really tiny.  But after a few months of pricking yourself 5 times a day, your fingers start to get sensitive.  

Have you ever looked at a diabetic's fingertips?  After years of pricking and pricking, they kind of look like raw hamburger meat.  

All that finger pricking was one of the reasons I started seriously considering WLS in the first place.  Women who develop GD have a 50-60% chance of developing type II diabetes within ten years.  The thought of dealing with that for the rest of my life was unsettling. 

Anywho.  Here's a recent pic that I took at the mall bathroom.  I don't have a full length mirror at home and I can never remember to get my husband to take my picture, so this is all I got.  I've gained about 15 pounds from my lowest weight.  So this puts me at 156.  The baby only weighs 1.25 lbs or so right now, so I'm a little freaked out by the math.  And the bump!  Look how big I am!  I look like I could deliver in a month.  But, according to my pregnancy-BMI-calculator app, my BMI is less than 25 at that weight (156 in week 24).  So I'm trying to be okay with it.  My original goal was to get no higher than 163.  Hey!  I hear you laughing.  Yeah, yeah.  I don't think I'm gonna make it either. My first two babies weighed over 9.5 lbs.  So only the baby can gain weight from now ON.  Not me!

I've been walking for an hour a day (or more!) after I get off work every day.  I found a hike/bike trail super close to my boys' daycare, so I go walk and then pick them up.  It's a lovely walk---I should take pics for you guys.  It follows a creek for about a mile, is paved, and has tons of ducks and birds that are so domesticated they will sit their plump-sized-overfed-selves on the concrete and not even move when I walk by.  I love it!  Temps are in the 90's right now at that time of day, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep up with it, but it feels great to be active.  I've been wearing a pedometer and averaging about 15,000 steps a day---about 5,000 at work.  If you look closely at my legs, you can see a tan line under my knee from my capri walking pants!  I never noticed it til I took this picture.  Then I looked down at my legs, hoping it was just the light of the bathroom.  Nope!  Farmer tan.  I must get a full length mirror so I don't get these kinds of surprises.  Awesome, right?

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