Blood Glucose and 31 weeks.

In our last post I shared with you about the one hour glucose screening test and how hopeful I was that I wouldn't get a follow-up phone call for it.  I waited one week......no phone call.  I must be home free!!  They said if I didn't hear from them in a week I was golden!! YAY!!  Then the next week passes, and finally Tuesday this week rolls around (two and a half weeks AFTER the test).  And the lady on the message that was left tells me I failed the glucose screening test and that I need to come back in and take the 3-hour glucose test and that they can just go ahead and do that on Friday when I come in for my regular appointment.  Like it's no big deal!!  I have a few problems with this.  1.  I don't fail" things.  I don't accept the word "failure".  2.  I did some research on gestational diabetes and I don't have any of the risk factors or classic symptoms (I wasn't overweight before I got pregnant, I don't have parents or siblings with diabetes, I am not from an ethnic group predisposed to being diabetic, I haven’t previously given birth to a baby over 9 pounds, I haven’t had any unusual or increased nausea or fatigue, etc).  3.  I really didn’t like that they just decided we could come in on Friday and do it.  Since they have to take your blood four times for this test and you might feel lightheaded, they recommend you have someone with you that can drive you home after the test.  Jake has to work on Friday, and it is an important day for him to be at work and on time because the big boss is down and they are having an all staff meeting.  The closest family we have is 800 miles away, and my closest Oregon friend was leaving town on Thursday night so she couldn’t take me.  So a Friday 3-hour blood glucose test wasn’t going to work for me, plus, I wanted to talk with our doctor and see what our options were and the risks/benefits, etc.  I am a dental hygienist.  I wanted my informed consent before care!!  ;)

 

Fast forward to today: Friday.  I have only gained two pounds since my last visit and my blood pressure was 112/62.  Awesome!!  I feel like I gained so much more than two pounds.  I was really nervous that it would be way more than that since I feel like I have gotten so much bigger around in the past three weeks!  I measured 31 centimeters and that is perfectly on track for being 31 weeks!!  Baby Boy’s heart rate was good and his head was right in the middle today.  My doctor said he understands that the 3 hour test is kind of a pain in the rear to have to go through, especially if you find out at the end that you are not diabetic.  The only other option is to see if we can get a glucose monitor approved and have me check my blood glucose several times a day over a period of time and see what it is.  He went over the risks to the baby if I were to be diabetic and didn’t have my blood sugars under control.  He told us we didn’t have to decide today and allowed us to take the weekend to decide and call him on Tuesday.  I really like our doctor and I’m glad he took the time to go over our options with us instead of his nurse the other day on the phone just telling me what to do.  Jake was at the appointment but had to go straight to work so we haven't had time to talk about what we want to do.  I will update when we decide!!