30 Weeks and a 3 Hour Glucose Test

Thirty weeks already! Can't believe that Baby Hutcheson #3 will be here in less than 3 months!

Ok, so some of you know that pretty much this whole pregnancy I've been worried about getting gestational diabetes. Why, you ask? Well mainly because this pregnancy I've just been craving sweets like none other and, as a result, eating a lot more sweets than I normally do. In my mind eating more sugar = gestational diabetes. I know that's not actually how it works, but in my mind it seemed to make sense!

Gestational diabetes is actually the result of an increased level of hormones made in the placenta of a pregnant woman. These hormones interfere with the ability of insulin to manage sugar (glucose). As the placenta grows larger during pregnancy, it produces more and more hormones which increase the insulin resistance of the body. Usually the mother's pancreas is able to produce more insulin to overcome the resistance but sometimes the pancreas can't keep up and sugar levels will rise, resulting in gestational diabetes. Although gestational diabetes, once diagnosed, can be {controlled} by limiting the mother's intake of sugar and carbs, it is not directly {caused} by consuming too much sugar.

Even though my fundal height, baby's measurements, and my weight gain are all measuring right on track or even a little behind, I still convinced myself I had GD. And even though I knew there was nothing I could do to control whether or not I was going to get gestational diabetes I was still just positive I WOULD get it! (Crazy pregnancy hormones mess with your mind!) =)

Well, two weeks ago I went in to take my 1 hour glucose test. Aside from the fact that the drink they make you take is a disgusting, syrupy (is that a word?), sugary, orange bottle of grossness, all went well for the test. Except for the fact that a few days later I received a call saying I had failed the test! Only by a few points but I had still exceeded my doctor's cutoff levels meaning I had to go in the following week to take the 3 hour glucose test. By this point, I was pretty much 100% positive that my 3 hour test would confirm that I did indeed have gestational diabetes!

I never had to take the 3 our glucose test with Isaiah because I passed the 1 hour. And I hope I never have to take it again! It was terrible!! I had to fast for 12 hours beforehand, drink a drink that had {twice} the amount of sugar in it as the drink for the 1 hour test, and get my blood drawn 4 times over a three hour period! Because I had fasted for 12 hours beforehand, when I drank that sugary drink, my body went into shock and I started sweating and almost threw up and passed out! It was quite a long 3 hours of waiting in the doctors office trying not to vomit (because then I would have had to start all over again!) or pass out!

Thankfully I made it through with the help of my computer which I used to distract myself on the internet while I waited. When I got home and finally ate something my body went crazy again and I got so hot I had to open up the door of the house to get cold air in (my family was bundling up in their snow suits - it's the middle of January for pete's sake!), I felt so sick to my stomach, and I took a two hour nap! I was weak and sick to my stomach for 2 days afterwards. I had no idea your blood sugar levels could affect your body like that!

A few days later I received the call the all my levels were perfectly normal and that actually my blood sugar had dropped below the normal levels during the testing, which is probably why I was so hot and shaky and almost passed out. Anyways, my body is processing glucose just fine! No gestational diabetes for me!

I'm glad I got a positive report back but I could have done without that 3 hour test. How about you? Have any of you ever done the 3 hour test? Was it as bad as my experience?

30 Weeks!