The Dreaded Glucose Tolerance Test

Recently I had to do the glucose tolerance test to test for gestational diabetes. My blood sugar was too high for the 1 hour screening test, so unfortunately I had to do the 3 hour tolerance test. :( I thought I'd share my experience with the glucose tolerance test because when I was preparing for it, I was searching all over the net for personal experiences. I read all the generic descriptions of what it was and how "most women feel more queasy from the 3 hour test than the 1 hour test", but I wanted a little more than that.

Preparing for the Test
You're supposed to carb-load before the test; some people have to eat extra bread or pasta, I had to eat a king sized candy bar each day for three days prior to the test. King sized candy bars never sounded so unappetizing. I don't think I will ever eat a Milky Way again. After some searching, I finally found out that the theory behind carb-loading for the test is (I'm paraphrasing here) to get your insulin really working so when you DO go in for the test, your body is ready. A study showed that low-carb diets prior to the test led to a greater number of false positives because their bodies were slower to produce the insulin needed to metabolize the sugar. Or some junk. It finally made sense to me - until then I kept thinking it seemed counter-intuitive to load up on sugar before you get tested on your blood sugar level!

Then I had to fast overnight...something like 10 or 12 hours...I can't remember which. Now, whoever thought it would be a good idea to load up a preggo on sugar and then starve her has another thing coming. Good thing the test was early so I could just be half-asleep through the start of it. ;P The night before, I prepared my bag of something to eat right after, water, and stuff to do. My husband was kind enough to come with me and keep me company, so he loaded up the laptop so we could watch a movie in the waiting room.

Test Day
I hardly slept during the night because when I was awake, I was worried that I would do something wrong and have to test again, and when I was asleep, I was having nightmares about screwing up and having to take the test again. :/ Finally, it was time to get up, so we got up, got ready, and got going.

I was the first one in the lab, so she got me going right away. She took a fasting draw (a baseline I guess), then gave me the lemon-lime drink. It was 100 g of glucose rather than the 50 g for the hour test. I had the orange flavor for the hour test, which I actually enjoyed. The lemon-lime wasn't too bad, but I could tell it was much sweeter and left a weird taste in my mouth. I suppose that's what kept me from feeling too hungry for the first couple hours, but within 45 minutes I wasn't feeling too crash hot. She took a draw 1 hour after drinking the glucose drink, then after 2 hours, and finally after 3 hours. We watched Baby Mama to pass the time - I thought that would be a fitting movie under the circumstances!

Hubby and I sat in the waiting room for the entire test; I could have gone in a back room to lie down if I wasn't feeling well. I much preferred stepping outside into the cold morning air and taking some deep cleansing breaths. The first time I went outside, I told myself throwing up was NOT an option, no matter how bad I felt, because I was not doing this again. Luckily, I didn't feel too close to vomiting at all - mostly I felt hot, like my heart was beating a little too fast, and a bit queasy. I think it would have been a bit easier to handle if the waiting room was cooler. She told me I could drink as much water as I wanted, too, so I think that helped.

By about 2 hours, I was feeling more normal, and by 2.5 hours, I was getting hungry. My poor husband was starving (he fasted with me). When she did the final draw, I asked what she recommended I eat to break my fast, and she said protein. We decided to stop at a breakfast place, where I had a cup of tea and loaded up on eggs, sausage, and bacon (my apologies to any vegetarian readers ;) ). I felt much better! I did not spend the rest of the day feeling sick or groggy, though I've seen other say they did. I think any fatigue I felt was due to my lack of sleep the night before.

The Results
I passed with flying colors! I called the doctor's office within a week to get my results because I couldn't wait to find out. I was truly more worried about the baby than myself because sweets are NOT what I'm craving and I would have no problem working on diet/exercise/whatever to control my sugar. I just didn't want to be doing anything that could affect the baby either in the womb or later on in life. I've read that there's a very small percentage of women who actually have GD, so I had statistics on my side.

So...I survived. I crossed another bridge in this pregnancy. I'm ok with it because this is the best I've felt during my pregnancy! I get lots of back pain, swollen and aching feet, leg pain, etc., but for me, that's all a piece of cake compared to the emotional side effects I've experienced. Don't get me wrong - I can still cry at the drop of a hat over the most benign things - but at least now I can see the humor in it, even while I'm crying. ;)

Pre-Order a Book and Get a Chance to Win

One of my favorite bloggers, The Well-Heeled Society, has written a book called How to Stylishly Fall From Grace that looks interesting. If it's as well written and well thought out as her blog, I think it will be a fantastic read.

From her blog:

The book's main character Zoe is a fashion-forward, independent gal with a penchant for Broadway plays. It's at one of her Broadway play excursions that she meets a charming guy. Bald and child-free makes him an instant candidate for Zoe, and a year-long, long-distance relationship blossoms. He woos her with weekend “play dates” and whirlwind reservations for two, which eventually sweeps Zoe her off her feet. Or so she thinks, until she relocates her life, wardrobe and shoes to New York City to live with him...

For more information and how to pre-order, visit her post here.

As an added benefit, if you pre-order, you'll receive a signed copy AND be entered to win this awesome package, including a Marshall's gift card, some lovely body treatments, cute high heel cookies :D, and a bracelet supporting Domestic Violence Awareness. Good luck!!

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

It's been pretty widely discussed on news programs and talk shows that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month (which is a good thing), but there is another cause going on in October - Domestic Violence Awareness month.

One way you can help is buying shoes at Marshall's. They're giving $1 to Safe Horizon for every pair of shoes bought between now and October 16.

This cause was brought to my attention by this post from the Well-Heeeled Society. Keep an eye on the Well-Heeled Society for more information throughout the month.

My Beloved TV Is Back!

Apparently, the pregnancy depression I mentioned earlier can still rear its ugly head even when I think I've adjusted and been done with it. I suppose during pregnancy, any of these symptoms can pop back up at any time. I stopped posting, stopped attending yoga, and pretty much tried to just hide out and get through the days. I have since "recovered", I guess you could say, and have regained an interest in posting (and pretty much everything else). I have been doing more baking lately, which I may post about, but more importantly - new TV seasons are starting again!

Heroes
I thought the premiere was fantastic - probably better than the whole previous season. I love the gray (pardon the pun) area they're bringing up in this whole good vs. evil storyline. It's similar to one of the things I like about Lost - not knowing who's really supposed to be "good" or "bad" and deciding for myself.

Fringe
This is a pretty good new show - very X-Files and Lost, which makes sense knowing who's behind it. By the way, if the music reminds you a bit too much of Lost (which it does us), it's because it's the same music guy. Guess we can tell what he likes. ;P I love stories that go into both the paranormal and science, so I find this show really interesting. And Joshua Jackson has surprised me with a fairly interesting character - I was not a fan of Dawson's Creek and was afraid I wouldn't like this show because of him.

Criminal Minds
The season premiere was a little blah...mostly just resolving the end of the last season. I'm looking forward to new stuff. I love the show enough that I'll forgive them.

Bones
Bones has been so good this season! I think the addition of Dr. Sweets as part of the gang was a good one. I hope we don't spend the whole season trying to replace Zach, though. And as much as I liked Zach, I'm not sure I would be as friendly to him as the rest of the gang still is. ;P On a side note, I finally read a Temperance Brennan novel by Kathy Reichs, and I have to say, I much prefer Bones to the novel character. I don't think I'll bother reading anymore of them.

House
Same ol', same ol', but still entertaining to watch.

Law and Order SVU
Are they just going to be trying for Emmys each season? I want more crime, less personal drama with the cops themselves. But that's just me. The new ADA seems interesting.

Survivor
It's in HD now! That's pretty much why we're watching. Or at least why I am. No one grabs me as someone to cheer for, yet.

The Amazing Race
I love this show. If only they'd decide to go HD. The team of dating NYers is going to be funny/annoying - I loved the part in the preview for next week when he's complaining about another team's ethics and she pipes in "and they didn't even say hi!" hahaha

Dancing With the Stars
This would have been a big one for me, if I wasn't completely sick of the filler crap. I think 3 episodes in one week was major overkill and caused a burnout even in devoted dance lovers like myself. I didn't even bother watching - I saw a few bits here and there, looked up who was kicked off, and deleted the taped episodes.

This week, I'm looking forward to the premieres of Chuck and Numb3rs. Oh, and the Vice Presidential Debate. :)

What are YOU watching?

The Harvest Moon

Are you ready for the Harvest Moon?


Picture from wikipedia

It's supposed to be the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. I've heard it's called the Harvest Moon because it's a bright full moon that allows farmers to work late by the light of the moon. It should be a beautiful sight!

Check out this article from space.com for information about all the full moon names and dates for 2008.

Tori Amos Live at Montreux 1991-1992

Let me just get this out of the way - yes, I first read about this at perezhilton.com. :/ hehe

Ok, now for the good stuff. A new DVD called Tori Amos Live at Montreux 1991-1992 is coming out of early Tori Amos performances. It's supposed to feature two performances she did at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

There's nothing at her website about it (that I could find), so I'm guessing she doesn't have much to do with the release. However, being a big Tori Amos fan, I'll still want it so I can see her perform her early stuff! (When it was new!)

While we wait for it to come out on September 30 here in the States, please enjoy this performance of Winter:



(or go to the video at YouTube here)

Sure, I'd love a vacation!

I did not intend to make this a pregnancy blog, but when that's what you think about 95% of the time, what can you do?

I signed up for a few of those pregnancy e-newsletters that tell you everything about your body and the baby at X weeks. Well, they're a bit frustrating right now because they all seem to be saying that now's the time to have a getaway with your partner because you're still somewhat mobile and you won't have as much time for trips once the baby's born.

Fun little getaways, however, require 2 things: time off from work and money.

What are we trying to save up? Time off from work and money.

I'd like to take as much time off as I can after the birth yet still get paid, so I'm saving up all my available time to go towards that (same with hubby). Also, between all the money spent on preparing for the birth and buying supplies for the new baby, it's not like we have a lot of cash sitting around saying 'spend me!'

So yes, I'd love to take a vacation. Thanks for reminding me. :/