Well, I failed my one-hour glucose screening today and it was disheartening. I slammed my bottle of sugary, 50 grams of glucose-filled fruit punch at home and an hour later I was at my doctor's office for the 28 week appointment with my nurse practioner, Jamie. I was very nervous about the screening since I had also failed this first test when I was pregnant with Viviana - prompting the three-hour glucose tolerance test (GTT) - but I had hoped that was simply a fluke and this one would turn out fine. So when I got the news, my heart sunk a little bit. Within a minute or so of my finger prick, the woman doing my test said, "Aw, you just (as in barely) failed." I was at 132 and needed to be less that 130. Then she followed up with, "Let's see what Jamie wants to do." I took this as a sign of hope, that maybe Jamie would let it slide. Not the case.
I was further kicked in the gut when I was taken to the scale and was informed of an eight pound weight gain from my last appointment four weeks ago. At that last appoinment I gained eight pounds from my previous one in January. Holy cow, 16 pounds over my last two appointments! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I conveyed my disbelief, chuckled lightly and saved the crying (more about the fail than the gain, but the combo did get me down) for the elevator ride down to my car, in the lobby, in my car, on the phone with Jeff and my mom and on the road. There were moments of clarity in between as I tried to think positively and not make such a big deal out of things, but my emotions were in charge as my brain took the back seat.
When I finally met with my nurse practitioner, she seemed genuinely bummed out for me. Still, I was not getting a pass. Interestingly enough, when I was pregnant with Mirabella and Vivi, I needed to be less than 140 (my number was 150), which means 1) the scale has been lowered and thus 2) my number would have previously been considered a pass. I guess there is some good news in there. Somewhere way down deep. Hopefully that translates into good news - a pass - for my next test, the three-hour GTT I will be taking this Friday (Friday, March 22nd).
Essentially what happens at that test is this:
1. Fast for eight hours.
2. At my appointment, there will be a finger prick to see what my fasting glucose is.
3. Drink 10 ounce bottle of glucose (double the amount of glucose, up from 50 grams to 100).
4. Wait in wating room with a timer that will go off at one hour increments, with a glucose specimen drawn each hour (after hour one, two and three) from when the drink was finished.
5. I will know the results after the test's conclusion. If two or more of my readings are abnormal, I will be considered to have gestational diabetes.
When I asked if there was concern about my weight gain, Jamie said no. My weight was at a good level when I started this pregnancy, then I lost some weight, so it seems like my body is catching up. My total weight gain at this point is 19 pounds. I also mentioned having some ongoing dizziness for pretty much the entire week last week which she did not think was anything worrysome. She thought it could have been that I wasn't getting enough liquid, or maybe it was even some sort of bug. I wasn't convinced about the latter, and though I had been good with fluid intake, but regardless, those feelings have lessened greatly.
I am of course hoping for the best of outcomes on Friday!
No comments:
Post a Comment