my gd scare experience

Before my 28 week appointment, I was told to schedule a GD test.

Kaiser didn't give me any specific instructions on what to do so

I researched on forums and boards on what to do before the GD test.

things I found out..

-GD stands for gestational diabetes and can occur in about 10% of pregnant women

-the 1 hour GD test is just a sample and around 30% have alleviated samples.
if found with an alleviated number, then you will be scheduled to do a 3 hour test which is more accurate.

-you have to drink this drink that tastes like flat orange soda.  many moms said that it was disgusting and made them gag

-then, after an hour, they take your blood and send it out for analysis.

-certain doctors tell you to fast, others want a sample and tell you to eat regularly

-many people on the boards tell you to make sure to skip anything sweet (including fruit)

with all this knowledge, I was ready.

my appt was scheduled at 9am and since I'm not a big breakfast eater, I just didn't eat anything.

I tried not to eat any fruits or anything sweet the night before, but I think I ate like a piece of watermelon.

it was also a regularly scheduled doctor's appt which helped the time go by.

i was given the orange soda and drank it within 3 minutes.  it wasn't tasty but it wasn't nearly as bad as people on the forums made it out to be.  in fact, maybe bc I was hungry, but I wanted more!

after going through the regular checkup and the hour had passed, I was taken to labs downstairs

where they drew my blood and sent me on my way.

i got an email later that night stating I can see my lab results online 

and I excitedly opened up to see my score:

a big fat 183 of failure.

in order to pass, the cutoff is like 135-140.  

my heart dropped.  i called my mom (who used to be a nurse) 

and she chided about how it was prob my weight.

it also happened to be july 3rd so i knew that i couldn't contact anyone at dr's office until

2 more days bc of our independence day.

I had spent the week before at a summer camp with my church kids.  It was very tiring and I drank a lot of sweet drinks and ate 3 meals a day consistently to keep energy up.  Was it because of that I failed?
I also drank tons! of water before and after the drinking the orange drink.  Was that the reason?

After worrying (and stressing), I went in early the next week for my 3 hour test.

This time, they told me to fast, including making sure I didn't drink excessive amount of water.

I went in first thing at 8:30am directly to the labs departement.

They drew blood first for fasting score.

Then, I drank the orange drink again.

Then, I drew blood after an hour.

Waited another hour and drew blood

Finally, after 3 hours, I drew blood for the last time.

Luckily, I'm not that scared of needles or drawing blood.  

But all the poking on my left arm made it kind of unbearable. 

I ended up with this huge bruise mark.

Also, the waiting is a killer. 

basically, you're just staring at the timer until the hour ticks down.  

I got there at 8:30 but didn't leave until it was close to noon (almost 3.5 hours later).

Again, I was prepared and brought my laptop full of videos to watch.  

Another thing is that you can't eat or drink during the whole 3.5 hours.

I wasn't that hungry but my mouth was incredibly parched and dry and I was dying for some water.

again, I came home and kind of obsessively checked my email for the results.

after the long torturous day, I had hoped it wasn't all for nothing.

I checked the results and all four were in the correct  and safe range for what it should be!!

I was so excited that I did a happy dance while my hubby looked on at this strange women.

It felt great to 'pass' the tests and not worry about it anymore.

In fact, the four blood draws are more accurate than the 1 hour that all my other worries went away!

things learned for next time..

avoid sweets.  avoid water.  avoid pieces of watermelon the night before :D