Ugh! The dreaded Glucose test! Because I was overweight before I got pregnant and because my Dad is a type 2 diabetic; I had a pretty good chance of getting Gestational Diabetes (*used scary voice*). I used a scary voice because to a first time pregnant woman, gestational diabetes is really scary. At least, until you learn what you can eat and how to eat right. I say eat right and not eat healthy because as crazy as it sounds not everything that is healthy to eat is right to eat for a diabetic,particularly fruits. I LOVE eating grapes, grapes were my snack before I became GD (gestational diabetic), but now I can eat a grape and my blood sugar goes through the roof! Once I had 1/2 of a small banana with my Rice Krispies cereal (Walmart was out of Kix-AGAIN! GRR!), I forgot that a banana is high in natural sugar. My blood sugar hit an all time high of 232! Imagine my surprise when I went to check it! I was so excited because I knew that I had eaten right, then I saw that number and my brain quickly rattled trying to figure out why it was outrageously high. I then remembered the banana, blast those bananas and their great taste! This experience reminded me that I can never carelessly eat any food, having GD means planning your meals and thinking ahead, every meal, every day!
Another mistake I seem to commonly make is overeating. Overeating sounds like I'm being a pig and gluttonous, but if you look at the amount of servings of food I'm allowed to eat...you'd be trying to feed me right now! So I have had my blood sugar be a little bit too high all because I still felt hungry. So the trick is to stop when you aren't sure if that next serving will put your blood sugar too high, because it will.
The one hour glucose test- this test is not too bad to go through. You go to the lab and they hand you 1/2 a small bottle of a sugary drink. They can come in different flavors like coke or orange, all my lab had was orange though. You drink all of it and they record the time when you finished it, then you wait for an hour and they draw your blood. The lab tests your blood and if your blood sugar is higher than that magic number, you get to take the 3 hour glucose test! What a reward!
The 3 hour glucose test--this test, well, it stinks! but you can get through it! This test takes alot of time and preparation. I had to go to my lab and schedule an appointment and while there they handed me a paper with a list of carbs and how much of them to eat. I had to eat at least 150 grams of carbs everyday for 3 days straight, then fast for at least 8-10 hours before my appointment. I was allowed to have water and thankfully my test was scheduled in the morning. NinjaMan and I got to my appointment early so they could get the paperwork done early (it paid off too). They drew my blood to check if my blood sugar was high after fasting, then we had to wait about an hour for those results (we were told an hour,but i guess they move slow). After an hour and a half of waiting for those results, I had to go drink and entire bottle of that orange sugary mess. bleh! It's not the good kind of sugary, it's the "so sugary you think you're going to get sick" kind. They then record the time you finished and from then on they draw your blood every hour for 3 hours after finishing the drink. They test that blood (4 tests altogether), and if your blood sugar is higher than that magic number for more than 2 of the 4 tests...you get a call from your doctor to come in and pick up diabetic testing supplies. 3 of my 4 tests were high, so there was no question about me being GD.
For 2 weeks I tried to control my blood sugar with just my diet, but it was always too high i the mornings.
So, my doctor put me on 1/2 a Glyburide pill once a day for 1 week, but again my blood sugar was too high in the mornings. My doctor increased my dosage to 1/2 Glyburide 2x/day, once in the morning and once at night before bed. So far, its working, but if I can't keep it down the next step is insulin shots, so I'm fighting my hardest to beat this before it comes to insulin shots. I'm having to go to the OB Clinic 2x a week, so the nurses can hook me up to an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid and make sure Baby Ninja isn't getting too big or any other problems from this GD. -At least i get to see Baby Ninja more often!! Updates on this will be posted after my next doctor visit.
Update-- My doctor has me taking 1 & 1/2 Glyburide before bed. I'm proud to say that my visit last week was the first one where he didn't increase my dosage. The next step for me really was insulin because you're only allowed to take Glyburide 2x/day and I was taking 1 1/2 before bed and 1/2 in the mornings. My morning fasting numbers have been between 75-90!!! My doctor didn't even believe me when I told him that I had good numbers, he came to my checkup totally prepared to put me on insulin! And so, I would like to thank God for blessing me and helping me even when I had lost hope! Also thanks to my family and friends for their thoughts and prayers!! I can still be put on insulin if my body doesn't react to the Glyburide or if my diet readings are high. I can't help it if my body doesn't react to the medicine,but I will make sure my diet readings are perfect! :)
