Week 27: Medical Tests and Unsubstantiated Fears
So as I mentioned in my last blog post, I got the pleasure of taking the glucose screening test earlier this week. It's a routine test during pregnancy, to check and make sure the pregnant woman hasn't developed gestational diabetes.
It's also the most talked/complained/dreaded test among pregnant women and mothers.
The process is pretty simple. The test usually takes place in the morning. From midnight the night before to the end of the test, I couldn't eat or drink anything. Once I arrived at the doctor's office, I had a small bottle of concentrated glucose to drink within a five minute period. I apparently was lucky, they had two flavors for me to choose from! I could choose orange or fruit punch. I chose fruit punch (and was later told by my OB that I chose wisely, as that's supposed to be the "best" flavor).
It didn't taste like fruit punch? It tasted like gross cough medicine but it was also cold, which made drinking it easy. (Also, it wasn't a sugary syrup sludge like I had been told by other moms. It was a normal liquid consistency, which was also nice.) I got a headache right after drinking it, but that was more because I had just chugged a really cold drink than the sugar.
After drinking the glucose, I had to sit and wait for an hour before my blood could be drawn. I also had an appointment scheduled, so we went ahead and did that while I was waiting, because efficiency is nice.
One of the irrational fears I had about this test and appointment is that since I had been fasting all night, I wouldn't have enough urine in my bladder to give them a urine sample (you have to do this at all appointments). (Is this TMI? Perhaps. But I worried!) However, once I was there I realized my worry was ultimately needless, as I am a pretty pregnant lady and if there's one thing that's not a problem anymore, it's peeing.
After an hour of waiting, my blood was drawn and then I went home to await the results of my test.
I was glad my mother had warned me not to plan to do much else the rest of the day, as I got home, ate food, and promptly just sat on the couch and tried to sleep and ended up watching Netflix and feeling generally awful. Then, as if that weren't enough, I developed a headache later that afternoon and I'm still not sure the acetaminophen (can't take ibuprofen while pregnant!) actually helped with that. It took me all day to be able to fall asleep.
So, the test was as hard and also not as hard and awful as I thought it would be. It'll wreck you for the rest of the day though.
And, in more fun news, I got the results back the other day. I missed the cutoff by two points!!! and that means that I now get to take the glucose tolerance test. It's basically the same test, only the drink has a higher concentration of glucose and they will take my blood once every hour for three hours. So, more fun times for me next week!!!!! I'll see you then.
It's also the most talked/complained/dreaded test among pregnant women and mothers.
The process is pretty simple. The test usually takes place in the morning. From midnight the night before to the end of the test, I couldn't eat or drink anything. Once I arrived at the doctor's office, I had a small bottle of concentrated glucose to drink within a five minute period. I apparently was lucky, they had two flavors for me to choose from! I could choose orange or fruit punch. I chose fruit punch (and was later told by my OB that I chose wisely, as that's supposed to be the "best" flavor).
It didn't taste like fruit punch? It tasted like gross cough medicine but it was also cold, which made drinking it easy. (Also, it wasn't a sugary syrup sludge like I had been told by other moms. It was a normal liquid consistency, which was also nice.) I got a headache right after drinking it, but that was more because I had just chugged a really cold drink than the sugar.
After drinking the glucose, I had to sit and wait for an hour before my blood could be drawn. I also had an appointment scheduled, so we went ahead and did that while I was waiting, because efficiency is nice.
One of the irrational fears I had about this test and appointment is that since I had been fasting all night, I wouldn't have enough urine in my bladder to give them a urine sample (you have to do this at all appointments). (Is this TMI? Perhaps. But I worried!) However, once I was there I realized my worry was ultimately needless, as I am a pretty pregnant lady and if there's one thing that's not a problem anymore, it's peeing.
After an hour of waiting, my blood was drawn and then I went home to await the results of my test.
I was glad my mother had warned me not to plan to do much else the rest of the day, as I got home, ate food, and promptly just sat on the couch and tried to sleep and ended up watching Netflix and feeling generally awful. Then, as if that weren't enough, I developed a headache later that afternoon and I'm still not sure the acetaminophen (can't take ibuprofen while pregnant!) actually helped with that. It took me all day to be able to fall asleep.
So, the test was as hard and also not as hard and awful as I thought it would be. It'll wreck you for the rest of the day though.
And, in more fun news, I got the results back the other day. I missed the cutoff by two points!!! and that means that I now get to take the glucose tolerance test. It's basically the same test, only the drink has a higher concentration of glucose and they will take my blood once every hour for three hours. So, more fun times for me next week!!!!! I'll see you then.
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