Thursday, May 13, 2010

Another Hurdle

Yesterday I had my 28-week prenatal checkup. Except for the fact that I knew I gained more weight than I should have, I thought things were going pretty well. Caleb has been moving like mad and I have been feeling good enough to eat non-stop.

Needless to say, the eating caught up with me and I was astounded when I learned that I gained 9 whopping pounds in the last 4 weeks! Ouch! I am now committed to eating less and eating better foods. I know I've gotten a little carried away with the liberties of a pregnant woman, so now it's time to shape up for the final descent.

Unfortunately the weight isn't my biggest hurdle. At 28 weeks gestation, women are required to take a glucose test to screen for gestational diabetes. Well...I failed. Just barely, but I failed! I had a feeling that might happen since diabetes runs in my family. An hour after drinking a sugary glucose solution, your blood sugar is expected to be 140 or lower...mine was 141.

Now I have to do a big test to confirm whether or not I really have gestational diabetes. This Saturday, I will have to fast for 8 hours and then go to the hospital and have my blood drawn. After they take that sample, they will give me that sugary glucose solution again (yuck!) An hour later, they will draw my blood again, and they will draw it again on the hour for the next two hours beyond that. You counted right...that comes to 4 needles in all and I am not looking forward to it! I am also not looking forward to the idea of not eating anything between dinner on Friday night and 1pm on Saturday. I totally feel sick when I don't eat!

Hopefully, the first test will prove to be a fluke and I will end up not having gestational diabetes. If I do have it, there will only be more complications in this pregnancy, not to mention the fact that mothers who develop gestational diabetes are much more likely to develop Type II Diabetes later on in life. Another concern is that my daughter was over 10 pounds and I didn't have gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with her. If I do have it, this baby is very likely to be much bigger than she was. I am hurting just thinking about it! I will do my best to stay healthy if you all do your best to keep praying!!!

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