my ordeal

I awoke monday morning to a phone call. It was Nidia, my favorite OB nurse.

"Hi Miss Davi", she said. "Sorry to have to call you, but your 1-hour glucose came back with elevated sugars...you're going to have to take the 3-hour glucose test".

Me, completely groggy and hazy, "sure, no prob, thanks!", like she just invited me to a tea party.

It wasn't til later in the day, that I began to fully understand my new reality. I opened the cupboards for breakfast. Carbs. I opened the cupboards for snacks. More carbs.

Carbs, carbs everywhere. Did I even eat anything else, I wondered?

By the end of the day, I was completely drained from trying to find food alternatives that weren't laden with carbs. John went out and bought me some sunflower seeds and beef jerky to munch on. Unfortunately those had way too much salt(swollen fingers).

My 3-hour test was scheduled for thursday morning. And by 3 hour test, this does not mean drink the orange drink and come back 3 hours later. No, this meant you had to have your blood drawn FOUR times in 3 hours. And you had to drink the orange goo.

In the meanwhile, I cut waaaay back on the carbs. I was in complete disbelief and disgust at how many carbs I ate on a normal day. I started eating more protein. Turns out, I don't really like meat that much at all.

All I could think about was,

chocolate chip cookies
chocolate chip cookies
yellow cake with chocolate frosting
chocolate chip cookies
chocolate chop cookies.

How sad am I? I really need to get a life.

And then I started to lose my energy. I dragged all day tuesday and wednesday.

I woke up bright and early this morning to get this test OVER WITH. John took the day off work for me. I brought a bunch of stuff to embroider. It was going to be a lovely, restful, blissful 3 hours and nothing was going to get in the way of that. I even went to Michaels the night before for more embroidery floss.

As I drove to my appointment, I could not believe how many cars were on the road. I am usually snug in bed at this hour. I have a lot of respect for you early birds. It's not easy, that's for sure.

I got my initial blood drawn, along with a nice bruise, and they handed me my orange drink. Last saturday I had guzzled it happily and then ran errands. Today was different. It tasted like straight syrup.

I then settled myself on the couch and started to happily embroider.

Til I started to feel a bit icky. I took a zofran and rested my head on the couch.

No, this did not feel good at all. I left my stuff on the couch and rushed to my doc's office down the hall. I barged in the front door(a first for me) and informed the receptionist that I needed to lay down. Right. Now.

I lay on the bed and tried to think happy thoughts. I started to feel very hot.

And then my darling little wiggle worm started to kick the tar out of my stomach. I prayed that I would not throw up. I did not want to drink the orange goo ever again. I did not want to re-do this test. After all, John took the day off.

As hard as I tried, I could not stop what happened next.

I projectile vomited across the office. All over. In my hair, and in my clothes. The nurses rushed in as I continued my relentless vomiting spree. One nurse tried to clean me up, while the other nurse patted my back while I puked. I must say, they were so sweet. I owe them cookies or something.

So I went home, drenched, took a shower and napped for 3 hours. I was so beat.

The nurse called back and said we could do a different test this saturday. No orange drink involved. Praise the Lord. If I am still high in sugars, we will need to supplement with something to help me absorb sugars til this baby is born.

I also wrote to Jenn(diabetic nutritionist extraordinaire), who gave me awesome advice: don't cut back on carbs so drastically that it alters the test and you go undetected.

Good to know. If I hadn't puked, I'm pretty sure this test would have continued and the results would have been based on swayed readings. Also, she said that even if I did pass the test it is important to have a continuous even amount of carbs throughout the entire day.

Also good to know. I was skimping on carbs all day and loading up at dinner.

I will find out more after saturday. Maybe monday. So, that was/is my current ordeal. If you have any tasty carb-less alternatives, I am all ears!