Passed the Test

You may recall, a few months past, my ranting and raving about how I had failed my blood glucose tolerance test by only seven points. And how much of a crock I thought it was. I know exactly why the test came back over the limit, and I tried to tell them. Do doctors and nurses ever really listen to what their patients are telling them? Not so much, in my experience. So, of course, I was informed that I need to come in and do the three-hour, quadruple blood draw glucose tolerance test extravaganza. You can imagine my reaction to that.

The thing is, they didn't actually set an appointment for it. They just said, oh, just come in to the lab, and tell them what you're there for, and they'll set you right up. But no appointment. That's key. Because, you see, I'm a life-long, ultra-practiced procrastinator. If I do not have concrete deadlines, I would never get anything done. Besides, this summer was mind-bogglingly busy. When did I have a spare three hours to go hang out at the hospital? So, since July, when the fateful failure occurred, I've been thinking to myself each week: when can I fit that in? And I just didn't seem to be able to. Not that it was a priority. Somewhere in the back of my subconscious mind, I was actively avoiding it. What if it was real? What if I truly had gestational diabetes? So, I was doing a little subconscious passive-aggressive thing. But it wasn't until two weeks ago - almost the end of August - that my OB finally caught on to what I was doing and pinned me down on it. (It's entirely possible that I'm not his only OB patient to to ever pull such a stunt...)

So, last week, I went in for the Dreaded GTT. The first day I went in, the people at the lab sent me home, because I had gone into auto pilot and taken my prenatal vitamins with 6 oz. of orange juice. Yes, I read the paperwork, and knew that I was supposed to go in fasting: no food or beverages for eight hours prior, all that jazz (did they know they were dealing with pregnant women?!?). So, I went back the next day at 8 in the morning, no food in me since dinner the night before. They draw blood. I wait 30 minutes. They give me the gross glucose drink. I wait an hour. They draw blood. I wait another hour. They draw blood. I wait yet another hour. They draw blood. It actually took four and a half hours. I felt so miserable by the time they were done. I was hungry and shaky and tired and miserable. I went by Mark's office on the way home, and he said I looked pretty bad. The good news is that I got a lot of prep done for Seminary! Ha! The bad news is that I had an OB appointment that afternoon. So I had to go BACK to the hospital. Again. For another hour. I'm such a pansy. It took me a full day to feel back-to-normal again after all that. Ugh. Oh how I wish this were a home birth. I really miss doing things the midwife way.

BUT! I passed the GTT. ( I knew it!) And I had the maturity to NOT say "see, I told you so!" to my OB. Aren't I a good girl?