Pincushion

I've been a human pincushion this past week, my friends.  It hasn't been fun but it's almost over and I'm glad I did it; I never thought I'd say *that* about needles, but that's growth and change for ya!

I'm square in the third trimester and it's time once again for the glucose tolerance test. With Sofia's pregnancy, I was scared and didn't see *that much* harm in drinking the drink and having the blood draws.  It wasn't fun, the drink was disgusting but I did it.  However, this time I wanted to talk to my doctor about alternatives because now I have Sofia, the ansty toddler who would not do well hanging out in a waiting room for several hours twiddling her thumbs.  Sofia does not twiddle her thumbs, and the thought of dealing with that chaos or paying a babysitter to watch her was enough for me to wonder if there wasn't another way.  

Don't be fooled by the cute face.  I regularly do her hair by chasing her down the hall with her hair in my hands, and getting dressed is a wrestling match nearly every time.

She lets me dress her in cute stuff, but I can't get pictures of her to save my life.

iPad or not, there was no way I was going to be able to get her to sit still for that long and I didn't like the idea of paying a babysitter either.

Plus, there were the other, not-as-selfish reasons:

Is there a reason the drink has to be fluorescent orange?  Is there some health benefit to dyeing it?  Y'all already know how I feel about food coloring.

The average glucola contains 75 grams of sugar.  For comparison, the scrambled eggs and buttered toast I just had for breakfast contained a total of about five grams of sugar.

You're supposed to do it on an empty stomach and they tell you that the drink could make you dizzy, faint and in some cases, might make you vomit.  If that's what it does to the mother, what the hell is it doing to the baby?!

If I were at risk for gestational diabetes, wouldn't there be other signs?  Wouldn't you see it in my urine long before you got results from the drink?

If I don't regularly consume 75 grams of sugar in my real life, how accurate and helpful would test results be under such extreme conditions?  Wouldn't it be better to get results from my regular eating activity?  Wouldn't that be more helpful? 

And of course, I turned to my friend, Dr. Rixa Freeze (still the most awesome name ever,) and read what she had to say on the matter.  Rather, what Michel Odent had to say, but you know what I mean.  It resonated with me and I went to my doctor, armed with my questions and research, prepared to fight to keep from having to drink the glucola.

Now, some might say What's the big deal?  Drink the drink, draw the blood, get on with your life.  And that's true; it's a pain and an inconvenience but it's not the end of the world.  And there are tons of pregnant women out there who do just that and to them I say rock the hell on.  For me, this is the path I chose and pregnancy anxiety is a very real thing that I've been struggling with since the first trimester.  I didn't want to add stress over whether or not I had GD to everything else I already worry about.

So I walked into my doctor's office and said "I'd like to talk about alternatives to the glucola."  In my mind, I bowed up, ready to fire my questions and spout off numbers.

Then my doctor smiled and said "Sure!  If you don't want to drink the drink, we can test your sugar another way!"

That was it.  No fight, no pushback, no making me feel stupid.  All I had to do was ask, and I didn't really even do that.  

That's how I found myself sitting across from the nurse, 

learning how to use a glucometer.

The alternative to drinking the glucola is to test your blood sugar four times a day for a week.  That's 28 finger sticks.  For a needle-phobe like me, you'd think I'd have run screaming for the hills, but at this point what does it matter?  I'm injecting myself twice a day as it is and the peace of mind that I would get from definitively knowing I don't have GD is worth it.

Getting started.

I'm on my last day and I'm so glad that it's over.  They wanted me to call them and read off a weeks worth of numbers to them when I was done, but again I had to raise some questions.  Wouldn't it be more helpful to have context over just hearing a number?  If I give you a high number but you don't know that I'd had ice cream as my snack, wouldn't that be cause for false alarm?  So I'm going to scan and email my chart, so they know exactly what they're looking at and why.  

This week of tracking what I eat has been super informative and I'm really glad I did it, because simply having to be accountable for what I eat has already raised my awareness.  I'm not trying to lose weight, but if I were, I would definitely keep a food log - having to look back at what you ate that day is very eye-opening and I know that I made better choices because I knew someone was going to be looking at my chart.  Plus, it's fascinating to see my body react to brownies versus scrambled eggs because I'm a nerd like that.  My numbers have fallen within the acceptable range so I'm near positive I don't have GD, although I definitely am not eating enough.  On Sunday, I didn't eat 'lunch' until 4:30 in the afternoon and it was three egg rolls and a bottle of iced tea in the grocery store while I did my shopping.  That was no bueno and my sugar reflected that;  I have to get better about eating and drinking a ton more water because I'm not doing that either.  Although in my defense, the first time around, I sat at a desk for eight hours a day and didn't have to do much more than snack and drink water.  This time, I'm chasing an active toddler who is more concerned with running and playing and jumping and spinning than Mommy's eating habits.

This was at a friend's birthday party and she and her 

BFF Gracie were having a grand ol' time.

There you have it; if you're pregnant or think you will be in the future, you don't have to drink the glucola if you don't want to.  It's a shame that they don't offer you the choices without you having to speak up and ask for it, but there's a lot of things in this world that could stand to change.  I know I wrote a similar post around this time when I was pregnant with Sofia, but it bears repeating:  Speak up for yourself.  Ask questions.  Be your own advocate.  Get educated.  Do your research.  Doctors and nurses are regular people too; they're not mind-readers and even though they've gone to school longer than we have to learn their craft, that doesn't make them superheroes.  They don't know your heart and mind; have conversations with them.  Let them know where you're coming from and what your desires are for yours and your baby's care.  Nine times out of ten they will listen and work with you within the best of their abilities, all you have to do is ask.

And lastly, from me to you:  You're a badass.  You're stronger than you think.  Whatever your challenge, if you're still standing, then you have the strength to face it.  I know there was a time when I would pass out from the mere thought of a needle and here I am, volunteering to stick my finger four times a day.  If I can overcome, so can you.

Here's to the third trimester!