Glucose, Blood-letting, and Chocolate

I had to take my Glucose Screening test at my last appointment (the 10th). They handed me a glucose solution that tasted like flat 7-up...I got the lemon-lime flavor. An hour later, they took 2 vials of my blood: one for the glucose; one for anemia testing. The nurse called the next Monday to tell me I had failed both tests!

I made Zeb take the rest of the Halloween candy to work the next morning.

I had heard that there are a lot of false positives for this test, but I couldn't help feeling like I had failed as a mother already! In my paranoia, I started scouring the message boards online. This did help me feel a little better. I hadn't failed by much (137). My doctor had set the cut-off at a more stringent 129, and most doctors consider <130 or <140 as passing. It seems that one of the reasons for inaccurate results is that any sugar during the day can affect the results of this test and that other doctors recommend fasting or at least no fruit/sugar/juice at least 12 hours before! I had been told to eat normally and my appointment was at 3pm. This meant the banana, yogurt, and leftover shephard's pie I had eaten around lunch time were probably factors. The halloween candy I'd been snacking on all week were probably not too helpful either!

Failing any of these tests is scary, but this one meant that I had to go to the lab for the 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. Basically, after 12 hours of fasting, they make you drink a more concentrated glucose drink, and draw your blood FOUR TIMES.

Even though it was overnight (my appointment this time was 8am), I was surprised how difficult it was to fast for 12 hours. It wasn't so much that I was hungry. It was more that I was so worried about failing the second test that I couldn't sleep.

The test itself wasn't nearly as bad as I had been imagining. This time the drink was also lemon-lime, but tasted like someone had added twice as much syrup by accident. Yuk. The worst part was having to sit in the waiting room as at least 20 other people came in and out with a cotton swab taped to each arm.

I called last Wednesday to check my results and I PASSED! Yaay! I was cautioned, however, to watch my diet and eat smaller meals... Apparently for my GTT, all of the results were normal, only one (the last one) was even borderline. I'll find out the exact numbers at my next appointment.

My personal theory was that the chocolate was responsible. Why do mini-reeses peanut butter cups have to taste so good?! My weight gain definitely accelerated during the 2 weeks they were in the house... Then, as further evidence, my company had a chocolate fondue fountain during a wine tasting party (I was the designated sniffer-only of the group) which definitely accompanied another jump on the scale...

Moral of the story - No more chocolate for Jen or the little flipper for a good while, especially before glucose tests!

No trick-or-treaters, but loads of candy :)

Halloween was pretty tame this year. The kids never seem to go to apartment complexes...not that I can blame them. I wouldn't want to walk up a flight of stairs for 4 apartments where 90% people are either:
- not home
- giving out weird stuff because didn't buy candy ( I think I gave out slightly stale rice crackers one year because that was all we had that was remotely candy-like and single-serve packaged )
- not answering the door because they didn't buy candy

However, I did buy candy "just in case". Now we have a bowl full of M&Ms, mini-M&Ms and mini Reese's peanut butter cups yelling "EAT ME" as soon as we come home.

I've discovered that the little flipper has definitely inherited a sweet tooth! I've been packing some of the candy with my lunch and as soon as I start on the chocolate it's like her trampoline time has begun. Her movement has progressed significantly from the tickling sensation. Currently it feels like a frog jumping. I've been trying to get Zeb to feel it but it's hard for me to distinguish between what I'm feeling in side and what can be felt from outside. I can't see it from the outside, but I did find this fascinating video today:

http://shapeofamother.blogspot.com/2006/09/shape-of-moving-fetus.html