Glucose Test

Today, I took off work to have a 3-hour glucose test performed. Let me just tell you it is not the highlight of being pregnant. They normally have you take a 1-hour test, however with Josie I took the 1-hour test and failed, so I had to have the 3-hour one done. This time the doctor just bypassed the 1-hour and went straight to the 3-hour. Good plan, but a long time to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room chair. So, today I was at the hospital for my 3-hour test promptly at 8 AM. Yuck! My day off and I had to be there at 8 AM, so much for sleeping in on my day off. I had to schedule an appointment for this test my doctor stated, so when I called they told me my choices were simply 6, 7, or 8 AM. Are you crazy?! Of course, I was going to choose the 8 AM. Just in case you are not familiar with this test, you have to fast for 8-12 hours. This means no eating or drinking anything for that period of time prior to the testing. That means no water even. You go into the room and the lady pricks your finger and gives you a reading (mine was 87), then takes a tube of blood. Yuck again! I hate needles. Then, she makes you drink this really really nasty drink that makes you want to gag and throw up on the spot. Last time with Josie I just chugged the entire 8 ounce bottle, but got really sick to my stomach in the middle of the test and was on the verge of tossing my cookies and they had to put me in a dark room with the air cranked and such to keep me from doing this. So, after you drink the gross drink they send you out to the normal waiting room and call you back every hour. Every hour they take a new tube of blood to see how your body reacts to the drink over a period of time. They do this for 3 hours. So, over the period of the test I got 4 needle sticks. YUCK!

I did feel sick to my stomach again like I did with Josie, but not as bad. I sat in a chair away from the windows that was letting sunlight in, as far away from the heater as possible, and wore pants and a tank top that way I could keep myself cool.

While I was waiting and had about 1 hour to go, this for better choice of words dirty lady came in to have a 3-hour test done also. It was 10:15 AM! Her doctor never told her that she had to make an appointment and she said that she had fasted, so they went ahead and let her get the test done. Let me go back to the main point of this little side story, ok the lady was in really need of a shower and her hair washed. Bad! But not only was it her there to wait for 3 hours, oh no that would be what normal people would do like me, but her husband, mother, and 14 month old daughter. All 4 of them needing showers remind you. The mother briefly talked to me when the daughter and the husband went in the back to get her first blood taken. The mom stated that all of them were going to be there with her for the full 3 hours. Crazy, I thought. Why on earth would you want to sit her for 3 hours if you did not have to. I mean don't you have something better to do. The little girl was carrying around a tub of cookies eating them and then offering them to me. What a tease. Here I am after not having anything to eat since 10 PM the night before and they are eating in the waiting room. Give me a break here!

When I left the lady who was drawing my blood for the last time told me I was lucky, because it was going to be a long afternoon with them in the waiting room until 1:15. I mean who on earth can wait until that time to eat. It is like snack time by then after breakfast and lunch. I was really glad I only had to sit there with them for 1 hour, 3 hours might have killed me.

I do not know the results of the test. I will get them on January 5th at my next appointment unless things come back bad then they will call. In other words, if I fail they will call me, if I pass they will just tell me everything was fine in January.

So, what did I do with the rest of my day...Christmas shopping like everyone else. I thought it was a weekday and in the middle of the day, no one will be out. Well, I was wrong. I guess everyone took today off because the traffic was horrible and the stores were packed. I finished all of my shopping though. YEAH! I had only a few thing purchased prior to today, so it was a very perductive day, but a long one. I had a list of who and what I need to get and stuck to it. I got home from the test and shopping around 5:30 PM, but hey I do not have to fight the crowds any longer. I am done!