Blood, Blood, Blood!

My new years resolution is to be better at blogging. I want to remember what goes on in our lives especially after we have the baby. So this is my attempt at catching people up with at least the last month! ☺ The last post is new too, so if you want to hear about our appliance issues go and read!

I am soooo incredibly thankful for my husband. I know, huge shock, someone being thankful for the person they chose to spend eternity with. But at this moment I would have a VERY hard time continuing on without him.

Last Monday, December 13th I had to take the 1 hour glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. I had no idea that I needed to go in fasting. None of the paperwork said so. So I stopped on my way home from work, drank the nasty orange flavored sugar drink and then headed home. Brett brought me back an hour later to have my blood drawn.

On Tuesday, I had a call from Group Health saying that my level was way too high and that I would have to come in ASAP for the 3 hour glucose test where you absolutely have to fast at least 8 hours. Basically you come in when they open, have your blood drawn, drink another one of those sugar drinks, wait an hour, blood drawn again, wait an hour, blood drawn again, and then wait another hour to have your blood drawn one final time. So 4 times total. Very brutal for someone who gets very sick when having her blood drawn.

I was worried sick about this test all week. The soonest I could do it was this Monday, December 20th. I KNEW it was going to be bad and that I was NOT going to feel well when the whole thing was over. My poor husband was pretty much obligated to go sit with me in the waiting room during this whole process. He was so good about it and did whatever he could to keep my mind off of what I was doing. He went and bought me a Subway sandwich because I definitely needed it when the testing was all over. I felt so incredibly weak!! It was awful!

That is one of the reasons I am so thankful for him. The next few are because of his support when I was actually diagnosed with gestational diabetes. He was very willing to go talk to the diabetes specialist with me and listen to what would be required of me for the rest of the pregnancy. He has been helping me try to figure out what to eat all 6 times I am supposed to eat each day. I have to do a blood test 4 times a day. At first I just wasn’t having any luck with it because I was doing it wrong. I actually poked myself 13 times on Wednesday morning because it kept saying that I was not giving enough blood. I finally went into the pharmacy Thursday morning and asked what I was doing wrong. She showed me how it worked and I felt soooo dumb! The diabetes specialist was not clear on just how the strips read the blood. Anyway, I know how to do it now, so I am having no more issues with it. I still flinch a little when I poke myself, but it isn’t too bad.

Side Note: Thank you Gina, Lydia, and Heather for giving me advice to get more blood out when I thought that was the problem!

Tuesday night after I was diagnosed, I really broke down. The stress of it all had been building and building and then I had some high readings even after we tried really hard to follow the meal plan. I was pretty hysterical for about 10 minutes while Brett just held me. I was terrified of hurting our baby boy. I was angry at the fact that even though Brett was going to help, it was entirely on my shoulders. If I screwed up, then anything that happened to the baby was MY fault. Not anyone else’s…MINE. SOO scary! I knew that the time was coming when decisions would be made that would affect our son’s life, but I thought it would happen in March when both of us would be at fault! Lol.

Brett did a great job of calming me down and talking me through everything. He pointed out that anything that could happen to the baby was completely fixable and not too serious. Of course we want our baby to be as healthy as possible with NO problems, but with what Drs can do nowadays, there is no point in me worrying endlessly about his health. Especially because I am going to do everything I can to make sure he is OK. I just have to trust the Lord and my Dr.


I am feeling slightly better about the whole situation now. I am finding that most of the foods I love I can still have. Just not as much of it. It is all about portion sizes. I can’t eat whenever I want which has been slightly frustrating. Of course, the other part that I find HIGHLY annoying (especially this time of year) is that I cannot have sweets. Well I can, but I have to sacrifice real food for it and go for a really long walk afterwards (I already have to do 30 minutes a day, so it would need to be more than that.) It is HIGHLY recommended that I avoid them altogether until I deliver. I have already decided there will be a couple of exceptions to this – I need to have at least one sugar cookie and I will also have cake at my showers. That is just how it will be. But I will not eat anything else like that which means that after I deliver my glucose levels will be really high because I will be getting my chocolate fix!! Brett will probably just bring my stocking candy to the hospital for me. ☺

So the point of the post is that without Brett, I don’t think I could do this. He is constantly checking up on me even when he is at work. He calls to find out what I have been eating and what my levels are. He is also checking on my walking time to be sure I am doing my 30 minutes. I am thankful I have someone I have to report to just to give me more incentive to do it all. It is a lot to take in, but I am getting better at it. Luckily by the time I go back to school I will have it all down so I can easily continue all this and do my job.

If it was possible, I am even more excited for the birth of this baby boy. I am 29 weeks now and am hoping I don’t have to wait too long for this madness to stop! I don’t want him to come too early, but whatever the Lord feels is best I will agree with!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!