GD Test

So I failed my 1 hour glucose test. I'm pretty beat up about it. When pregnant with Makani, I worried the whole time about gestational diabetes, since both sides of my family have diabetes running through them. Fortunately, I passed it and thought I would coast through the rest of my pregnancy and birth my boy at home. Then I got hit with high blood pressure and preeclampsia. I'd never heard of preeclampsia before, and never had an issue with blood pressure, so I was pretty blindsided.

Again, I was fortunate. With the help of wonderful midwives and acupuncturists, I carried Mak to full term and a with a four-day labor, he came out happily at 38 weeks. No health issues, and my BP returned to normal shortly after. It wasn't the home birth I wanted, but it wasn't a cesarian either.

I have to admit, we were nervous when we started talking about having our second baby. We always wanted two kids, and we wanted them somewhat close together. But the fear of repeating those health issues certainly gave us pause. The research was on our side, though, so we went for it. And we're excited to welcome this little girl to our family in December.

I've been keeping track of my blood pressure this whole pregnancy, and it's been great. I went in this morning to take my GD test and didn't even bat an eyelash, I had full confidence that I'd pass. I didn't. The number was well above the cutoff, but not high enough to slap the "diabetes" label on just yet. I'm sure come Monday morning, I'll be getting a call from Kaiser to schedule the dreaded three hour fasting glucose test. Let me tell you, I am not a fun hungry person. I go over two hours of not eating and I. Am. GRUMPY (that's putting it mildly). So now looking forward to fasting overnight, showing up at Kaiser to drink some orange soda and get my blood drawn four times?

Oh yes, please, sign me up. Funny how I just wasn't worried. And I know I shouldn't be worried yet. But man, as a woman, it sure feels like my body is telling me, "Look, I just don't like this pregnancy thing, so please stop now." And even though this is likely my last pregnancy, I would still like my body to embrace its easy fertility. We're lucky, why the complications?

Argh. I hate feeling discouraged. But at least I've learned to be proactive. Instead of just waiting around, we've already decided to throw out the indulgent junk foods we keep in our pantry and replace it all with fresh foods. If I do have GD, I'm certainly not going to let that stop me from attempting my home birth.

Thanks for listening.

Much Love,
The Dolfos