Live-Blogging the Three-Hour Blood Glucose Test

8:02 a.m.
I arrived at the doctor's office and picked up my lab orders. I'm the only patient here, so I should be able to get in quickly. That will probably be the only quick thing about this morning. I ate half a peanut butter sandwich, a few apple slices, and some milk at 11:15 last night. At this point I've been fasting 8.5 hours.

8:10
First blood draw is done, and orange flavored glucose water was consumed. The lab lady asked what I scored the first time. When I told her 137, she looked at me funny. I asked if that was bad. She said that it's a passing score. I thought 125 was the cut off, but it's 139 for pregnant women. She thought I must not have been told the right number, so she checked my file. Sure enough, I scored 137, two points below the cut off. I PASSED THE 1-HOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE TEST!!! I knew this would happen! I knew that if I was anywhere close to the line, I'd have to do the 3-hour test! And it happened. Ugh! The lab lady tried to make it sound like this was normal and due diligence, but the look on her face when I told her my score leads me to believe that having me do this 3-hour test is unusually cautious. Now I'm feeling grumpy as well as tired. Fortunately, I'm not yet hungry.

8:35
I am also now feeling nauseated. The spike in blood sugar on an empty stomach is making me feel ick. I'm not sure what will happen if I throw up. I'm not sure if they'll make me drink again or tell me to come home another day. NOT GOING TO VOMIT! I'm looking up anti-nausea pressure points. I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try, and I don't have many options available.

8:50
A couple of ladies just sat down next to me with breakfast from McDonalds. It's a good thing I'm not yet hungry. If they did that a couple hours from now, I might have to be restrained. The nausea is better, but I'm belching orange-flavored glucose water. My stomach is not exactly settled.

9:10
Second blood draw is done.

9:45
Starting to get hungry. Fortunately, I'm about halfway through the test. I've got leftover peanut putter sandwich and apple slices for after the test. That will at least hold me until I can pick up some KFC on the way home. Looking forward to it while trying not to think about it.

I bought some post-Valentine's clearance chocolates yesterday. We'll break those out tonight to celebrate my completing the blood glucose testing gauntlet. I was that confident about passing this one. Even more so now that I know I passed the last one.

I've been passing the time by reading things on Facebook, typing this blog entry, or reading Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. It's the first book of a series that includes a Newberry Honor Book and a Newberry Winner. I may end up writing another blog about Lucy while I'm here.

10:25
Third blood draw is done. She switched to the other arm because the first first arm had a tiny bruise after being stuck twice and the vein was feeling squishy.

Alia, who has watched Lucy a few times on campus, is coming to our house this morning to watch Lucy. Matt is skipping office hours, and I'll try to get home as soon as possible, but we were afraid there would be 15-30 minutes between parents, which is not acceptable when caring for a two year old. If she were ten, we'd be OK, but she's two, and so we got a baby sitter. It didn't seem worth Alia's time for me to ask her to come for only half an hour, so she's going to be there an hour and a half. Matt will be able to get ready without watching Lucy. I don't have to hurry quite as much. Lucy gets a playmate, and Alia (who graduated in December with a theater degree) gets a little spending money. It's working for all of us. Alia is adopted family to Susie, and Susie is adopted family to us, so Alia is extended adopted family.

Emmie has been quiet but not exactly still this morning. She kicks enough to let me know she's OK. I expect her to perk up when we get to eat again. One more hour to go!

11:20
All done! The lab lady told me it was nice to do a 3-hour glucose test with someone pleasant. There was no reason to be unpleasant with her. It's not her fault that I had to get up early, fast for 12 hours, sit around a waiting room for three hours, and have blood taken from both arms a total of 4 times. That's Dr. Reynolds' fault.

12:05 p.m.
Home at last! Lucy had a good morning with Alia. Lucy wanted lots of hugs when I got home and talked to me about how mommy went to the doctor outside in the beep. I was gone when she woke up, so this story is how she made sense of her life this morning. On the way out of Lebanon, I stopped at KFC for some food. I had eaten half a peanut butter sandwich and some apple slices within minutes of ending my test, but I knew I needed something more. I also stopped for a chocolate sundae cone, which I ate on the road. I was crazy hungry.

7:00 p.m.
I just got up from a two-hour nap. I was exhausted. After lunch, I played with Lucy and continued to eat anything that looked good. I didn't overdo it. But I ate a couple handfuls of apple cinnamon Cheerios before my nap and just had some shredded mozzarella from the bag while prepping a frozen pizza for supper. It's been a long day. I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep and a slower day tomorrow.