This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you choose to purchase through links I provide.
My husband and I were very thrilled to find out that I was pregnant in October. Knowing that I was carrying a growing baby, we both made an effort to eat more nutritious and exercise more. Despite my best efforts to be healthy, I had huge problems with early pregnancy fatigue. I did not think that my fatigue could have been due to other factors.
It wasn’t until around Christmas that I suspected I might have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy. On Christmas I had a few cookies and we had mashed potatoes with dinner. I spent most of the day sleeping on the sofa with my new eye mask (affiliate link) on my face. (The hot/cold sinus mask I got for as a present is the best!) Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Christmas.
It was no surprise that I failed my one hour glucose test. Fast forward to the three hour glucose test. I really just wanted to avoid doing this test. I knew it would be miserable and I was right. For this test, you have to fast for around 12 hours. Luckily, I had not had morning sickness this pregnancy. I don’t know how I would have made it through the test if I had morning sickness on top. When you arrive, you have your blood taken for a fasting sugar reading. Then you have five minutes to drink a super concentrated sugar drink. Now I failed the 50mg sugar test, this drink contained 100mg of sugar! After the sugar drink, blood is drawn every hour.
During the wait, I was only allowed to sip water as needed. About 20 minutes into the wait, I felt horrible. Like really sick. I wanted to drink tons of water and to move around, but I couldn’t. Drinking water and exercise helps to lower blood sugar, which they don’t want you to do for the test. I also felt tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. If I fell asleep they would cancel the rest of the test and make me reschedule
I couldn’t wait to be done with the test. I felt so bad. I just wanted to go home. Unfortunately, my sitter couldn’t stay while I recuperated. So I was feeling really sick and had a toddler to watch. No fun. It took me two days to get my energy back.
For those of you that have to get a glucose test, I strongly recommend having a low key day following your test. You will need the time to recover, even if you are not diabetic.
I plan on sharing more about living with gestational diabetes including tips for eating out with gestational diabetes, which you can read here. I also share my meal plan since so many of you asked about it.
