Day 60: I failed the test

Check out the goodies I came home with. 

Today I got a phone call from my doctor's nurse practitioner. She said that I failed my  glucose test yesterday-that my levels were too high. On hour one, the limit was 180, and mine was 187. The next two hours were supposed to be something like 150 and 140, and mine were both still in the 180-somethings. She said I would need to test my blood, and arranged for me to come in later today so she could show me how. She also said I would need to meet with a dietitian on Monday.

I clarified once I got there that the high levels mean that I have gestational diabetes. The nurse practitioner said that the levels indicate so. She gave me a paper with my appointment time on Monday, and told me where to go to meet with the dietitian. She gave me some gestational diabetes information, and said that I'd get some of the same information on Monday. She then showed me how to use the meter, and gave me a sheet of paper to record my levels four times a day until my appointment next Wednesday. She checked the baby's heartbeat and said the baby is doing fine. Finally, she wrote me a prescription for some stuff I would need, and told me to go to the pharmacy. She was very cheerful and supportive, and I'm very thankful for her attitude.

I got to the car and burst into tears. Even though the nurse practitioner told me it isn't something I did-that my pancreas just wasn't work right-I couldn't help but feel guilty. It didn't seem fair-I know people that exercise less and eat more junk food than I do, and they didn't have any issues with the test.

When I told Alex that later, he joked that I should have eaten more donuts. He's so good at calming me down and telling me that everything is going to be okay. He's going to follow the new eating plan with me, so that I don't have to do it by myself. I'm so thankful for him.

I went to the hospital pharmacy and gave the pharmacist my prescription. She said it would be ready in about half an hour, so I decided to wait at the hospital. 

By the way, there's an outside area with parks and benches to sit, and at least three large signs that say "No Smoking" on them. I counted probably four people in that area who were smoking, and each of the concrete picnic tables had cigarette butts smashed into the middle of them. I was thoroughly annoyed and sat as far away from the smokers as I could.

Alex called to check on me, and then came to see me, since he was close to where I was waiting. We talked about making some changes. After looking at the information, the main thing that will need to change is eating less sugar, and probably become more aware of portion sizes. Again, my wonderful husband told me not to worry.

I start tracking first thing tomorrow morning. Sometime in between now and then I'm going to review our meal plans for the week and see if we need to make any changes. I'm actually kind of looking forward to meeting with a dietitian-I've wondered what that would be like.

So my relatively uneventful pregnancy has taken a turn. Guess this is just part of the journey where I'm continuing to rely on God's grace in every circumstance!