22 November 2011

Flat sprite

I spent Friday morning sitting in a doctor's office getting my blood drawn four times over the course of three hours.  By the time I finished, it had been 15.5 hours since I had eaten anything, aside from chugging a 100g dextrose solution 3.5 hours before.  The next time someone tells me about the joys and blessings of pregnancy, I'm going to stab them.

eww.
All of this was for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes.  I took a shorter test earlier in the week and my blood sugar came back elevated.  It was a pretty big bummer, but not unexpected.  A couple years ago I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).  Nearly 50% of women with PCOS get gestational diabetes.  This is the same syndrome that Kate Gosselin had, which is why she opted for in vitro fertilization and ended up with 8 children. 

Since we didn't have an extra $50,000 to throw at IVF, I dismissed the notion of having kids and totally came to peace with the idea of being able to travel the world, buying expensive shoes/meals/electronics, and generally enjoying my disposable income.  Colby was less okay with this (I guess he's not nearly as into Swedish Hasbeens as I am), and so we went to a fertility specialist to see what our options were and to get further testing.  Upon an ultrasound examination of my ovaries, the doctor commented that I had just ovulated and was either going to get my period or was pregnant.  We all had a good chuckle and I went to get a CT scan a couple weeks later because my sinuses had been fucked up since December 2010.  Oops.

Fast forward five months and now I'm awaiting my results from the GTT.  The GTT requires a 12 hour fast, chugging this ridiculous sugar solution in <5 minutes, and then getting blood drawn once an hour for three hours.  The last sugar solution tasted like flat orange pop, which is not nearly as tasty as you'd assume.  This solution tasted more like flat sprite and was only mildly more palatable.  The worst, though, is that they don't let you drink much water because that interferes with the results.  My suspicion is that I do have gestational diabetes given my risk factors and the first glucose tolerance test.  If that's the case, then the recipes I post here are going to be of a decidedly more meaty nature.  In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the last  yummy carbs I'll be allowed to eat for the next 15 weeks.

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