I've been meaning to go get my Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) done for about two weeks now, but with everything going on here it seemed to have slipped my mind until I realized that I have a doctor's appointment coming up and I was supposed to have it done before then. What is the GTT for you ask? Well, sometimes pregnant women get what they call Gestational Diabetes, which usually only lasts during pregnancy... after the baby is born it normally goes away. It is important for pregnant women to get this test done because Gestational Diabetes can cause some complications:
Taken from Google Health - Gestational diabetes:
>>Pregnant women with gestational diabetes tend to have larger babies at birth. This can increase the chance of problems at the time of delivery, including:
>>Mothers with gestational diabetes have an increased risk for high blood pressure during pregnancy.
>>There is a slightly increased risk of the baby dying when the mother has untreated gestational diabetes.
>>Controlling blood sugar levels reduces this risk.
>>High blood sugar (glucose) levels often go back to normal after delivery. However, women with gestational diabetes should be watched closely after giving birth and at regular doctor's appointments to screen for signs of diabetes. Many women with gestational diabetes develop diabetes within 5 - 10 years after delivery. The risk may be increased in obese women.
- Birth injury (trauma) because of the baby's large size
- Delivery by c-section
>>Mothers with gestational diabetes have an increased risk for high blood pressure during pregnancy.
>>There is a slightly increased risk of the baby dying when the mother has untreated gestational diabetes.
>>Controlling blood sugar levels reduces this risk.
>>High blood sugar (glucose) levels often go back to normal after delivery. However, women with gestational diabetes should be watched closely after giving birth and at regular doctor's appointments to screen for signs of diabetes. Many women with gestational diabetes develop diabetes within 5 - 10 years after delivery. The risk may be increased in obese women.
The GTT is simple and nothing scary. What I had to do was not eat anything when I got up in the morning and go to the lab. Once there they mixed up a liquid that tastes and looks like orange soda. I happen to really like orange soda, so it wasn't hard for me to down the yummy liquid in the 10 minute time limit required. After I drank the liquid I had to sit and wait for an hour in the waiting room. Once my hour was up they called me into the lab and took my blood to check for blood sugar levels. I should find out the results at my next doctor's appointment. Depending on certain things, and I'm not a doctor so I don't really know the specifics, but I believe if the results come back with any question I would have to go back and do a 3 hour test. I don't suspect that I will have Gestational Diabetes, I didn't have it with my first daughter, and I don't have any issues if I eat or don't eat a lot of sugar, however it is nice to know for sure because the test is so simple and the risks of not catching it are too high.
Growing up when women talk about being pregnant, most of the time they leave out details of all the fun little tests your have to go through during the pregnancy, least of my favorites being pelvic exams and internal palpation to the cervix... so not fun, but necessary I guess.
On a totally different subject, I am so pleased that I have figured out what a Jump Break was and how to use them on my Blog! In the settings for my Blog I can select how many posts show up on the page, I can also choose to use a thing called a Jump Break. A Jump Break can be placed anywhere on my post. It lets my readers see a small exert of my post and then places a Read More link where the Jump Break is... This way my main page isn't super long and you have to scroll forever if I write a long post. To me, this discovery was AWESOME! Hail to the Jump Breaks! LOL!
Well, I'm off to make Shake and Bake Pork Chops, Potatoes and Peas for dinner.
Thanks for reading dear followers!
Kelsey
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