Mayday! Mayday!
Written by: Ginny April 27 2010 Pregnant editor in distress […]
Pregnant editor in distress here. I consider myself young and healthy (though not as young nor as healthy as some), so I naturally assume that everything is going to go smoothly at every doctor’s visit. Not so this week.
I had my glucose screening on Monday; I drank the syrup and reported for finger pricking only to find out minutes later that I had overshot the proper sugar mark. What does this mean in the short-term? I have to go back for a three-hour test today. In the somewhat longer-term, I could possibly have gestational diabetes. And in the long-term, probably nothing: Gestational diabetes usually ends when the baby arrives.
Meanwhile, I’ll have to make some adjustments to my sugar intake. First, no more juice—“It’s like running a sugar IV into your arm,” says my doctor. Second, I’ll have to forgo some of my favorite fruits—bananas, pineapples, watermelons and grapes have high glycemic indexes, it seems—but show-stopping staples like apples are still safe to consume. And third, I’ll have to cut back on my beloved starches—bread, potatoes and pasta are not my friends. (They’re more like ex-boyfriends that I’ll outwardly shun but inwardly crave every once in a while.)
But it doesn’t stop there, folks. The finger pricking also revealed that I’m borderline anemic. And that was after I had an egg that morning and fish, broccoli and sweet potatoes the night before. So I’m putting lots of steak and beans on the menu from now on. **Note to the girls at the office: If you see me chowing down on carbs, it’s your responsibility to send me out for a slab of meat with a side of spinach, pronto.
Between these revelations and the embarrassment of my little tyke running through the office and climbing onto medical equipment (she also wanted to be weighed and thought it was absolutely crazy that I had to pee in a cup), it was a pretty fun appointment. My little one will not be coming with me for the three-hour tour, but my laptop will. And of course, no party would be complete without a full bottle of liquid sugar. Bottoms up, ladies!
