Today was my 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I had to fast for 8 hours, then the lab techs drew my fasting blood. I drank orange glucose juice (which made E. bounce around like a ping pong ball) and wait an hour for the next draw. I had to wait another hour, and then they drew again, and finally after hour three, they drew my blood one last time. From 8:30 am – 11:30 am, they poked me four times and drew five grey-top vials of blood.

While I was waiting, I talked with another woman who was there for her 1 hour glucose screening test. She already had one 1 hour glucose screening test and scored a 142, but her doctor was a bit nonchalant about it. He just wanted her to do it over instead of having the 3 hour glucose tolerance test to see if her result was drastically different. Apparently, her result was slightly elevated with her last pregnancy, and it didn’t lead to gestational diabetes, so her doctor isn’t as concerned. Bah.

Don’t my arms look pretty?

It actually looks worse in person, all purple and blue; I look like a junkie. The lab techs wanted to alternate arms to reduce bruising. Unfortunately, on the 3rd draw, the tech sort of missed the vein and had to move the needle around bit to get a good flow.

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