2:24 p.m. - 2006-07-27
Chug It
Today marks the beginning of Week 29! Today was also my 28-week OB appointment and my glucose tolerance test, otherwise known to pregnant women as "that test where you have to drink the gross orange stuff." The test is to check for gestational diabetes (in the mom, not the fetus), and it's something that every pregnant woman undergoes.
At my last appointment, I was given a bottle of said liquid to keep in the fridge until today's appointment. It looks like a 10 ounce bottle of water (only, duh, orange) and it's labeled "Easydex 50 Oral Glucose Tolerance Beverage." Yum -- just the kind of refreshment you'd look for on a hot July day.
I was nervous about it, because I'd heard lots of first- and second-hand reports about the experience of drinking this stuff -- and none of it was positive. Women described it as "super-sugary" and "syrupy" and said it "tastes like Triaminic." And you can't sip it leisurely -- you have to get it all down the hatch in about 5 minutes, and I had been advised by my friend Aimee to chug it all, since after one sip and a stop, I wouldn't want to start drinking again.
So, prepared for the worst, and fully expecting to perhaps meet this drink again after I had already gotten it in my stomach, I got the bottle from the small fridge in Rebecca's office, where I had been eyeing it with contempt every day for the past month. I opened it and sniffed the contents -- not too noxious. I took a sip and... well, this is somewhat of a letdown, but it wasn't that bad! It was kind of like drinking a Hi-C, which I LOVED back when I was six. I did a pretty good job of chugging -- I had to do it in two parts, but I got it all down in about a minute or so. And then I waited to see if I was going to puke, since the listed possible side effects included "nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fainting." But all I felt was full.
And that was really it. Went to my OB's office, peed in a cup, had my belly measured and then we listened to the baby's heartbeat. I had to wait a few minutes after for the blood draw for the test, since it had to be drawn exactly one hour after I polished off the tasty orange goodness, but that, too, was no sweat, though the nurse handled me with kid gloves: "This might pinch a little." "Ok, take a deep breath!" I was like, "Lady, I had in-vitro. I had a catheter with radioactive dye shot through my cervix into my uterus. I had blood drawn every day for a month straight. I gave myself hundreds of injections INTO MY OWN STOMACH. I can handle your wimpy little needle." But I kept my mouth shut. You should just be appreciative when people are nice to you.
