by Sam Madsen

Created on: August 01, 2011   Last Updated: August 02, 2011

If you are pregnant and have recently been told you will have to participate in a three hour glucose test, chances are you already know that you probably have “Gestational Diabetes”. The three hour glucose test is generally used “after” a pregnant woman has already been tested using the standard one hour test between her twenty fourth and twenty eighth week of pregnancy.

In order for the doctor to better monitor your sugar and insulin levels more closely, they will have you do a 3 hour glucose test. This procedure will take up the biggest part of your day, as they will need you to come in for an early appointment to get started. The reason for an early appointment is to take a “fasting blood draw”; this is where you have not eaten or drank anything since the night before. It gives the doctor a more accurate measure of where your levels are at naturally, before they start the test.

Once this is complete, you will have to drink a very nasty tasting thick drink, which is almost like thick syrup. After you have drank it all, you will have to wait an hour for them to do the first of three blood draws. When your hour is up, they will generally take two vials of blood and tell you to make yourself comfortable for the next hour.

You will repeat this process, until you have waited an hour in between each blood draw and by the time you are done, you will have had a total of four blood draws in that one day.

Once they have all the test results back, your doctor will determine what the next step should be, if any. You will most definitely be sent to see a nutrition, which will set up a total calorie intake schedule for you and teach you how to read labels on food more and decide what ones have too much sugar and carbohydrates in them. Side note is that carbohydrates break down into sugars and add to your over-all sugar intake and levels in the blood. The nutritionist will be teaching you to keep a count of sugar, calories and carbohydrates in each food item you consume in a day, and not going over your total number of points allowed.

Sometimes you can avoid having to take any insulin while you are pregnant, just by paying close attention to the things you eat and what is in them. You will literally be measuring everything to stay within your goal of keeping your sugar and insulin levels in balance.

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