Well, i had my 3 hr last friday. They did a draw before the drink and it was 93 which is pretty good. My first hour i failed with levels of 208 my second hour i failed with levels of 190 and third hour i barely passed with levels of 139(cut off is 140) So i have GD too. I felt horrible the first hour and not so ok the second but third hour i felt fine. No real headache just queezy. What are they doing next?

Sorry to hear about the GD. I'm afraid I could be joining the club very soon as well.

As far as what's next, I assume you're going to be on a special GD diet now. My doc said that if my test came back positive, I'd have to do the finger prick test daily, before and after each meal

Welcome to the GD club corrie anne - not quite the club folks want to join

The GD Support thread has some good menu tips and tricks, but for the most part your practitioner will want to see if your GD can be diet controlled, so after your first GD consultation/meeting with nurse and dietician or however it is setup where you are, you'll be asked to do routine finger pokes. It varies greatly as to how frequent/timing - a few common ones are 4 times daily - first thing in the morning (fasting level) and 1 hr after each meal. Also common to do 2 hrs after each meal. Some women do 7 times a day - first thing in the morning, and then before and after each meal, but this usually is followed by a day of less pokes, and alternates. You will also be asked to track your food intake.

Even if your levels stay nice and normal during your charting, you will almost certainly be asked to continue doing some level of blood testing for the rest of your pregnancy, as insulin resistance tends to increase the farther along you are as the placenta releases more and more hormones.

It'll be pretty up and down, but for the most part the main things to consider are cutting refined carbs (white bread, refined sugars), increasing fiber, vegetables, protein, spreading meals out throughout the day, and getting exercise are all ways to manage GD w/o medication. Sometimes that is enough, sometimes our overactive placentas impact us so much, we need medication. Either way, GD should clear up within 6 weeks post-partum.

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much Feistymom.
I am going to see an educator tomorrow then i can get my monitor. But other than that, i would have to learn how to eat and all other stuff by myself since a nutrienist will cost me over $100 that my ins will not pay.

I did the 2 hour test when I was 19 weeks. The fasting level was fine at 4 (72). But I failed the post sugary drink one. The acceptable level is upto 7.8 (140). Mine was at 8.2 (147.6).

So the acceptable limit must be universal at 140. I heard GD can get worse as you get further along. Although i dont have good diet, i am hoping that changing mine will make the difference and i can manage just fine with only diet. I cant believe my Ob hasnt wanted to see me about this. I go in Tuesday so maybe they are just waiting til then but i am high risk already.

I'm not getting extra appointments either.

It's funny, our cut off for the one hour test was 135....if it was 140, I would have passed (as my number was 139)! And then I'd never know I had GD...so I'm glad they test with the 3 hour even if you're borderline.

That is funny - my OB wanted an appointment a week after I got my monitor and was charting so he could track progress, and said at that point we'd either go every other week if things were going ok and I was able to manage with diet, or weekly if my numbers were too erratic/unmanageable. Every practitioner is different!

corrie anne - yeah, nutritionists can be expensive, and they are *so* hit or miss - some are truly wonderful, but some are kind of a waste of time for such an investment. If you look through the GD Support thread, Emma in particular (the OP) put up a lot of menu ideas and I've used a ton of those ideas myself and it has helped immensely. I was a pretty high-carb eater before diagnosis (I love pasta!!! and cereal!!!) so I had to make some immediate adjustments, but it hasn't been too bad.

You should be ok with your nutrition on your own, especially if you look for a low GI (glycemic index) diet/menu ideas online. But remember - even if diet doesn't do the trick, it isn't your 'fault' - just a measure of how productive your placenta is!

Hi Springtime, I'm still waiting for my lab results but the midwife testing me used the fingerprick tester at the same times as a quick check. From that I had fasting bloods of 5.9, then after one hour it was 8.9 (I had the 2hr blood drawn in phlebotomy as she got too busy helping out triage so didn't get that number).

She checked with the diabetes midwife (whose office happened to be next door) and she said that so long as the 1hr blood was in single digits then it would probably be ok.

Do you think the difference is because it wasn't the lab bloods or because we were asked to drink different amounts of glucose (mine was 410ml of lucozade - e.g. a 70g glucose load).

I know I should just wait for my lab results but they always take so long where I am (Norwich)!!! I'm terrified i'll fail because I am vegetarian and eat a lot of carbs!

My 1 hr testing was with 50g glucose and they wanted it under 140(mine was 156). My 3hour testing was with 100g glucose and the numbers as follows for each hour. Fasting to be 70-100(mine was 83) 1 hour to be 70-180(mine was 208) 2 hours to be 70-155(mine was 190) and 3 hours to be 70-140( mine was 139 so just barely passed)

I am not sure how different pricks on a monitor and blook drawings are. I am thinking blood drawings are more concentrated and accurate.