Glucose Test: It Wasn't THAT Bad

The glucose test.  Oh, that dreaded glucose test.  Or so I thought.

Ever since I got pregnant, I'd been dreading the glucose test.  Every pregnant woman I know talked about how awful the test was.  More so, how disgusting the drink was.  "Ask for orange"  "Make sure it's cold" "Don't get fruit punch"  "Don't throw up, you'll have to do it again".

Honestly, it wasn't that bad.  I think this another case of "Pessimistic Pregnancy Penny"  (you know, like Debbie Downers, Negative Nancys, Jealous Jerrys, etc).  You know the kind I'm talking about.  The women who want to do nothing but bitch and complain about everything.  The ones who only share the awful moments.  The ones who hated pregnancy.  The ones who want to make sure you're just as miserable as they are.  The ones who want to scare you.  The ones...okay you get the point.

I go into my appointment and I'm nervous.  I'm expecting it to be awful.  I sat in the waiting room anticipating the gagging I'd be doing trying to drink the crazy sugary juice.

I'm called back, pee in a cup, get my weight, and am escorted to a room.  As I enter, I see the drink already sitting there.  "You need to drink this entire bottle in 5 minutes.  As soon as you finish, open the door so I know you're done and I'll mark the time.  We have to draw your blood exactly 60 minutes after you're finished.  You can take a sip or two of your water, but don't drink a lot.  If you have to throw up, you'll have to redo the test.  Got it?"  Yes ma'am.  Drink, open door, wait, don't drink or puke, wait, give blood.  Got it.

She hands me the drink and closes the door.
It's cold.  Thank goodness!  Obstacle one tackled.  Wait, what flavor is this?  LIME?!  Oh my gosh, I hate lime!  Oh no!  Why didn't they let me pick my flavor?  If the flavors I like are disgusting, how awful will a flavor I hate be?!  Melanie, just do it.  Open the bottle and drink the damn thing.  Just get it over with.

So I do.  And guess what?!  It wasn't bad!  At all!!!!  It really didn't taste that disgusting and it was pretty easy to drink it all in 5 minutes.  Honestly, it didn't taste all THAT sugary like I expected.  I definitely wouldn't have guessed that there was 50g of sugar in that 50mL bottle.

I got up, opened the door, and the nurse entered.  "Great!!!  It's 8:53 so I'll come back at 9:45 to take you to the lab.  Make yourself comfy.  Feel free to use the restroom if you need to."

I was okay for about 10 minutes.  Then it hit me.  I suddenly felt nauseous.  It was just far too much sugar for my little body.  My chest felt tight, my belly ached, and I wanted to throw it.  I was able to keep it all down, although, there were times I was certain I was going to throw up in the sink.  But after about 35 minutes of it in me, I didn't feel as bad.

When my hour was up, I had my blood drawn and that was that.

So for all of you out there that haven't yet taken this test, it's truly not THAT bad.  I was made to believe the worst part was actually having to drink the juice.  False.  That was easy.  So don't sweat it.  I am not good at chugging things, and I was able to easily get it all down in 5 minutes.  I even had a flavor I despise and it wasn't that bad.  The worst part truly was sitting there with that drink in me.  But if you're like me, you just have to endure 30 minutes of that gross feeling and it begins to fade.

Now my hope is that I don't fail it and have to take the 3-hour.  I took this test almost a week and a half ago, so I feel like if I had failed, they'd have let me know by now instead of making me wait until my next appointment.  At least, that's my hope!

My Husband Knew I Was Pregnant Before I Did

Yes, you heard that correctly, my husband knew I was pregnant before I did.

When you announce your pregnancy, you're usually hit with a ton of questions.  The most common and obvious, 'When are you due?', 'Are you finding out the sex?' 'Are you sharing the name?', etc.  I expected those.
I also realized that people are very curious as to how you knew you were pregnant.  (I'm assuming they mean what lead you to take a pregnancy test because clearly I knew I was pregnant when I saw "PREGNANT" on the pregnancy test.)

Because I find our situation pretty comical and was asked quite a few times, I thought I'd share.

It was Thursday, September 18, 2014 and this conversation was had:
Nick:  "Are you pregnant?  Your boobs feel differently."
Me:  "No, they don't."
Nick:  "Yes they do."
Me:  "No, they don't."
Nick:  "I'm pretty sure I would notice."

...fair enough.  {Because I have no problem being TMI}, it's fair to say that Nick feels my boobs more than I do.  I don't think it's odd that I don't feel myself up often so it made me wonder, 'do they feel differently?'  They were sore, but I was supposed to start my period in a few days and it's normal for a little tenderness during my period.  But we had been trying so I thought, "Oh my gosh, what if it's finally happened and I'm pregnant?"

The next day, I decided to take a pregnancy test and sure as shit, I was pregnant!!

Clearly my husband knows my body better than I do.


Do you have a unique or funny story as to how you knew you were pregnant?

To see how I actually told him, click HERE

How I Told My Husband I Was Pregnant

Now that Baby Obie is public knowledge, I can begin sharing things that have happened since then.

I've dreamed of being a mother for as long as I can remember.  I think most women tell you they think about becoming a mom one day, but it's something I'd spend hours and hours daydreaming about.  Maybe almost to an unhealthy level (and this is also something no one really knows, as I kept this obsession with being a mother to myself).  Maybe this obsession stemmed from the fact that I had an amazing upbringing.  My family is so close and my mother is my best friend.  She's honestly been the most amazing mother anyone could ask for, and I've always thought if I could be just HALF the mother she was and is, I would consider it a great success.  I always envisioned having children and having the same close bond my mother had with my siblings and myself.

After meeting Nick, and knowing he would be the father of my future children, I began envisioning our life together as parents.  One of the things I always thought about was how I would tell him the news of being pregnant.  Nick wanted to start a family long before I did.  I was the one wanting to wait a little bit longer to start trying and Nick was all about starting our family quickly.  Because he wanted a child so badly, and because I love to do things a little bigger than necessary and creative, I wanted to tell him in a very special way.

I thought about it for years.  (Yes, years).  And I never truly came up with an idea.  I just figured when the time came, I'd know what to do.  And that couldn't have been further from the truth.

On September 19, 2014, I decided to take a pregnancy test because the day before Nick had me questioning if I was pregnant.  So into the bathroom I went, and I pulled the last pregnancy test out of the box.  I peed on it, set it on the back of the toilet, stood up (after wiping obviously), pulled my pants up, and turned around to flush the toilet and that's when I saw it.  "PREGNANT".

I was shocked.  I didn't expect it to say pregnant, because I wasn't even supposed to start my period for another few days.  But this showed up right away.  I was pregnant.  Suddenly I was flooded with a million emotions.  My heart was racing.  I was sick to my stomach.  I was crying.  I was filled with immense joy, but at the same time, scared shitless.  This was real.

Just then, my phone rang.  It was Nick calling to tell me he was leaving base and heading home.  I knew I needed to tell him when he got home.  There was absolutely no way I could hide it from him.  Not only would I just want to blurt it out, but he'd sense that something was very off with me.  But I had NO idea what I was going to do.

A long while ago, I bought two onesies in anticipation of maybe using them to tell Nick we were pregnant.  I had also bought a "Expectant Father" book.  Lastly, I had a Cardinals t-shirt that said "Future Fan" on the belly.  I had no idea what to do, but I needed to figure it out asap because Nick was on the way home.

I was still racking my brain when Nick pulled up in the driveway.  I was so nervous but also so upset because I had always imagined I'd do something so special to tell him and here I was with NOTHING to do.

He walked in and we talked a little bit about our days.  I tried my hardest to act normal and I'm not sure if he could tell something was up.  I stood up and said, "I bought a new shirt and I want you to tell me what you think of it."  I went into the bedroom, changed into the Cardinals shirt, and wrapped the pregnancy test, two onesies, and book in a tissue paper then walked back into the living room.  I walked over to him sitting at the couch and said, "What do you think of my shirt."

He looked at it, then up at me with a confused face, and asked, "Are you pregnant?"  My eyes welled up with tears as I handed him the tissue paper wrapped gift.  He opened it and I said, "In nine months we'll know which one we'll be using."

Things after this are kind of blurred for me.  There was lots of hugging and kissing.  I know that the rest of the evening, we sat around talking about the future.  What our hopes and dreams are for Baby Obie.  How far along we thought I was (going off my last period, I was only three and a half weeks.  Which was confirmed at my first OB appointment at 5 weeks).  We talked about the traits and features we hope the baby gets from each of us.  We talked about our fears and apprehensions over raising a baby.  Sharing the news with Nick just made it so much more real for me, and from then on, this little precious miracle was on my mind every second of the day and consumed more than half of my conversations with Nicholas.

Looking back, I'm still disappointed I didn't pull off a super special announcement for Nick, but there was no way I could wait.  But that's how life happens.  Things happen unexpectedly and you have to just go with it and make the most of it.  I like to look at this as preparing me for motherhood.  Lord knows the planner in me is going to have many situations like this with my child; things will go far differently than I hoped and planned for.  But I'm confident that in the end, it won't matter because just like this day, we'll be filled with love and smiles.