Gestational Diabetes, Blood Clots, and Pains...Oh MY!

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the world population totals approximately 6,949,657,930 people. If you think about it all of these people are living on this Earth because someone gave birth to them. After going through the last 30 weeks of pregnancy I seriously have mad respect and admiration for every woman out there who has given birth. I knew pregnancy was going to be hard...but I had no idea it would be THIS hard! In addition to finding a comfortable sleep position because of my ever expanding belly, the bathroom breaks every hour or two in the middle of the night, and the excruciating hip pain, I have also managed to spend a night in the hospital and fail my glucose tolerance test all in the last two weeks. Good times!

Let's see...where shall I begin? Two weeks ago I had to go in for the routine glucose tolerance test that screens for gestational diabetes. I was a little anxious about drinking the orange concoction that my doctor sent home with me at my previous visit, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that drinking it wasn't as bad as everyone had made it out to be. Hell, I've done shots worse than the glucose drink so I was rather proud of myself when I finished it off in 2 minutes and 30 seconds flat! :) In my opinion it tasted like an orange soda with an extra kick. Since sweets have been my weakness throughout this pregnancy I didn't have any trouble guzzling it down. After having my blood drawn I was feeling a little cocky after making it through the test with flying colors. Unfortunately, my bubble was burst the following day when the nurse called to tell me that I had failed the test. What??? How could this be? What does this mean? The nurse told me that the results from the first test did not mean that I had gestational diabetes, it only meant that I needed to come in the following week for the three hour fasting glucose test to get more accurate results. The real bomb was dropped when I asked her what happened if I failed the next test...a prescriptive diet that limits sugar and sweets. Now I know that I should probably be watching what I eat anyway, but let's face it people, pregnancy is hard work and every now and then I take comfort in a sweet treat and I am not ashamed to admit it. I would also like to state for the record that I have been totally fine with giving up the Diet Coke, booze, and lunch meat from the beginning...but giving up the sweets...now that is just plain cruel at this stage of the game.

Needless to say I went in the following week for the 3 hour fasting test and made it through this test like a champ too! I won't lie...it was hard to fast for 12 hours and then sit in the waiting room at the doctor's office for an additional 3 hours having my blood drawn every hour while watching patients come in and out with their morning coffee and treats. I actually almost lost it when one girl and her husband came in with Starbucks and a bag of pastries. I know they saw me give them the stink eye and huff as soon as they sat down. Eventually I had to walk outside because I was so hungry that I was afraid of what might happen if I had to watch the girl shove one more bite of that delicious doughnut into her mouth. Let's just say that as soon as the test was over I hightailed it over to McDonald's and ordered a cheeseburger and a LARGE chocolate milkshake. Don't judge...I figured that I had suffered enough for the morning and if I did in fact have gestational diabetes I was going to go out with a bang before the dietary restrictions could be put into place. Luckily for me (and everyone around me) the test results came back normal and I could not be happier to report that I DO NOT have gestational diabetes. Can I get a woo-hoo??

Now...you might think that the medical drama ends here. Nope! That would be too easy. A few days ago I noticed that my left leg was swelling, but my right leg looked completely normal. I know swelling is common during pregnancy so I tried to just chalk it up to another weird side effect of pregnancy. The next morning when I woke up everything was back to normal so I really didn't give it a second thought...until my left leg swelled up like an elephant's leg after a busy afternoon/evening of nursery shopping and dinner out with Danny. While standing in line at CVS I happened to look down at my legs under the bright fluorescent lights and I almost had a heart attack. I promise you my left leg was double the size of my right leg. We went straight home after this new revelation and I immediately started "Googling" my symptoms. I know...I know...you should never Google your medical symptoms because the worst case scenario always pops up and scares you to death...but in this case I was desperate. Every single result that popped up said to contact your health care provider immediately if you were pregnant with swelling in only one leg. Great! Here it was 9:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night and I was in a panic. I didn't want to go to the emergency room because we all know how awful that can be so I decided to call the answering service for my doctor and leave her a message. I figured if it was anything life threatening then she would call me back and tell me what to do. Much to my surprise, the doctor called me back in less than 5 minutes. She said that she didn't want to scare me but my symptoms were indicative of a blood clot. What??? She also told me to go to the hospital immediately and they would admit me to labor and delivery for a full leg scan for blood clots (which apparently are common during pregnancy and can be life threatening). What??? This could not be happening, right? Wrong! By the time I hung up with the doctor I was in full blown hyperventilation. The last thing I wanted to do was go to the hospital. Thank God Danny was here to calm me down and get me in the car.

Within a few minutes we arrived at Cedars Sinai Emergency Room and as soon as I told the lady behind the desk why I was there a wheelchair arrived and I was whisked away to the labor and delivery floor. Now that is what I call service! We seriously did not wait for more than 30 seconds. As soon as we arrived they checked us in and put us in a private room. The nurse and doctor on call came in immediately and checked me out. The nurse gave me a gown and rolled a cot in for Danny. The doctor told us to get comfortable because it could be a while before the ultrasound technician could get to us because they were backed up. While I appreciated their quick service with a smile and the nice private room with a comfy bed and TV, I was a little amped up by the thought of waiting hours before having my legs scanned. The urgency in the doctor's voice when I was on the phone with her earlier made me think that I was going to kill over any second if I didn't get to the hospital and get a scan. Of course I didn't sleep a wink the entire night and just like the doctor promised the ultrasound technician rolled into our room at 5:30 a.m. to complete the scan. After learning more about veins and arteries than I could have ever imagined, we were delighted to hear that I did not have any blood clots in my legs. Hallelujah! I am sure you are wondering what exactly was causing the swelling if there were no blockages? Well, apparently the position of my uterus and the weight of Miss Everly are squashing the main artery that runs down the left side of my body and restricting the blood flow to my left leg. As a result my left leg is swelling. Luckily it is not life threatening, but the only way to prevent it is to stay off my feet and lie on my left side as much as possible. That should be easy, right? I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor on Tuesday so she will review the results then and tell me how to proceed from here. If she says bed rest I think I will crumble.

On the bright side of it all, Danny and I decided that our overnight stay at Cedars was a great practice run for the big day. We now know where to park, what to expect when checking in at the ER, and how to get to the labor and delivery floor. Experiencing all of the action on the labor and delivery floor was a reality check that Everly is really coming and that her arrival is not too far away. We are so excited for her to get here we can hardly stand it. 9 more weeks and counting!!!