What happens at the gestational diabetes test in pregnancy?
Posted by admin on Sep 15, 2009
What do you have to do and what do the doctors do? I just learned about this test browsing through Yahoo Answers. AND what other kind of tests will I encounter?
I would ask your doctor if you have to fast first. If you don’t eat anything and then drink the solution, it can cause your body to have to work harder to process the glucose, which could cause you to fail even though you don’t have GD. I asked my doctor about this and he agreed. I ate a bagel with butter and cream cheese about two hours before and did just fine.
Otherwise, you’ll drink the stuff – it’s like flat Orange Crush – and sit for an hour, then they’ll draw your blood. You can’t leave and have to stay the whole time, so bring a book or magazine!
Are you pregnant already or just planning? Some tests you will do early on- like checking for blood type, HIV, cystic fibrosis screening, and similar things. Other tests during pregnancy probably include an AFP to check for risk percentages for Downs Syndrome (this can be inconclusive or give false positive readings), a nuchal fold translucency test (triple screen and ultrasound to check for Downs) – you CAN refuse these although your state will probably mandate that you take the HIV test, regardless of risk factors.
Later on in pregnancy you will be tested for Strep B, which can be harmful to your child if you test positive during labor and don’t have antibiotics. It’s nothing to worry about – they’ll just give you IV antibiotics when you’re in labor to make sure the illness isn’t passed to the baby.
you will have to fast and go in to the clinic and drink some sorta orange juice drink, and get your blood drawn with in a hours of taking it. That’s it
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The gestational diabetes test is they will send a glucose drink home with you and the day you are scheduled for the test you will drink that and an hour after drinking it they will take your blood. If the test shows high levels then they will do the test again but they will take your blood 3 times at one hour intervals.
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first they give you a very sweet drink and then an hr later they draw some blood and thats it
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mom of 7
they give u a glucose drink, about 8 oz (mine was orange flavored) and tell u to refridgerate it and drink it 45 minutes before ur next appointment. when u are at ur appointment, tell them what time u drank it because its very important that they draw some blood exactly 1 hour after you’ve drank it. then they test the blood to see if ur body was able to handle the sugar solution.
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They give you this orange drink to swallow. You wait one hour. You get blood drawn.
It determines if you have gestational diabetes.
There are a slew of tests you get when you are pregnant.
Blood type, Rh factor, and antibody screening
Complete blood count
Rubella (German measles) immunity
Hepatitis B testing
Syphilis screening
HIV testing
Gestational diabetes.
triple screen
etc.
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around 28 weeks your dr will have you drink an orange drink and then will draw your blood about an hour later to check your glucose levels. If they are high, they will do the more in depth 3 hour test, if not, you don’t have diabetes. Some doctors will let you drink the juice at home and then come in for the lab work, some will give it to you and have you wait there.
That is about it for tests, except for the group B strep which they do around 35 weeks. They just take a swab (down there) and test it for strep. If it is positive it is not a big deal, they just give you antibiotics in an IV during labor to prevent it from spreading to the baby.
EDIT: Those tests listed above are all done, but most of them are done with your first appointment lab work when they draw blood. You won’t have to get tested for something at every appointment.
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I had to drink this really sweet liquid, and then wait for like 2 hours. After that they checked my blood sugar. Its not that bad, just make sure you take a book with you or something to help pass the time.
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8 weeks and 3 days with #2
you have to go to a lab where they take blood, depends on where you live. Some places have seperate labs or sometimes they are in the hospital. When you arrive they take your blood and then you have to drink a special drink. Depending on the flavor it tastes different, the orange tastes like really flat mcdonalds orange, and the lime tastes like flat fanta pop. After an hour they test your blood again. the most important thing is to drink the drink really fast. I drank mine slow so I had my test 45 minutes after I finished and I failed the test by a small number. They told me if they had waited the full hour I would have passed. The basically are looking to see how your body gets rid of sugar. This was really the only test that I had
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it’s done around the 28th week of pregnancy. You go to the place they send you to get your blood drawn. You usually have to fast before taking the test. They will give you a glucose drink to drink when you get at the testing place and you will have to sit there for 1 hour and have your blood drawn at that 1 hour mark. That’s it, nothing too it.
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They give you a super sweet drink that tasted like a melted orange popsicle (to me anyways). You wait one hour and they draw you blood. If it is negative, usually you dont hear anything…but, they will call if positive. If positive, they will put you on a special diet for the remainer of your pregnancy.
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What Is the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test for Gestational Diabetes?
The oral glucose tolerance test is used to screen for gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that can develop in some women late in pregnancy (usually after the 24th week). Women who develop gestational diabetes do not have diabetes before becoming pregnant.
When Is the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test for Gestational Diabetes Performed?
The test is generally given between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy. If you have had gestational diabetes before, or if your health care provider is concerned about your risk of developing gestational diabetes, the test may be performed before the 13th week of pregnancy.
What Happens During the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test?
The oral glucose tolerance test involves quickly drinking a sweetened liquid (called Glucola), which contains 50 g of glucose. The body absorbs this glucose rapidly, causing blood glucose levels to rise within 30 to 60 minutes. A blood sample will be taken from a vein in your arm about 60 minutes after drinking the solution. The blood test measures how the glucose solution was metabolized (processed by the body).
What Do the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test Results Mean?
A blood glucose of 140mg/dL will identify 80% of women with gestational diabetes. When that cutoff is lowered to 130mg/dL the yield increases to 90%. If your blood glucose level was greater than 130 mg/dL, your provider will likely recommend you take another diabetes screening test that requires you to fast (not eat anything) before the test. During this second test, called the 100-gram oral glucose tolerance test, your blood glucose level will be tested four times during a three-hour period after drinking the cola-like drink. If two out of the four blood tests are abnormal, you are considered to have gestational diabetes.
http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/pregnancy-diabetes
here are a couple (some arent necessary unless you ask)
Triple Screen Testing
As it sounds, a ‘triple screen’ blood test is performed by a highly-trained health professional, like a doctor or nurse, to find out how much of these three things – AFP, hCG, and uE3 – show up in your bloodstream based on your weight, age and race.
A triple screen test is like just about any other simple blood test you may have gotten in your life, and it won’t harm your baby. It requires no specific preparations, other than you should be in your 15-22nd week of pregnancy (testing between your 16-18th week is most common) to most effectively determine if your unborn baby may suffer from birth defects or serious brain and spinal conditions like spina bifida, Downs Syndrome or anencephaly.
Women over 35 are at higher risk to have children with serious birth defects or medical conditions, so a triple screen test can help in detecting the possibility of any potential diseases or defects in an unborn baby. However, when a triple screen test does show some concern, including Downs Syndrome, a much more accurate test like an Amniocentesis is generally called for.
Amniocentesis
A highly trained doctor (Perinatologist), using safe ultrasound technology, employs a very fine needle to take a very small sample of amniotic fluid from your uterus, via your abdomen. If you would like you can receive a local anesthetic beforehand, but some women don’t require any pain relief.
Amniocentesis poses a minimal risk of miscarriage to a pregnant woman; but those risks to your unborn baby get even smaller if you have an amniocentesis done after your 16th week of pregnancy.
However, since there are small risks to mother and baby during the very quick amniocentesis procedure, it is usually only done on pregnant women in a high-risk category to deliver children with birth defects like Downs Syndrome, Sickle cell disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy or Tay-Sachs disease.
Your doctor may place you in the high-risk category if your triple test screen was a concern, if your family history shows birth defects, or if you’re 35 and older. For moms-to-be over 35, an amniocentesis is a very worthwhile procedure, since it’s 99.4% accurate.
Chorionic villus sampling
Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) is an early testing alternative for high-risk pregnant women, including those with a family history of birth defects or women over 35, and CVS can be as effective as an amniocentesis in detecting chromosomal problems and genetic defects, including those mentioned under Amniocentesis.
A doctor performs a CVS procedure (some women say it’s kind of like getting a pap smear) to obtain a tiny sample of CV (chorionic villi) from a baby’s placenta on the wall of the uterus. It’s not as scary as it sounds, and it usually takes only a couple of minutes for the doctor to get the actual sample.
The greatest risk with a CVS is miscarriage, and it does pose a higher risk of miscarriage than amniocentesis – but for high-risk pregnant wome
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Mommy of a 14 month old boy
Your sugar test is simple. There is a 1 hour and a 3 hour test. You drink this liquid and for the one hour you wait an houre and they draw blood. The 3 houre you drink the same stuff and they draw blood every hour for 3 hours. Most of the outher test buring pregnancy are blood test that you just have to have blood drawn for.
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I would ask your doctor if you have to fast first. If you don’t eat anything and then drink the solution, it can cause your body to have to work harder to process the glucose, which could cause you to fail even though you don’t have GD. I asked my doctor about this and he agreed. I ate a bagel with butter and cream cheese about two hours before and did just fine.
Otherwise, you’ll drink the stuff – it’s like flat Orange Crush – and sit for an hour, then they’ll draw your blood. You can’t leave and have to stay the whole time, so bring a book or magazine!
Are you pregnant already or just planning? Some tests you will do early on- like checking for blood type, HIV, cystic fibrosis screening, and similar things. Other tests during pregnancy probably include an AFP to check for risk percentages for Downs Syndrome (this can be inconclusive or give false positive readings), a nuchal fold translucency test (triple screen and ultrasound to check for Downs) – you CAN refuse these although your state will probably mandate that you take the HIV test, regardless of risk factors.
Later on in pregnancy you will be tested for Strep B, which can be harmful to your child if you test positive during labor and don’t have antibiotics. It’s nothing to worry about – they’ll just give you IV antibiotics when you’re in labor to make sure the illness isn’t passed to the baby.
References :
pregnant with #3
You have to drink a glucose drink. You cannot eat or drink anything 2 hours before you drink it. My doctor had a choice between orange, grape, and fruit punch. They just taste like very sweet flat sodas.
You then have to show up to your doctor’s office and have your blood drawn 1 hour after you drank the drink. It will show if you are passing too much sugar into your blood and if you have gestational diabetes.
If the test is negative the only other test you have to do is a Strep B test where they put a swab in your vagina and test it for Strep B which is a deadly virus that you can pass to your baby in childbirth.
If the test is positive, you have to go in and get a 3 hour glucose test where you have to drink 1 glucose drink every hour for 3 hours and have your blood drawn each hour to see the results. They can then determine if you have gestational diabetes. Good Luck.
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When I took it with my daughter I had to fast then go to where i get my blood work done which is at the hospital, I had to drink this really sweet drink. I had 3 flavors to pick from, mountain dew type flavor, root beer or orange. You drink it then exactly an hour you go back and they draw blood. thats it. It’s really easy. Good luck.
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Well for the GDT you will have to drink this awful tasting sugar filled drink and then they will draw your blood and make sure that you dont have it. They will also check your iron level when they do this. At around 37 weeks you will have a Strep B Test which is a swab taken to make sure you dont have this either. If you do have it they will put you on antibiotics when you go into labor to keep the baby from getting it. I think that is all the tests you will have after week 30…but dont take me for my word. Good Luck!
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Mother of Baby Boy and working on baby number 2 any day now
there are actually 2 tests for gestational diabetes. the first one is called a 1 hour glucose tolerance test. the doctor will send home a bottle of orange stuff to drink. you drink it one hour before your appointment. the nurse will do a finger stick to check your glucose level. if it’s too high, they will then schedule you for a 3 hour glucose tolerance test. that test usually starts early in the morning and is fasting. they usually do that one at the hospital lab. you will go in, they test your sugar (unfortunately via blood draw). then you have to drink more of the orange nasty stuff and they test your sugar (again via blood draw) every hour for 3 hours. i recommend that you take some orange juice and a protein bar with you to eat after the last test. sometimes your sugar can drop pretty low and you can get pretty dizzy! but you can’t have anything during the test except a little water. good luck to you!
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I had to take this twice-The first time you go they take some blood, then they make you drink this juice like stuff-Mine was orange to test how your sugar levels go-Then wait an hour and take your blood and test it-If your levels come back abnormal then you have to go back for the 3 hour test-They will take the blood first then drink , then take blood every hour-They told me it was normal for the test to come back abnormal the first time-mine and my friends did, only i had the GD and she didn’t-They after that if you have it , they usually control it by diet-If you dont have it then your good to go-It’s really no big deal, it’s very common
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Mommy to 18 month old Brock
all you have to do is drink a sugar drink then an hour after that get blood drawn u get blood drawn about 9 times for other testing throughout your pregnancy
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