The "not-so nice" surprise!

At the PNE
when we were just dating

   Last Saturday I had to go and do a 2 hour Gestation Diabetes test. These tests are never much fun since you have to drink and awful sugary drink followed by bunch of blood tests. I really am getting better at sitting through blood tests, but I still don't like them. I remember when I used to faint if I looked at the needle going into my vein and the test tube filling up with my blood. I would faint at the sight of blood, and not only during blood draws.
   One of the most embarrassing moments of my life happened a year before Daddy and I got married. We arrived at the annual PNE Fair in Vancouver with Daddy and his family. We had a fun day of going on rides and enjoying the shows that most people come from far away to see. We had a very lovely time until we decided to give Mini-Golf a try. Since it was the busiest time at the Fair, all the rides had very big line-ups, while Mini-Golf seemed a bit less busy. Myself, Daddy, and his brother were the only ones playing, while Daddy's parents sat on one of the numerous benches outside the Mini-Golf to rest. The game proceeded normally until we got to 6th hole. While waiting for my turn, I unknowingly stepped backwards off a stair and fell. Since I wore very flimsy sandals that day I twisted my ankle and scraped my leg up to my knee. Blood started trickling out of my wounds.
Daddy helped me exit the Mini-Golf and sat me on the first bench just outside the attraction while he went to get his mom who was sitting about 25 feet away. She has been looking at other things and didn't see the whole incident. Plus the park was very busy at this point. I would love to tell you what happened next but I can't!

At PNE

   Next time I opened my eyes I was lying in the grass with a stranger in my face wiping it. There were so many people all around me. Within few seconds Daddy arrived and asked what happened. The side of my head hurt bad and the stranger begin wiping it. He then turned to Daddy and explained to him that I have fainted while sitting on the bench and luckily he was here with his kids and has First Aid training and a first Aid kit with him. He was the one who got to me first and begun wiping my scratched up face with antiseptic wipe. That's correct, by this time my head was injured too from fainting and landing on it. All I wanted to do was get up since I felt like such a fool laying there with something like 20 strangers around me. The kind stranger wouldn't allow for it until he was very sure that I didn't have a neck injury. That seemed to have taken forever! Someone called PNE First Aid and an attendant arrived with a wheelchair ready. I sat on it and had to be wheeled through the whole park. That just made my ordeal all the worse. After we finally arrived at the First Aid station (after what seemed like eternity) I had to answer all the embarrassing questions, like when I ate, am I diabetic, could I be pregnant, is my blood sugar low, am I sure that I am not pregnant. The attendants cleaned my bloody wounds and deemed me OK to be able to walk by myself and not needing the ambulance. I felt so embarrassed. Needless to say, that was the end of PNE Fair that day as all I wanted to do was to go home and get some sleep.
   Thankfully, blood draws have gotten better since I have to have them so often when pregnant. Plus after the D&C for Molar Pregnancy I had to get tested once a week to make sure that my hormone levels went down to normal. So I have had many blood draws since then and I have to say, I have become a bit immune to them. At my GD test I actually looked at the nurse poking my arm with the needle and I didn't feel a bit faint. Yes, I have made progress in this department.

6 years ago, pregnant Girly Monkey

   As I said in my previous post, the Gestation Diabetes test has changed now. Everyone gets 2 hour test and everyone fasts before ingesting 75 grams of glucose in a drink. I wasn't very concerned as I have never had an issue with the tests coming back positive for Gestational Diabetes. Well, imagine my surprise when I got a phone call from one of my midwives this week to tell me that my test came back high on 2 markers and that I have to go to a Gestation Diabetes clinic and discuss my next move. I have never had to deal with Diabetes in pregnancy before and for the most part I am very good about diet. I eat healthy, unprocessed, whole foods, I prefer whole grain to white flours, I don't eat much red meat, I love fish, I use dairy occasionally and then it's always organic, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, I don't like soda (we don't ever have it in the house unless it's birthday time), I don't really have much of a sweet tooth (except for fruits which I find more satisfactory than candy). OK, I do have one downfall, I love chocolate. But even then I only have few squares two to three times a week. The only time I eat any different is when we go out for food, which is not often. So you can imagine how shocked I felt when I found out that I am positive for Gestational Diabetes. I know I can handle this little curve in the road. I don't think that people are ever dealt cards that they can't deal with. I also think that there is a reason for everything that happens. It reminds me of a saying that one of my friends posted recently. It said: "Maybe God hasn't changed your situation because He is trying to change your heart". I can't help but think that maybe there was something that I wasn't doing, or doing wrong and this situation will teach me to do better.
   This also brings to mind Cesar Millan's show about dogs that are out of control. I love watching Cesar Millan even though I don't have a dog. He always says to his clients "you don't get the dog you want, you get the dog you need!" I love applying this saying to other things, like situations or children. It comes in handy when we start feeling sorry for ourselves. When you notice that your toddler is the only one is his preschool that still bites then instead of thinking "Why did I get a child who is biting others, I never wanted for my kids to be like that!", think "I didn't get a child I wanted, I got a child I needed because there is a lesson or a reason in it!. So instead of thinking to myself "I never wanted to have Gestational Diabetes, why me?" I would rather think "It's not a situation I wanted but a situation I needed because there is a lesson or a reason for it!". Hopefully I will discover the reason soon and learn a lesson in the process.