A couple of weeks ago I was getting very excited about entering the third trimester of this pregnancy. I was not, however, getting excited about having to undergo the standard glucose tolerance screening given to the majority of pregnant women between 24 and 28 weeks. While this test isn't pleasant for anyone, I was especially dreading it due to my IBS.
For those of you that may not be entirely familiar with the glucose tolerance screening, let me explain. Typically you go to your doctor's office and drink Glucola (basically sugar water with a lot of artificial colors and sugars) to spike your blood sugar. You wait an hour and hopefully your blood sugar levels out, which will be checked by taking a blood sample. If your levels are abnormal you have to come back for a three hour test. The purpose of the screening/test is to ensure the mother to be has not developed gestational diabetes, and that if she has, to start managing it.
Doesn't sound too horrible, right? So why was I so terrified? Due to my IBS, my body doesn't process artificial sugars, instead it attacks them, with a serious vengeance. The pain of which I feel for days. This is unpleasant enough when I neglectfully eat something extra sweet with fake sugar in it, but to knowingly drink something loaded with artificial sugar that is intended to spike my blood sugar levels was not a happy thought. Plus, who wants to put all that gunk in their body anyways? I didn't care about passing the screening or not, all I could think about was how sick I was going to be for the rest of the week afterwards.
Well, God is good (no surprise there) and He brought an article to the attention of the midwife at my OBGYN practice that explained instead of drinking the Glucola, I could eat three tablespoons of raw honey to satisfy the necessary sugar spike needed for the screening. I was totally on board! I came in with my honey two weeks later and happily downed those three tablespoons. Now granted it's tough to eat that much honey straight, but it sure beats the alternative.
As I sat in the office for the next hour waiting to get my blood drawn I experienced the horrible effect of the sugar spike. I thought I was going to be sick and all I wanted to do was take a nap. But, thankfully, my body leveled itself out, everything went back to normal, I had my blood drawn and everything looked good. No three hour test for me, thank goodness!
So why am I sharing this with you? Because I was nervous. Way nervous to rock the boat and look like the crazy crunchy girl asking about a natural alternative to a very standard procedure. I even did my own research on alternative methods other women had used to make it look like I was less looney. I was so relieved when my doctor happily suggested the honey alternative and told me that if it was her, she wouldn't want to drink the Glucola either! So, be bold. Don't be afraid to look for the natural way even if no one else is taking it. I am so glad that I did, otherwise I would have been suffering for no good reason. And I'm pretty sure baby peach enjoyed that honey a little more than he would have the fake sugar water.
