Chorevia

Day 159 of 280 · 22 weeks + 5 days

The glucose test is coming

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 8 sources · Plain-text version

Most women are screened for gestational diabetes between 24 and 28 weeks. Today you find out which test you'll have and whether to fast.

Size this week
about the size of a sweet potato
Length this week
around 27.8 cm from head to toe
A Latina woman in a loose striped t-shirt with a rounded bump at a kitchen table in morning light, phone held to her ear, writing a short list on the back of an envelope.

Twenty-two weeks and five days. A test is coming in the next few weeks that almost everyone has. Today is a phone call so it doesn't catch you hungry and unprepared.

Your baby

A single sweet potato on a plain white ceramic plate, soft daylight.

Around 27.8cm long from head to toe, about the size of a sweet potato (NHS). Your baby swallows small amounts of amniotic fluid, which usually stays in the bowels until birth and leaves as meconium (NHS).

Your body

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that develops during pregnancy in women who didn't already have it. It affects between 5% and 9% of US pregnancies each year and usually develops around the 24th week (CDC). It often causes no symptoms; when it does, they may be mild, like more thirst or peeing more often, which is why the CDC says it's important to be tested, typically between 24 and 28 weeks (CDC).

There are two ways to test. In the two-step method you drink a glucose drink and have blood drawn 1 hour later; a result at or below 140 mg/dL is normal, and a higher one leads to a longer follow-up test (MedlinePlus). In the one-step test you drink 75 grams of glucose and have blood drawn before and at two 60-minute intervals; for that test, and for the 3-hour follow-up, you don't eat for 8 to 14 hours beforehand (MedlinePlus). About 2 out of 3 women who take the follow-up test don't have gestational diabetes (MedlinePlus).

Try today

  1. The glucose-test preview

    Time: 10 minutes

    1. Call or message your provider's office and ask when you'll be screened. Most women are screened between 24 and 28 weeks, earlier if risk is high (MedlinePlus).

    2. Ask which test: the one-hour glucose drink (two-step) or the longer one-step test (MedlinePlus).

    3. Ask whether you need to fast, and for how long. The one-step test means no food for 8 to 14 hours first (MedlinePlus).

    4. Write the answers where you'll see them the night before, and plan a snack for afterwards.

    Make it work:

    Book a morning slot if you can. If you're fasting, most of the waiting happens while you sleep.

Watch for

  • Normal

    backache, which is on the NHS symptom list for these weeks (NHS).

    Call your provider

    or go to the hospital if a low, dull backache comes with pressure in the pelvis, cramps like period cramps, or a change in discharge such as leaking fluid or bleeding; these can be signs of preterm labor (NICHD).

  • Normal

    more trips to the bathroom, day and night (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider right away

    for pain when you pee, fever or chills (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    round ligament pain, a twinge low in the belly that most often happens between 18 and 24 weeks (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider right away

    for moderate to severe cramping or low abdominal pain (MedlinePlus).

For you

The risk factors are worth knowing plainly, because none of them is a verdict: having had gestational diabetes before, a previous baby who weighed over 9 pounds, being overweight, a family history of type 2 diabetes, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) (CDC). If you have one or more, your provider may test you earlier (CDC). That's care, not suspicion.

And if the result comes back high, it's a diagnosis with a plan, not a judgement about what you ate this week.

If you're the partner: test day can be long and hungry. Drive, and carry the snack.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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