Question from Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA:

I am 34 years old, am 30 weeks pregnant with my third child, and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes a few weeks ago. Since my glucose reading on the one-hour test was one point higher than the cut-off, my doctor ordered a three-hour GTT. The results of that were in the acceptable range for fasting and the first hour, but slightly high for the second and third hours (I don’t have the exact numbers). A diabetes specialist has had me monitoring my blood levels — my fasting levels are consistently in the 70s mg/dl [3.9 mmol/L], and my one hour post-meal levels are consistently 104-112 mg/dl [5.8-6.2 mmol/L], even though I haven’t modified my diet at all and still eat tons of sugars and carbohydrates. Could the GTT tests have been inaccurate for some reason? Could dehydration have been a factor those mornings that I took the tests in the lab? Are there any other factors that could have caused the elevated numbers? It’s hard enough for me to believe that I have gestational diabetes since I feel absolutely fine, but it’s even harder to believe when I can eat or drink anything I want and still not get a reading anywhere near 120 mg/dl [6.7 mmol/L].