Pregnancy After Bypass: Week 6 Pregnancy Diary

My sixth week of pregnancy got off to a great start with bloggers brunch club at The Garden Shed in Mt Eden with a whole heap of awesome bloggers. I got my single shot coffee and talked about how I’m trying to cut down my caffeine intake, keeping up appearances of trying to not seem pregnant is getting old! When my food arrived I realised I wasn’t able to eat the aioli that was on the side of my food, it’s just another thing I will miss during pregnancy.

The baby started this week off the size of a pea or a blueberry depending on what you read. I find it incredible that something so small is making me so incredibly tired and out of energy. This baby may be tiny but it’s making a mighty impression on me at the moment. I got one of my final submissions done for my course on Sunday night and wanted to get the other one done during the week but it just didn’t happen.

I have not had the energy, physically or mentally, to get my study done during the week. I am having to get it done on the weekends and while I’ve always tried to have a break from study on the weekends it’s the only time I can get it done. Luckily, I’ve managed to find time on the weekends to get it done. I really just can’t wait to get it done and have a break from it for a while.

I’ve felt generally quite blah this week. I’ve been so tired I’ve felt constantly exhausted and my tummy has felt yuck quite a bit. I haven’t had morning sickness but if I go too long without eating or if I eat a meal then I feel gross for a while after. I can’t win. I’m finding my tummy really isn’t keen on sweet stuff. My meals in general have been pretty good, I’m getting used to how limited my diet is now. It sucks feeling like absolute crap at work and not being able to whinge much about it.

This week felt long, really long and I think it was mainly because my scan was booked for Thursday. I was really keen to see where I was at for my dates, if they would change and of course, if everything was okay. Work was really busy again this week which was good because it made the week go fractionally quicker but it also added to my general feeling of being exhausted.

Finally, it was Thursday. My scan was booked for 12pm and they told me when I booked it to empty my bladder at 11am and try to drink 750ml to 1L in the hour before the scan was booked. I knew my tiny tummy couldn’t take that much fluid in one hour so I came up with a plan. I went to the toilet at 10.15 and then I started working on my 550ml drink bottle. I managed to get all of that down by 11am and then I filled it up again. I managed to get most of the down before 11.30am when I left the office to go to my scan.

I haven’t drunk that much water that quickly since my bypass and it was strange. Because I hadn’t eaten anything solid (all I’d had was a protein shake for breakfast) I think the water went straight through my stomach.  I did feel like my insides were floating and I could hear the water sloshing about. When I got there I really needed to pee. The speed bumps in the carpark were not fair! I got called into the scan room five minutes before my appointment time and I was glad because it meant I was closer to being able to pee!

The radiographer got me all ready and put the wand on my tummy and my bladder was there. It was absolutely huge and really full. So full that it was pushing my uterus down and I had to go and let some out before she could see things properly. Even getting a little bit out felt better. I got back on the bed and the radiographer could see what she needed to.

There in the middle of my uterus was a little blob, we could see a good little heartbeat and the relief set in. Getting pregnant is amazing but it’s something that always has an undercurrent of worry. We couldn’t quite tell which end was which but the baby was measuring exactly as my dates had been calculated. This baby is still due on New Year’s Eve! My hubby and I took the one printout we got from the radiographer and both promptly took photos of it once we were out of the room.

I went back to work and was just so pleased. Everything had gone well and there was a little blob there, heart beating, growing and doing its thing. It suddenly dawned on me that we’re having another child! I guess I had tried not to get to attached to the idea so far because there’s always the risk something can go wrong, especially in early pregnancy, and I think I was still thinking of this baby as a hypothetical.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet and after a sleep-in to 9.15am on Saturday morning I felt so much better than I had for a couple of weeks. I’m still quite tired but rest and sleep is the only thing that’s helping me feel anywhere near decent at the moment.

How far along? Six weeks exactly. It’s great to know where I’m at now that I’ve had a dating scan.

How big is the peanut? It started off the week about the size of a blueberry or pea.

Total weight gain/loss? This week it went up by 700g. Generally, I’m hanging around the weight I’ve been for a long time.

Sleep? Has been horrendous. I have not been sleeping well and it sucks. Maybe two nights this week I had decent sleeps but I think it’s contributing to me feeling so wrecked. I’m just so uncomfortable and restless most nights.

Best moment this week? Having my scan and seeing that nice strong little heartbeat flickering away!!

Symptoms? Fatigue, sore boobs, feeling nauseous or not quite right a lot of the time.

What I’m looking forward to? Telling our son, parents and close family on Mother’s Day next week!