Pregnancy after bypass: Week 28 pregnancy diary

I had this week off work! It was the second week of the school holidays and I spent it with my little guy. We were quite busy and I had a few pregnancy related appointments I had to attend. This week the baby is the size of an eggplant, I’m assuming a rather large one since it was a cabbage last week, and she is really making herself known.

We started this week off with what was going to be a quiet day at home. We ended up having to take my husband to see the surgeon and I got all my usual end of week jobs done. I was exhausted come Sunday night and was really looking forward to my week off work. On Monday morning I went to get my 28 week pregnancy blood tests done. Since I couldn’t do the GCT or GTT tests I did a fasting HBA1C test instead.

I am so glad I don’t have to do the GTT test this time. I remember it being an awful experience last time and I am glad my tiny tummy says no. I know if I tried to do it I would dump and that’s nobody’s idea of fun! I got to Labtests around 9 hoping the morning rush would have died down but they were so busy. I asked what the approximate wait time was and they said about an hour. Hmmm, I had a dietician appointment at the hospital in an hour.

I sat around and waited for about 45 minutes and then asked how many people were in front of me, there were still eight others before me. I decided to bail and thought there was a chance I could get the hospital to take the bloods. I went to the hospital and waited for five minutes and the lady was able to take my bloods. Hooray! It did make me 10 minutes late for my dietician appointment but at least I could eat. It was near on 11am by this point! I had made my protein shake before we left the house and had it in my KeepCup in my bag.

My dietician appointment went really well. She was pleased with the weight I’ve gained so far and thinks I’m right on track with it. I’ve put on 11 kilos at this point and the range indicated for my pre-pregnancy BMI is 11-16. The main thing I wanted to talk about was how I was going to get enough in to be able to successfully breastfeed. I’ve read figures quoted between 2000-2500 extra calories (or is it kilojoules, I don’t know) are needed a day to make milk if your baby is fully breastfed.

The dietician gave me some Fortisip to try out as it is a nutritionally complete food and has the benefit of being a liquid that has nutrition. I will struggle to get enough liquid in if I’m eating all the time and I remember how thirsty breastfeeding made me last time. I’ve had it all week and haven’t tried it yet. I don’t know why but I’m not particularly looking forward to trying it out. She wants me to see if I can tolerate it and like it and I need to do that before I see her next in early December!

Then in Tuesday I had my first growth scan for this pregnancy. Because my first child was quite small I am needing to have them again this time. It was really nice to see the baby again and we got the sonographer to make sure she’s still looking like a girl, indeed she is which is awesome! She’s measuring quite well and sitting pretty much on the average line. My son did too so I’m neither here nor there about it to be honest. It’s good she’s looking a good size but if she comes out small I won’t be surprised. She was really active for the whole scan and it was awesome to see her moving on the screen and being able to feel exactly how hard she was kicking about in there!

I spent the rest of the weekdays doing fun things with my little guy. It has been nice to spend some one on one time with him before the baby arrives and I’ve been making sure I make the most of how easy he is to take places. We went to a few different playgrounds, Silverdale Adventure Park, Chipmunks, Auckland Zoo and did fun activities at home like baking. I was absolutely stuffed after the zoo so we had a pj day the day after for me to recoup from that.

On Saturday morning I went and had coffee with some other ladies that are pregnant and due around the same time. I have been in a due date group on Facebook since the beginning of my pregnancy and it was really nice to be able to meet some of the ladies and chat about how our pregnancies are going. We’ve already made a date for a follow-up coffee so I would say it was a great success. I’m glad I’ve joined this group. With my first son we did antenatal classes which we formed a coffee group from and it was great but I really don’t want or need to do them again this time. It’s nice to be able to meet others at the same stage and hopefully have some coffee buddies when the babies arrive!

I started packing my hospital bags when I got home from the coffee date. It occurred to me that I’m nearing 30 weeks pregnant and should anything suddenly kick off I need to be ready. I started making a list on my phone of all the things I need to buy, mainly minis of my fave beauty and skincare products, and then started packing a bag for me and a bag for baby. So far I’ve got, in my bag, maternity pads, disposable breast pads (I have re-useable ones for when I’m home) and a mini shampoo and conditioner.

In the baby’s bag I have nappies (again I will be using re-useables but want to get the first week or so and meconium out of the way before we start with them), wipes, nappy cream, baby lotion, a nipple shield (I needed them for my son but I’m so hoping I don’t need them this time), Purelan cream, a newborn merino sleeping gown, swaddle and hat. I will be adding more to these over the next few weeks and I’m trying to only take what I think I will probably use this time.

How far along? 28 weeks!

How big is the peanut? About the size of an eggplant. I have been super uncomfortable some days/evenings this week. If this baby gets in a funny position I unfortunately know all about it.

Total weight gain/loss? This week I went up almost a whole kilo after staying the same last week.

Maternity clothes? My maternity jeans are getting a bit uncomfortable now, it’s hard wearing clothes, even maternity ones all day at this point! I am loving the maternity/feeding dress I got from Mrs Smith Maternity at the Baby Show. I decided I was going to get another one, in a different colour of course, and then that evening I found out I won a $75 voucher from them on Instagram in a photo comp they had! I’m definitely getting that other dress now!

Sleep? This week my sleep has been pretty good. Same old getting up 2-4 times a night to pee but I’ve been getting back to sleep easily so that’s a relief.

Best moment this week? Getting to see our little girl again!

Gender? Definitely still a girl, yay!

What I miss? Being comfortable most of the time. This week she has got her feet up and behind my ribs and she’s letting me know all about that.