Gestation Frustration and Appreciation

Omg! Will September hurry up and get here? I want to work out... I want to do some serious weight training and aerobic activity.... I want my energy back... I want to meet this baby and I want it NOW! I sware, it feels like I've been pregnant forever. 2 years ago, I went from being morbidly obese to healthy and now to be feeling overweight and unhealthy, its kicking my arse!

My first pregnancy was a breeze. Yeah, I was morbidly obese -  285 lbs on the day that I delivered Elise and had to end up having a c-section, but I did not have complications to deal with DURING the entire pregnancy. This time around, at a healthy weight 2 years after rny gastric bypass, its been one hellacious thing after another. Allow me to bitch... after all, that's what we pregnant chicks are best at....

My list of complaints this time around:

1. Low Blood Sugar - crashes in the 40's that take me waaaaay down and take forever to recover from and occur on a pretty much 2x daily basis! *Thud* is right!! 
2. Constant Nausea - mostly caused by dumping because I have to force myself to eat in an attempt to keep my blood sugar around a "normal" level, or just because of typical pregnancy, who knows. The fact of the matter is, I would absolutely die without my Zofran!
3. Headaches - of course, this is caused by #1 - you guessed it, low blood sugar, but it s a constant...
4. Heartburn?!? - I didn't think it was possible to ever have heartburn again after gastric bypass. Boy, did pregnancy prove me wrong on that one. Sure, technically, it shouldn't happen. I mean, the stomach acids are bypassing my stomach pouch and landing further down in the intestines.... so how the hell are they coming all the way back up? Oh yeah, that whole duodenal switch thing blah blah. It sucks.
5. Dumping and Food getting STUCK - oh yes, I am a dumper. I have taken care to keep from dumping prior to pregnancy with great nutrition and excellent control of my diet - but for some reason, it doesn't matter what rules I follow or break... the size of the pouch v/s the size of my uterus means only one of them is going to win. There is NO ROOM FOR FOOD. But, you must eat, you're pregnant... But, you will suffer the wrath of hell and dire consequences *thud* if you do eat. UGH!!!
6. Intestinal Blockage and "Kinks" - Never again will I have a bite of steak. UGH. I chewed and chewed like a cow chewing cud, alas.... it went down fine, but wouldn't break down to come out. TMI? I know, I'm sharing too much SHIT on here LOL. I ended up in extreme pain and thought for sure something was wrong with the baby about a month ago. My doctor advised us to go immediately to the ER. Off we went. It took forever for them to figure out that it was nothing but some poo that was caught up in my pinched up, kinky intestines. Now, I must tell you, I went through terrible labor with my first child that resulted in a c-section, a bad motorcycle wreck that required knee replacement and hellacious physical therapy and major gut rearranging RNY surgery - but Never have I felt pain like this before. Needless to say, all they did was give me pain meds and send me on (silly pregnant lady). It took a lot of Colace, Milk of Magnesia and Benefiber to get rid of the "problem", but after 3 days, I was A-OK. Every once in a while, my intestines kink up due to my expanding uterus taking up room that my re-arranged guts had settled into, but I will NEVER eat steak again and vow to live off Benefiber until this pregnancy is over. 

Now, there are tons more things I could bitch about, but the fact that my doctor was clueless about changing my antidepressant cold-turkey and caused me to go into a deep depression for about 3 weeks that even presented itself as physical illness... but those didn't have to do with the Gastric Bypass... just a dumb ass doctor (oh, and did I mention a pharmacy that gave me 75 milligrams less than what had been prescribed for me, oh yeah, that!).

All these things said, right here at 23 weeks gestation - in the heart of pregnancy.... would I recommend pregnancy after weight loss surgery? Well, that is a complicated answer. But, I think I may have boiled down my opinions on it finally:

If you are unable to conceive/carry/birth a child prior to weight loss surgery, for the love of god - go out and make a baby and get pregnant when your surgeon/medical team gives you the go-ahead! (they usually recommend 1.5 - 2 years post-op)

If you are able to have a mostly healthy pregnancy prior to weight loss surgery, have no history of miscarriages etc.... I would suggest having ALL the babies you want PRIOR to having weight loss surgery. (of course, this is just my opinion and not a medically-backed up fact or anything, its just based on my crappy experience so far). Now, would I follow my own advice? Nope. I wanted another baby and my husband did too - so who gives a crap about this suffering.... its all for a wonderful little sweetie that we can't wait to meet!

I'm delivering via c-section on September 2nd, so this will be over with before I know it.... and though I won't miss the complications and the health problems, I am so thankful for this second little bean :)

So, Amelia Rayne Brubaker..... my sweet little gestating daughter..... you are worth every challenge that is being presented to me during this 9 month spree - and I can't wait to see you, hold you, and introduce you to your awesome Daddy and your super cool Sister!!!!!