Where has the time gone? I realized when I had my OB appointment that we never got around to taking profile photos of me during the second month. Though I still get told I don't look anywhere near seven months pregnant, you can definitely see that my belly has expanded since the last in-home photo shoot!It's amazing to me to document the changes in my body -- just as amazing as it was when I documented my weight loss back in 2005 when this blog was published as a series of columns in the Tracy Press.
It can be challenging at times to see the scale drift in the opposite direction, especially when I've spent the last 4-plus years focused on losing and maintaining weight loss. However, the knowledge that I am growing and nurturing a baby prevents me from feeling as if I'm just eating my way past the tool of gastric bypass.
Speaking of eating, I've been ravenous for the last week. I can't seem to get enough to eat. I'm learning quickly how to balance that by eating small meals throughout the day. Not only does that help manage my hypoglycemia but it also prevents me from biting the heads off of my coworkers during hunger-induced temper tantrums. Seems everyone benefits from making sure I'm well fed.
I have to say that I am really happy with my choice of medical provider. Not only is she local, but she truly understands the risks associated with my medical history and current pregnancy. She's not an alarmist, but she's definitely thorough. She orders a full metabolic panel every other month to check my nutrient absorption. So far, iron and vitamin D have been my only deficiencies. I'm hoping that my hemoglobin is on the rise, given the two iron supplements and liquid cholorophyll I've been taking for the past 60 days. If there's no sign of improvement, we'll have to figure something else out.
She's also testing my blood sugar level. Because of having gastric bypass and reactive hypoglycemia, I can't have the glucose-tolerance test that most pregnant women go through to test for gestational diabetes. Other doctors I had interviewed felt this minor detail meant I had to be labeled high-risk throughout my pregnancy and put on bed rest (not sure what bed rest can do for blood sugar but it's an interesting concept). Dr. Schill was the only one who didn't consider it that big of a concern and felt that careful monitoring would be sufficient. It feels good to be treated like a normal patient vs. a surgically altered freak.
As I await my lab results, I'm enjoying the feeling of the baby's movements. At 22 weeks, I just felts taps and pokes. Now I can discern the difference between kicks/punches and flips/twists. It's definitely a miraculous experience. And to think that I never thought it would be possible. Boy, am I glad modern medicine doesn't know everything!
