On Sunday, while traveling home from Montreal, I noticed I couldn't eat very much before getting really full...a lot less than I had been eating all week and ever since I had my lap band adjusted a couple months ago. I figured all the traveling and rich foods I'd been eating had just temporarily caused my band to be a little tighter and didn't think much of it.
The following day, Monday, I ate half an apple for breakfast. I didn't eat anything else until 6:30 that evening when I got home from work and class. That whole day, I could still feel the apple sitting in the pouch made by the band and wasn't hungry at all. I was still able to drink water, so I didn't worry. Again, I blamed it on the recent trip. When I told Steve that was all I had eaten, he wasn't thrilled. He wanted me to make an appointment to get my band loosened. I told him I would give it a couple days and if it didn't get better I'd make the appointment.
It didn't get better. In fact, it got worse. Wednesday night, I ate a tiny dinner and spent the rest of the evening with an uncomfortable "rock" in my chest until I finally started vomiting it up during the night. Thursday morning I weighed myself and I had lost two pounds since Monday morning. That's not a good thing when you're pregnant and not eating. I called the bariatric clinic that I dislike but that is a whole lot closer than my beloved surgeon's office. I was finally able to convince them that I needed to get in asap and made an appointment for an hour before my OB appointment later in the day. This appointment was in Salt Lake. My OB appointment was in Ogden. It made for a fun afternoon of driving. Steve picked me up from work at 3, giving us 45 minutes to get to Salt Lake. We couldn't be too late or else it would make us late for our OB appointment.
We made it to the clinic right on time but then the front desk person wasn't very cooperative, even after I explained my circumstances. I ended up waiting 15 minutes to see the doctor and left about 10 minutes later than I had hoped to. I really don't like that place. Oh well. It was an emergency and I'm thankful that I could get in because I really needed my band adjusted.
As soon as the doctor took out all the fluid in my band, I felt better. I had eaten minimally during the day and the food had sat like a rock until my band loosened. When I sat up from getting the fluid removed (I now have a totally empty band), I could feel the food go down into my stomach. Aaaahhh. What a great feeling! I also felt immediately hungry but hadn't brought anything to snack on (because before leaving work food was the last thing I wanted). We couldn't stop to get me something because we had to race back for my OB appointment.
We were 5 minutes late. I was thankful it wasn't later.
It was a relief to get to the OB's office. Our hurrying was over. Have I mentioned how much I love our OB clinic? We sat for about 1 minute before getting called to the back. Steve went right into a room while I was weighed and had my blood pressure checked. I was in our room for less than a second when our OB came in. I hopped on to the big chair and got ready for the ultrasound.
Baby wasn't very cooperative again today. Dr. J had to wiggle around to try to get a good look. In the meantime, she determined that its head was normal size and it has a big belly. It weighs 1 lb 7 oz and is a....
Boy!
Well, she's pretty sure it's a boy but wouldn't say 100%. Next week is the "targeted" ultrasound where the technicians will measure everything about the baby to make sure its growing okay. Dr. J said they'll do everything they can during that appointment to verify the gender. Until they say differently, though, we're going with a boy.
We honestly didn't have a preference or leaning either way. It's just nice to have an idea, although I wish it would be way more conclusive like with some babies. Darn boy! :) Now we'll start considering names a little more seriously, but I think we'll wait until next week before we start buying boy stuff.
I felt a whole lot better last night than I had the whole rest of the week. After our OB appointment, we ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Tona, a Japanese place in Ogden. I always know I'll get a good, satisfying meal there and last night was no different. My body was so hungry and the food energized me almost immediately. We went for a long walk with our dog when we got home and the weather was perfect! We watched our two recorded Psych episodes then played games until bedtime. It was a great evening.