Hello,
I am quite new to this site but wanted to get my story out there in case there are others who have a similar story to mine 
I am 30 years old and currently pregnant with my first child at 29 weeks. I have put on so far 11 kilos (not sure if this is normal or not). You may wonder why I am pointing out how much weight I have put on lol.
Well when I was 22/23 I went to South America to visit family and I went for a private medical check up (their private hospitals over their are beyond excellent and so cheap). On having a check up they found my miracle that I had an ovarian tumour about 10cms big! This was a massive shock to me and seeing as I was quite along with only my best friend who came travelling with me for support, my mum and dad were still in the UK. My biggest fear at the time was that it was cancer and the doctors couldn?t tell me anything until they cut me open , my second fear was not being able to have kids, not something that had crossed my mind until then, but when the choice is suddenly taken away from you its quite a shock.
I was also going in to have a gastric bypass I am 5ft3 and suffered with obesity all my life due to allot of issues from my childhood , bullying, relationship with my parents, low self confidence , anxiety issues and various other things etc etc.
The doctor who operated on me is a godsend and I still talk to him now, the loveliest doctor I had ever met. He kept me under while he took out the tumour had it tested for cancer and then if all was well proceeded with the bypass. He did the ovarian operation at no cost to himself whatsoever , which in a country like south America is unheard of!. I basically went in to the operating theatre not knowing when I woke up if I had cancer or not. It turned out to be a nice big tumour that was not cancerous and they couldn't save my left ovary. I had the bypass, so had two operations in one so my recovery was a little harder than normal but nothing too traumatic and I was looked after very well.
I just wanted to add that having the gastric bypass is the single best thing I have ever done in my life. I have never put on weight, I look after myself, go the gym, watch what I eat. I hate that people view weight loss surgery as an easy way out because it isn?t, you still have to work hard at it and you can still regain the weight you have lost if you are not careful . I am the minority in that I haven?t. I have stabilised my weight at 67 kilos and have been a size 8to 10 ever since.
Gaining weight during my pregnancy has been very difficult for me because I was so obese for such a long period of my life and I was bullied so badly for it by friends, family and people I grew up with . I weight myself every single day and try to be healthy all the time, I don't restrict myself as I want to give my baby the best start in life and I am terrified of what will happen after the baby is here but I will come to that bridge when it happens and just enjoy my baby.
My partner and I met a few years ago and I knew instantly he as the one, he knows everything about me and loves me just the way I am. We decided to try for baby last year and I was told by doctors that it could take me up to a year or so to get pregnant as I only had one ovary they weren?t sure if I was ovulating every month or every other month and I have been on the pill since I was 16 due to the fact that I am also highly anaemic so unless I am on the pill I have to regulate my bleeding during periods and be on iron tablets for life and monitor my iron every couple of months. This is just something I have come to accept . Anaemia in studies has shown to link to depression and anxiety and I am not sure if it does have something to do with my anxiety.
Anyways I got pregnant after 3 months which was a miracle and we were and are so happy. I was signed off work in February for 2 weeks with anxiety as I had a panic and anxiety attack one of the major reasons was child birth.
Now I know a lot of people have a fear of child birth but mine is extreme. I can?t watch women in labour on tv not even in movies without wanting to be sick. In the antenatal class I walked out twice in tears.
Due to the fact that I had a bypass my midwife who is lovely wasn't quite sure what to do with me so sent me to see an obstetrician who I didn't like much and only because he kept me waiting 3 hours to see him and didn?t have much time for me when I did eventually see him!
I was then referred to another Obstetrician this week and we discussed all my fears and worries and he agreed to an elective planned C Section.
He was such a lovely man that even he had said no to a C Section I would have respected his knowledge and advice.
He actually asked me why I thought I should have one, went through all the pros and cons , went through my medical history and came to the conclusion that it was best for me. Just to point out that Bypass patients have a much higher percentage of needing to have an emergency C Section.
I have been quite lucky in my pregnancy so far in that it?s been healthy and somewhat trouble free, no morning sickness , no major cravings etc etc
I don't think he agreed to it based on my anxiety alone I think it was based on ALL factors, my bypass, the ovarian tumour and anxiety etc etc.
I know there will be a few people who will be negative and I will have to ignore those comments because I can?t handle judgemental negative comments. If I was built differently and didn't have the medical history I have I would have a natural birth.
I know others have asked for a C Section and not go it. I was lucky in that I met someone who was very understanding and at least willing to listen to me which I think is the most important factor. Like I said the fact that he actually sat me down and listened to me quietly , wasnt judgemental, rude etc etc really helped and if he had said no then as much as I would have been upset with his approach I would have taken onboard what he said. My partner was with me and agreed that this Obstretician was great ,very fair and level in what he said. We are seeing him again in 6 weeks time and he wants to check that I am doing ok. The first obstretcian I saw couldnt wait to get me out the door. I guess it is down to pot luck who you get to see.
Anyways, I just thought this may comfort others who may be in a similar situation as me,
Jess x