A year ago…

It is unbelievable to me that one year ago today, I was on the phone with a case manager from my insurance company and she gave me verbal approval for my Lap Band.  I never imagined what course that call was setting me on. 

I am less than a month from my bandiversary.  It is the best thing I’ve ever done.  It’s amazing how you can look back and see the steps that led you to where you are and you realize that even if it wasn’t what you planned, it is right where you should be.  That’s how I feel right now.  I never imagined I could lose this weight or that I’d ever have another baby. 

I can’t wait until this baby is here.  I want to see his/her little face and fall in love like I did with Christian and Hailey.  I mean, I love the baby now, but the moment you see your baby for the first time is like no other.  I can’t wait for that.  I’m also looking forward to losing the rest of the weight and getting to goal.  June can’t come fast enough.

16 week appointment

I had my 16 week prenatal appointment yesterday.  It was uneventful.  I only gained 1 lb, so Dr. S was pleased.  I think if I can manage to only gain 1-2 lbs every 2 weeks for the rest of the pregnancy, I’ll be ok.  That will come out to about 20 lbs for the duration.

He did a quick ultrasound and baby looks good.  We heard the heartbeat on the u/s machine.  He tried to check the gender, but baby was being shy and had his/her legs tightly closed.  We go for our level II ultrasound at the hospital on February 4th, so we should find out then.

I also met with the bariatric nutritionist that works with Dr. M.  She gave me some ideas for healthy filling snacks, which has become my biggest problem lately.  I’m ok with meals and we’ve been eating out way less than we were during the holidays.  Snacks are an issue because my old choices aren’t cutting it anymore.  I used to be able to snack on a string cheese or sugar free pudding and now, there’s no way that will fill me up.  So I find myself eating all of the above, plus some.  She recommended I eat between 1500-1800 calories per day for the rest of the pregnancy, which seems on the low end to me.  I don’t know that I could even maintain my weight with that.  Dr. S is ok with me not gaining or even losing, but I hear too many stories about IUGR in post-WLS moms (granted those are mostly gastric bypass patients) that it worries me to lose weight.  I’d be happy to maintain where I’m at.  I’ve had two healthy children with minimal weight gain (#1=19 lbs, #2=0 lbs) so I know that isn’t much of an issue.  I guess I’ll just follow what my body says and see what happens.  I do feel like a lot of my hunger is coming back under control right now and that makes me happy.

We have finally agreed on names!  Eric has awful taste in names LOL.  With the other two, it has been me coming up with names and him saying yes or no basically.  So, unless I change my mind (which I’ve been known to do–Christian was Chase and Hailey was Kaitlyn right up until the day before our ultrasounds with them LOL), if it is a boy, his name will be Jackson Liam (my grandpa is John, Eric’s grandpa is Liam so we are indirectly honoring them).  If it is a girl, well there are two possibilities.  Since the baby is due in June and Eric’s grandma’s middle name is June (also born in June), if the baby actually comes IN June, her name will be Sydney June.  If she’s born before or after June (let’s hope NEITHER of those things happen!), she will be Sydney Alexis.  I don’t like the idea of using a month name for a baby not born in that month (no offense to anybody that has a name like that! LOL).

This has really been a pretty easy pregnancy so far.  I have some minor discomforts and I’m really tired most of the time, but I haven’t had any major issues.  I didn’t even have morning sickness.  I did have some slight queasiness between weeks 7-9, but that was it.  I need to get more sleep and that might ease my exhaustion.  One problem is that I’m tired all day so when I get home, I end up falling asleep for about 30 minutes-an hour and then I can’t sleep at a decent bedtime.  I keep trying not to do that, but I just can’t help it.  We’ve all been out of our routine since the kids were out of school for two weeks for their winter break, so I think as I try to get them on a better schedule, I’m going to work on that for myself.

Belly pic

I have been a bad blogger lately.  I haven’t had much to say.  I’m struggling with weight issues (as in, having a really hard time dealing with gaining, even if it is for a good cause) and things have been mostly quiet on the baby front. 

I’m 16 weeks today and all is well.  I go back to Dr. S next week.  Last week, I’d only gained 1 lb in 2 weeks, so that was good.  I’m working really hard on making better food choices, but my hunger is crazy and Dr. M will not even consider a fill.  He said that the volume of food isn’t a problem, my choices are the problem.  Well that’s easy for him to say when he isn’t the one who is freaking starving out of nowhere, with two kids and a husband to deal with, working full time, and absolutely no energy for anything.  Grrr.  Anyway…

I wanted to share my first belly pic, taken a couple of days ago.  I think I’m actually starting to look a little preggo, though nobody else seems to be noticing.  My belly is way bigger than it was before I got pregnant, but I just kind of noticed it popping out in the last week or so.