Starting Again ...

Ahnika is now just over 2 months old and I am struggling with my weight.  I lost almost all of my pregnancy weight and then gained some back.  I haven't been getting out to walk nearly as much as I wanted, and sadly my treadmill is buried yet again.  I have also been eating the wrong types of food as well as the wrong quantity so as of Monday I am back on track!

I have started logging my food again, and I made sure I tailored the program (MyFitnessPal) to be what they suggested at the WeightLoss Clinic. I am really hoping to get back on track because I was sneaking closer and closer to that 300lb mark again and it made me sad and scared.

I celebrated my first Mother's Day on Sunday and that is what really got me thinking about making the changes to get back on track.  I don't want my little girl to ever have this worry, I want her to see what a healthy lifestyle is from day one and if I don't make sure I make the changes back to the healthy life style I will not only be hurting myself but her as well.

I vow to be a healthier woman next Mother's Day not just for me but for my gorgeous little girl!

Introducing Ahnika Mae Adams!!

Now that I have a few minutes to sit down I would like to introduce my new little girl Ahnika Mae.  Her birth story was definitely not one I ever thought I would experience but here it is.

On Wednesday March 5 I was scheduled for a gel induction at 8:30am so Colin and I got to the hospital at 8am and I was feeling no difference than my last doctors appointment which was March 3.  At the last doctors appointment I was 1cm dilated but the baby had actually moved back up instead of down. 

At the hospital on March 5 I got checked right away and was told I actually dilated to 3cm and the baby had dropped for sure. They said let's forget the gel and instead start pitocin drip. I was surprised that we would go to that right away mainly because I had my self worked up to get gelled and then have 6hours before anything else was decided.  At 10am they started me an the drip and almost immediately I started to feel the pressure of the first contractions, however, they were definitely not hard to deal with at all.  They were coming regularly  but I was able to talk through them all without any real issue.  Sadly because I was on the drip I was also hooked up to monitors all the time and unable to do anything except stay in bed.  By noon my contractions were one right on top of the other without much of a break to be seen.  But the nurses were not happy with how the read out looked and checked me.  I hadn't dilated any further.  They left me on the drip for another 2 hours and the doctor showed up and said she didn't like the look of the read outs either and although I was contracting regularly our little miss was not tolerating them very well.   

She went ahead and decided to break my water. I was so shocked at the drastic change in my contractions.  They went from pressure only and even though it was constant I was tolerating it to constant pain.  I was getting no breaks at all and the pain just kept getting worse and worse.  At 3:30 the doctor came back, checked and still didn't like the look of the baby's readout nor the fact that I still hadn't dilated any further so said she was sorry but we would have to start the process of a c-section for the safety of myself and the baby.

By 4:50pm I was in the OR with my spinal being put in.  I was so relieved to not feel the contractions any more I ended up getting pretty emotional.  DH was brought in and he sat down and within 5 minutes miss Ahnika Mae was born.  I didn't even realize what was happening until they brought her over all bundled up.  The precious look on my husbands face when he looked at our beautiful little girl was worth everything I had been through that day. 

Although we did not expect the c-section it was definitely well worth it.  I did not have a traditional section though because I have had previous surgeries.  So instead of the horizontal incision done I was given a vertical incision and I have to say I have had almost ZERO pain from it. I would have been released from the hospital on Saturday, however, our little miss had a slight case of jaundice so we were not discharged until Sunday March 9.

So I am finally home with my amazing family. Ahnika Mae was born at 5:20pm March 5th weighing 7lbs 11.8oz and measuring 20 inches long.  She did lose 10oz of weight while in the hospital but she is slowly going back up.  WE LOVE HER TO PIECES!!!

Tomorrow is my DUE date

Well as of tomorrow I will be 40 weeks pregnant and I am so ready to meet this little girl.  Sadly she doesn't seem very ready to come out and greet the world.  I am not really having any signs of labor other than a few twinges here and there ... Absolutely nothing consistent by any means.  

I think I can say that I am ready for her though.  Her room is 99.9% done and will be 100% done by the end of the night. Only thing left to get/put up is her curtains and the cushions on the rocking chair.  I am getting them hand made by a friend of mine and will be picking them up tonight.

One end of her room is going to be the nursery itself with her bed and clothing and the other end is for now a changing area but as she grows she will have a play room.  For the first little bit though she will be sleeping in our room in the playpen.

I am so ready to see my little girls face even though I'm terrified of the labor process itself lol

My doctor is hoping I go into labor naturally, however, just in case she has scheduled me for an induction on Wednesday, March 5th.  So if by chance I do not go into labor this week/weekend I am to go back for one final check up on March 3 and then if I'm still not in labor I am to call Labor and Delivery on Wednesday the 5 to be sure there is a bed available and then head in for 8:30am.  

I have said since I found out I was pregnant that even though my due date is Feb 26 I don't expect to see this little girl until March 1 and I'm sticking to that!! I hope the next time I post on here she will be here :-)

Once she is here I am going to get back to my weight loss blog with some updates on Ahnika too of course.  But I really can't wait to get back to my journey of becoming a better me. .. It will only help me be there for my little girl for the rest of our lives!!!

30 Days till Due Date

I can not get over how quick this pregnancy has gone.  I have just 30 days left till my due date. I have had such an easy pregnancy with no sickness, no real discomfort until the last few weeks and no medical issues (to date) I do however have one thing that is annoying me, and that is that my doctor is adamant that me being over weight is going to cause me to have gestational diabetes.

Some back history to help explain why I'm so frustrated with this.

I have been checked for normal diabetes my entire life.  Each time they do a blood draw (A1C) my 14 day average for blood sugar levels comes back as 5.1 which is near perfect.  Right at my very first doctors appointment Dr Abel told me to go on Metformin 3 times a day to help regulate my blood sugars (without ever testing me) I did what she asked for a few weeks but noticed if I took all 3 I would get extremely light headed by mid/late afternoon and after getting my blood sugars tested by a friend who is diabetic found out my sugars were dropping too low.  So I cut myself back to 2 a day and still found that they were dropping too low. I slowly stopped taking the Metformin all together and felt amazing.

I was sent for the first gestational diabetes test at 28 weeks and my levels came back at only 4.6 which is fantastic seeing as the cut off is normally 7.8 before you are sent for the longer test so I was very excited to see I was doing fine even without the Metformin.

Sadly at my last appointment (35 weeks) Dr Abel said she wanted me to be sent for the second, longer, glucose tolerance test which is 2hrs in length because she thinks I might have developed Gestational Diabetes late in the pregnancy.   Now she says this without ever doing any other blood tests, just by measuring the size of the baby and my being  over weight in general.  (Also note I had only gained 30lbs by my 35th week of pregnancy which is fantastic seeing as I started out overweight)

I am very frustrated with people stereotyping me because of my weight.  I am in good health 99% of the time.  The medical issues I do have do not have ANYTHING to do with being over weight.  They are issues that would be there whether I was ideal weight or not.

So because of this "stereotyping" I am now heading to get an Ultrasound done tomorrow to see how big Miss Ahnika is getting as well as the 2hr Blood Glucose tolerance test on Wed morning.

S**T just got real ... lol

For about a week or so I have been feeling little tiny flutters going on in my lower abdomen but on Sunday evening some of them turned into more distinct kicks/punches.  I was lying in bed next to Colin and he was snoring away (as usual) and from my stomach all I could feel were little punches/kicks and they kept going as long as he was snoring but the second he stopped so did the punches/kicks.  I was roaring but I knew Colin couldn't feel them so I felt like a fool laying there laughing at something only I could feel.

I notice now if Colin is talking I start to feel more and more movements. I love it and just can't wait for him to feel them as well.

We had our anatomy ultrasound yesterday but I was very upset with it.  My ultrasound tech asked me 2 questions then for the next 45 minutes said absolutely nothing to me.  Not even you have a healthy looking baby or anything like that. NOTHING ... but she did hurt me badly by having to push so hard (I assume because of my weight)

When she was all finished she said she couldn't get a few pictures because the baby was being stubborn. She said she needed to get more pictures of the heart because she was only getting the spine each time (the baby was facing my back and didn't want his/her picture taken at all). She also said she needed a good profile shot but couldn't get one.  She left and got Colin and when he came him I spoke to him and she started to show us a few things and said "and now the baby moves" and we got ONE nice profile shot because our little bean heard his/her daddy talking I swear. 

 

Seeing our little munchkin makes it feel more real.  I'm just hoping to find out the sex in the next few weeks :D

Baby Info ... More to Come Next Week

I've been MIA for a while due to this pregnancy and my inability to do much more than get up, go to work, go home and sleep for the last 16 weeks.

I am 19w today and almost to the half way point.  I have to say I have been extremely lucky to date with this pregnancy. I have not had any morning sickness, I have not really had any issues other than being extremely tired.  That was until Sunday when I came down with a head to toe rash due to an allergic reaction.  I tried on some second hand maternity clothing I purchased before washing it. It was my own stupidity as I could smell the person's detergent on the clothing. I have since recovered thankfully because I was pretty sure I was ready to rip my skin off.

 I was very unprepared to pop so suddenly.  I went from being just flabby LOL to having a hard round stomach.







I have an ultrasound on October 8 and I can't wait to get some pictures of our little BandBaby.  I am also starting to feel some small flutters/kicks.  I am assuming that due to my weight before getting pregnant it will take longer for me to actually feel our little ones kicks and even longer for poor Colin to feel them.

I started out at 279lbs and I am hoping not to gain too much.  As of last week I had only gone up to 286lbs which was only a 7lb gain.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep a healthy weight but I'm sure trying!

A New Life Being Added ....

Well I haven't posted in a while because I have been keeping a SECRET. 

I didn't want everyone to know why I wasn't really losing any weight the last little bit, nor why I gained a pound here and there. But I am going to say now!

Colin and I are expecting our first bundle of joy in just 7 short months.

Thanks to some amazing life changes, losing close to 85lbs, we were surprised to find out on June 26th that we were pregnant.  It isn't that we weren't trying and it was a surprise that way, it was that I have been told since before we even got married that I might never conceive on my own due to some medical issues I had.  Thankfully the surgery has helped me change my life so much that those medical issues seem to have somewhat corrected themselves. Enough that ...

WE ARE PREGNANT!!

Our Expected Due Date is February 26, 2014, however, I will be going for a dating ultrasound sometime in the next week or so and that might get changed, although I doubt it.

So life is changing for me, however, for the next few months I won't be talking about weight loss I will probably annoy everyone with baby news instead.