Celia S.

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Hi, friends!

I am now 22 months post-op from my gastric bypass and while I am still a ways from my goal weight and this journey has been far from perfect, I couldn't ask for much more.

My life is about to become quite hectic again as I start back at school Monday after a year break. My baby boy is now 8 1/2 months old and is crawling everywhere, pulling himself up to standing and walking along the furniture! I'm sure it's only a matter of a couple of months before he'll be off to the races. He's developing such a great personality and is always full of smiles and laughter. His name, Izaak (derivitive of Isaac) means laughter. Fits him well :) Carmyn is also doing good. She is a wonderful big sister and loves her brother so much and is a great help to me, which I appreciate more than I can say.

I am now 17 weeks pregnant with baby #3. We still don't know the sex of the baby. We see our OB next Thursday (8/22) and we'll have the anatomy ultrasound scheduled at that appointment. I'm hoping to be in for that ultrasound as soon as the next day, but we'll see. My morning sickness is now completely gone. The only time I still wrestle with nausea is when I'm dumping on something. I've got slightly more energy, but still in zombie mode considering I still have a baby waking every now and then in the night on top of pregnancy induced insomnia and the complete inability to get comfortable at night. My weight has been the same for the past couple of weeks. I wonder if I'll start gaining now, but I'm down to 204 as of now. Soooo close to ONEderland and it's an exciting thought to see 199 on the scale but if I don't get there right now, I will eventually. Most important thing now is a healthy baby.

This pregnancy is so different from my last. I can't handle a lot of sweets this time and last time I couldn't get enough of them. I have a completely schizophrenic appetite this time around. One day being ravenously hungry and the next having to force food in my face. Although my early pregnancy symptoms were very intense while they lasted, they didn't last as long as they have in my previous pregnancies. This pregnancy seems to be taking FOREVER, though. It seriously feels like I will have been pregnant for two straight years by the time this baby is born, which isn't far from the truth... but oh my it feels like I should be done by now and I'm still not quite even halfway there.

Well, there's my update. Hoping to be more consistent with blogging now that I have internet at home again. Hope you all are well!

Oh... and a recent pic! :) I braved a pixie cut back in May and I love it and am keeping it around for a while. This picture was taken today, so this is my 17 week baby bump at 204 pounds.

Hello, all! It has been a while since I was really active on this site. Been without internet and my computer for a while and just discovered I can do this from my. phone so here I am. A lot has happened in the last 5 months. My baby boy is now 6 months old and is a giant! Lol At his 6 month well child check he weighed in at 18lbs and 26.25in! He's come a long way from 5lb15oz and 18.75in! :) He's rolling all over the place, trying to figure out the crawling thing, and pretty much sitting up on his own. He is also sleeping through the night more often than not which makes me happy *knock on wood* We stopped breast feeding at 2 months old. I had supply issues once again. It was heartbreaking that I was not able to provide that for my baby but I'm better now. As for me, it took FOREVER to finally get back on track. I thought after baby was born and I was done breastfeeding it would be like a switch that I could flip on. I was soooo wrong! After many failed attempts I finally decided to go back to square one: liquids. I told myself I could progress to the next phase when I was decarbed and coukd trust myself around regular food again. I also started the Couch-to-5k program and since have started to love running! :) I spent every month until I got my first post partun period in April freaking out about being pregnant. I was on the minipill for a while after Izaak was born but it started making me psycho crazy like the regular pill so I stopped taking it and we were left with the rhythm method which you can't really use until you have a period and can track your cycles. So in April I downloaded a period tracker app and got to work. Saw that ovulation would occur on or about the 19th of April. James and I avoided an entire week before and after the 19th. When my period didn't show on May 3rd as it should have I got a little nervous. Took a test on the 4th and it was negative. 3 days later when I still didn't have my period I wasn't reassured by the previous negative so I retested. I tested in the afternoon and swore I saw the faintest of lines and decided to retest in the morning. Sure enough, the next morning there was a faint but definite second line. So we've hit another road block in this weight loss journey: baby #3 is due in January! I wasn't thrilled about this at first, but as the shock has worn off I'm getting to that happy/excited place. I'm currently 7.5 weeks pregnant. Morning sickness is in full force and I am exhausted! As for my weight, I had hovered right around 226-230 since Izaak was born. In the week before I found out I was pregnant I dropped down to 220 and I'm currently right around 215. So as with my other pregnancies, this one has caused me to lose weight in the beginning. Not that it's how I want things to play out, but if this keeps up I may just be in Onederland after I have this kid! So that's. What's been going on with me. Hope everyone of my OH family are well. God bless!

This last month has been an adventure and a blessing, but I can say we're all adjusting well to being a family of four. Breast feeding has been challenging  but enjoyable. I've had to supplement with formula because Izaak was very slow to start gaining weight. He was 5lb 15oz at birth, 5lb 7.5oz at 4 days old, and at 13 days old was 5lb 5oz when they're supposed to be back to birth weight by 2 weeks. Thankfully after starting supplementation he started gaining. From 13 days old to 18 days old he gained a whopping 11 ounces and is now 7lb 1oz. He's getting big already *tear*.

Big sister Carmyn loves her baby brother so much she would smother him if I didn't stop her from doing so. That makes me happy. Izaak isn't yet on a good sleep pattern, but hoping that starts happening soon.

I still think he might end up with blue eyes. He's my handsome boy.

I'm doing great. Was pretty much fully recovered from labor and delivery a week afterward. I lost nearly 20 pounds after delivery and am now down to 226 pounds. Been stalled between 223 and 226 for a couple of weeks, though, so that's kind of frustrating. I desperately want to get back to the grind of losing weight, but I can't go back to cutting/burning a ton of calories until after I'm done breast feeding. I really want to see onederland and get to goal, but I feel like I've got to give up breastfeeding to accomplish this. Even considering giving it up makes me feel selfish and sad because I do love it even though it's not his exclusive source of nutrition. Aside from all of this, though, I am now in a size 16 jeans/legging and 14/16 shirt. I'm still the smallest I've ever been in my life. Just wish I felt like it. I'm still struggling with the OFG (Old Fat Girl) inside of me who's screaming at me how fat I still am...

Here's my handsome boy at one month old:

And my latest body shot:

My water broke yesterday AM. I was tossing and turning in bed all night starting at about 230am. Well, at about 630am I tossed once again but felt a gush of fluid when I did. Immediately I thought "Uh... did I just pee myself or was that my water?" LOL I felt down below and the fluid felt kind of slimy. I also gave it a sniff (sorry if that's TMI) and it didn't smell like urine. I went to the bathroom, cleaned myself up and laid back down for a little bit to see if I continued to leak anymore fluid. After a while I felt down there again and was really wet without having had any more gushes. So I decided to go to L&D to get it checked out.

Funny enough, as I was in the car on my way to the hospital, a L&D nurse was calling me asking if I was going to show up for my csection. Apparently they never got the message that that was cancelled even though I told hospital registration that was the case Wednesday when they called to pre-register me. I told her that I was not coming in for a csection but was incidentally on my way in anyhow because I thought my water had broken.

They took me to a triage room, asked me all the questions, then did a cervical check and sterile speculum exam (no lube - OMG painful!) and confirmed that my membranes had indeed ruptured. I was only at 1cm and 50% effaced, so I had a ways to go. I was admitted and taken to my birthing room. They didn't give me too much time for contractions to start on their own and start making progress because they like to deliver within 24 hours of rupture to avoid additional risk of infection. I got to walk around for a bit and contractions were coming on their own, but not close together at all and they weren't very strong. I hadn't made any progress in 4 hours so they started me on pitocin. I told them I would take my pitocin with a side of epidural because I've been down that road before and know it's the devil's juice lol.

By the time I got my epi and started on pitocin, it was close to noon. I progressed quickly from there. Was at a 2 after about an hour, a 3 an hour later. The little booger still wasn't engaged in my pelvis, though, and had a bulging forebag that had not ruptured. They were concerned about cord prolapse if the forebag ruptured, so I started to fear ending up having a csection after all. Well, 45 minutes later Izaak erased that worry by finally being engaged and I had jumped to 6cm! Went super fast from there. Baby started having decels with my contractions which started to worry me again. I pleaded with him to straighten up and not make me get a csection after everything. Started feeling pressure and some of the really hard contractions soon after that. They checked me again and I was a "stretchy 8." That's when they called my doctor. Felt like it took him forever to get there even though his office is literally 5 blocks away. I was complete before he arrived and had to wait for him to get dressed in scrubs. They ended up having to cut open the forebag before I pushed since it never did rupture on its own but was literally crowning out of me. After the bag was ruptured and fluid all cleared, doc told me to push. I gave a feeble first attempt. Realized halfway through that my chin wasn't to my chest and was wondering if I was even pushing effectively, so I stopped that first push short, but when I looked up to start going again, realized my boy was already out! LOL

No one could believe how quickly he came! Izaak James was born at 4:23pm 11/30/12. He weighed 5lb 15oz and is 18 3/4 inches long. Much smaller than I was anticipating, but he's healthy and SUUUUUPER adorbs and that's all that matters :)

Here's a picture of my little love...

Hey folks! I'll be 39 weeks pregnant tomorrow and I was SUPPOSED to be having a baby this Friday, BUT...

He waited til the last minute, but baby Izaak has finally decided to turn head-down. So my c-section for this Friday has been cancelled, which is a relief, and I'm back to waiting for this little guy to decide it's time to be born, which is a bit of a bummer. haha

Here's hoping he's not as stubborn in deciding to make his debut as he was in deciding to turn! I'm so tired of being pregnant!

 

Wow! I guess it's about time for an update, eh? I can't believe the last time I updated was 6.5 weeks ago! Yikes!

A lot has gone on since the last I wrote. I had a growth scan at 30 weeks and Izaak's growth continues to be on track. It was also discovered at that ultrasound, though, that my baby boy was breech. So I had another ultrasound at 34 weeks to check his presentation again. They took measurements again and growth still on track. I'm so happy that he's doing great in the growth department and that all my hard work and taking it easy on exercise is paying off. I'm glad he's getting what he needs. BUT he was still breech at 34 weeks. Stubborn like his daddy, I guess. So at my 36 week appointment, my doctor (he's a family practitioner) sent a referral for me to see another OB to discuss attempting to turn the baby and/or a cesarean delivery.

I saw the new OB on Monday, Nov. 12 and discussed our options. I have been researching ECV (trying to turn baby from outside) and haven't loved what I had read about it. While the OB made me feel a little better about the procedure, it still wasn't enough to convince me to go through with it. I decided to go ahead and schedule a cesarean delivery. Baby boy still has a chance of turning head down on his own, so we will have an ultrasound on Monday, November 26th to check his presentation one last time before we go through with the c-section. C-section is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 30th at 7:30am! That's only 13 days from now! :)

I'm so very excited to meet our son and so ready to be done with pregnancy now, but I'm nervous about the delivery, the extended recovery, and the extra risk of infection presented by my excess skin. I'm also getting nervous about having two kids. Hoping I can love my little boy as much as I love my princess. Hoping that my daughter doesn't resent the baby or feel left out. There's so much going through my head that it hasn't quite fully sunk in that I'm going to have another baby soon!

As for my weight, I am still well under pre-pregnancy weight. My weight is continuously fluctuating between 240-245. First day of my last cycle, I was 265. I can't wait to see how 'skinny' I'm going to be after this little bean is here and the baby weight comes off! Looking forward to dropping 12-20 pounds essentially overnight! Looking forward to getting back to exercise - I probably won't worry too much about changing my diet radically until I see how breast feeding goes. I desperately want to be successful at breast feeding this baby since I didn't have much luck with my daughter. But at least I can exercise and burn off some of the extra calories I'll still be taking in.

We are completely prepared for this boy to make his grand entrance. Now it's just a waiting game... :) Can't wait to update with pictures of my little man, but I'll leave you with my most recent belly shot taken last Tuesday at 37 weeks.

T-minus 63 days until this baby is due to greet the world! I'm getting excited for a number of reasons. First, a new blessing for me to love and cherish. Second, pregnancy is starting to get old. Third, I can't wait to see how 'skinny' I'll be after he's here!

I'm officially back to losing weight. Guess I just can't keep up with baby boy's caloric demands now that he's growing so quickly. I'm not complaining too much. I know he's growing like he should which is the most important thing.

Here's hoping the next 9 weeks go by quickly!!!! :D

Here's the baby bump at 31 weeks...

Hello, friends!

I'm now 28 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I'm finally in the last trimester and just a little more than 11.5 weeks to go! WOW!

I just wanted to update on how my last checkup with my doctor went. Everything looks really good. Doctor had one heck of a time getting baby's heartbeat, but only because my little champ was squirming around so much. Doc would get the heartbeat for half a second and Izaak would move away, he'd find it again, and Izaak would move again. LOL At one point, my baby boy kicked the doppler probe straight on as if he was protesting it jabbing him. Doc did finally pin the heartbeat down for a few seconds and it sounded great. Still in the 140's as it has been pretty much the whole time. Doc says I'm measuring good, but did agree that we'll set up a growth ultrasound after my next appointment which is on the 24th. I'll be seeing him every two weeks now which is another sign that the time is drawing near to when I'll get to meet my little boy!

I also did my modified glucose tolerance  testing to check for Gestational Diabetes. In a normal GTT, you go in fasting, they draw a vial of blood to get your baseline glucose levels, then they have you drink 8oz of a VERY sugary drink - something like 50g of sugar in the small bottle and then they take your blood again an hour later to see how your blood sugar reacts. This is why my doctor and I came up with a modified plan of action. I was certain that the drink would have caused me to dump so badly I'd be wishing death upon myself. After having done the modified plan, I'm even more confident that would have been true. So in my modified test, I was not required to be fasting, but they still took a vial of blood to get my baseline levels and they also checked my A1C to see what my sugars have been doing over the last 3 months. Afterward, I ate a candy bar. I picked a Milky Way Midnight because dark chocolate is much less sickeneningly sweet than milk chocolate. The candy bar had 29g of sugar. Almost half of what the glucose drink is and it still made me feel like crud. I had my blood drawn an hour after finishing the candy bar and that was that.

GOOD NEWS! I called my doctor on Monday to see how the test results looked. I was very curious because even though I've had RNY and it's a cure for Type II diabetes, I wasn't sure if it would affect my likelihood of contracting Gestational Diabetes. I was borderline diabetic with my first pregnancy, so I just wasn't sure how it was going to play out. Well - turns out my glucose tolerance was NORMAL! Yay! No GD!!!! No 3 hour GTT needed! I'm so happy that I do not have to deal with the ONE pregnancy complication that I had during my first pregnancy. :)

On another note, I am having a hard time with school. As I said in my last post, all of my classes seem to be pretty "easy" and that holds true. However, I have NO energy! I'm drained from pregnancy, from motherhood, keeping up with my domestic duties, keeping up with all my appointments (which are now even more frequent), and keeping up with school work. I have also been sick the last week which I'm sure hasn't helped, but it has been extremely difficult to get out of bed and go to class and I am lacking focus in the classes I do attend because I'm just so tired. So I've been in contact with the department of student services and asking what my best options are. If I can do so without owing the school or the government a whole bunch of money right away, I'm pretty sure I'll be making a full withdraw from this semester and returning next semester after baby is born - though I'm certain I'll do all online classes next semester (or as many as I can).

Well, that's my update. I'll be back after our next ultrasound to share pics and give an update - unless something important comes up before then.

Love you all!

I can't believe I've already made it to 27 weeks!!! Yikes! It's going by so fast! :)

School is in full swing. I'm getting into all of my classes and all seem like they'll be pretty "easy" this semester which is exactly what I need. I'm back to battling with the pregnancy exhaustion again. It revisited around 24.5 weeks and hasn't let up since. I've resigned myself to this being the way it'll be until after Izaak is here and on a regular sleeping schedule (and who knows when that'll be).

My baby boy is still super active, which I love most of the time, but some of his jabs and kicks are starting to hurt a little! LOL A small price to pay, I suppose, for a constant reminder that he's doing well in there. My weight climbed steadily for 5 weeks in a row, but I'm back to losing this week, so I'm most definitely going to be speaking to my doctor about having a growth ultrasound done (hopefully soon) to check on baby boy's size. Hopefully he's growing like he should. My next checkup is on Thursday and I'll be doing my revised GTT then. I will go in and have my blood drawn downstairs before my appointment, eat something right afterward (I don't have to be fasting for the initial blood draw), and then have my blood drawn again an hour later. My doc will be looking both at my sugars in reaction to eating something and my A1C. I'm certain the drink will make me incredibly sick, so I'm not even going to go there.

My belly is really starting to pop now. I'm still doubtful that I'll have a perfectly round pregnant belly even at the end of these 40 weeks, but I do look more and more pregnant every week which makes me happy. And who knows. I might get pretty darn close to that "perfect" belly. Here's this weeks' pic:

Hi folks! I can't believe I'm nearly 24 weeks pregnant! The rest of this pregnancy is going to zoom by!

So I'm finally starting to gain weight, which is a good thing for baby, but really difficult for me to handle. I lost 35 pounds in the first 21 weeks of my pregnancy and have gained back almost 7 in the last three weeks, so I'm still at a negative gain for the whole pregnancy, but it's so hard to see the scale go up and even harder to force myself to be okay with it. I've been worried about baby's growth, but the weight gain plus the fact that my uterus was measuring a week ahead at my last appointment brings me comfort that he's doing well in that department. I just feel so conflicted because I'm both comforted and bothered by the weight loss! How is that???

Everything else is going good. I feel pretty good. Already having problems sleeping, so I don't have a whole lot of energy throughout the day, but it's better than it was in the first trimester. The nausea is completely gone aside from some random bouts that are usually completely my fault through either eating too much or too fast or eating junk that I know will make me feel sick. I'm starting in on the nesting stuff, but trying to take it easy at the same time. Starting to feel a little uncomfortable and get a little impatient for December to be here. But at the same time I have so much going on starting soon that I wish time would slow down a little bit. School starts in a little more than a week and I'm stressing about how things are going to work out with finals. If my baby boy decides to come before his due date that will be convenient because I wouldn't have to worry then about missing anything too important and would be back in school in a few days time. Hopefully that stress will go away once I have a chance to talk to my instructors and work on a plan with them. September will bring our baby shower, October is our daughter's birthday and Halloween, November brings Thanksgiving and my due date is only 2 weeks from then! Yikes!

Mr. Izaak moves ALL THE TIME and is so very strong! I'm not sure if it's more attributable to my weight loss or to our little guy's strength, but even hubby has been able to feel baby moving from the outside since about 18 weeks. I can also already see some of his jabs and kicks to my tummy. I love feeling him move every day. He's letting me know he's thriving in there :)

For those of you wondering what my eating/exercise plan is: here you go. I eat whenever I'm hungry. I do not pause to think about whether or not it's head hunger or physical hunger I'm feeling. I just eat. I try to focus mainly on healthy foods, but I have not deprived myself of many of my unhealthy cravings. My exercise consists of the little walking I do on campus/in the grocery store/etc. I figure I'm working so hard to get enough calories in for me and my baby it absolutely doesn't make sense to go burning them off. If I start gaining too much too fast, I'll make adjustments and add in a little more exercise, but will only do so if my doctor starts to be concerned with my weight. Other than that, the WLS "diet" and exercise can resume after baby is here and healthy. I do have to say I miss going to the gym SO MUCH. I seriously cannot wait to get back to it!

That's my update. Not a whole lot different going on since I wrote last. Here's a comparison picture of my baby bump from 8 weeks to 23 weeks. I am starting to definitely see and feel a difference but at the same time I think I'm starting to see the 'skinny' me underneath the bump, which is exciting :)