A few thoughts on being banded & pregnant...

Hello fellow bandsters!  And welcome to the 7 new followers I picked up in the last week... wow!

I thought while Liam was napping, and the rest of the family is up in Northern VA at the new American Girl Store for lunch (for Lucia's birthday) that I would put out a post that is a bit more band-related...  I should be napping myself, BUT... I'm not.  (note:  I started this post 5 hours ago... Liam is fussy today!!  First time seeing this side of him...)

I have had a lot of thoughts throughout the pregnancy about this time around, and how it has been the same or different from before I was banded.  When I was pregnant with Lucia, I was close to 265 when I got pregnant, and over 300 at the end.  It was NOT EASY being that heavy and pregnant, but I didn't have any other kids to worry about, so I didn't really know the difference.  I will say now, that I can't imagine being at that weight and dealing with the pregnancy, an existing child, and all the peripheral crap that we were dealing with this time around.  In so many different ways, being banded has changed my life for the better.  Without a doubt, Liam is the best outcome (and kind of unexpected) of being banded.  I had a relatively healthy pregnancy, and ended up with a beautiful baby...  WIN!  Don't get me wrong... losing weight has done so much for me, but honestly I am not sure I would have gotten pregnant if I hadn't lost 80 pounds before hand...

Just for comparison sake, here are 2 pictures... the before and after!!!

Bringing Lucia home, 7 years ago TODAY!!!  We were both so tired and scared!!!

Bringing Liam home on Friday

So, here are some other thoughts on being banded and then pregnant and what is in my future in regard to the band... not in any order - and kind of random so bear with me!

• I still gained weight being pregnant. In fact, I think I gained more this time (about 45-50 pounds?) than last time...   I am still losing the surgery weight if that makes sense.  I think I will end up about 225-230 when I reach my 6 weeks out point.
• My weight gain was all tummy mostly (although I think some of the bad stuff in the next bullet point went to my thighs)...  You could still see my collarbones the day I delivered!  That was a definite NSV for me.
• I fell back into some not-so-good habits while pregnant, because I was unfilled and could eat whatever I wanted too... and I used being pregnant as an excuse to indulge a bit too often...  not a good thing.  Can anyone say milkshakes, cheeseburgers, pasta????  Yum.  (sigh)
• Even though I was unfilled, I still had some restriction and got stuck.  In fact, I almost got stuck on my lunch today (noodles with veggies)... so there was still the band feeling and to some extent, help, on some occasions.  Of course, the band IS still in place - just not filled.
• A lot of medical personnel don't have a clue about what having gastric surgery (of any kind) is or does.  Lots and lots of questions...
• Liam had a habit of kicking my port...kind of grabbing it with his toes toward the end.  I'll be interested to see what shape it is in!
• I am not a born exerciser - and even though I was in a good routine pre-preg, as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I stopped.  Probably not the best decision!
• People actually KNEW I was pregnant this time as opposed to just looking really heavy last time (until month 7).
• Mostly I was able to buy off-the-rack maternity clothes, size XL, instead of having to catalog order plus-size maternity stuff.  Another big win!

There is a lot more to share, but for now I am thinking about the future... here is what it is looking like it is holding for me:

• I go back for my 6 week check-up at the end of July... and hopefully will be given the green light to start exercising again (and hopefully, yeah right, it will cool down outside).
• I go in for my fluoroscopy & fill in early August... before pregnancy, my port was inverted so fills were always a bit of a contortionist act.  I am hoping it isn't any worse and they can fill me up!
• If both go well, that will give me a month before I go back to work to really get back into a routine.
• In the meantime, I need to reacquaint myself with the "golden rules" of being banded:  high protein, no drinking with meals, chewing well, etc...  I've fallen off those wagons!
• I've signed up for the Wicked 10K in Virginia Beach at the end of October which will give me about 12 weeks.  I have no illusions that I will run the whole thing but want to be able to finish comfortably!
• Need to find a few Fall 5K's to ease back into running with...
• We have a wedding in Key West in December that I have a specific dress in mind for... which is going to take some work to get in to!
• And I was just below 200 when I got pregnant, so I would really like to shoot for ringing in 2012 at that same point.  It will take some work. but I have double the reasons now!!!

That's all for now... more to some and a quick shout out to Stephanie & Nikki for both nominating me for the adorable blog award!!!  I will work on paying that forward soon!!!