Tuesday, June 29, 2010

In Desperate Need of a Partial Unfill!

When I found out I was pregnant, I did a bunch of research online and discovered that a good percentage of women are able to maintain their fill level throughout their pregnancy. This was surprising to me as all of the literature I had previously read suggested that if one became pregnant, they'd immediately do a complete band unfill. Once I found out that it was possible to hold on to a fill, I became committed to trying - namely because I was certain I'd be one of those women who gained an ungodly amount of weight during pregnancy, which could be disastrous for the baby's health, for my health, and for the weight loss progress I had already made.

Because I still fall into the "obese" category (even after my significant weight loss since being banded), the medical recommendation is to gain only 15 or so pounds during the entire pregnancy. I was quite certain I couldn't keep the gain that low without the aid of my band.

I called my lap band doctor's office to let them know I was pregnant and to see what they would have to say about my remaining filled. They basically told me that it was my choice and that as long as I was able to get the necessary nutrition to support the pregnancy, it was fine to keep my fill. I was thrilled. They also told me that if I found I needed an unfill, just to let them know and they'd slip me in for a quick appointment.

This week, I decided it was unfill time. I was getting progressively tighter and it had reached a point of absurdity. Solids were becoming increasingly challenging to get down and I was spending more and more time at each meal staring at my full plate and wishing it would just disappear. Dreading meals - now that's another new experience I can chalk up to the lap band! During the night, if I drank water it would get "held up" and then uncomfortably gurgle through the band after a minute or two. And I was experiencing an increasing frequency of sudden, uncontrollable spewing episodes - which are a big no-no with the band as it can cause slippage. Incidentally, they're also a big no-no if you plan to eat anywhere near the vicinity of other people.

Last night, just as I was about to go to bed, I saw a container of dried apricots on the table and decided to eat one. Very bad idea. Despite the fact that I had chewed it well, it got mercilessly stuck and was terribly uncomfortable for a long time. It didn't seem to be moving anywhere - just sitting right there on my band causing me pain. Although I know better, I took a couple of sips of water in the hopes of lubricating it or helping it on its way. Another bad idea. A minute later, the water came shooting back up in geyser form, but the apricot still did not budge. (Someday I'll do a post on the graphic nature of these liquid geysers - I'd never experienced one before getting banded.)

GeekBoy suggested I get in bed, but sit up to help the apricot pass into my stomach. I must've sat there for 20 minutes feeling awful. I think he felt bad for me as he was trying to comfort me by snuggling and stroking my leg, but one thing led to another and he started getting a little frisky, but I was really not feeling it. My response: "You might want to reconsider as there's a good chance that I'm about to spew." I guess that's one surefire way to ruin the moment! He just looked at me dumbfounded - with a mixture of fear, amusement, and complete bewilderment on his face. Bless his heart. Surprisingly, he didn't seem grossed out at all. Poor chap - but I suppose he'd better get used to painfully unsexy moments if he's going to be attending the birth!

I'm Officially "High Risk". Oh Joy.

This past Friday, I called the OB's office at the suggestion of my nutritionist to read them my blood sugar #s. I'd been tracking the numbers for four days which provided a pretty decent picture of the range of my readings. I left a message with a nurse who said she'd talk to a doctor and get back to me, but I never heard anything back. I called again on Monday to make sure the message had gotten through to someone and was told that the doctors had decided that I should be transferred to the "high risk" OB group. Can't they come up with a more delicate term that would be less alarming to us pregnant emotional women??? I'm happy that I'll be getting the extra attention and monitoring that I need to ensure the best outcomes for my baby, but I'm a bit freaked out as well as I don't know how concerned I should be about everything (or not).

The high risk OB scheduler gave me a call in the afternoon to let me know that my previously scheduled appointments with the "regular" OB group had been canceled and that they wanted to see me in the "high risk" clinic. Fair enough. I figured they'd bring me in later that week or early the next for an assessment and probably to put me on meds to bring my sugars down. Instead, she proposed a date at the end of July! July hasn't even started yet. We're still in June. The date she proposed was two weeks BEYOND my next scheduled OB appointment with the regular OB. Trying to disguise my panic and confusion, I managed to ask, "Uh, don't they want me to come in soon so they can monitor my situation? I've got to believe that they're at least a little alarmed if I've been switched over to the high risk group." Her response, "They're not too concerned about your case." OK... I guess I was still giving off somewhat tense vibes as she agreed to search her schedule again. She came up with another date which was just slightly sooner, but I told her I'd take it. Apparently, they're going to do an ultrasound followed by a regular appointment. So I guess I'll just keep monitoring my sugars and hoping for the best in the interim. It really is fairly disconcerting not knowing how worried I should or shouldn't be about everything.

Weight Gain (or Not)

Because I still fall into the "obese" category, the medical recommendation is for me to gain 15 pounds or fewer in total during the pregnancy. The recommendation for an average-sized woman would be expected to gain from around 25 to 35 pounds.

By my best estimate, I actually got pregnant weighing around 211 pounds, but I didn't actually figure out that I was pregnant until I was down to about 204. It's not unusual for women to lose a few pounds during the first trimester due to morning sickness (which I didn't experience), but I don't think a seven pound drop during the first month is considered anywhere near normal.

I'm now into my 16th week and weigh in at 202. I've been holding steady close to this weight for the past 2 1/2 months or so. I'm not making any special efforts to maintain this weight, it's just what's happening. It's somewhat unclear to me whether it's problematic if I'm not gaining now that I'm into the second trimester, but my nutritionist and former OB haven't expressed any concerns yet. The nutritionist just said (in no uncertain terms) that I should not be losing any weight right now (which I'm not).

I'm anxious to find out about the baby's growth at the ultrasound that is coming up in a couple of weeks. Until then, I'm concentrating on getting in the recommended daily carbs and calories and working on maintaining as healthy a diet as I can. I'm reassured by the idea that the baby will take what it needs nutritionally from the mother if its needs aren't being met - so hopefully it's not being adversely affected by my weight holding steady. Gosh - there's so much for one to worry about during a pregnancy! And then they tell you to keep your stress levels down...

Blood Sugar Monitoring

My mother is diabetic and always made a big deal out of how horrible it was to have to be constantly poking her fingers to monitor her glucose levels. For that reason, I was pretty fearful about the whole monitoring thing when I got started. However, I've found that the finger poking really isn't a big deal at all for me. It doesn't really hurt and the pokes seem to heal up more or less immediately.

Learning how my blood sugar responds to different foods and different times of day has been an interesting experiment. For example, my numbers always seem to be higher than desired first thing in the morning and after dinner (if I don't take my walk). However, they are generally completely within range from breakfast to dinner time, provided I don't go overboard with the simple carbohydrates. Also, I've found that when I feel physical hunger, it corresponds directly to fairly low blood sugar readings. The hunger is real - rather than in my head.

According to the nutritionist, my target #s are as follows:

Waking: <90 (I've never been under 100 since I started monitoring)
One hour after breakfast, lunch, or dinner: <140
Two hours after breakfast, lunch, or dinner: <120


One band-related question that came up in my discussion with the diabetes nurse educator and the nutritionist was when, exactly, one is to begin measuring the "hour after a meal". Does the clock start ticking with the first bite or the last? As a bandster, the time span between that first and last bite of a meal, in my experience, is often between 30 and 60 minutes.

Amusingly, neither could definitively answer the question, but they suggested I go ahead an measure my time from the last bite. The other funny thing they pointed out was that if I took an hour to eat a meal and then waited an hour after to measure my blood sugar, I'd almost be ready to start in on my next meal or snack as I'm supposed to be eating six times a day.

Meeting with Nutritionist



I went in to meet with the diabetes educator and nutritionist as instructed. First, the educator went over the basics of gestational diabetes with me and handed me a fancy little booklet packed with info and tips. One of the first things I told her was that I hoped to control my sugars with diet and exercise. She stopped short of snickering, but were we in a less professional setting, I'm sure I would have heard uproarious laughter. At the time of the appointment, I was around 15 weeks into the pregnancy. She pulled out the chart you see above and put her finger on the line around the 15 week mark. "Here's you." She traced the line with her finger. "And here's where you're headed." Oh my goodness. At 15 weeks, according to the chart I was actually at a point of needing *less* insulin than normal...and from there, my insulin needs would increase sharply and steadily. Needles and shots and sugar lows, here I come!

After bursting my bubble, she then presented me with my new leash. It's the FreeStyle Lite - which is actually really tiny and easy to use and comes in a handy dandy little carrying case. (Actually, come to think of it, all blood sugar monitoring machines these days probably do.) The educator walked me through the steps of self-testing and then made me do a trial finger prick on myself. She was shocked to see that my one hour post-breakfast blood glucose reading was 107 - which is great! (The target is for one to be under 140.) Based on my one hour glucose tolerance test results (250), she had figured my sugars would be WAY out of whack.

Then on to the nutritionist. I figured she was going to read me the riot act on what I couldn't eat and what I needed to be eating that I wasn't. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was fairly content with my daily diet. Since getting the lap band, I've been keeping food records, so I was able to give her a rather good sense what my daily eating looks like. She was pleased that I was already compulsive about tracking - so adding the blood sugar numbers into my record wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Based on my diet, what she did tell me to do was to add a couple hundred more calories to my diet, to increase my carbohydrate intake and NOT to add any extra exercise to my regimen. Holy cow! NOBODY has ever in my entire lifetime suggested I eat more. Ever. I hardly knew what to make of it.

Below is the plan she gave me:
Breakfast: 30g carb
Snack: 15-30g carb
Lunch: 45g carb
Snack: 15-30g carb
Dinner: 45g carb
Evening Snack: 15-30g carb

Total: 180g carbs, 1800 calories.

Before, I'd say I was eating around 90g carbs and 1200 calories. Wow. Pretty serious change.

For the first couple of days, I wasn't even sure how I could possibly squeeze in that many carbs without resorting to highly refined carbs such as white sugar and flour, but since then I've more or less figured out how to incorporate more whole grains and starchy vegetables into my diet.

Interestingly, changing to this way of eating didn't cause me to gain any weight. The weirdest part was having to eat a bedtime snack (a big no-no according to lap band education). Generally, I simply don't feel like eating one and it takes a lot of effort and discipline to just go do it. Who would've thought I'd ever find myself complaining about having to eat?!?

Diagnosed

The day after my one hour glucose tolerance test, I received a call from the doctor's office. I was already expecting a call, so it wasn't a surprise. She told me that I'd failed the test and that while the typical course of action was to send a woman for a second three-hour glucose tolerance test after failing the first one, my levels had been so high that they could just skip the second test and diagnose me with gestational diabetes. Apparently, if the reading is over 200, they know there's a problem. My number was 250. Fun! At least that explained why I ended up with the sugar low a few hours after the test.

They had gone ahead and set me up with an appointment a few days later with a diabetes nurse educator and a dietician who would discuss blood sugar monitoring and diet with me and help to get things on track.

I was a bit concerned about how my sugar levels could be impacting the baby and was also wondering if they'd been out of whack since the beginning or if this was a recent development. Online research suggests that uncontrolled blood sugars can lead to a higher incidence of birth defects, large birthweight babies, and blood sugar crashes for the baby after birth. The latter two seemed manageable enough since the situation was caught early, but I still wonder and worry about the birth defect piece.

One Hour Glucose Tolerance Test

I went in early in the morning before work to get my glucose test taken care of. They sat me down and did a blood draw, but I'm pretty sure it was for my blood typing re-test and not part of the glucose screening (something curious and unexplainable had shown up on my first blood typing screen, so they wanted to make sure it wasn't an error).

After taking my blood the tech gave me a cup of something that tasted like flat orange soda and told me that I needed to drink it down in less than five minutes. I was a little concerned that it might come right back up due to my band tightness and the fact that it was early in the morning, but it went down fine. Apparently, there is 50g of glucose/carb in the drink - which, if I understand it right, is the a little over the equivalent of what one might get drinking a can of coke. I was then instructed to return in an hour for a blood draw.

I was fairly certain I was going to fail the test, so I had already resigned myself to that fact and wasn't really too worried about things. After an hour, I went back, got poked, and headed off to work.

A few hours later, I experienced a pretty noticeable sugar low. My hands got shaky, I broke out in a sweat for no reason, and I kind of experienced that dizzy adrenaline high sensation. (This has happened to me a few times before in my life, so I know what my sugar lows feel like.) I didn't think too much about it, ate something to bring my blood sugar back up, and went on about my day.

Third Doctor's Appointment

Another fairly uneventful appointment. Peed in a cup, asked questions, answered questions, and then laid down so they could listen to the fetal heartbeat. This time, the doc managed to find it. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... She then moved the little transmitter around a bit and showed me what my heart beat sounded like compared to the baby's. Mine sounded to be about half as fast.

I brought up the topic of blood sugar again (I'd mentioned it in previous appointments) in particular because I'd been noticing that my heart had been beating hard/fast after meals. This seemed weird and had me a bit concerned, though when I mentioned it to the doctor, she said she'd never heard of such a thing. Nonetheless, she said that she'd be happy to send me for an early glucose test so we could know for sure one way or another.

Because of my history of blood sugar weirdness, I figured it would be good to play it safe rather than waiting until the 28th week when they typically send pregnant women for their glucose screening. Also, they'd noticed that I had low levels of ketones in my urine (which can signal blood sugar issues), though the doctor thought it was probably nothing and I was probably just a little dehydrated from the summer heat.

They wrote me a script for the test and sent me on my way.

Second Doctor's Appointment

I went in for my second doctor's appointment one month after my first. Not much had really transpired pregnancy-wise since the previous visit. First, the intern came in to ask me the standard set of questions:

Nausea? No. Vomiting? No. Bleeding? No. Fatigue? No.

I smiled at him and said, "I'm not really pregnant."

He gave me a strange awkward look, let out an uncomfortable giggle-ish sound, stood up and walked out of the room telling me the doctor would be in to see me in a minute.

The doctor came in and answered a few of my questions. She then took out the heart doppler machine to listen to the fetal heartbeat. She placed it on my lower belly (actually, I'm fairly sure that initially she was trying to listen to my pubic bone), but she wasn't able to pick up any sounds. She moved it around a bit, but still nothing. For some reason, I wasn't the least bit alarmed, but I did notice that she looked a little concerned.

Let me interject here that I've got a fairly substantial lower belly flap which I'm sure serves as a pretty good layer of insulation against the transmission of sound. Despite my surgery-related weight loss, this flap doesn't seem to have shrunk much - though I'm holding out hope that as I lose weight after the baby, it will significantly diminish.

Unable to hear the fetal heartbeat, the sent the intern to bring in the ultrasound machine. They gooped me up and fired up the machine. Wow - there on the screen was a clearly formed little baby kicking and thrashing all about. I was completely shocked that this early on in the pregnancy, it was so clearly formed and active to boot! For those of you who are reading this and have never experienced what I'm talking about, go to Youtube and Google "ultrasound, ___ weeks" and you can see all sorts of videos of ultrasounds each week along in the pregnancy. It's truly remarkable how fast babies develop into recognizable forms. For some reason, I'd always thought that babies remained jelly blobs until somewhere mid-way through gestation - not true!

It's very comforting reassuring to see your baby there on the screen in plain view - especially when you're a mad worry-wart like I've become during this pregnancy!

What Does Pregnancy Feel Like?

What does pregnancy feel like? If you're me, not much. I always imagined that pregnancy would somehow feel different - that there would be some sort of different physical experience where I'd just know I was pregnant. Not so much. In fact, even after the pregnancy had been confirmed by medical professionals, I still had a really difficult time wrapping my head around the idea that there was a baby growing inside of me.

The majority of women experience morning sickness during their first trimester. I was one of the lucky ones who, with the exception of one or two incidents, didn't feel queasy or nauseous at all. I also didn't feel exhausted as all of the literature suggested I would. I wasn't super hungry or emotional, my hair didn't change luster, and my fingernails didn't start growing like mad. How did I feel? Perfectly normal - perhaps with a bit more gas than usual.

First Doctor's Appointment

In a state of mild panic, I decided that the first thing I needed to do (after telling Geekboy) was to get myself in to see a doctor. I was concerned that my nutritional state was probably a big issue (not to mention all of the other things I'd been doing since I didn't know I was pregnant). Also - I really had little idea how to approach the whole concept of lap band pregnancy.

I was in a bit of denial and kept fluctuating between not really believing I could possibly be pregnant and freaking out about what could be happening to the baby if I really was, in fact, pregnant. In my state, I really wasn't ready to share the pregnancy news - which meant I couldn't call anyone to ask where to find a good OB doc. After a bit of thought and research online, I opted to call a top-ranked local hospital to see if they had an OB to recommend. They gave me the contact info for a group of five female OBs with a shared practice. It sounded great so I called.

Me: "Hi, I'm a new patient and I'd like to make an appointment."
Scheduler: Takes my name, address, phone, insurance, etc.
Scheduler: "How about October 19th?" (We were in late April.)
Me (a bit shocked and alarmed): "Ummm...I'm afraid that's not going to work."
Scheduler: "Are you pregnant?"
Me: "Yes, and my situation is a little unusual so I'd like to get in sooner rather than later."
Scheduler (chuckling): "Yes, I suppose October would be a bit late. How about next week?"

I went in for my appointment, still in a fair bit of denial. I had convinced myself that the doc was going to look at me, laugh at the absurd notion that I thought I was pregnant, tell me I had gas, and send me home. That's not what happened.

I joked with the nurse about the fact that I didn't think I could actually be pregnant, but after I had to excuse myself twice to use the restroom before even seeing the doctor, she said, "Honey, better believe it..."

The doc saw me and asked a bunch of questions. Then I got my turn to ask a bunch of questions. Afterward, she fired up the ultrasound machine. There on the screen in plain view was a little bean-shaped blob inside a larger circle and in the middle of the bean, there was a light area that was flicking on and off really fast. The doc pointed at the screen and said, "There's your baby." Tears came to my eyes. That was the moment it became real to me. She said it was a good sign that the heartbeat was so visible and strong at six weeks. I was relieved.

The doctor didn't really seem to have any concerns about the fact that I had a lap band (although she admitted she'd never had a patient with a lap band in the past). And she didn't seem too concerned about all of the other things I had been worrying about. She told me that a baby's nutritional needs are minimal this early in the game and that I should probably see a nutritionist to make sure I was getting enough of everything. She also told me not to worry too much about the other things I'd done when I didn't know I was pregnant - just to do the right things from here on out. She also pointed out that most folks don't figure out that they're pregnant for a month or more so it's pretty common for people to drink, eat the wrong things, be exposed to bad stuff, etc. - and in the great majority of cases, things turn out just fine.

I left the doctor's office feeling relieved and also feeling like I needed to get over my denial lickety split!

Figuring it Out

Before and during the trip to visit my extended family, I had noticed that my boobs seemed oddly sore and I kept having to remind GeekBoy to be gentle with them. It seemed a little strange, but I’d been going through all sorts of weird physical experiences since getting the lap band (shoulder pain, gas, spit-ups, port pain, etc.) so it didn’t seem that far outside of the usual. I was also vaguely aware that my period was due during the trip so I thought it might be a more pronounced PMS symptom.

Near the end of the trip, I knew my period was about to start because I started having some twinges and mild crampy feelings in my lower abdomen (as happens when my period is starting) so I took some Advil and went on about my day. The next day, I was surprised it hadn’t started, but I was having the weird crampy twingey feelings again so I took some more Advil and waited.

The trip came to a close and we traveled home, but my period still hadn’t come. It crossed my mind that I might be pregnant for a split second, but the likelihood of that was so slim (next to impossible in my mind) that I quickly tossed the thought aside. When I got home, I checked my calendar and noted that my period was actually almost a week late. That never happens. Could I attribute it to travel stress? Not so much. I travel all the time. Ummm….

The next day, I went to the store and picked up a 2-pack of early detection pregnancy tests. The logic went something like this: if it’s made to be sensitive enough to detect pregnancy hormones before you’ve missed your period, it’ll certainly give me a correct reading if my period is late. I didn’t have any interest in false negatives. I also didn’t want to alarm GeekBoy unnecessarily, so I didn’t mention any of this to him. After all, I was pretty sure I was being crazy and there was a perfectly rational explanation for what was going on. I’d test, verify that I wasn’t pregnant, and go on in my quest to figure out what had happened to my period.

The pregnancy test instructions say that the first morning urine is best for testing. After peeing on the stick, you’re supposed to set it on a flat surface and let it do its thing for two minutes. OK. I can handle this.

First thing the next morning, I go in the bathroom and pee on the stick. A positive sign immediately appears and it’s clear and dark and there’s no mistaking it. No need for the two minute wait time here. My heart starts racing. It’s for real. False negatives are common, but false positives don’t really happen with these tests. Holy crap!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Pregnant!

I was thrilled to have finally reached restriction after my series of fills and the pounds again started dropping off. A few weeks after the big fill, GeekBoy and I made a week-long trip to visit some extended family members of mine. I was concerned that they'd notice my weird eating habits and ask what was going on, but no such thing occurred. I even had to excuse myself from the table a couple of times and run to the bathroom for a spitting up episode, as I was still getting used to the "eat slowly and chew like your life depends on it" thing. I remember thinking, "They're totally going to think I'm pregnant or something". Funny thing is, I was - I just didn't know it at the time.

As luck would have it, on the day of my March fill (or within a day or two on either side of that date), I had gotten pregnant.

Fills

At the time of my lap band surgery, the doctor put 5ccs in my 10cc band. I've since learned that this is A LOT of fluid to have in one's band from the get-go, but at the time I hardly noticed. I remember thinking I'd have a difficult time consuming anything after the surgery based on all that I had read (and at the time, I thought my band was completely empty). A few hours after the surgery I had no trouble whatsoever consuming the stuff they brought me on my "tray of liquids" consisting of (among other things) jello, a lemon sorbet, juice, and cream soup (which I'd also read was a no-no after surgery). I would never have believed that a half full band would allow me to consume all of those things.

Over a period of a couple of weeks, I was gradually permitted to add in mushy food and then solids. I was shocked to find that I could eat most of the same stuff I had eaten prior to the surgery without any real trouble. I was scared to death to "overdo it" as I'd read all sorts of horror stories about stretched pouches and slipped bands, but on rare occasion, I did end up overeating and pretty much had no ill effects. After some time, I began to even wonder if I'd actually had a band installed at all.

It was 2 1/2 months after the surgery that I went in for my first fill. The doctor added 1 cc to the band. This was also when I learned that I already had 5 ccs in my band. I was shocked.

For a day or two after the fill, things seemed a bit tight, but then they loosened up and I could eat normally again. I started wondering if the whole band thing was a sham or if I was a freak case for whom it wasn't going to have any effect. However, I was determined to keep losing weight so I followed all of the band rules carefully despite being hungry and also physically able to eat greater volumes than I was eating.

The scale kept moving so I opted to pass on a fill the following month.

However, loss slowed and I chose to go for another fill the month after that. At first, the doctor added 1 cc to the band. When he gave me my Dixie cup of water to drink, it got hung up. I tried to wait a bit to see if it would go down, but it just sat there on top of the band - making me uncomfortable. As I sat, the doctor pulled 1/2 a cc of fluid out of the band and I felt the water immediately run down into my stomach. What a bizarre sensation! Instant relief.

While I enjoyed the idea of water actually being able to pass through the band (to say nothing of food), I was desperate to reach the elusive level of "restriction" I'd heard so much about so before the doctor pulled out the needle, I asked if he'd consider putting a wee bit back. He was happy to oblige. Doc added back .25 ccs and gave me another cup of water to drink. This time, it went through - but slowly. I decided to give that level a try, crossing my fingers that I wouldn't regret it. Doc said I'd know if there was an issue before the next day. Thankfully, there wasn't.

6.75ccs in my 10cc band was perfect for me. I could eat fine if I took my time and chewed well, but generally about 15-20 minutes into a meal, I'd just lose interest and put any remaining food away. It was a completely new experience for me as I'd previously been a "plate cleaner". On occasion, I did eat too fast or fail to chew adequately (resulting in hiccups or a spewing episode or both), but these were fairly rare occurrences. I was amazed that I could be satisfied on so much less food and I had to be careful to choose what I was going to eat to make sure I was getting adequate protein.

In the mornings, I was quite tight and could only reliably get liquids down, but it didn't really bother me and I developed a routine of having a protein shake for breakfast every day, which gave me a good jump-start to reaching my protein goal each day of 60-80 grams.

I was content and planned to stay at that fill level for a while.

Secrecy

When I decided to get lap band surgery, I made the decision not to tell very many people about it. I wanted to avoid questions and comments and judgments and all of the other things that one can often expect when making a less-than-mainstream choice. With weight loss surgery, I felt like this "nosy neighbor" phenomenon would be magnified as we live in a society that is so weird about weight issues. My thinking was that I could always decide at a later date to share that I had undergone surgery, but once the word was public, there was no reeling it back in.

To date, the only people who know about the surgery are GeekBoy (who was baffled by my decision, but supportive nonetheless), my parents (one took the news well, the other did not), my brother (who had no reaction at all to the news), and a couple of my friends who've proven in the past that they can keep their traps shut (both were very encouraging and supportive).

Looking back, now that I'm eight months out from my surgery, I'm glad I made this decision. Each person is different and I don't mean to suggest that surgery secrecy is the right decision for everyone, but it's worked out well for me. Surprisingly, keeping the info quiet has actually been much less of a challenge than I expected.

Surgery Day Story

In October of 2009, I received my lap band. This is my surgery day story.

We went in at 6:30am for an 8:30am surgery appointment. Got checked in, garbed in gown and slip-free socks and then the doctor came in for a visit to say “hi” and answer any questions I might have. After that, the anesthesiologists came by and explained what they were going to do. They gave me a numbing shot in my hand, inserted the IV and started a saline drip. My eyes glazed over and I immediately started to feel groggy. I asked the nurse anesthetist what he had given me and he remarked, “nothing yet”. Guess I’m highly susceptible to the placebo effect! They gave me a heparin shot in my stomach which really didn’t hurt much at all and then told me that they were going to give me stuff to make me sleepy and it would take about 30 seconds to kick in. It hurt a fair bit at first going into my hand and then all I remember is asking my BF for a kiss.

The next thing I remember was chattering a lot and fading in and out in a recovery room. I slowly woke up and became aware of a nice warm sensation all over my body. They had hooked me up to some sort of hot air warming system that inflated a pouch inside my gown with soothing warm air. It was wonderful! I was thirsty so I asked for some ice chips which they promptly brought to me. I spent about an hour and a half in recovery and then they wheeled me to my room. I got ice water to sip on and my BF came to sit with me.

I was surprised by how good I felt. I didn’t really feel any pain except for when I tried to move around and experienced the soreness of my stomach muscles. Drinking water was fine and I didn’t feel any “tightness” in my stomach.

After a few hours, they wanted me to eat something to see if I got nauseous. They brought me a popsicle, lemon icee, jello and apple juice. I got the popsicle and jello down without any trouble, which seemed to please them. Soon a foodservice person appeared with a big platter of more stuff – tea, broth, milk, pudding, and cream of chicken soup. Having been told that I could only have clear liquids, I figured they’d made a mistake and didn’t eat the stuff. The nurse came in and asked why I hadn’t touched it. Apparently, they had moved me on to the phase 2 diet without informing me. She said I needed to eat some “full” liquids to check for nausea as they were planning on discharging me early (I had originally been scheduled to stay overnight). I was more than happy to try them if that’s what it would take to get to go home (I was getting bored in the hospital room). The full liquids went down just fine too.

Later on, the dietitian came by to explain the post-op diet to me in detail and a few hours after that, the surgeon came by to check on me and to answer my questions. He was very friendly and told me that everything had gone smoothly with the surgery. He asked me if I wanted to go home or stay and I requested to go home so he wrote up a prescription for painkillers and told me that he was going to discharge me. I got to pack up and go home!

We went to Walgreen's to fill my prescriptions and spent about 20 minutes walking around waiting. That's when the gas pains started. At first, I wasn't sure what they were, but I felt sharp pains in my back, shoulders and abdomen. It was pretty unpleasant. When I got home, I took some gas-x strips and a painkiller and went to bed. I tried laying flat in the bed, but felt a great deal of stretching in my stomach area when I was horizontal so I opted to sleep sitting mostly upright in a recliner which was much more comfortable. The next morning, the gas pains were gone and all I felt was abdominal soreness.

Over all, the surgery was less painful and went smoother than I had anticipated. It's still kind of hard to believe that it's over. I’m now looking forward to a new life with the band!

About Me

Here's a little bit of information about me. (Gee, how self-centered can I be?)

I'm 33 years old and reside in a fairly large city in the United States. I have a loving boyfriend (hereafter referred to as GeekBoy) and we've been together for 3+ years, living together for the past year. I work full-time in a fun and interesting job that could stand to pay better and I spend my spare time on strange creative projects and entrepreneurial pursuits. Generally, I'm a fairly happy and easy-going individual.

I've been overweight my entire life, but I don't feel like it's really held me back all that much. The biggest issue surrounding my weight has been my relationship with my parents who, despite both being mildly overweight themselves, are extremely fat-phobic. A combination of parental pressure paired with concerns about how my weight would affect my health led me to start down a road of dieting attempts and failures from a pretty young age. I'm another statistic: one of those all too prevalent (and still fat) "you name the diet/gimmick/desperate measure, I've tried it" people.

As I grew older and heavier, some of the health-related concerns I'd always been worried about started to emerge. First I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. Then I was diagnosed with hypertension. I kept fighting my weight as I knew that was the only thing that was going to get my health in check, but attempt after attempt failed.

Finally, I started researching the idea of weight loss surgery. It scared the bejeesus out of me, but I was intrigued by the idea that it really seemed to be working for a lot of other people who had tried everything else and failed - just like me. It was hard to accept that I might need to take such drastic measures to get things under control, but I did a lot of research and decided that if I was going to do it, the lap band was the type of weight loss surgery for me. Somewhere during that phase of coming to terms with the need for surgery, my employer announced that our health insurance would now cover lap band surgery. That was the push I needed to move forward with the process.

Why We're Here

Why We're Here: No, I'm not going to philosophize or proselytize or exercise (oh, wait a minute - we'll get back to the last one)...we're here because I've decided to start this blog due to the apparent shortage of information available out there for folks in my situation. I hope that by sharing the details of my story, I'll be able to serve as a resource to others out there going through the same experience and also serve as a source of information for those who are merely curious about what it's like to go through pregnancy with a lap band. I have no idea how many of us are out there, but I do know that pregnant bandsters and bandster mommies exist - it's just that we're such a small percentage of the population it can be difficult to find one another.

The number of people getting lap bands is steadily growing and I'm pretty sure a fair number of people getting bands are having sex. (Apologies to those of you who are now thinking "Yeah right, I wish!") With sex comes pregnancy (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not). Ladies and gentlemen, that's how we arrived at the adventure of Lap Band Pregnancy.