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...
Showing posts with label weight loss surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss surgery. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
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.
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!
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.
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.
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