April showers bring May flowers......

Down 65lbs and 4 sizes. I feel FANTASTIC and beautiful! Got my hair cut and loving it. I can't stop looking in the mirror. Had Aidan take the full body picture, too bad it's blurry but hey, he's 6.

Another Post-op

Had my 4 week post-op today. Total of 32lbs down. Blood pressure is stellar, like always, and the doctor is still happy with my weightloss. The rules have changed in the last 20 days though. Originally I was allowed soft foods at 4 weeks like steamed veggies and certain meats, well not now. This doctor wants me to wait another two weeks. Ok, I'll do as I'm told but eventually I'll have to eat real food. I am still supposed to be getting 70-80g of protein a day, but I can't seem to drink that much, never could even before the surgery, so that is what I'm going to work on now. I can incorporate a more intense workout into my routine so I'm going to try Wii Zumba and get back on my elliptical. I can pull out the kettle bells and workout the arms to try to avoid flabby, chicken neck arms too.

Like B.Hipps always said....
Pain is just weakness leaving the body.

Good/Bad news

So my wedding ring is too big for my ring finger now and I've had to start wearing it on my middle finger. Also the jeans I bought right before Thanksgiving because I couldn't stand wearing maternity pants anymore, are too big. I wore them today and they are baggy and I had to keep pulling them up. Ken told me that yesterday while walking behind me at the hospital, my once tight yoga pants were looking baggy in the butt and leg department. These are all GOOD things but eventually bad because I will have to fork out some cash for clothes that fit. I know "Poor Andrea she has to go buy a whole new wardrobe, WAAAAHHH!" I just know that the money could go to something more important than me and new clothes. Guess I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it. I ate refried beans with some shredded cheese mixed in for dinner and I can still feel the lump in my belly. It's gonna take some time to get back into foods that have some substance in them. My new diet consists of mashed avocados (not guacamole), cottage cheese, hummus, malt-o-meal, laughing cow cheese, popsicles, herbal tea, flavored water, and regular water. Maybe tomorrow I'll try mashed sweet potatoes?

2 weeks done

Today is 2 weeks 1 day post surgery and so far so good. I'm hungry most of the time but dinner time is turning out to be the hardest meal to deal with. Every meal smells AWESOME and it sucks.
I saw the bariatric surgeon today to have my post-op check up and to have my staples removed. He's very happy with my progress so far and wants me to come back in 3 weeks, guess today isn't the last time we drive north dammit. I can now add soft foods to my diet. I had pintos and cheese today, it was ok. I can also have hummus, mashed avocados, cottage cheese, and pudding......yum. Here's to 3 more weeks of squishy foods!

11 days and a new year

It's the monday before I have my staples removed. It's also New Year's Eve and I'm down 26lbs. I've been struggling with my liquid intake. I've never been one who drinks a lot of fluids of any kind so having to drink 64oz. a day has been hard. I start to get a brick feeling in my stomach after drinking just 4 or more ounces at a time but to get the full daily amount, I need to constantly be sipping. Last night I tried holding Emmett. It went good. I sat in a chair and Ken handed him to me. I miss holding and snuggling with him. After that I was sitting in the bathroom while Aidan was taking his bath and he asked for more warm water in the tub. As I was turning the water off, I felt this horrible pinching pain in my belly. It was just a second of pain but it caught me by surprise. Ken of course told me I was over doing it but I didn't think that bending to turn off the water would be considered over doing it. Today I'm going to take it easy. Other than my liquids and that second of pain, I'm doing pretty good. I do hate when Ken cooks any meal though, it smells wonderful throughout the whole house and it makes my stomach hurt. I can't wit to have something to chew.

Aftermath

So it's 3 days post surgery and I'm feeling much better. My first day/night home was horrible. I was doing awesome in the hospital. I was getting up and walking the halls, I was "eating" and keeping it down, and I wasn't having any negative side effects from the surgery....then the car ride home came. It was 2 hours of pure pain. I felt every bump, every brake, every THING! Once we got home, I was nauseous and just wanted to lay down. I slept for a little bit then woke up and tried to eat. I had a few sips of Slim Fast and it tasted real good. My stomach stopped hurting and I thought "This is going to be a breeze", but I spoke too soon. My body decided that it didn't like it and it came right back up. I waited a few more hours and tried some chicken broth. It stayed down until I tried to take my pain meds, then it too came right back up. At around 10pm, I tried two sips of water which instantly made me vomit. I was in pain and I couldn't do anything about it. We called the On Duty Nurse and all she told me was go to the ER. So once in the ER, I got to sit in pain while trying to not vomit. They took my temperature then had me sit back in the waiting room. Then they called me back and took my blood and again, back to the waiting room. Once I finally was taken to a gurney, I put on a gown and got to wait some more. All the while I haven't had any pain meds since before 11am. I'm in tears and we can hear the doctors outside the curtain saying they have no idea what to do with someone who's had bariatric surgery and they may just send us back up north. One of the doctors finally asks who did the surgery and contacts the surgeon. He instructs him to hook me up to an IV, pump fluids in me and give me pain meds. The instant they inject me with the pain meds, I'm doubled over the big, orange bowl dry heaving and shaking. I can't talk and tears are streaming down my face. I finally finish and as I lay back, they give me the nausea meds. I'm given 3 bags of fluids and end up staying until 6am. I'm home now and have finally showered and washed my hair. I'm not doing a lot of moving and I can't hold or carry Emmett so I'm mostly laying and sleeping or sipping on water or tea. I did get to feed Emmett some jar food today and he was happy to be with his mommy, but I was soon tired and napped for a good two hours afterwards. Stay tuned for more exciting updates............

The Beginning Is Upon Us

It's Tuesday night and tomorrow morning will be the last time I have food for 30 days. Of course I'll still be taking in calories, the difference will be that now they will be in liquid form only as my stomach heals from surgery. I'm not nervous, I never get nervous before surgery, but I'm just ready to get it over and done with and get to healing. I hope I have everything I will need for post surgery. I bought gallons of soup/broths, flavored waters, and herbal teas. I bought a few Jell-Os but to be honest, I HATE Jell-O. Ken put a handful of movies on the laptop for me to watch while I'm in the hospital, but I may end up sleeping the whole time. He's going to drive home Thursday night and come back up in the morning on Friday so I won't have company that night. In two weeks I will go back for a post-op follow up and the doctor will determine if I can add drinkable yogurts to my diet. I'm excited for Christmas. It will be Emmett's first Christmas and Aidan will be getting a new bike from Uncle Matt so he'll be stoked. Stay tuned for post-op updates!(If the world doesn't end of course)