07/28/10: Questions and newness and ideas galore

1. Do you have a lap-band?
2. If so, do you have kids?
3. Have you been pregnant with a lap-band?
4. If you had kids before the lap-band and now have the lap-band, do you want to have more kids?
5. If you got pregnant with the lap-band, when did you tell your surgeon?
6. Did you get all fill removed?  Or just stop getting fills?
7. If you got pregnant after the lap-band, did you lose all your weight first, and then get pregnant?  Or some of the weight and then...

I'm not losing all the weight first.  I have lost 49 pounds so far and maybe I'll lose more before getting pregnant (God willing) and maybe I'll magically get pregnant in the first month of really actively trying.  (hahaha)  I'm at a reasonable weight now, in my case, I believe, for a pregnancy and while there's still more to lose and things could be better....I'm also turning 35 in just over a week and age is a consideration, too.  I'd hate to lose all my weight, then try to get pregnant and not have it happen just because I'm older.  I have a cousin who's an ob/gyn and she specializes in reduced fertility and infertility and she told me, after I got married, that 90% of her patients are people who waited until 36 to start trying.  If I lose all my weight first...I figure I'll be 36...so it seems worth it to start trying now.

I decided yesterday that I needed to know if I could still lift weights while pregnant.  Yes, mostly.  I, apparently, am not supposed to do any exercises that have me lieing on my back - like a bench press.  I can, however, do an inclined bench press, which is supposedly harder - although I, personally, think it's easier.  No situps unless I'm on a ball.  Things like that.  I am doing about 5 exercises right now between my two routines, (Mon/Thurs = legs, lower back; Tues/Fri = abs, arms, chest, shoulders) that would have to be cut out.  But I do "too much" - 4-5 things for my shoulders/chest; 4-5 things for legs; 4 things for my back; 4 things for abs; 4 things for arms - as it is...so I can cut out the stuff where I'm lieing on my back and not worry about if I have something in place...because I do....since I do "too much".

I told my husband that last night and he said "talk to your doctor".  I declared "I know everything, I don't need to talk to my doctor".  HAHAHA.  Luckily, he gets my sarcasm and that received quite a bit of laughter from him as he had one more realization that I'm not as stubborn as I try to seem.  Of course I'll talk to my doctor!  Of course of course of course!

My husband asked me last night who we would tell first.  So we came up with a list.

My blogger buddies are high in the pecking order!!!

We came up with a cute idea on how to tell his parents together...I'll send it to you once they know....which won't happen until we know something...and who knows when that will be.

In the meantime, we are having FUN!

1. In other belly news, my belly is changing A LOT! When I was at my heaviest, I could not suck in my upper tummy and see my ribs - and that was while laying down, not even remotely near standing. Now...I don't have to suck in to see my ribs...and when I do suck in...there's a sinkhole there.  And that's while standing...not laying down...
2. I think my craving for candy is actually waning.  I had a clue on Mon night when I forced myself to eat a candybar.  I can tell you what my logic was in that force but let it be enough to say, I was being goofy to get the goofiness gone.
3. Worked...cause last night...I couldn't even force myself.  Even though my day ended at 760 calories...I couldn't make myself pick up the candy I had.  Nor could I drink a soda.  Nor could I eat a piece of cheese.  I couldn't make myself eat anything...
4. That's more like me.
5. I spent two hours working out last night.
6. I got on the scale this morning and it said 216.  That's my lowest low so far.  No one at my job has ever seen me this little.  I was in the 230's when I started with this company.  My husband met me at 215.  I was 180 for about a year in 2004-2005 and so once I get past 180, no one in Texas will have ever seen me that small...except for my aunt...who lives in Austin now...she saw me growing up...had me in her wedding when I was 19...and knows what my "ideal" looks like.  She's the only Texan who has any idea....
7. She loves to show me pictures from that wedding and tell me that I "was so incredibly gorgeous".
8. I like it when she compliments me.
9. My heart breaks for Drazil.  I want to fix it for her.  I also want her to be able to enjoy rain!
10. I'm making progress in "catching up".  I love all my blogger buddies!
11. My face is breaking out like I've never seen it before and my hands, the palms, are itching all the time.  It's very weird!
12. A little quirk I have...I am constantly "rubbing" my face.  If it feels "rough" to me, my hands want to scratch the roughness off.  So with this breakout, my hands are just drawn to my face...which is just making it WORSE!  I know that...but I can't stop.  I have no idea where this habit came from...but it's there...I'm ok if I'm around people and/or doing something but when I'm sitting at my desk and spending days and days just reading blogs and not actually working...the hands are at the face....scratch rub scratch rub...
13. My poor skin....
14. I am doing a defensive driving course tonight for a ticket I got back in June.  Grrr....
15. Haven't had a ticket in years...since 2003.  Been a long time.  And this one...the cop hides out...and I know he's there...and he got me anyway....
16. Oh yeah...maintenance...yeah...I realized last night...it's gonna be tricky.  I was maintaining at ~1200 calories a day.  Really more of a weekly bank scenario of 8400 calories a week.
17. But my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is higher right now because I'm still carrying more weight than I should be.  As I lose, my BMR will fall.  So does that mean that I'll have to be at ~900 calories a day, just as a hypothetical conversation point, to maintain?  Scary stuff.  I will be interested, of course, to see how this all unfolds over time.  I don't know what I'll have to try for to get maintenance to work out...but chances are, when I get to 142 lbs, 1200 calories a day will be too many, since that's what's making maintenance work right now...

I guess that's all for today.  Seems like I had more...but I can't remember now...so I'm gonna call this blog done.

If you have been pregnant with a lap-band...I really want to hear from you.  If you've been pregnant at all....I'd really love to hear any advice or thoughts you might be willing to share.  If you want to comment, feel free, if you'd rather email, then feel free to do that, too.   ldswims0808@gmail.com

Anyone have any thoughts on fertility monitors?  Ovulation kits?  Linda's comment yesterday was helpful to me and prompted a conversation with my husband last night...but I'd love to hear more ideas.  Like Linda said in her comment, I am so paranoid that I won't be able to get pregnant....

Have a great day, y'all!