Six Week Postpartum Appointment

This past Friday (March 23), I had my six week postpartum appointment with Dr. N. Seriously, has it already been six weeks since Brenson was born? This appointment completely snuck up on me!

Brianna was seriously so excited when we told her we were going to see the "baby doctor". I think she's missed going there! When we were first called back (after waiting a while in the waiting room), Heather (Dr. N's nurse that we always see) let Brianna choose a sucker. She chose blue and was fascinated when she noticed in the mirror that her tongue and lips were blue. She enjoyed that sucker, and we were cracking up watching her with it. As a side note, all of the exam rooms have a full length mirror on the back on the door. One of Brianna's favorite things to do is to stand and look at herself in the mirror. However, Dr. N always comes busting in the room with such enthusiasm that we constantly tell Brianna she had to stand back away from the door so he wouldn't hit her when he came in. During this appointment, she finally remembered to stand back away from the door without us telling her 15 times. 

My blood pressure was 102 over 64 (average for me). Of course, I had to have one last weight check. I had gained a total of 30 pounds with this pregnancy, and as of this appointment I had lost 29 of those pounds. Yay! Interestingly, I weighed exactly the same as what I weighed at my six week postpartum appointment after Brianna. I weighed 2 pounds more on delivery day with Brenson that with Brianna, so although I lost the weight slower, I actually lost more in the first six weeks this time around. I still need to lose a bit to be back to my pre-Brianna pregnancy weight (which is what I want).

I try to make all of my appointments with Dr. N for first thing in the morning because generally that means less of a wait to see him. Unfortunately, that didn't work out this time around. We waited an hour and 15 minutes to see him! Most of this wait time was in the exam room, so we were looking for things to entertain us. Brenson was a bit fussy, so Chris laid him on the exam table. After spitting up (you can totally see where he got the paper wet in the photos), he was as happy as could be. Brenson laid there and laughed while we passed the time taking photos of him.

Such a happy little guy!

Love this face!

Sweet man :-).

He was laughing at Daddy in this photo. I love that he has a dimple in his right cheek.

When Dr. N finally came in, he asked how I am feeling, asked our plans for birth control, and asked if I had any questions. Since I'm feeling great and we pretty much have no plans of ever using birth control again, we didn't have much to talk about. He didn't do any kind of physical exam.

Before he left the room, I asked to get his photo with me and the kiddos. Brianna loves him, so she had no problem letting him hold her. We were laughing in this photo (obviously). Dr. N is always laughing and making us laugh!

Brianna was pretty much refusing to smile, but as soon as Chris put the camera away, she grinned really big. Stinker! Oh well, at least she's looking. Before Dr. N put her down, he kissed her on the head. I love that he tries to make each appointment special for us even though he does this all the time. We feel very blessed to have such a great doctor!

As he was walking out of the door, Dr. N said, "I'll see you when you're pregnant again!" I hope so :-).

Before I had children, I never understood how people became attached to their doctors. I see a doctor as a professional that I am paying for a service, not as my friend. Even when Brianna was born, I would have been disappointed had Dr. N not delivered her, but not devastated like some people are when their doctor can't deliver them for some reason. However, now I totally understand. I feel like Dr. N knows us and our history and has been there for two of the biggest moments of our lives. I would have been so upset had he not been able to deliver Brenson! I know that for him, we are just one of many many families that he sees, but I love that he makes us feel special every time he sees us. That's why he has SO many patients and everyone loves him so much. I seriously going to miss seeing him every week, haha!

I'm so blessed to be feeling great and pretty much back to normal. Pregnancy can be hard at times, but I love being pregnant (and of course, the result of pregnancy as well). And honestly, I'm ready to do it again :-).

My New Favorite

Has anyone seen the comercials on tv for The Laughing Cow cheese? I see them all the time late at night (the only time I actually watch tv), and decided I needed to give it a try.

And the verdict is... SUPER YUMMY!!! One of the hardest things for me about being on a food plan (read: diet), is that I crave cheese. Since it's not exactly the most low-fat snack, I don't often eat it.

However, The Laughing Cow cheese is only 35 calories and 1.5 fat grams a wedge. So, I like to eat it on saltine crackers (about 5), and it's a sensible snack that fits into my food plan easily. I also eat it with tuna and crackers for lunch sometimes. There are different flavors, but I like the Creamy Swiss the best. I think it tastes similar to cream cheese.

The best part? The tv jingle for this product is super-catchy, so every time I eat it I find myself singing the jingle. It puts me in a good mood *grin*.

I buy mine at the local Wally World. You should give it a try!

*I was in no way compensated or asked by The Laughing Cow to write this. This is simply my opinion. However, if anyone from The Laughing Cow would like to send me a check for promoting their product, I would happily accept it.*

The LBs

What better way to stir things up around here than to update you all on my weight loss endeavors???

And I'm going to be reeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyy brave and post NUMBERS! EEEEEEK!

So let's see, when B was 2 months old and I wrote this post, I still needed to lose those last 10 pregnancy pounds. Which means I weighed in at a hefty 184 lbs. For those of you that don't know, I'm 5'7".

Once I buckled down and got serious, the weight came right off. In fact, I lost the 10 pregnancy pounds plus 6 more. The success made me feel great! I was well on my way to my goal weight of 155 (haven't weighed that since before the Clomid treatments of 2006).

Unfortunately, my last week of work came along, followed by two weeks of travel, and I became pretty out of control with my eating. Actually, it's more what I drink (Dr. Pepper and Caramel Frappes from McDonalds) that get me.

I now weigh 174. Exactly what I weighed when I got pregnant last June.

No, that's not a good thing. Remember, I had already gained 20 lbs from fertility treatments (and let's face it, out-of-control eating) before I became pregnant.

It's time to get serious again.

Past time.

The Ugly Truth

I have never really struggled with my body image. In high school and the first several years of college, I was very thin. Then, PCOS flared up and threw my life for a loop and I put on some weight. I was still small, though.

But, I began fertility treatments and that "helped" me put on a little more weight.

And, I continued with more intense treatments and gained more weight.

Then, I became pregnant and gained more weight.

Now that Brianna has been here for two months, I'm still carrying about 10 pounds of pregnancy weight, plus all the other weight I had gained before pregnancy.

While I don't feel bad about myself -- and many of my pre-pregnancy clothes do fit -- the ugly truth is that I'm overweight.

Ugh.

After some thinking, I've decided I need to do something about it. Something more than just hope it will eventually come off on its own. Something more than just get used to how I look now and not worry about it at all. Something more than go up a size in clothing so that I'm a little more comfortable when I sit in my jeans.

So... I started Weight Watchers on Brianna's two month birthday, April 18th. It has been going well, and has really been helping me get my portion sizes under control, while eating a more balanced diet. My goal right now is to get the pregnancy weight off, then I'll go from there.

I get discouraged and overwhelmed very easily when thinking about losing weight, but I really need to do this.

And I can do this.