Weigh-in.

189.  Down two pounds.  Yahoo.   Logged all foods yesterday in Fitday, but I can't seem to find a way to copy and paste anything from the PC program.

Check-up - Weight Gain & Vitamin D...

The baby had a check up today, mainly to monitor her weight gain.  She's up about six ounces in a week, and the pediatrician was pleased with that, and shooed us away until the one month visit.  Like a good girl, she peed on the doc when he pressed her belly. 

He also recommended vitamin drops, to ensure that she gets enough Vitamin D.  I asked him if Vit-D was transmitted via breastmilk, because I am Vit-D Deficient and I'm supposed to take high level supplements (I need more) and he said that it is, and that she definitely should take vitamin drops.

"Breast milk has been found to have only trace amounts of vitamin D, even when the mother gets the recommended daily allowance.  Recently published medical studies have shown that without a vitamin D supplement, about 35% of babies will have low vitamin D blood levels, also called pre-rickets.  Conversely, vitamin D has been shown to virtually eliminate rickets and pre-rickets in breastfed infants."

First weigh in!

Yay.  Weighed in.  Down four lbs.  ::throws confetti::   At a slightly less obese 191 lbs.
I don't care if it's water or other bodily fluids, it's gone.  I've been eating slightly more mindful than previously, and it's helping.  Today is going alright so far, minus the peanut budda cup.  These weapons of ass destruction will be gone by tonight, then again, the kids will trick or treat tommorrow... but they don't need the candy either.  Ugh.

Thank you. <3

I feel like I must explain the ad above.  I'm now sort of sponsored by Medifast.  I logged into my advertiser thingie last night, which I hadn't done in a month or so, since I've never made a dime on the ads that sit on the site here.  So last night, I log in, to see if I could add advertisements from Moth*rwear (they sell nursing clothes), because they had an affliate program where you could earn $ towards clothing at their site.  The clothes are Moth*rwear are hugely overpriced, and I could use a couple of dollars towards a couple of shirts, so why the heck not, right?  Well, I got DECLINED.  ::sigh::  But, in looking at my account, I hadn't noticed, I made a commission on another advertiser!  Yay!  I don't know who/what/when/where the money will actually GET to me, but it looks like by two weeks into the new month, they'll cut me a check.  I would just squeal with delight if I got a "paycheck" in the mail right now.  How exciting!  It's not much - but - it'll buy me two nursing shirts NOT AT MOTH*RWEAR, or, two Christmahkwanzahah presents, or... a good chunk of my 1,850+ photos that have yet to be printed at Flickr. 

Thank you for clicking the ads specifically the ones that  help you start losing weight now, anonymous blog readers!  I <3 you! 

Ruined my favorite food.

Just when I'm getting the tiniest bit of "diet" motivation, I sit down with my Breakstones Cottage Cheese for a healthy breakfast, and I decide to read about why the baby is full of, uh, poop.

Courtesy of Ask Dr. Sears:

NUMBER AND NATURE OF BOWEL MOVEMENT

If lots of stools come out, lots of milk must have gone in.

• In the first few days, infants' stools gradually change from the sticky black meconium stools to green, then brown. Within a day or two of mother's milk "coming in." they become "milk stools," which are yellow and seedy--the color of mustard and the consistency of cottage cheese.
• Between week one and week four,  babies who are getting enough hindmilk will produce at least 2-3 yellow, seedy stools a day.  Because breastmilk is a natural laxative, some breastfed babies produce a stool with each feeding, which is a  good sign that baby is getting enough milk. When a baby has only two or three bowel movements a day, expect to see a substantial amount in the diaper--more than just a stain.

So, then I had a Reeses' Peanut Butter Cup, because it doesn't look like baby poop.  Log THAT in Fitday, chubby girl! 

Positive always follows a negative. :)

, originally uploaded by Melting Mama.

Shortly after I last posted about the pooper girl here, she took a nice nap and seems slightly happier.

Aww, baby's first real bath. Such a tender, quiet, moment.

, originally uploaded by Melting Mama.

A quiet moment? She don't like her no nakie. No way. It also helps if after you're totally dressed, swaddled and comfy, to let out another ginormous fart and fill another clean diaper immediately.

Life Changes Necessary after GBP.

A recent journal review has verified that patients who have gastric bypass surgery will have trouble absorbing nutrients from their diets, due to the re-routing of the small intestine during the procedure. Bariatric surgeons have long-known that patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery will need to make life-long changes to their diet and lifestyle in order to lose weight and maintain it.

               

SAN DIEGO, CA (PRWEB via PRWeb) October 28, 2006 -- A recent journal review has verified that patients who have gastric bypass surgery will have trouble absorbing nutrients from their diets, due to the re-routing of the small intestine during the procedure. Bariatric surgeons have long-known that patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery will need to make life-long changes to their diet and lifestyle in order to lose weight and maintain it.

Surgeons advise that patients who plan to have gastric bypass surgery should begin modifying their diet and lifestyle before the procedure to reduce the risk of possible complications and increase weight-loss success. All patients should take a daily multivitamin, as well as a calcium supplement, to supplement lost nutrients that will result from the surgery.

Post surgery nutrition will require a life-long commitment. Patients are encouraged to consume three small meals a day that are adequate in protein but low in fat and simple sugar, as they will only be able to consume small amounts of food, making it essential that they enjoy high-quality meals. Foods that are high in fat and sugar can cause discomfort and compromise weight loss.

Source:  PR Web.

I'm bringing sexy back. :-P

I'm bringing sexy back. :-P, originally uploaded by Melting Mama.

It's Friday night. Woo-hoo.

It's Friday night. Woo-hoo., originally uploaded by Melting Mama.

time for photo posts

because it's too hard typing one armed.  she's one week old, likes cuddling, sleeping, being wrapped up, but NO Nakie!

Where does inspiration hit you?

Inspiration hit me on the toilet today.  (Like Martha used to say, "It's a good thing.")  I was uh, sitting there, thinking.  The bathroom is my thinking-place.  I don't use my brain in any place else, because my ideas and inspirations always occur in the bathroom.  So, I'm sitting there thinking about my ass.  The other day, somebody said to me, "Wow, your ass got huge."  She then followed that up with, "Well, you had NO ass, so it's alright."  Thanks.  (Proof, below.)

Since the babe is no longer in utero, it's only fair my ass is now the obvious protruding body part.  I've grown The Shelf.  Us fat girls know The Shelf.  (Proof of my ex-shelf circa 2000)

The shelf had been obliterated altogether at this time last fall.  Since last fall, I've grown a sizable Shelf.

I'm not making a huge deal of it because, I've had enough reason to grow a little sustenance.  You can go back in the archives if you want to delve into the reasoning behind my ass-widening, but the most obvious reason being pregnant for nearly all of the past year (remember I miscarried first, and then got unintentionally pregnant immediately following, all the while gaining weight)  Okay, back to my inspiration.  I haven't stepped on the scale since the baby was born six days ago.   I hopped on one at the hospital but wouldn't let it balance, all I wanted to see was if I was under two bucks.  I'm terrified of seeing the truth - but - it must be done.

There's no point in waiting, rationalizing not getting on the scale because:

A.  "You had a baby less than a week ago!"
B.  "You're really anemic and need to EAT real FOOD."
C.  "You're breastfeeding a baby that needs 500 calories a day."
D.  "You're supposed to have a little meat on your bones to feed that baby."
E.  "You have to take it easy, you don't want to bleed to death."
F.  And, whatever is effecting my brain, whether it's the anemia or if I'm stroking out or something.

Yes, all of the above ARE true - but, if anything, they're causing me to continue to eat poorly.  I've not counted a calorie, fat gram, protein, carb, or anything beyond sugar grams in nearly as long as I've been pregnant twice.  This shows in The Shelf.  I've gone from my lowest weight to Whatever I Am Now That Is At Likely to be 200 lbs. in one year.  That's like forty to fifty full pounds of FAT.  Yummy!  Now, I must drop this fat-suit.  That's exactly what it feels like now that the baby's born - I've got that jelly-belly and extra layer of blubber on all of me, like I'm ready to hibernate.  I was sitting there thinking about it - and how I'm not motivated to get showered and ready today because, "poop, I've got nothing to wear?!"  Nothing fits.  I have NO clothing that fits me that is not a maternity item.  Nothing.  That is motivation enough.  I refuse to buy size 16/18.  (In reality it is what I need.)  I won't do it.  (I may have to, in order to be Not Nude outdoors, but, you get it.)

So, here we are.  I need to lose some weight. Not 150 lbs, but, I'm going to say 50 lbs (I'll know once I'm on the scale.  Here's me a couple weeks ago, still pregnant, with a visible chin and ass shelf *not shown* LOL)

As we speak, Fitday is re-downloading, and I can start logging immediately.  I'll post the ::gasp:: starting weight, and we're off.  There really isn't much in the way of junk in the house, I just need to be liable for what I'm actually eating calorie-wise, because I'm eating too many calories, even if they come in the form of decent foods.  I'll add more later.  Baby wakes.

Sugar Free Caramel Frozen Latte

Breakfast of Champions.  Ahh.

Sugar Free Caramel Frozen Latte        

Ingredients:

1 oz. (2 Tbsp.) Sugar Free Caramel syrup
3/4 oz. (1 1/2 Tbsp.) Sugar Free Vanilla syrup
1-2 shots (1/8-1/4 cup) espresso (I doubled this part, but I have a cheap espresso maker and there's no way it's making as strong of a shot as necessary for a good flavor.)
1 1/2 cups ice
1/2 cup skim milk

Had I been feeling like making this a healthier option, I woulda added a scoop-o-protein powder.  Soon, soon.

Huh?

I'm calling the neurologist and blood docs today.  I need to find out what's up with my damn head.  If this isn't blood-related, than I must just have brain-meltage or damage.  Yesterday, Bob wouldn't leave me alone in the house because he was concerned I'd stroke out.  I told him on several occasions during the course of the day:

"If this doesn't go away, remember, I told you that I felt _________* or _________* before I dropped dead, okay?  That way, the doctors will have at least a little bit of something to go on for my autopsy."

(*insert random symptom of dizziness, fatigue, rapid heartbeat, random heartbeat, "trippy," disconnected head/hands/feet, etc.)

While I feel perfectly "acceptable" most of the time, I no longer feel that those episodes of WHATEVER it is that's happening to me is normal.  Remember, I left work due to these symptoms weeks and weeks ago, and we were attributing it to the pregnancy, because gestating makes anemia more pronounced, blah blah blah.  I'm no longer gestating, so is please to stop brain malfunction?!  Maybe it wasn't the fetus causing the suckage (like I suspected), and it truly is something else in regards to the weight loss surgery, physiologically.  It'd better be, otherwise, I really am drain bamaged.  Alright, apparently I've got a contented baby here, because she's allowing me to blog, (the nerve!), and I should go take care of things like No Housework For Four Weeks.  (No, seriously, I'm taking it slightly easier, I'd rather NOT bleed to death.)

-Beth (who'd like to order up two bags of A- blub on the rocks, please.)

Drain Bamaged, Revisited.

Shortly after the birth of the babe (birth story is coming, I promise), I had another episode of what I'm going to call a brain melt.  If you recall back many months ago, I had something that a neurologist at the ER called an "Atypical Migraine."  It caused me to leave work, and stay home to gestate and hope it would go away once the baby was born.  Since that particular episode, I'd had more than a few dizzy spells, near faintings, limb tingling, "floating head syndrome," and the reason I ended up being admitted into the hospital to induce labor?  I got trippy while showering on Thursday morning, and nearly fell out of the tub, and went to the hospital thinking my blood pressure was too low or too high, and I needed to be seen.  (Insert birthing here.)  Then - just a few moments after birth - I lose my words.  Again.  I am sitting in the birthing room, talking to my husband and mother-in-law, and I can't get my words out.  I am looking at my husband, trying to tell him that I'm feeling poorly, feeling as if I needed to sleep, immediately, and I can't get the words out.  He tells me, "Beth, stop it."   I say, "Huh?"  "Beth, wipe your drool off."  I'm now drooling?  Good.  Lovely.  I can't talk, AND I'm drooling.  I also feel as if I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.  Then, it DISAPPEARS.  Less than a minute later, I'm good.  Not one-hundred percent, but I'm alright for just having a baby.  After the nursing staff runs in to check that I'm not stroking out - and decided to call a neuro consult for the next day, we are told to stick in the birthing suite for a while until I got my sea-legs back post epidural.  So, while I haven't got a freaking clue what is wrong with me, I wanted to post it here while it was still fresh in the memory (which I fear might leave at some point if I'm losing my brain here, kids).  This is now two medically documented brain melts since weight loss surgery, and many more mini-melts that I've attributed to "whatever" since surgery.  FWIW - I'm "still" anemic, though didn't lose as much blood as expected during birth, and my levels didn't drop as low as they could have, but who knows if it has anything to do with my brain melting.  Anyways -  I'm just looking for answers here, and I think I need to find out what is wrong with my brain, and I am nearly one hundred percent sure it's related to the weight loss surgery.  ::sigh::  More later, baby calls.

Oprah Show Today: Suddenly Skinny, Problems after weight loss surgery.

On Oprah, like, right now. 

"They thought weight loss surgery was the answer. Instead, they went from fat—to thin—to rock bottom. The risky side of weight loss surgery you don't know."

This seems to be the extreme side of addiction transfer.  Scary, ain't it? 

Luckily - and this is the awful truth, that I'm still a food addict - and that's "less" of a problem than a drug or alcohol addiction. 

Watch this show.  Now.

Lovely Whats-her-face?

Just so you know, she really didn't have a name at first.

We were "settled" on Eloise, with either Marilyn, Catherine, or another familial name as the middle.  I even ripped out a page from the Parents magazine I was reading in very early labor with the cartoon character "Eloise" on it and posted it to the wall as my focal point.  If you don't know, Eloise is a precocious little blond girl from New York who lives in a hotel, and I adore the book series.  Eloise was a perfect name, because I could call her "Ellie" which is the nickname I was looking to use.  Also, it sorta commerates a great grandma - who was Louise - and so forth.  Fast forward to the birth.  (Birth story inserted here.)  She's born.  I look at this shrunken peanut of a child who resembles an old lady. She's tiny.  So tiny that I can't imagine putting this ginormous old lady name on her.  Ellie works, but Eloise immediately felt old and wrinkly, and she's newborn and wrinkly.  I had the nurses write it out on a few pieces of paperwork, and on her baby bucket it read "Baby Girl B."  Fine.  The next day, I'm pacing the hall with the baby bucket in tow, and I read the baby names on each maternity room.  Ella, Ella, Eva, you see where this is going... I finally get to "Kennedy's" room near mine, and laugh because "Regan" (not Reagan) was on my mind for just a moment, and decide this baby needs a different name.  I go back to our room (which is next to ten pounds of Zoe) and tell Bob that we're picking a new name, "Pick one."  So, after rehashing what we could remember of my list - and arguing over the usage of a family name as a middle name, since we were going to double up and use two, but they didn't sound at all okay together.  My reason to Bob was that this baby didn't match the vision I had of her in utero. 

Besides being an alien, I pictured that little blond Eloise in the cartoon (who looks suspiciously like my four year old) and Eloise fit that vision.  This tiny little chicken-pecking brown haired blue eyed non-alien needed a different name.  So, who is she?  It's a mystery, Scooby-Doo!  I did actually pick one from the many lists.  It figures, today, someone already screwed it up and I now have a little boy baby in a pink cassat.  Nice.  Ah well.  I saw THAT coming.

The name is at my "space" - posted for friends or email. 

All present and accounted for.

Okay, we're all home, all mostly healthy*, and I'm busy "not doing any housework for four weeks."  Yeah, uh, right, where in the hell do they get those rules?  (*I promise I'll write more later.)  On blog topic - I did step on a scale in the hospital post-birth, and all I know is that I'm under 200 lbs.  I let the scale slide down - and I decided I did not want to know the exact number yet, because I couldn't get my  new pajama pants up and over my still six-months looking belly and had to wear a hospital gown the entire time.  (Look, it hurt.  Bad.)

Welcome Baby No-Name.

 
In this corner, weighing in at 6 lbs. 9 oz. the world's itty-bitty weight champion (scratch and sniff, she smells delicious!)  She came into the world like a little TKO champ, face first and bruised up.  She's here.  She's tiny.  She has a name.  Welcome Baby!  I'll add the "birth story" later on.

Hiya.

Came to the hospital this morning to get checked out for a dizzy spell, the OB admitted me for observation for elevated blood pressure, so I'm here, I'm locked up, and getting the big induce tommorrow morning.  Whee.  FWIW - I thought the blood pressure was really low, and making me dizzy.  Ah well.  It's not that high, really, she is probably just putting me out of my miseries.  (Thanks!)  I had no idea there was internet access here, and I'm already stir-crazy, but I'll check in tommorrow post-birthing if I can.  Night!