jessica0378

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I know, don't flame me since it's been so long since I've been on. We're all good and fine, just been real busy lately. I am 28 weeks along and everything is going great. My only complaint is occasional swollen ankles, but it's all good. The baby moves around a lot, especially after I eat something. It's like she's saying yummmmm, that was tasty...send more please! So far, I have gained about 20# of the expected 25-30 total. I'm ok with this since it's all belly / baby. I can still pull on and up my size 10-12 jeans, just can't close or button over the belly. Dr Monk says the weight will come off easy and fast, especially if I breastfeed. I know it's not easy and is an aquired art, but I'm certainly going to try, for many reasons. Benefits baby, benefits me and benefits the wallet ($23 / week for formula = ouch!!!)

We already know it's a girl and we are going June 1 for yet another ultrasound. On June 11th, my dad is "early baby shower gifting" us a 3D/4D Ultrasound session. I cannot wait! They said at 30 weeks you can really see the facial features. I think our baby girl is going to look like Jim's mom. Something just tells me she'll have her dark hair, bright blue eyes and the Campbell family cheeks (like Jim has too)! We have chosen to name her Gracelyn Josephine. She is being kinda-sorta named after Jim's 2 grandmothers, but with our own spin on it. Their names are Zelda Grace and Josephine Bell. Grace and Gracie are way common, so we added the -lyn. I know it'll get shortened to a nickname of either Grace, Gracie or Gracie Jo, but I can live with that. Her real name is unique!

I'm worried that our fur-baby, Toby (5 year old english bulldog & boxer mix), is going to be real jealous. I don't want to get rid of him, but if we have to, we have to. He is a REAL attention hog, and that bother's me. I cannot get on the computer or sit/lay on the sofa without him being right there with his head on my lap. He follews me all around the house like my shaddow. I guess like every other mom to be, I am worried that if the baby cries, he's going to jump up to check it out and overturn the cradle. Just the other day, Jim woke up with a leg cramp and was yelling from upstairs. I got up to run upstairs, and Toby totally beat me up the steps and into the bedroom. He knows he's not allowed upstairs, but in this case, he reminded me of Lassie in action, which is ok.

Work is going good. We have a new practice manager and he's awesome! The morale has majorly increased and everyone seem so much happier! I would still love to change one more thing, but maybe in time she'll improve, or go away, lol. I look forward to my 6 weeks maternity leave at the summers end. What a great time to have a baby. We'll always be able to have a nice outdoor summer birthday and she'll get back to school clothes for her birthday! WIN WIN!

Baby is growing right on track. I am now 15 weeks and still have had no sickness or vomitting. I ma able to eat well, but I still sometimes make bad choices. I wish I couldn't eat chocolate sometimes! I don't eat it everyday, but even small amounts here and there add up. I've been eating a lot of fruit and veggies, which helps, and I eat protein at every meal.

Last week we got our nursery furniture, a travel system and play yard....gifts from the grandparents to be. We're so anxious to find out what were having! I have my 3rd sonogram on March 9th and maybe at 16.5 weeks they'll see something? Wishful thinking, I know! Well, maybe!

Jim and I are planning a NYC trip in May with a group from my work. It's funny how it started out as me and another girl, then her mom and Jim, and now there's about 20 going! I guess since we're all taking people, we'll just go our own ways once we get there. We're also going, for my birthday, to see Riverdance at Hershey Theater late March. I've always wanted to go to a show, and this is the last show of the Farewell tour. I'm so excited!!!

Well, I'm headed out the door here in a few and have ot get a few things together for work so I don't have to stop back home. I've become a weekly regular shopper at the Salvation Army. Wed is family day and 1/2 price all clothing and shoes. I'm stocking up on my maternity gear and such! Also have to stop for gas along the way.....urggggh!

Here's the 2nd US from 13 weeks 1 day, Feb 13th, 2009. I see a face, body and feet!




 

We're having a baby! I found out on Dec 18th (my period was 5 days late) that we're pregnant! I consider my surgery a total success, as this is the #1 reason for having gastric bypass surgery in the first place, not to mention the 160 lbs I have lost.

Sorry I have not been online to update lately. Our PC crashed and would not even boot to do diagnostics, so we bought a new tower and finally got it up and running late last night. Now, all of my photos have to be recovered from the crashed hard drive, so that's the next project. And I mean ALL of my photos. Every photo of me as a big girl that were taken and never printed as we tend to do with digital camera's nowa days. Those are real important to me, so it's serious business to recover...oh, not to mention all our tax records and documents.

I still have to get my disney pics on here to share, so since I have a PC now, I'll be working on updating photos in the near future. I'll also add a few pics from Christmas and birthdays in Dec.

Well, off to bed!

So, we went to have our photos taken for Christmas cards. Since we now have a new dog, Toby, he went with us and is in the pics too. He's a english bull dog / boxer mix. Very friendly and so ugly he's cute. In the 2 weeks that we've had him, we've taught him to sit, stay, down, and heal when walking on a leash. He's very smart. I just wish he'd stay off my damn sofa when I leave the room! I'm thinking that his last owner allowed full reign of the house, sofa included.

I attended the monthly York Area Weight loss surgery group meeting last night. After the meeting, I was pulled aside and asked if I would step up as the new leader! WOW! How flattering! Our previous leader, George, has taken a new job, and keeps crazy hours, and has not been able to attend for several months. This is very exciting for me, and since I'm already there every month, it's going to be fun to be more involved.

Well, I've got to get ready for my day. I go into wrk late today, but I have my bi-weekly massage visit at 8am, then I'll be off to my new favotite store...Salvation Army. Wed is 50% off day!!! Last week I bought 2 pair Tommy jeans, 1 pair CK jeans and 6 name brand shirts for about $25. AWESOME!

I promise to update more often. Just been really busy...and I'm on a computer all day at work, so not so much at home these days.

So I couldn't fing the right dress, so I made one. Everyone was suprised at how nice it turned out...even me!! I knew that my cousin's wedding was a purple, and figured it was a light purple since the shower favors were that, but their "theme" was ravens too, so I matched! They even had the Raven's mascot, Poe for a guest appearance! So fun!!!

Anyways, I'm doing good. I got down to 160 about 2 weeks ago, but for the most part, depending on the day/time of month, I am usually between 162-164 on the scale. I am very happy where I am, and if I never get to my goal of 155 lbs, that's ok with me. It would be nice to get there even if just to say I met my goal.

Jim's packed up and shipped back his 3 week heart monitor. It was really getting on my nerves, if a pad came loose, the whole unit would vibrate and beep, and it was waking me at night, He took it off on Sat for the wedding/gold tournament and didn't put it back on. Oh well, 4 days short of 3 weeks. He's been doing really good since taking the Prilosec and prozac. I think he could do without the prozac, but I'm not his Dr. I guess when he has a fu with Dr Taylor, we can discuss that.

Well, I have to get out the door for work. I'm adding a few pics from the wedding. I was a little chill, so I wore a wrap and you can't see the whole dress, but I will put it back on and get another good photo soon.

 

So at work today, I ate my lunch at my desk. I didn't know it at the time, but I ate a little too quick and swallowed a piece of steak by accident that I did not chew well enough. Low and behold, I got a nasty case of the foamies. It lasted for about 30 min, and I was back and forth to the bathroom, with this thick spit foamie crap. I thought my foamies days were done, but I guess my pouch still works afterall!

Today's lesson re-learned:

Do not eat fast and be sure to chew every bite very well.

We just got a new camera so I will add some new pics of the nieces and of me soon. (thanks to my mom for dropping the one we had...I was ready to upgrade anyway!) Me and Natalie Joann.

SO, after 10 days of agony, my sinus infection, yeast infection and being sick has resolved, for the most part. Now, everyone at work is taking turns being sick, passing it around.

 My sister was due with #2 girl on Aug 29th, but she was born early on Aug 6th. Natalie Joanne Crowe weighed 7lb 8oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She is a perfect baby, only fusses when you mess with her, and like most newborns, she sleeps a lot. We put her in newborn clothes, and she swims in them, so it's premie stuff for now.

Here's a few pics of the baby and our visit this past weekend. Newborn Natalie; Sarah wants to touch her feet; Laura, Sarah and Natalie; Sarah loves her Uncle Jim; Sarah and Jim's tea party!

 

I don't know why, but I noticed that some of my words run together on here. Please know that I am not a bad typer, it's the web site!  

Last week, Jim, my mom, Sarah and a co-worker all had this summer URI type of cold. It starts with a bad sore throat, then a deep voice and cough. and eventually a deep chest cold. I woke up Tuesday am with the sore throat! Being as I work at me Dr's office, I asked my PCP what I could take with my zyrtec and she gave me samples of allegra D 12 hour. At first they seem to work, but I'm now up at 3:30am with bad ear pain and can't sleep. Part of the insomnia is from Jim's lingering, nagging cough every 2 minues. It's just easier for me to be awake than to wake him to take something. Sarah is done being sick, and is visiting for the weekend. She's asleep on our floor, 1/2 under the bed since she rolled off her little dora fold out sofa. As long as she's asleep we're good! Before going to bed, we made muffins, and that's always a trip. She never cracked an egg before, and luckly I was holding her hand too, cause she instantly tried to squeeze and crumble the shell. Her favorite part is mixing, then licking the spoon. She brought her Uncle Jim a banana muffin, and he was asleep already, but he did wake up to take a bite for her. He's a really good uncle to her and she really loves him so much!

I was just going to get up and go into work for some overtime, but didn't think it was still so early. I have to be there at 7:45 til 12, then we're going to the Wellspan Health (my employer) family fun day. I guess I will lay down in our guest room to see if I can't get some sleep. I told Dr Prince before leaving work last night, that if I didn't fill his 8:30 appt this am, I'd add myself into his schedule for this cold. He said it's a deal.

The weight loss has really slowed, and I think I am where my body wants to be, and I am comfortable with that, but I have only 10 lbs to go! Some people still don't think I weigh 165, and say that I don't have 10 more to lose! WOW! Are they talking to me??? I just want to get to my goal, so I can say that I weigh 1/2 of what I used to weigh. I think maybe even then I would be in a single digit dress size! I wore a size 10 yesterday to a baptism and party, and that felt so good!

Well, I have to get to work. We still have $770 to pay on Disney by Sept 7th, so I need the overtime!

Ok, so today marks the 1 year point since I had my life changing gastric bypass surgery. I have lost 135# since surgery and 155# since my journey began. I have lost a total of ______ inches from my body! I had hoped to reach my personal goal of 155# before today's date, but being only 12# away, I can life with that, and keep working towards my goal.

We had a nice cookout today with family and friends. I brought out the fat pants. A pair of 4X scrub pants, that before surgery, were snug. I can fit into 1/2 of these pants. What an accomplishment that is! This is the only thing I kept, and these "fat pants" will still hang in my closet.

I feel that without this surgery, I would be worse off than I was at the time I had it done. I was borderline diabetic, moderate sleep apnea, elevated blood pressure, boarderline cholestrol and PCOS. I could not run, could not handle taking the stairs, and never felt like doing things. Now, since losing the weight, ALL of my pre surgical co-morbities have been "cured" and I have the energy to jog, take all 3 flights of stairs(at home) at once, and I can hardly sit for too long. I feel like a new person, and I only wish that I had done this years ago!

I have the best support system, and am encouraged by everyone who hears my story. Even those who did not know me before surgery congratulate my success.

For the first time in my life, I can walk into a store and buy clothes right off the rack. I have gone from a 26/28 plus size to a 10/12 misses. People approach me when I walk into a store, rather than ignore me, and I feel overall more comfortable in my own skin, confidence has boosted 100%.

I have some stretched out skin on my arms, which my niece seems to love playing with, and skin "wrinkles" on my inner thighs. My boobs used to look like grapes, but now resemble raisins. I have a little apron for a belly, but nothing I would consider surgery for at this point. I believe that eventually, after we have kids, I will go for my arms and maybe a boob job. The legs and belly I can live with, my thoughts for now at least. Overall, I am very happy with myself, and how I look and feel. I'll take the extra skin and wrinkles over weighing 322# ANYDAY!