noeldawn
I guess my story is similiar to others. Growing up I was always "chunky". As I became a teenager I slimmed up somewhat and was a nice size (around 125 lbs). After meeting the love of my life at the young age of 16 I slowly gained some weight, but nothing too extreme (around 20 lbs). We married when I was 18. After our wedding I gained another 15 lbs. WOW- Now at a weight of about 160 lbs I found out I was pregnant. After the birth of my son, my life would change forever. My son was born premature and suffered a brain hemmorhage while on oxygen in the hospital. The next several years would prove to be very trying. He was developmentally delayed and as a result our lives were now filled with doctors, therapists, specialists, evaluations, .... I think this is when my obesity issues began. I never lost the pregnancy weight. I gained about 40 pounds with the pregnancy and never lost it. Then it seems year after year I would gain more. I used food to make myself feel better. I think sometimes I was unconsiously punishing myself for what happened to my son; it must have been my fault somehow. In August 2000 I suffered a miscarriage at around 16 weeks. This was so hard to deal with. I thought I would never get over it. It had taken alot of courage for us to try to have another child because of the fear of something going wrong. Anyway, the Lord blessed me with a daughter in January 2004 (no complications!!!) She's a very healthy and ACTIVE 3 yr old!! Now- back to the weight issues- During all these years I've tried all kinds of diets and pills: Redux, Meridia, numerous over the counter products, weight watchers, atkins, and the list could goes on. I had some success with the redux (it was later pulled from the market) and with weight watchers but the weight would always come back plus some! I have been thinking about surgery off and on for some time and finally decided to pursue it after my most recent failure at weight watchers. I feel it's time to do something for me. For so long I've been giving to others and taking care of others; it's my turn now. My weight loss surgery is scheduled for August 6, 2007. I AM READY!!! Thank you for taking time to read this.
