Trim Healthy Mama Tuesday, week 26

Week 26, how did I get here so quickly. That's half a year I've been on plan now.

I can explain my absence from the blogosphere by announcing the safe arrival of our first daughter on May 9th. I'll be adding her birth story to the blog just as soon as I've got enough time to type it up. Meanwhile here is a few pictures of our new blessing.

2 days old

Daddy and his new daughter (3 days old)

2 weeks old

Almost 3 weeks

My final weight gain for the entire pregnancy was just 12 lbs, largely thanks to eating the Trim Healthy Mama way. Megan was 7lb 7oz at birth, my smallest baby yet, but certainly not a tiny baby.

At almost 4 weeks postpartum (it'll be 4 weeks on Thursday) not only have I lost all my pregnancy weight, but I am also down another 12lb, taking me to 2lb below my starting pregnancy weight with our oldest son. Now I've just got 8lbs of pregnancy weight from our miscarriage baby to loose and I'll be back at my before any pregnancy weight. This also puts me at 50-55lb to go to reach my goal healthy weight, which I now hope to reach by Megan's first birthday.

I'll be waiting another 2 weeks to get back to full plan mode, this time with the addition of some exercise. I have a lovely new set of kettlebells waiting for me in the garage. And I'm looking forward to toning up as well as slimming down. I will also try to get a good before picture and post it here on the blog as it will be a good way to show progress as I work towards my target weight.

Baby is beginning to stir, so I have to keep this short today. I am looking forward to beginning to full weight loss mode part of this plan and sharing it with you all.

Trim Healthy Mama Tuesday, Week 17

So its been a while since I took time to update on here. I've been busy with potty training one toddler, while the other one has been learning to walk and teething his molars at the same time. I've also been on an unstoppable nesting drive, getting our home ready for our new arrival (more about that in another post soon.)

So where are we at?

Rob is continuing to see his blood pressure stabilize, which is wonderful news. It is even low enough consistently for him to be able to donate blood again. As a bonus he has lost 10lb, all of it on that subtle middle age spread that was happening to his waistline. He tried on some pants last night that have been too tight, and they all fit comfortably again. He still wants to get rid of another 4lb or 5lb, but is enjoying how effortless it is for him with the THM plan.

I'm 35 weeks and 4 days today. My total gain is currently sitting at 10lbs. I do get a little bit of fluctuation, but only by 1lb or at most 2lb. I'm also at the point in my pregnancy where it is getting difficult to eat enough, so I'm really focusing on just getting enough protein every day. With just over a month to go until the baby is due I'm confident my total gain will stay under or around the 15lb target. I'm excited to see what my weight is going to be like after the baby gets here too.

I'll be giving myself a month to recover from the birth before I continue to track my weight, but that doesn't mean I'll be taking a break from Trim Healthy Mama. I've already started to fill our freezer with lots of good THM dinners that are ready to go into the slow cooker, along with stockpiling some tasty sourdough rye bread for those early weeks when I'm trying to stay off my feet. My next goal is to get some pancakes, cupcakes, muffins and other treats ready and frozen for easy snacks that are still on plan during my recovery period. Last time I needed about 6 weeks of recovery time. I'm praying for a much quicker recovery this time, but want to be prepared to eat out of the freezer for 6 weeks if we have to.

I hope to get a nice bump picture taken this week when I hit 36 weeks so I can update next week with a photo.

Mysterious rash

About 2 and 1/2 weeks ago I developed a rash. It started just below my collar bone and spread very quickly over my neck, face, upper chest and arms. At first we were concerned that it was Chicken Pox, as the red marks were beginning to form tiny blisters and getting very painful and itchy. And since I don't have a regular doctor we went to our local Urgent Care center.

The doctor at Urgent Care was unable to confirm Chicken Pox, and was unsure what else it could be. So I was given a referral to a Dermatologist. I would have to wait 2 days for an appointment, but that would at least give the rash time to develop more and make confirmation of Chicken Pox easier. That night (2nd night with the rash) I started having quiet a bad fever. We never took my temperature, but it definitely got high enough to concern Rob. We were sure that whatever was causing the rash I was ill, and Rob stayed home from work to look after me and the boys.

After the 2 day wait it was finally time to see the Dermatologist. It was not Chicken Pox, and he didn't think it was anything contagious. However what else it could be was a mystery. He took 2 biopsies to send for testing and ordered a long list of blood tests. He seemed to think that the rash was a photosensitive reaction due to the rash only being present on skin that is normally sun exposed. I was prescribed an anti-viral and an antibiotic as a precaution and Prednisone for the actual rash. I was them instructed to keep my skin completely covered when outside in daylight. I live in South Florida. The sun shines almost all year here, and it rarely gets cold enough to wear more than a t-shirt. I owned 1 long sleeved maternity shirt, and yet I was supposed to stay covered up.

I started the medications, went shopping for a few extra tops and light-weight scarves and started trying to avoid the sun. After the weekend I went for the blood tests. The rest was a waiting game.

Last Monday I went back to the Dermatologist to have the stitches removed from the biopsies, and to find out my test results. The stitches were removed easily, but the test results were not. After being kept waiting for an hour and a half I finally saw the doctor. Other than showing the anemia that I already knew about (I've been anemic for over 10 years) none of the tests could show any cause for my rash. The doctor had asked the pathologist to carry out some more detailed studies on my biopsies, but that would take more time.

The one thing that the biopsy did show, as explained by the doctor, was that the type of dermatosis (medical term for the rash) I had was neutrophilic, although there was no sign of infection (or bacteria induced dermatosis.) This basically means that they do not know exactly what has caused the rash. It is probably not linked to my pregnancy, but they cannot be completely sure of that unless they can identify an actual cause.

So we continue to wait for the new detailed biopsy results, and meanwhile hope that the rash doesn't flare back up.