Baby Weight

DISCLAIMER:  I have had various versions of this post written for MONTHS, but have been afraid to post it.  And that seems silly.  So I am doing it.  Because some of us gain more than the recommended 25 lbs during pregnancy, no matter how healthy we eat.  And that's ok.

I'm a fairly healthy person.

Phil and I worked out like crazy before our wedding.  We were both in pretty darn good shape.  And it wasn't just about working out.  We were pretty deliberate about what we ate as well.  We are talking fruits and veggies, quinoa, brown rice, chicken breasts, etc.

Sure we both gained a little weight after the wedding.  "Happy weight" as my mom likes to call it.  I blame all the fantastic cookbooks I received.  :)  But it still wasn't too bad.

And then when I went through the thyroid cancer stuff, I figured my weight would most definitely go up.  I guess it is fairly common for women to gain weight through thyroid fluctuations.  So I was pretty proud of myself when I went through the whole treatment process (which took over a year) and managed to not gain much weight.  Maybe 5 pounds.

Then I got pregnant.  And it didn't matter what I ate, I gained weight.  A pound a week for a while.  I got the lectures from my doctor.  And the warnings that it was important to try and lose the weight before Henry's 1st birthday.  At the end when it would be 5 pounds one week, then nothing the next week, followed by 5 pounds the next week.  My doctor wasn't too concerned at the end.  She saw how swollen I was and told me women with thyroid diseases tend to gain a lot of water weight.

Phil kept track of my weight for me so that I wouldn't have to.  I was pretty happy in my ignorance not knowing.  I had a pretty good idea, but didn't need to know exact numbers.  But my labor nurse let the cat out of the bag when I was checking into the hospital.

About 59 pounds.

I seriously don't know how that happened.  I didn't eat that much.  I didn't eat a bunch of bad stuff.  I followed the Brewer diet.  Lots of fruits, veggies, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, etc.  Even ask my co-worker.   I didn't pull a Jessica Simpson.  My body just packed it on.

{A few days before Henry's arrival.  Large and not in charge}

{photo by Annie Groves Photography}

Henry was only 8 lbs of that.  I mean, thank GOODNESS he wasn't any more.  I kind of wish he had only been like 7 lbs of that, but whatever.  :)

Everyone assured me it would come right off, but not necessarily right away.  So I held off getting on the scale.  Then my curiosity got the best of me.  I hopped on the scale, keeping my expectations SUPER low.  I held my breath and told myself I wasn't going to let whatever it said affect my mood.

I was pleasantly surprised when the scale showed I had already lost 30 pounds.

12 days post-delivery... 30 pounds down.

But those were the easy pounds.  It was mostly fluid.  The other 29 lbs were going to be the hard part.  And I was determined to lose every. last. pound.  I had to show my doctors that they didn't need to lecture me at every single appointment.  At the same time, I knew it took 9 months to put it on, it was going to take some time to come off.

I tried not to worry about it.  I wore maternity clothes for a couple more months.  And after that, I still wore things a size or two bigger than I needed to.

When everything started happening with Phil's dad and I was thrust into dealing with a dying relative, a grieving husband who went across the country every month, and taking care of an infant all by myself, I didn't eat a whole lot.  That plus breastfeeding and I was down to just 7 pounds left to lose when Henry was 6 months old.

That was right around when Ed passed away.  When I am stressed, I lose my appetite.  I lost another few pounds over Thanksgiving.

Then Henry got sick when we got home.  I lost a couple more pounds.

I started going to the gym at lunch and a couple more went away.

When Henry went into the hospital, I lost a few more.

And then I was sick and barely ate for like a week.  There went a couple more.

At this point, I've lost all my baby weight plus another 7 pounds.

66 lbs.

I suppose you could call it "diet" but it isn't something I would recommend.  Believe me.  Loss, stress, and breastfeeding will do wonders.

I guess my main point here is that if you are pregnant and gaining more than the "recommended" weight, don't stress about it.  It won't happen overnight, but it will come off.  Especially if you breastfeed.

I'm so jealous of women who get to be cute and pregnant.  I am most definitely not one of them.  I am hopeful that if I do get pregnant in the future, I will be able to keep the weight gain down a little.  Hopefully I won't need extreme stress to do it.