Hey everyone!
After a week or so of feeling "different," on Friday I noticed I was a day late with my period. I grabbed a test, and lo and behold, it came up positive! My husband and I have been devastated ever since my previous miscarriage and we're hoping for my first successful pregnancy.
I was just shy of completing my first trimester in early 2011.
While I'd already lost a significant amount of weight from my highest (over 100 pounds), I had regained quite a bit throughout the previous fall. And when I found out I was pregnant around that Thanksgiving, I was happy and excited of course, but was also scared to death. I was still trying to get over a very bad cough, had been through a very stressful time (dealing with a death in the family in addition to some drawn-out legal issues), and was completely worn out. I was absolutely heartbroken when I ended up in the hospital and lost it.
After taking some time to mourn the loss, I decided I needed to get serious again about my health. I've worked extraordinarily hard since then to eat healthy and get active, not letting myself give up no matter what, even through the weeks where I'd gain. And a little over a year later, it's paid off. I've lost 56 pounds and have hit the lowest weight I've ever reached as an adult. I have energy, I feel strong and agile, and eating healthy has become second nature. I'm extremely careful about portion sizes, have learned to be satisfied with less, and have avoided added sugar. I started jogging (!) and am more active than I've ever been. My main drive has been to get my body healthy enough to carry a baby full-term; I'm not getting any younger, you know (I'm currently 37).
Now that I'm pregnant, I have to change my mindset again. I'm still going to eat healthy of course by focusing on healthy foods, avoiding added sugar and the like, but should no longer eat at the deficit I've grown accustomed to. I'm definitely going to remain active; I'll just focus on low-impact, trading in jogging for walking and swimming (I haven't been jogging for long and am still at a relatively high weight so I'd rather not stress my body at this time). All of this is going to take a while to sink in, especially since I've been so anxious for my tummy to get smaller!
I'm not scared like I was last year; I'm in a much healthier state both physically and emotionally. And even though I haven't gotten down my goal, I know it'll still be within my reach once I've gotten through the pregnancy. Right now, I need to focus on what it takes to nurture a healthy growing baby, and also to treat my own body as well as I can. I've set up my first OB-GYN appointment and will discuss my eating plan with them.
From my own calculations, I should be due in the middle of December. That seems so far off!
Wish me luck!