Yes absolutely you can lose weight while pregnant and you will be healthy and so will your baby. It depends of course how much you weigh to begin with. Say if you are 250 lbs. I don't know how many calories a day you have to eat in order to stay at that weight but say it is 3,000 and most of that is fat and carbs. Now you find out you are pregnant and that you are going to eat better so you start eating more fruits, vegs, protein and cut back on fat and carbs and your calories drop to 1,800 a day (this is all hypothetical of course and I'm just throwing out numbers for example) well that is 1,200 less calories you are eating a day plus you are using your own body fat to provide energy for the baby to grow. So that is weight loss right there. I asked this same question on another pregnancy web site and talked to a woman who did not gain any weight during pregnancy and with her delivery lost about 40 lbs. She said she knows women that have lost weight during pregnancy and gave birth to healthy babies. Obviously you have to be fairly overweight for this to happen but there is no reason why it couldn't happen. The main thing is to communicate with your doctor about it. As long as the baby is growing properly there is no reason why it wouldn't be safe for an overweight woman to lose weight while pregnant. Likely they'd be happy about it because it helps with your blood pressure and possibility of getting gestational diabetes.

I'm ordering a few different kinds of cloth diapers off the internet and I'm going to a couple of stores to look at others. I'm excited to try this and happy that I will save money and avoid sending disposibles to the landfill. We have a maximum 2 bags allowed on garbage day and they are talking about going to 2 bags every other week! Normally we only put out one bag every week anyways but still changing 10 diapers a day or so adds up.

Oh I have that pregnancy waddle too but generally only when I am tired or my back is really sore. Otherwise I purposely try to walk properly. I hate the idea of looking like I am waddling!

About my own weight gain. I think to date I have only gained about 20 lbs which considering my weight is more than I wanted to gain. My doctor and I talked about it at the beginning and we both figured the less the better. I think she is quite pleased that I have not gained too much. I'm not particularly worried because I know I will lose at least 20 lbs with the delivery because I think there is about 25 lbs average of baby, placenta, amniotic fluid etc, etc and we end up gaining more fluid during pregnancy which we end up sweating off or peeing out in the weeks following delivery. With my first I gained 45 lbs and had lost it all within 3 weeks of delivery. So I'm not particularly worried about losing my baby weight, it is all the rest of the weight I am worried about!

I go home in 3 weeks for 3 weeks! Ticket is all booked - I'm sooooo excited. Time is marching along soooo slowly lately & I'm finding it very hard to stay motivated to do, well, pretty much anything. I am definitely NOT someone who is inwardly motivated - I need external stimulation to keep me going (I did not intend that to sound dirty - lol).

I've still been feeling pretty good but in the last week my lower belly hurts whenever I walk or stand. Probably just ligaments, right? Does anyone else have this? Do you ignore & walk anyway (I'm talking about for exercise here) or do you wait it out?

Lifeguard -- I kept going with the walking when I just had the lower belly pain, but when I had the really bad pubic bone pain I had to stop. Bear in mind, however, that my workouts were really just some rather slow walking on the treadmill, so I wasn't doing much.

I had my 40-week appointment today (yep, today is my due date!!!) and I still haven't dilated AT ALL. Apparently I'm about 70% effaced, however, so at least there's some sort of progress. The OB said his head has dropped lower too, which I could tell because I always feel it kind of grinding around in my pelvis. Poor little thing is running out of room in there!!

I can't remember if I've told you guys, but my OB went ahead and scheduled an induction for next Thursday, 8/7, if the baby doesn't come by then. She doesn't want me to go past 41, and I'm fine with that. She said we'll take the induction VERY slowly and do everything we can to avoid it ending up as a c-section or anything else scary (vacuum, forceps, etc), so I feel pretty comfortable with it. I go in Wednesday for blood work and then the induction is scheduled for 7am Thursday. If he takes alllll day, he could have that cool 8/8/08 birthday!

Wow LisaMarie soooo close - it must be exciting & frustrating all at once! I must admit I am secretly hoping I go early 'cause I can't imagine how hard it will be to pass that date (which I KNOW is just an estimate) & have to wait. So are you doing all the "at home" remedies to get labour going?

I am having a very frustrating day. The bank machine didn't give me the money I tried to take out, it did however take the money from my account. To top things off it also refused to give me a receipt. When I went in to the bank responsible for the machine they would do nothing for me - wouldn't even give me contact info but said my bank had to take care of it - which seems strange seeings how I'm in Costa Rica (as is the machine that screwed me) & my bank is in Canada. I call my bank & they will do an investigation for us but it'll take 3 MONTHS!!!! Until they sort it out we're out the money. Some days it just doesn't feel like we can ever get ahead. We were going to go baby furniture shopping this weekend but now that'll probably be on hold (unfortunately I was trying to take out significantly more than $20). I felt like such a moron sobbing away in english to the spanish bank teller but my pregnancy hormones just would not let me get control of my tears.

Lisa - how exciting to be so close!! I'm so envious! I wish mine were today. This has been so long but seeing as our nursery is no where ready it is probably just as well. Please post back afterwards and let us know what happens!

Lifeguard - sorry to hear about the bank machine problem. Just what you need while pregnant. Yes I've had those ligament pains, they usually go away quickly with me, more of a spasm than something that stays for a long period. Changing position usually helps me.

My thing right now is the swelling. I suppose it is my own fault because I don't think I am drinking enough (will start drinking more tomorrow I swear!) so I am retaining like mad. My hands are puffy now and I woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday and my right hand was very swollen and painful. I don't know if I was sleeping on it or what.

Work continues on the nursery. Should have it painted within the next few days and we have a carpet guy coming next week to fix the carpet, it's got some lumps and bumps in it. Not that it is terribly old or worn, only 5 years old and still in good shape but whoever laid it down did a terrible job. Anyway once that's fixed we can move the furniture in. That will be such a relief. I bought a few cloth diapers just to have a look at them, I think I am definately going with them, just planning out all the other things I need now. I am up to my belly button in clothes from my SILs, here's hoping I"m having a boy now because I have so many boy clothes. I'm going to end up spending a fortune on clothes if I have a girl. No doubt it will be a girl.

How is everyone's weekend going? I keep logging on here hoping to hear that Lisa has gone into labor, how exciting to be so close!

I'm humming along, although rather sluggishly. I think I need to talk to my OB about getting my iron levels checked since I have the symptoms (fatigue, dizziness, etc.) and this is a pretty normal time in pg for anemia to kick in. I have an appointment next Monday and have to get blood work done anyhow so maybe they'll check it then.

DH and I are working on getting the nursery done. We are painting up a storm. Actually, DH is painting and I'm spending lots of time outside avoiding the fumes. [I'm finally getting my yard weeded, that's a good thing. I'm sure the neighbors were about to revolt and call the county... the weeds had gotten really bad.] The baby's bedroom has been a guest/storage room for so long there was lots of stuff to clean out of there. My parents bought our queen guest bed from us, so that's a load off. Everything else is all about my house... making me nuts. Most of it will end up in the garage on our storage shelves, but first we have to get the baby stuff out of the garage (all the furniture, etc.) and to get that done we have to finish painting. So, in the meantime I'm trying to keep my sanity together in my very cluttered house. I hate clutter, HATE it. DH is taking this whole week off though to get the baby's room done because he knows how completely unglued I'm coming because of the mess in the rest of the house. He's so wonderful! I never thought I'd actually look forward to cleaning house, but I am really looking forward to getting my house back to the way it belongs!

I've been finding some fun baby stuff at garage sales the last few weeks. I found a nearly brand new baby gate for $3, it's just like the other one we have and I love it. I've been picking up clothes as I'm finding them, too. I have a lot of clothes coming my way since my cousin's boy is only 2 and she's passing everything on to me.

I hope everyone is doing well and having a fantastic weekend!

Sounds like you're baby room is coming right along. We're not doing a nursery so I don't get to have that fun. This weekend we were supposed to go to order the furniture which I've been looking forward to for weeks but dh backed out & decided we should go next weekend instead. So disappointed - I don't think he realizes how BORING my life is right now & how much I look forward to these stupid little things. Plus, I'd love to finally have the stuff so I could start organizing & putting away the baby stuff I have. Right now everything is just piled on a shelf in the bedroom. And it will take several weeks to get the furniture 'cause we are having stuff custom made (no this isn't as snobby a decision as it sounds - it's pretty typical to do such a thing here).

Is everyone on here due before me? I'm finally (thank goodness) in my 3rd tri!!!!! I'm ready for time to start flying!

Gale - I know what you mean about clutter. My whole house is one big disaster zone just because we are redoing 1 room!! The baby's room was the office/computer room and stuffed with my husband's junk plus my SIL's gave me tons and tons of baby stuff which of course is fantastic but not so much when I've got no place to put it. But the end is in site. We are painting this week, the carpet guy will be here bright and early Saturday morning to fix the carpet and then the rest of the weekend will be moving stuff into the room and out of the rest of the house. I'm doing the painting myself right now which has been fun. I like painting normally but my ankle is a bit sore so it is has been fun getting up and down the step stool. Still I am about half way done the first coat and dh can do the 2nd coat when he gets home and tomorrow I can start on the trim. That will take a lot less time than the walls I hope.

Lifeguard - What sort of furniture are you getting? We just have a crib and dresser. Nothing fancy. The dresser is kind of neat in that the top folds out for a change table and then when you don't need it anymore it folds over and is like a little shelf. Got it from IKEA for my first.

The feet/hand swelling is awful. My feet I sort of gotten used to but my hands are another story. I can't hardly make a fist they are so swollen. Yesterday I was doing some painting and my fingers would go numb. Today is better, once I got moving around I think the swelling receded a bit, enough that I can function anyway.

Not much else going on babywise, have another dr's appt next week and then it will be weekly I guess until the big day.

I'm getting a crib & dresser/change table. I don't want just a change table 'cause it doesn't seem like a lot of use after they're no longer babies. We are also getting a cradle but a friend is lending us theirs.

Nope, I'm still in my second tri... due December 6th. You're ahead of me!