Exercise

It's been 10+ months since I had Emilee.  I think it's time.

Just to give you some back story, I was once upon a time at my "ideal" weight when I graduated from high school. 

Freshman year at college -August 2002

May 2003

Then college happened.  Actually my freshman year of college, my weight didn't fluctuate that much.  I attribute most of the weight gain to stopping marching band, eating when I could and what I could afford, and not having time to work out, although I will admit that my roommates and I would try to go to the pool or exercise facility when we could and there was lots of walking all over campus.  By the time I graduated college, I weighed probably 40 pounds more than when I went.

Engagement Photos - Oct 2005

Then I started working full-time.  It didn't get better, I just kept eating the wrong foods and not having any time to work out.  I did play in a softball league and at one point, even had a gym membership, but it wasn't enough.  Before long, I'd gained another 40 pounds.  Before I knew it I was 80 pounds more than I really wanted to be.

Las Vegas - July 2007

Then we decided to get pregnant.  Looking back, I should have taken the time to lose weight first, but I didn't.  Luckily I was able to get pregnant (with some fertility help) in the summer of 2009.  I started taking Bradley classes for the birth and that's when I learned about the Dr. Brewer diet.  Basically, eating lots of protein and good grains, fruits, and veggies.  I started eating better because my baby depended on it.  I also tried to exercise (aka walk) when I could.  I gained about 25 pounds.  Noah was born and as he got bigger and started eating solid foods, we learned that we could eat better to be a good role model for him.  So slowly we started choosing healthier foods.  I ended up loosing the 25 pounds I gained during pregnant within a few months.

Around Summer of 2011 after I had stopped nursing, David and I decided to do something more drastic to help us be healthier.  We went on the South Beach diet.  We ate no carbs for about a week or so, lots of exercise and then when we brought back carbs, there was no white pasta, potatoes or bread.  Over the course of a few months of this, I had lost about 25 pounds!!! WOO HOO!!!

Isla Mujeres - June 2011

During this time, I also started trying to get pregnant with Emilee and towards the end of the summer, I was pregnant again.  At that point, I started the Dr. Brewer diet again and gained another 25 pounds (putting me back up at my weight before I got pregnant with Noah).  After she was born, my weight went back down 25 pounds to my Emilee pre-pregnant weight pretty quickly. 

Now today here I stand, 10 months later, at my Emilee pre-pregnancy weight.  Still about 60 pounds more than what I want, though.  We definitely eat better than we used to.  And naturally with 2 kids, we don't exercise in the "traditional" sense, but we are active because we have to be.

October 2012

I'm still nursing Emilee so I want to be careful about how many restrictions I put on my diet.  So I'm not going to worry about that as much right now, at least until I'm not nursing her as much (after she is a year old at least).  For now, I want to start exercising.  My first step was signing up for my first 5k.  I'm going to do the Color Run.  I chose that one because it sounds fun (getting splashed with crazy colors while you run sounds fun, right?) and because it's more a fun run, it's not timed, so I figured if I couldn't make it and had to walk, it wouldn't be that bad (aka no one would ridicule me).  The bad part - I'm having to train while it's both cold outside, not light very long and I'm working a ton of hours during busy season.  The race is April 27.

I'm writing this all here to hopefully hold me accountable.  So my plan is to follow one of the "couch to 5k" programs that are about 8 weeks long.  That means I have until the end of February to start training.  Until then, I'm just going to try and be as active as I can to get my body used to working out again.  And hey, if I lose a few pounds in the process, that's ok with me!!!

So my plan for now is to wake up at 5am 2-3 days a week and work out on the elliptical for 30 minutes.  I normally get up at 5, so I'm pushing my "get ready" time until 5:30am.  If we have a random warm day, I may walk outside or take the kids with me, but this will have to do for the next 3 weeks or so until I start my training program for the 5k.  Then I will have to figure out a new plan that involves outdoors unless it's raining or something.

 Ok - here I go!!!!!

New Doctor - Continued

We went back to the doctor for Emilee on January 23, 2013.  We saw the new doctor and our reason was to get her ears rechecked.  Since this was our first visit with this new doctor, I wanted to talk with her and get to know her and discuss her growth "problems" that the other doctor thought we had. 

When she first came in, she looked at her ears and said everything was cleared there.  I'm still not 100% sure she even had an ear infection to begin with, or maybe it wasn't that bad.  I don't know.

So then she brought up the growth issue before we did.  I guess the prior doctor noted it in the file.  She was weighed with her clothes on since it was just a sick visit and the doctor mentioned how she had increased in weight.  Well duh, she didn't have clothes on the last time.  So then that's when I showed her my charts from WHO (instead of CDC) and explained that based on those she only went from 28% to 25%. 

She agreed that the WHO charts are more accurate than the CDC and unfortunately their office only had the CDC charts.  But overall she said, she looked at her and mentioned how she doesn't look underweight whatsoever.  That's really what I wanted to hear.  Not how she stacked up on some chart.  How does she look?  And if you look at Emilee, she does not look underweight AT ALL!

We did discuss that I think she is getting between 15-18 oz of breastmilk a day and if that's enough.  She said it's on the low side, but that it also seems like she is getting enough other table foods to make off for the nutrients and calories she is lacking in breastmilk.  So that makes me happy!!!

Overall a good doctor's appointment and I can finally say I'm really happy with our kid's pediatrician (for now).

New look and new home

This blog will now be located at stlporterhouse.blogspot.com.  If you have a bookmark taking you to the old blogspot or to our domain name (stlporterhouse.net), then you need to change it to make sure you are coming to the right address.  I don't want to lose you!!!

In about a month, I am going to let my domain name expire.  I don't see the need or desire to keep it anymore.  

If you are reading my blog on a reader, then you should click and come check out the new page.  I did a little re-designing and while I didn't pay for anything and didn't even use anything beyond the basics already included in Blogger, I'm quite impressed with the final product.

I hope to have some more posts coming soon, so stay tuned!!!

P.S. She's sick in this picture, hard to tell, right?

Doctor Change

Wow, I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog.  Is it too late for New Year's resolutions?  I think mine will be to update this blog at least once a week.  I also want to re-vamp the look a little bit. 

I really want to post about this before I forget everything that happened.  Several months ago, we got sick of our pediatrician.  He was the same one we had had since Noah was a baby but lately, I've just grown tired of him coming in and leaving within minutes and we can barely get a word in and the nurses in the office hasn't been as nice lately.  Just generally, this doctor was a recommendation and while he wasn't terrible, I think we can find better.  So I went on a search.

A friend recommended another doctor so I called and she wasn't accepting new patients, but her partner in the practice was.  So I booked an interview and it went pretty good and decided he was by far the best out of all the doctors I interviewed and possibly a step up from what I had, so we made the switch.  The first well visit at 6 months went ok.  There was a sick visit in there with the nurse practioner which went great.  Then came her 9 month visit. 

First he told me that her weight % has gone from 28% at 6 months to 12% at 9 months and that's a cause for concern.  We talked about feedings and I told him that I nurse her 3-4 times a day and she gets 6 oz at daycare.  He said that didn't sound like enough and I should consider supplementing with formula.  Formula?!?!?!?! 

I think at this point, he could have said anything else and I probably wasn't listening or caring.  I was so ticked off that he mentioned formula.  First, what about the 100+ ounces I have frozen, why couldn't those be used?  Second, how about suggesting ways I can increase my supply?  It was clear from there where he stood on the issue or more importantly, he had no clue how I stood on the issue. 

In the end, she was diagnosed with an ear infection, probably from the virus she had a few days earlier.  He figured she probably lost a little bit of weight with that and said he would re-evaluate her weight at 12 months. 

After I left and was able to clear my head a bit, I started thinking of all kinds of things.  I wasn't even able to explain to him that regardless of whether he wants me to do formula, or rather use the breastmilk I already have saved it, she won't take it.  We have a hard time getting her to sit and nurse or take her sippy cups (yes, she takes sippy's now).  I couldn't imagine trying to get her to do more.  She loves her solid foods.  And we always give her her milk first, then solid foods, so it's not like she is filling up on the solid foods and not having enough room for milk.

So I got home and started putting her weight into some charts I have at home and it came up a little different.  That's when I realized that there are 2 growth charts out there.  One from CDC and the other from WHO (World Health Organization).  The CDC one is based on both formula and breastfed babies and the WHO one is based on only breastfed babies.  Basically what they realized is breastfed babies plateau off after about 6 months old.  They still gain weight just at a much slower pace than the first 6 months of life.  In 2010, the CDC endorsed the WHO chart basically saying it was more accurate. 

I didn't even think that this could be the issue since our original pediatrician always used the WHO charts and I made the poor assumption that this one did too.  So wrong.  So when I plugged her weight into the WHO charts, it said 25%, that's basically no change.  She is totally fine.  So that's when we made the decision that this doctor had to go.  But who else???

My friend who had recommended the other doctor in the practice reminded me that her doctor does use WHO charts and even though they are in the same practice, they are not the same.  So I had David call and come to find out, she was available if I just told them I was recommended from a current patient!!!  And regardless now that I'm a current patient, I can switch with no issues.  So we have yet to meet this doctor yet.  We have an appt next Wed to get Emilee's ears rechecked and plan to discuss other stuff with her, including her weight "problem".  I hope this is an awesome doctor and we can stay with her for many years to come.

I'll try and update more often, but for now, I must get back to working!!!