Using the Slight Edge To My Advantage

Still wearing maternity clothes because I
can't fit into regular ones yet.  Rosalie is
2 1/2 weeks old in this picture :)

I gave birth to Rosalie Faith on June 7th at 10:18 a.m. She is such a blessing!  She came into this world weighing 8 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long.  Even though she is much bigger than her brothers and sister were when they were born, she is still so tiny and fragile.  My beautiful baby girl is almost three weeks old.  To me she still looks like the same adorable little newborn that we brought home from the hospital, but each day she is changing and growing.  I see her everyday so I don't always see those tiny changes. 

One of my favorite books is Jeff Olsen's "The Slight Edge."  If you haven't read it, you should.  It will change the way you see life and time.  Time is always going by and whether we like it or not, the decisions that we make everyday are making tiny changes in our life.  Before I got pregnant with Rosalie I was already overweight.  I gained 40 lbs during my pregnancy.  So far I've lost 27 lbs since I had her.  My goal is to lose 73 lbs by Christmas therefore I have 46 more lbs to lose. 

Forty-six pounds in six months.  How do I plan to do it?  By using the slight edge to my advantage.  By making better decisions in my eating and activity everyday I will be able to lose this weight by Christmas.  My sweet little Rosalie is changing in tiny ways everyday that I can't see but when I look at a picture of her from when she was born to when she is a month old those changes will be obvious.  By the time she is six months or so she will be learning to roll over, sit up or scoot.  Her body is getting bigger and stronger everyday.  In a year, she will be learning to walk and talk and I'll think as many parents do, "I can't believe she's a year old already!"  That time is coming.  Every minute that goes by she gets closer to being a year old.  I don't want that time to come and have regrets that I didn't do the little things that could add up to big changes in my health and body.  In one year, when I celebrate my baby girl's first birthday, I plan to be in the best shape of my life!

One more day...

We made it through camping!  We ended up leaving for Cook Forest on Friday after Brandon got out of school and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  The kids had so much fun playing outside with their friends.  We weren't too far from the bathrooms and sleeping on the air mattress was just as comfortable as sleeping at home. I think I probably slept better because I was more tired when I went to bed.  We got up around 7:30 each morning which made for a long day.  We ended up leaving a couple of hours early.  It was pouring rain and I was having contractions.  Turns out, after five straight hours of them, that I was "dehydrated."  I was having contractions but they were not causing me to dilate therefore I was not in labor.  We went to the hospital where they gave me an IV of basically Gatorade and sent me home.  It was nice to be home Monday and not have anything we had to do.

I've had contractions for hours at a time on several occasions since then but still no dilation.  My body is getting ready but taking it's sweet old time.  I've had terribly swollen feet for months now and its gotten progressively worse.  When I went to the doctor on  Wednesday, May 30th, my blood pressure was 138/84 so my doctor ordered some blood work and another ultrasound.  The blood work showed that some things were a little off (literally that's what they told me!) but nothing to worry about.  The ultrasound was good.  They claimed she weighed about 7 1/2 lbs at that point.  I'm curious to see how accurate this is because that would put her over 8 lbs. at birth which would be crazy to me since Brandon, Xander and Isabella were 6 lb. 14 oz., 6 lb. 6 oz., and 6 lb. 11 oz.  Rosalie would definitely get the prize for biggest baby at birth!  I went back on Friday for a blood pressure check-up and it was staying steady.  I was concerned about preeclampsia but my doctor didn't seem to have the same concern after getting all the tests back. 

Went back again on Monday for another blood pressure check and ultrasound.  Both were good.  I got to watch Rosalie practice breathing even though it seemed very shallow compared to when I watched Isabella do that at 30 weeks.  Now we wait.  Isabella was born at 38 weeks 5 days.  Today was 38 weeks 5 days for Rosalie and she didn't make her appearance.  Tomorrow is her last chance to come on her own time and, if not, then Thursday at about 9:30 a.m. they will be wheeling me into the OR to take her out. 

The kids are in MI with their grandparents having lots of fun.  They went to the zoo today.  I miss them but it's been nice to have a couple of quiet days with David.  We have been able to get some things done that we've been putting off.  So many things to go through and organize.  Basically the extra cleaning that we don't usually get to.  We've had some fun too.  Sunday we went to the movies and saw Snow White and the Huntsman and The Avengers.  It was nice to go to the movies and enjoy a night out - just the two of us.  David had bought me a gift card to the movies for Christmas!  Still hadn't gone and it's June.  So I think it was worth watching two movies.  Who knows when we'll get to go again after Rosalie is born and the kids are all back home.  We have gone to some kids movies.  We just usually don't get to go to "grown up" ones.  Over spring break we went to see The Lorax.  Isabella was ok for most of the movie but she couldn't sit through the whole thing which meant I had to get up and walk around with her... Just not the same as going out with my husband!

So we're down to a maximum of 33.5 hours left in this pregnancy.  Knowing that is a strange feeling.  I'm going to miss my belly... Not going to miss my ogreish swollen feet, sleepless/uncomfortable nights, aching/swollen arms, acid in my throat... Just going to miss my pregnant belly and her little kicks, her little hic-ups and feeling her little body in my belly.  Carrying around another person inside your belly is a pretty awesome thing.  A special time that is coming to an end.  Now we're moving on and I'm ready to meet this new little blessing!  Come on Rosalie, we're ready for you to come out!!