Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

August 1-8 is World Breastfeeding Week, this year's theme is Breastfeeding in Emergency Situations. When I think about this year's theme I think back to hurricane Katrina and the people who had to take refuge in random places. They had to leave their homes, many in a huge hurry, to flee to safety. Can you imagine what they went through? I certainly can't. I am sure there were moms rationing the baby food and formula they had, praying they could feed their babies for as long as needed. There must have also been moms who didn't have to worry about food for their infant. They knew their body would make the perfect food at the perfect temperature no matter where they ended up. What a relief.

I am so thankful that I have breastfed my children. I nursed A until she was over 3 and B is 7 months and going strong. I am thankful that I have never had to worry about being able to feed my infant. I am thankful I got the special bonding time with my girls. I am thankful that I didn't listen to the nay-sayers and I trusted my mommy instincts. I am thankful that my children will grow up thinking breastfeeding is normal and wonderful and I hope that they will choose to breastfeed their children. I hope that my decision to not apologize for feeding and nurturing my child no matter where I am shows other people that breastfeeding IS normal, it is good for mom and baby, and it is nothing to be ashamed of.

Here are some great resources for WBW -

The statement from WHO

The statement from Unicef

Podcast with WHO

Check them out, they are great ways to get the word out about WBW and the benefits of breastfeeding.

Weighing on me....

It's been a while, to say life has been hectic would be putting it mildly. I'm blessed with a very full life and I will not complain. On May 1st I started tracking my weight and measurements monthly, in an effort to keep myself accountable to a healthy lifestyle.

I always battled my weight before I had kids, I would yo-yo up and down, depending on whether I was exercising and eating well or eating junk and sitting on my computer a lot. My "typical" weight was around 150lbs, which put me between a size 8 and 10. When I got married I lost 15 lbs and my size 8 wedding dress was suddenly too big. I can thank a nasty strep infection for my inability to eat for several days and the sudden weight loss. We then quit smoking on our wedding day, and because we were married and now living together, suddenly we had a lot more money than we used to, so going out to dinner was much more common. Of course, since we weren't pinching every penny to make ends meet we could also order appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Then we'll toss in the fact that I got pregnant 6 months into our marriage while we were both retail store managers working 50+ hour weeks. Let's just say that smart food choices were not on the radar. We would pick up Wendy's, McDonald's, Arby's, etc on the way home from work at 9:30 PM and have dinner before I passed out from that pregnancy fatigue. When A was born 15 months after our wedding I had gained 95 pounds from that wedding day low. Talk about a shock.

When I was in college, and before I had A, if I wanted to loose weight I just cut out junk food, went to the gym, and the weight fell off. It took me 6 months to loose 40 lbs when I did it in college. Since A, it has NOT been that easy. I settled in at about 15 pounds below my highest pregnancy weight and stayed there for 3 years. Then I got pregnant with B. I lost 8 or so pounds the first trimester, gained it back the second, and then gained about 15lbs in the third. I was below my pre-pregnancy weight within 2 weeks of her birth. Since then the struggle has been to keep loosing.

B was an unplanned c-section. I went into the birth center for my nice, stress free, natural birth (the complete opposite of A's high stress medically managed birth). I got to the birth center 12 hours after my water broke, having contractions every 4 - 6 minutes to find out that at some point in the previous 6 days she had gone from being head down and ready to go to being feet first and not moving anywhere. Unfortunately at this day in age, footling breach means you're off to the Hospital with a nice trip to the OR. To say I was hysterical would be an understatement. I could never have imagined having a birth so invasive and unnatural. The recovery has been very difficult. We expected an easy vaginal delivery and got a c-section. We expected a few days of adjusting to life with 2 kids, we got 6 months of pain at my incision site. Not exactly what I was shooting for. This of course means that for more than 6 weeks I was physically incapable of preparing dinner for my family. What does that mean for our dinner? Of course it means fast food and frozen dinners. Not exactly condusive to loosing weight!

We struggle with healthy food options because there are days I am still in too much pain to cook dinner. However, we have switched our "go to" dinner locale from Chick-fil-a to Panera, which means no fried foods.

On May 1 I weighed in at 220.5 lbs. June 1 I was at 219.5. During June we realized B was dairy intolerant, so I cut out all dairy. That helped me reach 213.5 on July 1. Now on August 1 I am 211.5. So, in three months I have lost 9 lbs, which is a slow and steady pace and I'm ok with that. I also have lost a total of 8 inches since June 1.

Why am I telling you this? Because I know I am not the only woman out there to struggle with my weight. I would love to be able to support you and receive encouragement from you. We can be healthier for our kids, but we need support. Will you join me?