What's New?!

I've been out of the blogging world for some time now! How has everyone been? I have been one busy lady lately, and let me tell you why!!
I'm currently 19 weeks pregnant. Things have really begun to get tough this week for me. I noticed this week that a lot of what I eat is getting stuck easily. Before I go in to this, I need to give a bit of a confession. I have not been following the rules and guidelines of the band. Two day's after I found out I was pregnant, I was scheduled to have a fill, because my restriction was just not where it was supposed to be. But due to the pregnancy I cancelled the appointment. I'm now realizing that I should have kept it... for an un-fill. I'm sad to report that I have been abusing my band the past couple of months. Definitely not chewing enough, not taking enough time in between bights of food, and making less than healthy food choices. Though my food choices definitely could have been worse (I'm still a no soda/no coffee gal, and still shy away from straight junk food) they weren't great. I could definitely eat a 6 inch sandwich in 30-40 minutes. Yes it would take me a while, and I suppose that's a good thing because I was certainly still feeling restriction. But a sandwich is certainly not a food choice a bandster should be making!!

So the issue I am running into now, is that I am feeling the restriction in my band that I probably would have been feeling after the fill that I cancelled. The reason for this (I'm assuming) is that the baby is getting bigger, and everything is kind of being pushed up and over, causing my pouch to be smooshed a bit. So its almost as if the karma of not behaving with my band all these days is coming back to bite me in the butt! But it would seem pretty simple what needs to happen right now (and from what I read should have happened in the first place upon finding out I'm pregnant). I need an un-fill! These are things I probably would have learned and known had I any type of support system here. My surgeon speaks another language, and in order to even get any care regarding my band, I need referrals and insurance approvals to go back to Frankfurt (where I had the surgery) and it takes weeks. So... why not get the ball rolling you might ask?!? Because I'm leaving Germany early, to go home and get settled with a stable OB. I leave in just a couple of weeks, and not only do I not have time for all the referrals and approvals to go through, but I also just learned that you are not supposed to make any adjustments to your band 30 days before traveling.
So until I can get set up stateside (with English speaking doctors!!! YAHOO!) I have to deal with my extremely tight band. In order to continue giving the baby the nutrients it needs, I sort of having to revert back to the pre-op liquid diet. Healthy smoothies, and home made soups that are easy to get down, yet still provide high nutritional value.
A large part of the reason why I am feeling somewhat calm about whats going on with my body right now, is because I have an anatomy scan of the baby on the 24th. So that will be comforting to see baby, and via that scan, hopefully find out that he/she is doing just fine regardless of my band troubles. Also during this anatomy scan we are hoping to find out the gender! So say a prayer for us there, if you will!

So other things that have been keeping me consumed these past few weeks have been packing, and trying to get things in order for my move! My family wasn't due to leave Germany until October, but my daughter and will leave a bit early in order to get settled at GeeMa's while Daddy stays behind for about two more months to focus on advancing in his career and then of course the PCS. That was the other issue of leaving at the PCS date... I am due right around that time! The Army will only fly me out 30 days before my due date, and I simply wasn't comfortable with that. Personally, that doesn't seem like enough time to get home, get settled, find an OB and have a baby! What happens, then, if the baby comes early? Or if there is an emergency? I understand that God will have gotten me through those types of scenarios, but why bother allowing for that much added on stress?

Another thing that has recently had me busy, is setting up my Thirty-One business! I just signed on this week, and have been having a blast learning about it, and getting things ready for my big launch! Truly excited to be affiliated with such a wonderful faith-based company, that makes some really great high-quality products!

So that's the crazy-ness I've been enduring these past few weeks! Pretty exciting huh?