I'm empty, along with some drama!

I went in yesterday to have my band emptied.  Apparently everyone that becomes pregnant in our clinic gets their band emptied in the first trimester sometime.  She hit my port on the first try and it was beyond simple.  She pulled as hard as she could (her words) and retrieved 4 ccs from my band.  FOUR CCS!!!!!  I was supposed to have 10.5 in there.  Then there was speculation that maybe the first fill didn't make it in... so then I should have had 7.5 in there.  Either way, that's not FOUR!  Where the HECK has 3.5-6.5 ccs gone!!!???? 

The NP was going to talk to my surgeon today and see what he thought.  She also emailed the band representative who is the Realize correspondent for our clinic.  Well, guess what?  She's on maternity leave!! :) Cute.  So the message was forwarded to someone who isn't familiar with my situation so the NP is going to have to tell him the whole story all over again.  We'll see what they think happened in there.

Also, I can start getting refilled after breastfeeding is well established so as to not interfere with my milk supply.  She suggested 3-6 mos after the baby is here.  I think we'll be saving our pennies to by another package to get fills and appts paid for for a year.  It's about $2100-2200 for a year.  I'll need that after baby.  IF we can figure out what's up that is.

She mentioned not thinking there was a leak because the fluid that came out was not a funny color.  Not sure what that means or what color it should be (red perhaps from blood?) but that's what was said. 

I posted my first pregnancy post on that blog.  I'd love to have all of you follow there if you're interested!!

EEK! Time to get unfilled...

I finally reached my NP on Friday and told her about being pregnant.  She said I needed to come in and get unfilled.  I'm going to leave in a bit more than 30 mins!!  I'm nervous to see what happens when I get unfilled.  I don't feel like I have much restriction but I know I *some* and I'm not looking forward to losing that little bit of help I'm getting.  They said if I still feel symptoms like I have the band then they want to still look further into if the band has slipped.  If it's like it's gone then they'll wait until after my pregnancy.  Obviously I hope I can wait.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what is actually in my band, cc wise.  I'll let you all know when I get back. 

Here's what I came up with!! :)

The baby blog!  I'll make my first post soon but if you want to follow, there is the link!!

See you there! :)

5w0d

Hello ladies! :)  Just wanted to warn you all that I'm planning to make a pregnancy/baby blog.  I kept an online journal with Cadence and printed it off to put in her baby book.  I'd like the same thing for this baby too.  I don't want to print off all my band blogs too so I'm going to separate the two for the time being.  I'm 100% certain that I'll be posting periodic band updates and that I'll be back after baby trying to make this work out for me once again.

I haven't made one yet but when I do I'll post a link so anyone that wants to can follow along.  I will also have family and friends following since I will share that link with them as well.

So let's see.  The back story behind getting pregnant is simple.  I stopped taking BCP's and our first official month of trying was back in December.  That was before anything was considered "wrong" with my band.  So, we fell pregnant on our third try.  Of course, that was the one month I didn't FEEL pregnant and the month that they finally told me they thought something was wrong with my band.  *sigh*  Oh well, wouldn't trade a blessing like this for anything! :)

I took a test the morning of my big upper GI to see the band placement because that was supposed to be the first day of my AF.  I took it at 3:30 am and went immediately back to bed after I realized how early it was.  Well... OOPS... 3 hours later I look at that test and it's positive.  Uhhhhh, now what?  I canceled the test at the hospital just to be safe but really still assumed that I wasn't pregnant.  I figured it was just sitting out too long and was a false-positive.  I went in to the regular doc later that morning for a BP check (normal, btw) and asked for a pg test.  They took a urine sample from me but I had just gone maybe 2 hours before.  The test was negative.  I was sort of bummed but also knew that I was really early, had just peed, and there was still a possibility that I still was.  I went straight to Walgreens and bought a pack of 3 digital tests.  Took one the next morning at 2:30 am (what's with me, I know..) turned away from the test to burn some time, turned back and it said what I showed you all in that picture, "Pregnant."  I stared at it sort of waiting for the "not" to appear before that word.  Thought it might flicker on and off like an old hotel sign or something.  Alas, it stayed "pregnant" for the next 24 hours.

I couldn't very well just sit on that info alone.  I nudged Chris a few times.  He assumed I was trying to get frisky.  MEN.  So I used that to my advantage and told him, "quit trying to take advantage of your pregnant wife!"  Well, that was enough.  He was up on his elbow, blinking his eyes, asking "seriously?"  We wound up staying up until 4:30 am talking, giggling and just being generally ecstatic about telling people and sharing the news with Cadence.

We've since told all of our family.  I'm not the type that can keep secrets like that in!  Cadence has hugged "the baby" every morning and is SOOOO excited!  She wants a sister but she said it would be ok if it was a boy because she knows you can't choose.  What a sweet girl.  She's in an anti-boy phase right now so I'm really surprised by that grown up comment. 

I feel generally fine.  My breasts are heavy feeling and overall sore but that's about the only thing.  I'm tired but really not any more than usual, yet.  I'm sure things will get more intense as I get a little farther along.  I'm just 5 weeks along today, as the title was to suggest.  I have a few appts next Monday at 6 weeks.  Chris' insurance changes April 1 and I have an appt for that day to meet my new doctor and hopefully hear a heartbeat in there! :)  Exciting stuff!

That's about all the goods for now!  I'll be back when I think of a clever title for a baby blog!!! :)  Any ideas?!

Oh, as always, thank you guys for the tremendous amount of support you've given me through all of this.  I am always so overwhelmed and surprised by it and I'm not sure why at this point.  It should just feel natural but it still makes me feel so special and cared about! :)  Thank you so much!!!

How's this for a mysterious post?

Instead of going to find out what was wrong with my band on Wednesday, I got a positive pregnancy test and had to cancel.  X-rays are bad for babies! ;)

There's more to that story but I don't have time to post it.. but I do have a picture of what I saw on Thursday morning. :)

I'll post the entire story really soon.  But to sum it up... I still don't know what's wrong with my band and now I won't, possibly, for another year.  We are thrilled and can't wait til Fall! :)

Happy Valentine's Day AND 100 followers!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day to all my 100 followers!!! Wow, who would have thunk that one!? :)

On to regular news... I scheduled my upper GI for February 24th at 8 AM.  It's at the hospital in Madison and I'm pretty much super excited to get it done so I can, hopefully, have some answers.  

Along those lines, I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone that commented on, or even just read, my blog entry about all this mess.  I think a part of me expected all of you to bail on me because I feel like I'm not a "real" bandster for some reason.  I have a band, yes, but it's not working properly.  Hopefully one day I'll have things up and running correctly and I'll get to utilize all the wonderful information you ladies have taught me.  In the mean time, if anyone knows anyone else in my shoes, send them my way!  I'd love to be able to help someone.  That would really make me feel better.

We had company Saturday.  My BFF, Leann, came to visit from Indiana.  She brought her fiancé and son (who happens to be 3 days older than my daughter) as well and we had a great time!  We went to bd's Mongolian Grill for dinner and then followed that up with some tubing at Cascade Mountain.  What a fun night!!  We got there with about an hour and 15 minutes left to tube and we took advantage until we were icicles.  They stayed at a hotel (for reasons unknown to me, we have a spare room and plenty of extra space) in town and came back for breakfast this morning.  I cooked an egg casserole-y thing and we had fresh fruit and toast with it.  They had another destination in Wisconsin today so they left before noon.  

I got on my computer to play around and then went up to cuddle in bed with my family (they were watching movies in bed) and promptly fell asleep... for 3 hours! LOL!  It felt great to catch up on sleep though.  We stayed up until midnight last night doing wedding projects and talking.  She also brought my bridesmaid dress along.  I've mentioned the dress in a past post.  It FIT!  :)  I felt a little compressed in the upper abdominal area so there needs to be a little hard work to improve that.  I'll be doing a lot of dress adjustments during the ceremony so I need to be able to MOVE, lol.  I'll post pics (she took them) when I get them! :) 

Hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend! :)

Coming out of hiding.. with semi-bad news

Well, I am the same as everyone (most..) else and I hid when something was wrong.  *hangs head in shame*

I went in for another fill today and went armed with a speech to give.  I was ready to fight for myself and was VERY happy to find out that I didn't have to.  My nurse practitioner (NP) came armed as well.  She talked to my surgeon last night about me and they have a plan for me.  I was ranting on and on about how I'm gaining weight and it CAN NOT be all my fault.  I exercise 4 times a week and recently added in boot camp classes when possible, too.  I drink only water and milk (before meals or between as a snack) and until very recently have been following eating guidelines quite closely.  Only "until recently" because I have been feeling SO down that I've been stuffing my face with junk.  I admit this though.

My NP just nodded and sat there looking awfully sympathetic.  When I finally shut up and let her talk she told me their plan.  I'm to get an esophagram as soon as possible.  They said they have ruled out all other possibilities and are ready to look into more serious problems.  She expressed to me that they do NOT think this is my fault.  They think something is wrong with the band.  She said one of two things are likely at this point: 1) the band slipped up around my esophagus, thus, creating no pouch.  or 2) the band slipped down further or some of my stomach has prolapsed through the band.  Again, this problem would have made a larger pouch.

Both issues would explain the urge to look for food all the time and my seemingly insatiable appetite lately.  The first issue would explain why I feel some "stuck" feelings sometimes when I eat (but they pass quickly.. like a clogged drain) and why I get the hiccups when I take a drink while eating or eat too quickly.

So.. this continues the saga of Tiffani. :(

IF one of these proves to be true there is one solution.  Surgery.  I'm self-pay, in case you forgot.  I asked if the surgeons would donate their time or some such to help cut down on costs and she said she didn't know because I was the first person she knew of this being a possibility for since working there (she started in August).  She said it was definitely worth exploring though if we need to.

The NP sat with me for probably 30 minutes.  Our appt was a 15 minute time slot.  She had tears in her eyes right along with me when I sat there taking this all in.

Obviously, I got no fill.  I will be called soon to schedule my appt for that test and we'll go from there.  She said our next step would be to look for a leak but they really don't think I'm showing signs of that happening.

I would have so many decisions to make if this (any of this!) is the case... remove the band, replace the band, reposition the existing band.... UGH UGH UGH :( :( :(  I hate this.

Did I mention I'm 5 lbs away from weighing what I weighed on my date of surgery?  Yeah.  Something's wrong.