Weighing In- Week 4

I've worked out really hard this week, a total of 4 hours of cardio and sculpting. I'm still so sore I don't quite trust my legs to support me with each step I take but it feels good. It feels good to be doing something.

I'm taking a break until Monday to give my body time to rest and then I'll go at it again next week!

My weigh in....are you ready for this?

starting weight/current weight/goal

198/186/135

I'm down 2 more pounds! WoW!

Eating low carb, drinking all water and working out is agreeing well with my body! It felt so good when I stepped on the scale this morning I screamed! :)

Working Out

I'm so sore I can barely move! Its a good sore though. I'm enjoying the pain, well, not the pain so much as the results! My goal is to be consistent and NOT quit this time. Quiting is so easy.

I've started watching The Biggest Loser. We don't have television at my house so after working out on Tuesdays I go to my friends house and watch it there. Last night was such a good episode. The teams had a major challenge and one member offered up the idea of quitting right where they were. You could tell it was tempting to everyone because they were all so tired but one member stepped up and said that he couldn't quit. He was in this for himself and he just couldn't let himself down that way. Later, it showed two other guys and one of them stated that quitting had always been his problem. He would begin a weight loss journey only to quit and fail. He couldn't quit now. Another guy said that if he had of quit then, just because the challenge was so hard that he would have quit again, every time he was tempted or the workouts were to hard. He wouldn't have continued to push himself so hard because after you quit once, its gets easier.

These things really hit my heart. I'm determined to make a permanent change. Not just to lose weight but to be healthy and to be an example to my family. I want to show them that it can be done. I want to be an inspiration to them and to encourage them and ignite a desire inside of them to want to change as badly as I do.

Good stuff.

I'm looking forward to weighing in on Friday!

Weigh In

What week am I on? Three? I'm doing well with drinking water only, sometimes adding lemon. I'm doing well eating low carb. This week I didn't get to exercise because the red stain came and left me in pain for 4 days. There was no way I could exercise with that bloatedness I was experiencing. Yesterday I was back to my old self and feeling WONDERFUL. I love that, feeling wonderful! I worked out doing aerobics for one hour at the Y. What a workout! It was one of the hardest ones yet.

I forgot to weigh yesterday morning so I waited to weigh in today.

My totals are (starting/current/goal)

198/188/135

So I'm down another pound from last week! Whew! I was so grateful for that pound, after not being able to move I was afraid the scale wouldn't budge but it did!!!

Thanks for praying for me on this weight loss journey. The prayers really help to strengthen me. :)

Remember to Pray for Aiden

Happy Valentine's Day!

The perfect Kiss!

Tony is so good with Aiden.

Aiden is looking at himself in the mirror. This is a picture of his reflection. Kewel huh!

I love to watch him make faces as he has just discovered his tongue! Ha!

Those eyes....

Found those tootsies!

My momma, stealing a kiss.

Concentrating on getting the toy.

Me with Aiden.

Roxy trying to give Aiden a kiss!

Aiden looking at the rose...

He really didn't know what to think.

What a beautiful boy.

Always happy, always smiling!

Tony playing with Aiden.

Meadow, helping give Aiden his bath.

Did you see those eyes?

Me and Aiden again.

Please remember to keep Aiden, his mother (who is in jail), and my sister in law (who is caring for Aiden) in your prayers.

(Note: These pictures were taken with my Nikon D 80. No photoshop. The only touch ups done were the black and white effect and the cropping of some of them. I'm pretty proud of myself.)

Friday Weigh In

Well, I exercised a plenty. I guess my larger loss for the first week took away from my losses this week. I'm down one pound here.

(editing to add) On my weight loss boards I had my weight different than here, so I'm fixing that, its too confusing for me to have different totals. I've actually lost two pounds this week. I'm heading in the right direction!

My totals were (starting/current/goal)
198/189/135

I exercised Friday-elliptical for 30 minutes, done 25 crunches and 10 knee raises, Saturday- walked 3 miles on the elliptical, Sunday Bhangra-1-hour, Tuesday-pilates 1-hour, Wednesday-Step Aerobics-1 hour and Thursday-Chair Aerobics-45 minutes. I'm satisfied with this. My goal is to develop a life style of exercise, not just to do lose weight.

Hopefully next week I'll see the same or better!

25 Random Things About Me

I've been tagged by Nicole at For Yours Is The Kingdom. I'm suppose to list 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about me. Then choose 3 people to tag. It's courteous to link back to the person who tagged you. ;)

1. I tried to smother my baby sister with a pillow when I was three years old because I was very jealous.

2. I am the oldest of three, I have one sister and one brother.

3. When I was little I wanted to be a nurse.

4. I dropped out of nursing school when my oldest daughter Heaven was 2 years old. Partly because I was lazy, mostly because I didn't like spending so much time away from her.

5. I was molested when I was 10 years old by a family member. I blamed myself for years.

6. I battled suicide (even though I had three children of my own and was very happy) until the Lord set me free 6 years ago.

7. I was saved in the 1st grade and I have little memory of it. It's always bothered me when Pastors say, "Do you remember the day when...." This caused me alot of doubt and I battled serving the Lord and falling away for years.

8. As a result of this I redicated my life more times than I can count and I was baptized 3 times.

9. I finally realized it wasn't *what* I did but my relationship with my Father through His Son Jesus Christ that mattered. #7 no longer bothers me.

10. I've always wanted as many children as I could have. I pictured me as The Duggars before I'd ever heard of them.

11. I've never been on birth control.I've never conceived easily.

12. When I was a teenager, I slept around alot. I use to pray for the Lord to NOT let me get pregnant. When battling infertility I always thought He was answering those prayers and punishing me for praying them.

13. I now know better and I've come to see this as the Lord having complete control over womb. He chooses when. He loves me. He knows what is best for me. He knows what purpose He has for me. He isn't punishing me.

14. The thought of my children growing up and leaving home used to scare me to death. I mourned Heaven graduating.

15. I have a fear of being alone.

16. I've battled my weight since having my first daughter.

17. I love to eat!

18. I love rollercoasters!

19. My first husband beat me. My God given husband adores me!

20.I love to read and my favorite Christian Fiction author is Francine Rivers. I am very close to owning all of her books.

21. I've always wanted a son.

22. My brother and sister are both still in the same pain/pit that the Lord brought me out of. It's so hard for me to watch. I pray the Lord delivers them too. I pray that they surrender.

23. I spend way too much time online.

24. Lately, I've had thoughts that I may not want another child so badly anymore. My youngest is 7 and I have a lot of freedom. Freedom to serve, freedom to teach, freedom to not have to have a sitter. I'll be 38 this year. If I found out I were pregnant right now I'd be 56 when my child turned 18.

25. I'll always leave my womb open to the Lord's will.

Whew....I think I could have kept going! That was fun. Now, I tag:

1.Stacey at Stacey's Thoughts

2.Teresa at Keepin a Close Watch on this Heart of Mine

And

3.Alicia at Consider it All Joy-Infertility a Test of FaithFor Yours Is The Kingdom

Thanks ladies! I look forward to learning more about you!

(Don't miss the post below on this one. I had two today!)

I'm Up and Moving

I'm doing well with the water drinking, and staying on the low carb eating lifestyle. Friday I ventured down to the basement where I've stored all of my great exercise equipment. I'm thankful the kids use it or it would have just been collecting dust the last couple years. Anyhoo....I walked on the elliptical for 30 minutes, done 25 crunches and 10 knee raises (on my vertical knee raise/chin dip thingy) and lots of stretching before and after.

I'm going to try and make Fridays my official weigh in day and won't be weighin in until next week since I weighed mid week this week. I'm trying to keep myself OFF the scales. I have a bad habit of weighing daily and its discouraging if I come down a pound one day just to go back up the next. I start thinking, "Well one day of eating whatever I want will not hurt me." Then I fall off the wagon and don't even attempt to get back on.

I know this has to be a lifestyle change. It's just that in the beginning when I start I'm so excited and almost *overboard* gung ho. You know? I tell myself baby steps but I just want to DO something. It's good I feel like doing something but I need to maintain this energy throughout the month and not soar for a week just to hit bottom the other three. Does anyone else get overly excited to quickly?

Last night I talked with a good friend of mine that I haven't spoken with in a few weeks. She told me about some very kewel aerobics classes that are being offered for free throughout two communities. They have classes everyday of the week at all times of the day with distances ranging from 15 minutes away to 35 minutes away, one way. Not too bad considering the classes are free. They offer a variety of choices such as Step Aerobics, Water Aerobics, Line Dancing, Yoga, Pilates, Chair Aerobics, Cardio Dance, Kick Boxing Belly Dancing, Bhangra, and other styles of exercise classes.

So....it looks like I'm going to pick up a couple with her. They each last an hour and I'm not so sure I'm ready for hour long exercising just yet but she said I could break if I needed. Pray with me that I'll have the nerve to go and that these changes will be permanent.

Thanks friends....

Trying to Lose Weight

Ugh! It's such a hard thing for me to do. I went on a low carb diet before I ever got pregnant with Meadow and I lost 65lbs. I slowly gained all the weight back during the first year of her life. I'm not sure if I've shared my husband's weight or not but I know he's over 350. When I weighed last week I was 195. I was disgusted with myself. I prayed about it over the week and on Sunday I had decided that this was it, I couldn't keep putting it off, I've got to do something. I so wanted my husband to do this with me but he has shown no interest over the last year at any of my hints or comments. On Sunday I announced that I was going to begin eating more healthy and lower carb and begin exercising. My husband told me that he too had been praying about this and he had already decided to start on Sunday too! Now that is a GOD THING!

You can't know how excited I am. Now don't misunderstand me, I know I need to lose weight but to be honest I've adjusted to my weight. It's just become who I am. Once I begin hitting the 200 mark I find the strength to lose a few pounds. I usually get down to 180-185 and then decide I don't want it bad enough to make the sacrifice. So I bounce and I never need new clothes. But my husband really needs this, his weight has gotten to the point that he can't do things that he use to do. Our combined weight gain has made our *relations* difficult and often times more work than we are willing to put into it. He is 41 and I am 37. So because he is on board with me, this motivates me even more because I see that he needs it more than I do.

I've decided to include the weight loss venture here on the Red Stain. Everyone from my community, church and family read my other blog and I have NO privacy, so here I feel I can share it all without having people watching me, so to speak.

I've already lost 5 lbs, probably water weight but I'll take it. Last night I walked 1/2 mile on the elliptical, 10 knee raises, and 10 crunches.Today I moved and stretched but no real exercise. I did good with portion controls and never ate until I was stuffed, just barely full. I'm trying to follow the Thin Within principals of judging my hunger on a level of 1-10. 1 being starving and 10 being stuffed beyond measure. I want to eat before ever hitting a 1-2 and always stop when pleasantly full.

I've cut out all the sugar other than some fruit and I'm drinking water only. Sometimes I'll add lemon and splenda but rarely.

I'll add more about what I'm doing later. Please keep Tony and myself in your prayers. We really need to overcome our poor eating habits, and commit to a healthier lifestyle.

Oh, I'm so glad you all enjoyed the pictures on the previous post. I did fear that some would be offended. You know the greatest victory of the whole thing for me was that I didn't envy her or wish it was me at any moment. The Lord allowed me to go in there as her best friend and support her totally. That is such a victory for me! As always I appreciate your comments, they mean SO much to me. They keep me going, you know? Praying for all of you this night.

~Jenileigh

The Miracle of Birth

(There are some graphic pictures of birth below this post. If you don't want to see them close my blog! Watch for littles peeping over your shoulder too!)

Friday night they put my best friend in the hospital to induce labor. She was 37 weeks and had just a few complications during her pregnancy. This was her fifth little one and she had some severe complications with her first child but only minor things in later pregnancies. Her blood sugar had a tendency to run a little high during pregnancies. It was only a few points high with this one but the doctors insisted on insulin anyway. With her last pregnancy a different doctor allowed her to wait on the insulin and all went fine. I know you never know in these situations but I just prefer to leave things as natural as possible. They were afraid she was showing early symptoms (very very early symptoms) of pre-eclampsia so they decided to induce her Friday night.

I arrived at the hospital around 10:30 pm. Melanie, my girlfriend-my best friend since we were babes, was very nervous. Melanie gets pregnant so easily. She was done at 3 but then 4 surprised her. 5 knocked her for a loop and she decided to get her tubes tied after this babe. The biggest reason being that she is terrified of labor. She almost panics, she dreads it from the day she discovers she's pregnant. I try my best to talk to her about it and calm her down. It really breaks my heart to see her fear to prominent though.

So, the pitocin started at 10:00pm and progressed every half to full hour. For some reason the doctors also decided to give her a magnisium drip, I never fully understood it. Something to do with pre-eclamsia. She was dialated at a 2 upon arrival, they checked her around 3 am and she was only a 3. Around 6:00 am they checked her again because the babe's heart rate was dropping during contractions and found her body was shifting into the next stage of labor and she had dialated 2 more cm in 30 minutes. They stopped the pitocin drip to slow things up a little. Waited an hour and started the drip again.

Around 9:45 she was in some serious pain with her contractions and she asked for her epidural. She was an 8 when they started. WoW!

The epidural was over around 10:45 and around 11:00 she told the nurses she was feeling pressure. The nurse called the doctor and the team began preparing for this precious life that about to be born. The nurses told Melanie that she was going to do some practice pushing. Everyone thought there was plenty of time. I snickered because I knew the pressure she was feeling was the baby slipping into the birth canal. We had lost the heartbeat completely and that was why!

When Melanie spread her legs the babe's head was already crowned and beginning to come out. The doctor would not arrive for 20 more minutes. The nurse didn't even have time to put on her gloves. The nurse reached and grabbed the babe's head as if she thought she could hold her in place keeping her from making her grand entrance into the world. Madalynn Danielle slipped her little body out of her mommy at 11:14 am. She weighed 5lbS and 8oz.

The reason I mentioned the magnisium was that Melanie was told that because she had been on this her baby would have to be taken to the NICU for observation for 4 hours. She knew this ahead of time so she was prepared because during this time they were suppose to be tying her tubes. Well the doctors didn't schedule her in so they told her that she would have to wait until Sunday. They left her epidural in. Sunday came and they still couldn't work her in. She finally told them she would have the procedure done somewhere else because if she waited for the operation it would have prolonged her hospital stay.

On top of the above they moved her out of the birthing suite on Saturday immediately after the baby went to NICU. She went to the 8th floor and it was after 7pm before she seen Madalynn and then it was only for 30 minutes. All was well with mom and babe except for the fact that they were seperated. They moved Melanie again on Sunday to the 3rd floor and finally Sunday night after 7pm baby and mom were united for good. Mom came home today with Madalynn.

I would have been livid with the way the hospital handled things. When I had my girls they didn't leave my room. No kidding. I refused. I even made the lab come to my room to take blood. I was also allowed to spend my entire stay in the birthing suite. I suggest when it comes your time ladies that you call these hospitals and find out what their precedures and policies are BEFORE delivery time comes. Melanie had no clue and now wishes that she has asked more questions. To me this is a time of celebration and mom shouldn't have been shuffled and treated so hostily. (There was so much more to this but it would get too long if I tried to share it all.)

Here are some pictures that I took. Notice the nurses hands on the top picture....no gloves. A nurse with gloves takes over below. The bottom pictures are her pictures after her bath and then her hospital pics. Again I say be prepared.





























This was an incredible experience for me! I was so honored to be able to be there at the birth of her fifth and possibly last child. I will tell you all this, I left praising and thanking God. I am so filled with hope. Almost a certainty. It's indescribable. I have such a peace. I'm praying nothing other than God's will and He has given me incredible hope. I continue to pray for everyone of you. I pray that you experience this first hand.

DON'T GIVE UP. HAVE HOPE!!!!!!!!