Friday, August 31, 2012

Let me tell you a Story...

This story is about a girl who has had shoulder pain for 10 wonderful years, but never dared go see what was wrong for fear of what it may be...

This story is about me. It's true, since I was about 14-15ish. I've dealt with left shoulder pain. The pain would come and go, but as time has gone on I've found that the periods between pain are shorter apart and the times with the pain are longer. I've also noticed that when I'm pregnant it can get really, really bad. But like I stated earlier, I never dared get it checked out because I didn't want to fork over the money (there I said it).

But guess what? This year we hit our deductible (imagine that, with an infant in the NICU, who wouldn't?). Since that was the case Neil and I decided to get things fixed on our body, guess what my one and only thing was? Yep, you guessed it, my shoulder. The last few years, along with the pain, my left arm goes tingly, like it has fallen asleep, even clear down into my fingers. I can't sleep on my left side because it aggravates my arm and so on and so forth. But then the question came of who to go to. My mom (can you tell how amazing she is yet?) asked the orthopedic surgeon she works with and he said to send me in and he would see what he could do...so I went in. He had me do funny things with my arm and took x-rays...at the end of the day he said it looked as if my Trapezius muscle had chronic spasming and hasn't had time to rest in 10 flipping years. Simple solution, send me to a physical therapist.

Alas, the physical therapist...he did more funny things with my arm and finally found a solution to what is really going on in there. It's called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome , you should read about it. It fits all my symptoms to a T. So he gave me some stretches and exercises to do at home and I go in once a week for Astym therapy...it's not as pleasant as it sounds. It leaves me with bruises such as this on my shoulder.


So what's really going on. Long story short. My first rib is elevated for no unknown reason, which then causes the veins, arteries, and nerves that pass between my first rib and collar bone to become pinch, resulting in loss of blood flow and whatnot to my left arm. On top of that, it irritates the muscles and causes them to spasm, which them leads to them tightening up. This all leads up to the tingling sensation in my arm and hand because of the loss of blood flow, and shoulder pain because of the tight muscles. My range of motion in my neck the first day was atrocious. 

Thoracic outlet anatomy

It's fun...now I'm just kicking myself for taking 10 years to get this crap fixed. Lesson learned, lesson learned. 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Quarter of a Century

I made it! I made it to the big 2-5! I thought I would somehow feel different...more mature, older...something. But the fact is I feel just the same, I think that comes with the territory of having children.

But on my birthday I looked back on my life, I'm a quarter of a century and what do I have to show for it, what have I accomplished in life, and that's when I realized that I have done more and accomplished more if my short 25 years in life than some people do in a lifetime. I've married the man of my dreams, I have graduated college with my Bachelor degree, I have bought my first home with said man of my dreams, I have given birth to the three most beautiful children on the face of the earth (again with said man of my dreams). I've accomplished a lot, and hope to accomplish much much more in the next 25 years.

Here's to the next 25...

Friday, August 10, 2012

Le Weight...

Yep, I'm finally doing it. I'm confessing to the world that I know I need to lose the lbs. I am constantly asking myself, "How did I get here?" It's like if I could find the answer to that question I could solve world hunger. The answer is actually quite simple....I like to eat and not work-out...dum dum dum....

I look at the pictures of myself in high school and college (pretty much anything before I started having babies) and I think that I look damn good...but back then I thought I was fat. Poor, poor messed up little girl. I never had to work-out or eat right to stay at a healthy weight in those days, should I still have done that? Absolutely, but I had the mentality of a teenager (go figure).

Fast forward now about six years. After six years, fertility treatments, and three beautiful children later, I've finally hit my breaking point. The other day I looked in the mirror at myself (something I try to avoid at all costs) and I was absolutely disgusted with how I looked. That may sound harsh to some, but it was the wake-up call I needed. What have I done to myself?! Good lovin'!

At my six week postpartum check my doctor asked me about birth control. After Claire I never went on birth control because I honestly didn't see the point, and I'm glad I didn't because it wasn't needed. But when we started trying for Clark, my fertility doctor informed me that birth control can help with the side effects of PCOS, such as helping take off the weight and helping the the extra hair (yep, it's true) that we women with PCOS sometimes have. So, with that I talked to my doctor about it. He said I couldn't do Mirena because I need estrogen to help with those, so the pill it was. But then he said because I'm nursing I can't take any birth control with estrogen because it messes with your milk supply....GREAT! So I'm birth control free until I'm finished nursing again.

But now comes the hard part...figuring out how to reverse not just my eating habits, but my total way of thinking. Don't get me wrong, I totally love fruits and veggies, but I totally love my chocolate as well. I've looked online for tips and tricks, but then I have to remind myself that I'm nursing and I still need to take in extra calories for Clarkie Bean (but not as much as I have been). It's been hard to be nursing and wanting to lose weight at the same time. I am constantly hungry, I kid you not. It's really frustrating, I wasn't even this bad while pregnant. But now that I'm nursing all I want to do is eat! It's an insatiable need I have and it feels as if I can't control myself, but the reality is I can.

I've decided that I need to make slow, subtle changes until I'm finally where I want to be. First things first, I need to eat better. Plain and simple. And I'm trying, I make mistakes and slip up some days, but I'm getting better. Second thing, I need to move more. I saw on a Facebook friend's page that all she did to lose an incredible amount of weight (seriously she looks amazing!) was eat less and move more. What an ingenious idea! I know it seems simple, but hearing it again really stuck with me. So That's what I'm doing world, eating less and moving more. I'm starting really slowly, because I know if I go too fast I'll fizzle out just as fast. It took six years to get at this weight, I'm not expecting my weight to magically change over night.

You want to know my starting weight, what I weight now? Well, I'm not going to tell you. Really. Neil doesn't even know how much this big mamma jamba weighs, that's how ashamed I am. But let's just say I want to lose about 40 pounds. Let's start this weight loss journey together. One small step at a time.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

It's Official

This boy has an official name. On July 21, Neil blessed our boy and officially named him Clark Neil Thomas, no take backs. It was a wonderful day at my parents house and we were surrounded by our loved ones.

The money shot.

MAN! I'm sorry, but isn't my man a looker?! I can't get enough of him. At his two month check up he weighed in at a whooping 9 lbs. 7 oz.! He's chunkin' up and lookin' good! He's definitely loves his momma, and he will smile for you, but he makes you work for it. He knows his smiles are priceless so he doesn't give them away to just anybody. 


I need to start talking about something else besides Clarkie Bean, but do you blame me for going on and on about him? He melts my heart and makes me want 100 more babies. I'm one lucky lady to have three wonderful children, because they all melt my heart. And to prove that Neil (because I am the worst at taking pictures) takes pictures of our other children...

Okay, so I'm taking credit for this one, I did actually take this picture, but it was a feat!

How could that smile NOT make you melt?

P.S. Do you like how I just copy pictures from our facebook...yep that's how I roll.