A Little Background......

So....for those of you who don't know me, this will be new....but since most of the ppl I anticipate following me here DO know me......this may be a bit redundant....but who knows...someone cool may stumble upon me.....like Oprah....or Ellen....or Chelsea Handler...... So who knows....I'll try to keep it (somewhat) brief.

I am 37...certainly don't act it, nor do I like the number attached to my current state of age, but hey - can't control that, right? I'm married to the love of my life for the past 10 years and live in the minute but wonderful state of Delaware with him and our 6 furry children. I am one of seven (yes, seven) children - I'm #2 in the birth order, and the oldest girl. I love all my family dearly and my sisters are the lights of my life - even those of you who are not blood sisters.....I love you all as well! My brothers are my little loves... and I cannot imagine my life any different than it is right now.... I'm happy. But it took me some time to get here...... hence, the journey.

My journey to weight loss surgery (WLS) began, actually, with a fertility doctor telling me that I was too fat to conceive and that her first order of business would be to prescribe South Beach Diet. I never went back to that insensitive woman again - I even change the channel on the radio when her commercials come on. She hurt me BAD - and caused me to gain even MORE weight than I had already been carrying! *tsk tsk* We found another doctor who tried everything with us to help us achieve parenthood - we even conceived once - but that ended in a very early miscarriage, or what they called a "chemical pregnancy" - it means that we lost our little bean before he/she even had a heartbeat. Still hurt us to the core - but part of what's made us who we are as a couple. After our second doctor and his amazing staff did all they could short of lipo - we realized finally that it really WAS my extra weight that was contributing to my infertility. And the quest towards WLS began.

I researched options.... Band? Gastric Bypass? But which one? When we went to an information session, I realized there was a third option - the sleeve gastrectomy (VSG). It was great news to me - I was worried about what a band would be like in 30 years, and didn't like the idea of bypassing part of my intestines....so that is where I started.

I had surgery on 1/25/10 (or, my new birthday), and haven't looked back or regretted a single moment. Best.decision.ever. I am down from my heaviest weight of 361 lbs to a still plus sized but far more fab 296.5. And I continue to lose. It's a tool, not a cure, but it certainly is a good one. I feel better, move better, have more confidence, and am happier than I've been in a long time. My focus is shifted and I'm on this path - for now. We are earnestly hoping that this path leads us to the parenthood journey..... and if it doesn't help us have our own kids - adoption is def an option - we have decided that we WILL be parents.... no matter what.

You may see some of my old blogs copied/pasted from my old MySpace (where I blogged my infertility journey) and my ObesityHelp blog, I'm hoping that I can put it all in one place - so when I look back and want to show my family/kids my journey - I don't have to Google all the do-da-day to find myself. I'm doing just fine doing that without Google....

Thanks for reading! =)