Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

I am at the halfway point, 20 weeks down and 20 weeks to go! I am happy to report that the hips are still holding strong. After talking to friends and relatives, I'm not sure how great my hips will feel when I'm around 35 weeks since many people I talk to had pain and they didn't have hip issues!

This week I got back on track with my fitness, I really don't want to carry any unnecessary weight than the  20+lb of uterus and baby which I have no choice but to gain. I'm sure these hips will be perfectly fine, but if it's not needed, I don't want it! I have been going very light at the gym so I don't hurt anything - me or the baby. I know some women run right up until they deliver but for some reason, the idea of running and possibly scrambling my baby to a pulp just makes me a little uneasy. Plus, I'm no fitness freak and do not feel the need to run right now! That definitely can't be good for my hips.

Sunday started my routine all over again and I am going to really try for 3 days a week with 20-30 minutes of cardio and light weight training. That morning, I did 20 minutes on the treadmill around a 3.2-3.5 pace between a 0.5-1.5 incline. I didn't work up much of a sweat but felt my heart working more than normal. Since it was my first day back, I thought easing back into it would be the smarter move. After that, I did some squats, deadlifts and tricep kickbacks all with dumbbells.

Clearly, I only look pregnant from the side!

Last night I went to the gym again (yeah, go me!). I opted for the treadmill again for 20 minutes at 3.3-3.5 pace with 1.0-2.0 incline. I thought jumping into the elliptical was still a little too soon. I got a little more of a sweat going and then went over to free weights again with bent over one-arm rows, dead lifts and oblique dips. 

I always end my workout with stretching - my hips and hamstrings are definitely super tight lately! I guess overall my hips are holding strong! After I did the squats, my hips felt a little sore and stiff but I only blame that on the fact I haven't really workout in a couple weeks so they have to get back into the swing of things. I feel good with how things are progressing, I'm officially 10 pounds heavier than I was 5 months ago which is something my pre-PAO body would not be able to cope with. 

Hope this helps anyone looking into family planning and PAO fun. 

I've also added some new items to my side toolbar - I never had a spot to subscribe to my blog so you get updates when I update...so please check that out and follow me. I also added the "search" tool which will allow you to find blog entries based on any criteria you are interested in, such as "screw removal", "exercise" etc. 

Thanks for reading!

Friday, October 3, 2014

Friday, October 3, 2014

Just a quick little update as we are now a few more weeks into the second trimester and progressing (I think (right on track). My next baby appointment isn't until October 20 which puts me at 19 weeks - that is the "BIG" appointment where they check all the limbs and organs and make sure everything looks normal and also find out the sex, if we wanted to, which we aren't!

Almost halfway through this journey and really happy how my hips are holding up. I know it's still early before my body starts retaining water, and the ankles swell, and my back starts to hurt...so let's just enjoy the spot I'm currently at! I know my hips have a some more opening/widening to do and I told Dr. Millis if I have one bit of pain I'm coming after him! After three PAO's I would only hope pain is in the past for at least a few more years. HA!

Speaking of the Doc, at my last follow-up in July I had scheduled my next 6 month appointment for the end of December - hoping I wouldn't make it if I got pregnant in the meantime. Well we all know that happened - so I emailed Alaina the other day and I asked her to cancel that appointment since there's not really a reason for me to go - can't get X-rays! But I did ask her to reschedule for later in the year and that I would have a little munchkin accompanying me to this appointment for its OWN hip checkup - gosh that makes me cringe. They like to see the baby at 6 weeks old which puts us ABOUT mid-April so I made a tentative date of April 9. Since baby has no official information, she only scheduled it as "Baby Laroche" HAhA! Cute. I have to call back after it has a DOB, SSN and an actual name. So that's all exciting and really scary all at the same time. My biggest fear with having kids is that I have a super high chance of passing Hip Dysplasia onto them. And the only reason I'm hoping for a boy is to make that chance even smaller - even though I secretly want a girl! But I know whatever the outcome, we will all be in the best hands possible and 'it' will have a better outcome from early diagnosis than I did. Last time I asked Millis what the procedure is on infants, he told me they still do the harness - great. <--yuck

So, here I sit, just packing on the ol' pounds and letting this little creature take over my body. Boy (girl!), it better be cute!

Side note, I received yet another message from a fellow PAO'er last night who has stumbled onto my blog. She is 13 years post-RPAO and now has pain in the other hip...which I guess is better than it being in the same hip. Back then there was really no information out there to help someone through this surgery whereas now I feel like blogs are popping up left and right. My goal when writing this was to (1)-document my experience and (2)-hopefully be able to help even one person who has been diagnosed with this surgery. I feel like I have hit my goal time and time again and it truly makes me so happy. Sure I have negative times and depressing times, but I feel other people really focus on those bad times and not the good parts. Half of this recovery is mental! You have to be mentally ready to take on a PAO and be accepting of help from others who have been through it. I know there are people out there freaking out over this diagnosis and surgery, but that's why I am here and that's why I write this blog, to help you and to be there to tell you it's NOT that bad. Isn't a pain free life something to be happy about? I won't go on a rant since we all know where I stand on that, but I just hope people reading this - as scared as they are, can really absorb what I have written over the last four years and realize it really is doable and you really do have a quality of life you never expected could be possible.

Words of Wisdom - take them as you wish. Happy Friday Everyone!!!