Oy! Where to start?

I was a 9 lb baby. A chubby kindergartner who never lost my baby fat. I was active, a swimmer, played soccer. Stronger then most the girls around me, and by the time I was in high school weighed 145 lbs, and thought I was really fat. Oh to be that fat again!

When I was about 20 I started missing periods here and there for no apparent reason. Weird thing was every time I missed I seemed to gain a couple of pounds without any change in my eating/exercise pattern. Fast forward a couple of years, and a very regular relationship with the folks at planned parenthood who saw me 3-9 times a year for pregnancy tests (this is before clear blue easy, you young'uns) and I had hit 180. I finally (as an uninsured college student) decide to find out what the heck was going on with my body.

After a few false starts I got diagnosed with PCOS...put on oral BC pills for "hormone regulation" and told I would likely never get pregnant without some serious medical intervention. 'With the same sweet man since I was 18...we figured we would deal with my alleged infertility when we were ready for babies. And I gained some more weight. I took myself off BCpills 'cause I was not liking the (perceived?) associated weight gain. More time passed, more weight gained. 

I lucked out, get pregnant without intervention, couldn't've been happier. Still pretty healthy, only gained 15 pounds with first pregnancy (and lost it and more breastfeeding), managed to get pregnant again a couple years later, even though I was up to about 290. Gained 40 pounds the second pregnancy, lost only a little of it with the birth, and slowly put on another 60 in the last 10 years.

Had/have SERIOUS insulin resistance, the slowest metabolism my OB had ever seen (he went to do an unplanned/emergency C-section on me 12+ hours after I had eaten a light dinner of pasta salad and he said it didn't look like my gut had made any effort to digest any of that food in the meantime). I guess that just means if there is ever a famine I will be one of the survivors. I had one great run of Atkins loss in 2003 that knocked me off course last time I started this bariatric surgery drill...I was scheduled for a DS (with reservations about the mal-absorption, but really wanting to lose as much as I could and my doc at that time thought it would be better for me than RNY because I had so much to lose), but I got pneumonia at a critical juncture, then lost my insurance (ran out of my COBRA). I have been dreading that chain of events over the past three years, and I have finally gotten re-insured, so while I have decided to do this thing...and the VSG is my choice...it isn't covered by BC of CA, but at least if I have complications THAT might be covered. I have the support of my parents and my MIL, all of whom are willing to help me pay for this. And I'm going to take them up on it.

I will be 45 this year. I have sleep apnea, some joint issues, lower body soft tissue injuries (stresses and strains) seem to be healing slower and slower. I've got a 12 year old and a 9 year old and I have been the mom who stays home when I want to be the mom who goes with.

I'm ready for the second half of my life.

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