On the Lighter Side

Tonight Jason and I went out to dinner. As we ate I ‘celebrated’ multiple (and some petty) things after the past 3 trying weeks.

1) I am on the road to recovery and out of the hospital (again)… major blessing and answer to prayers.

2) I am able to dress in normal attire after ditching the wonderful world of hospital fashion. I was lucky to have to have a hospital gown that not only opened to the back but snapped along the shoulders, was 5xs too big and had a pocket in the front that completely opened to the skin. Yup, you read that right. I had to wear a heart monitor so the wires had to come through this pocket which made it open up and expose what should remain covered up. To avoid any embarrassing moments, I had to tape it up around the wires. This just added extra coolness to my awesome outfit I got to show off for a week!

3) And my most favorite… I can wear all my old clothes again and I’m back in my jeans!

Let me explain #3…

Last week after hospital round #1, I came home with 20 extra lbs of fluid build up even after draining 6 liters of fluid from my abdomen during my stay. It was pretty frightening looking at myself in the mirror; lumpy is the only way to describe it. I had lumps on my lower back, I couldn’t stand up straight due to the stretching of my upper and lower abdomen (my belly button was starting to pop out some) and my thighs and hips were water logged. Surprising, very little water was retained in my calves, my feet, my arms and my face (yay I guess!). None of my clothes fit so I had to wear flowing dresses and night gowns for days. After a couple of days I had Jason take me to Target to get some ‘larger underclothes’ just in case the water didn’t keep coming off as fast. Well, safe to say it did and now the underclothes are stored away unused for when I’m pregnant with our sweet little ones.

So needless to say, the first few days after being back from the hospital were spent sitting, laying down and running to the ladies room! I’d have to get out of bed every 40 min to an hour each night. Sometimes I’d run back to bed celebrating and waking Jason up to announce that I’d lost another 3 lbs! He’d pretend to be excited for me and roll back to bed as I’d lay awake smiling from ear to ear imagining the days of jeans and my ‘old’ wardrobe!

By the time this past Monday came around, I was back to my old size and weight, but I was hanging around the house so stayed in my comfy clothes. Little did I know that I’d be back in the hospital by noon and never getting to try my ol’ stuff on. So I spent a couple more days in the wonderful hospital fashion I’ve grown accustomed to and then… went to dinner tonight and put on my ol’ pair of jeans! After 3 weeks of this, I’m happy to say that I enjoyed the blue denim on my legs!

So… I think I need my own commercial and weight loss program. “Hi, my name is Shanna and I lost 20 lbs in less than a week. My secret…? Peeing! Get your kidneys functioning after a week of hell and fluid build up, and tada… 20 lbs lighter! Kidney function… works every time!”

All joking aside, I am so thankful for the answered prayers and God healing my body to allow it to begin functioning normally again! Nice to see my body back to normal before it goes through pregnancy later this year!