Healthin' Ourselves: 2013

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Dealing with hyperemesis gravidarum

Sooooo..... where have I been??

It's been several weeks since there's been a single post on Facebook, and months since there's been a post on the blog. I would love to tell you I've been so busy working out and eating right that I just haven't had the time, that's not the case.

As most of you know, what with my announcing it on facebook, my husband and I are expecting baby number 3. This was a planned pregnancy and the whole family is very excited about it. My heart has always been to have a big, beautiful family. I was so looking forward to taking our readers along on the journey of staying healthy and fit during a pregnancy. Unfortunately, my plans of that have been smashed into a billion pieces. Why?

A little something called Hyperemesis Gravidarum.
Now, normally when I tell someone this is what I've been diagnosed with they say... "Oh, is that like morning sickness?"

Let me start off by explaining that this is NOT morning sickness. It's a temporary but life altering sickness during and sometimes after pregnancy. Here are a few facts about HG and some of the things that make it different than morning sickness.

Morning Sickness:	Hyperemesis Gravidarum:
Nausea sometimes accompanied by vomiting	Nausea accompanied by severe vomiting
Nausea that subsides	Nausea that does not subside
Vomiting that does not cause severe dehydration	Vomiting that causes severe dehydration
Vomiting that allows you to keep some food down	Vomiting that does not allow you to keep any food down

	Women with normal morning sickness are able to eat and go about their day as normal. Someone suffering from HG is unable to eat or drink without medication, and has trouble functioning as normal. Things like working, taking care of the kids, daily chores and even showering become overwhelming tasks.
	Some of the signs and symptoms of HG are: Severe nausea and vomiting Food aversions Weight loss of 5% or more of pre-pregnancy weight Decrease in urination Dehydration Headaches Confusion Fainting Jaundice Extreme fatigue Low blood pressure Rapid heart rate Loss of skin elasticity Secondary anxiety/depression I plan on writing about my personal experiences with HG in a blog very soon, but for now I just wanted to share the differences between HG and morning sickness. HG is so rare that it only affects 1-2% of pregnant women, so many people don't even know what it is! I really hope this answers a lot of questions about why I haven't been posting, and what the heck is wrong!! Stay tuned for more later!! Love, Holly

Monday, January 14, 2013

Motivational Monday 1-14-13

Welcome back!!! I hope you've all got the perfect picture picked out!!

We had some discussion on which pictures to post, so we each opted for something different.
Here's what we chose to share!

Ashley

It would be hard to choose a motivational picture from my past because I have been over weight my whole adult life! However, I have put together a picture of what motivates me to keep going. On the left is the best motivation a girl could ask for : my beautiful boys. I want to be a good example to them. On the right is a picture of a girl that has taken the first step and made the choice to change her life for the better. I think that's some pretty good motivation!

Holly

This was me! I'm the one in the middle. I chose this picture because it reminds me of a time when physically, I could do just about anything. My eating was never perfect, but my fitness was. I realize that not everyone is motivated by pictures of when they were younger, but to me, it's something I was. It's something I can measure. It's something I'm familiar with. It's a goal that I feel like I can reach because I've already been there before.... It's hope. I can't wait to get back to this place with the added bonus of eating healthy! :)

We would love to add your pictures to our blog! So pick a picture of your past self that you use for motivation, and post it on our Facebook wall www.facebook.com/healthinus , and we'll post it on the blog! And remember, if you've already reached your goals, we'd like to share that as well! Send us your before and after picture with a small success story and we'll post it on the blog as well!

Love,

Ashley & Holly

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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Motivational Monday Intro

Hey there!! So you may have noticed that we've been pretty active on Facebook, but not so active on the blog. We've discovered that this is ~~a little~~ a LOT more work than it looks! HUGE admiration to all the bloggers out there who do this full time! Our goal is to keep things active on Facebook and start posting a lot more recipes, workouts, weigh-ins and such on the blog.

We think it's a good idea for us to get to know you guys on a more personal level. After all, it's a lot easier to share the gory details of a weight-loss journey with someone you know, right?? Right.

One of the ways we thought would be fun to do that is with something we're going to call "Motivational Monday". Starting this Monday, we're each going to share with you one of our pictures from the past that we use as motivation for the future and tell you why we chose that particular picture. We'd like you to do the same!

All you have to do is share your "picture from the past" on our Facebook page, this Monday, with a small story telling us why you chose the picture that you did, and we'll copy it over to the blog.

I know we have quite a few followers who have reached their goals and are in a place right now that they are proud to be, and we want to be proud with you! If you have a before and after picture with a success story, we would LOVE to share it!

So for the rest of today and this evening, be thinking about the picture you're going to choose. You know you've already got the perfect one in mind!! Tomorrow morning we'll start the uploading!! We can't wait!!!