Calling all Mothers

OK Here's my story/stories With my first I (age 26) started throwing up at 6 weeks and pretty much threw up for the rest of  the pregnancy any time I stayed up past 10pm or got up before 7am.  I am not really sure how much I weighed but I would guess about 215 (I am 5'2") at the beginning, lost weight up until the last month and then started gaining again.  As I recall I weighed 222 when I had her.  She weighed 7lb 6oz. 

When she was 2 months old I had a gall bladder attack that was worse than labour.  I was in New Zealand which has socialized medicine, so I went on the waiting list to have my gall bladder removed.  I could pretty much keep the attacks from happening if I ate little to no fat.  I quickly figured out what foods would trigger an attack.  I didn't have any scales, but I am pretty sure I must have lost weight.  We decided not to try to get pregnant again until after the surgery.  I got my surgery 1 year later and was pregnant again within 2 weeks.  I gained a lot of weight during that pregnancy because I could eat lots of things that I hadn't been able to eat for over a year.  I weighed 230 when I had my baby boy.  He weighed 8lb 10 oz.   We started trying to get pregnant when he was about 2, but it took a little longer than expected.  I turned 30 and decided I needed to lose weight.  I weighed 211, lost 20 pounds in 6 weeks  and got pregnant.  I walked 4-5 times a week up until 5 months.  (Edit this to explain:  These walks were strolls into town and back with my 4 and 2 year old, so this was by no means exercise-walking.) She was born weighing 7lb 5oz.  When she was 4 months old I started exercising again.  So 13 months after I started trying to lose weight I was 1 pound heavier and had a baby girl.  This time I was really serious about it.  Did aerobics and/or walking everyday and ate very healthily.  I lost just over 50 pounds over the next 6 months.  At 160lbs I was at my lowest adult weight ever and was fitter than I had ever been.  I got pregnant again.  (This is the pregnancy I was referring to in my last post to you).  I had just lost all this weight and I didn't want to gain massive amounts of weight.  I kept exercising, not overdoing it, kept my pulse rate within recommended pregnancy guidelines, did everything right.  Ate the right stuff, followed all the rules, but the baby died at 13 weeks.  I had no symptoms of a miscarriage.  At seventeen weeks, when they still couldn't find a heart beat I went for a scan.  That's how I found out.  They called it a missed miscarriage.  The baby had died, but my body was holding on.  I had a D and C.  6 months later we started trying again to get pregnant, but it didn't happen for a whole year.  Over that time i gained back all the weight I had lost.   With pregnancy #5 I'm guessing I weighed about 220 at the beginning, and I know I weighed 235 athe the end.  That was October of 2005.  I was induced three weeks early due to Rh incompatability.  (I had developed antibodies to his blood and my body was trying to kill him.)  He was born at 37 weeks weighing 6lb 6oz.  He had a bit of a rough road for the first couple of months, but he is fine now.  Will be 2 in 2and a half months. I was the exception to many of the pregnancy guidelines.  4 pregnancies I ate what I wanted, (except for cold meat and anything from a grocery store deli--listeria risks) and did no exercise apart from an occasional stroll.  4 pregnancies I was obese at the beginning--BMI high 30's.  Those 4 pregancies resulted in the 4 children who are now playing in my living room.  1 pregnancy I really watched what I ate, exercised regularly, started out with a BMI 28 and that's the one I miscarried.  It makes no sense and I am not making any recommendations.  Just telling you my experience.  I had no problems with blood pressure, hypertension, gestational diabetes, nothing.  I was tested for diabetes during the first 2 pregnancies, but since I had no trouble, they didn't test during the next  3.  The only complications that my weight caused were that they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat as early as on a thinner woman.  (17 weeks on me as opposed to 13 or 14 weeks) and the machines that measure how strong the contractions are during labour didn't register mine very well at all.  With my first baby they didn't think I was progressing because their machines didn't show that my contractions were strong enough to be doing anything.  When the actually LOOKED, they found that I was dilated 8 cm.  With my last baby, after the epidural I had to tell them when I was having a contraction and the midwife would mark it on the printout with a ballpoint pen.  The machine didn't think I was having contractions, but I knew I was.  The arrival of the babies proved me right. Sorry this is so long, but if it's experiences you want, experiences I am happy to share B