Basic Pizza Dough
Fettuccine with Chicken and Broccoli Rabe
Beef Stew
Spicy Meatloaf and Asian Beef Skewers
Mushroom-Stuffed Turkey Breast

I want to note that the pizza dough can be frozen and thaws and rises quite well!  It makes enough for two pizzas, so we have made one and frozen the other ball of dough.  We like to put sauce, grilled chicken, fresh spinach, fresh tomatos and onions on our pizza.  What do you like on your pizza??  We have not tried the Asian Skewers but they do sound yummy!  I LOVE the meatloaf recipe.  It takes a bit of time, but it is really worth the time.  Take note of my notes on that recipe; it makes a huge difference!

Let’s just say the photo session didn’t go as planned.  While I got Eli ready, Denise took Aiden into the bathroom to get changed.  Aiden looked great in his outfit, he had his hair combed to the side and was all smiles (we even taught him how to smile when asked).  Once we started to head into the room where the pictures are shot, Aiden flips out!  He is screaming and will not get into the room and wants no part of these Picture People.  So we no able to take “family” photos, but I think that Eli’s first photo shoot went great.  Maybe next year, we can get the “family” together.

By the way, I really hope you enjoy the picture of naked Eli being held up like Mufasa in “The Lion King” because some suffering did take place from yours truly.  Let’s just say that Eli have me my first golden shower!  Not cool kid!  I will get you back someday!  Actually, that day is today because I am sharing half-naked pictures of you to the world right now!  Ha!  Enjoy.

We showed up at the hospital around 4:30PM and worked our way towards the birthing triage to get checked out.  Denise was checked out and was found to be 2 centimeters dilated (70% effaced).  A few minutes later, Denise and I decided to take a stroll around the birthing center and we bumped into our doctor (Dr. Robert Sansonetti) where he gave us some wonderful news: “You’re having a baby!” meaning that we could stay at the hospital and get this baby out a week early where the plan was to induce Denise around 9PM.

We were checked into the room where the LONG process was soon to begin.  We were quickly informed that because the birthing floor was so busy, the Charge Nurse was not allowing any inductions to take place.  So we could tell that this was going to take a while.  Around 8PM, Denise was having some contractions every 8-10 minutes or so, and we were encouraged to get as much sleep as possible.  So we were able to catch light, broken up by contractions sleep for about two hours.  We took another few walks around the birthing center around 10PM and again were told that the floor was too busy to start anything.

Denise’s contractions were still about 8 minutes apart at this point, but again we needed some sleep.  However, sleeping through these contractions were extremely difficult.  The on-call doctor suggested we first try some Ambien first to get Denise to sleep, and if that didn’t work to then move on to Nubain.  The Ambien did its work knocking Denise out, but every contraction would wake her up!  I stayed up with her for an hour through her eight minutes of sleep and one minute of contractions for an hour, from 1:30AM to 2:30AM (that was fun!).  The Ambien wasn’t working great, so we moved on to the Nubain.  The Nubain seemed to do that trick and we were both able to get some sleep until around 4:30AM.

We were up after that with some walking around and a few dunks in the hot tub to alleviate the contractions and by 8:30AM, Denise was checked out by Dr. Sansonetti and found out that she wouldn’t have to be induced because she was now 5 cm dilated.  At this point, the floor was now empty ahead of us so Dr. Sansonetti broke Denise’s water and the real fun began.  Denise was encouraged to take a hot shower to get things moving, so that’s exactly what we did!  But…once that shower began, and because of breaking the water Denise’s contractions were coming fast and furious every 2 minutes or so.  The pain was just too much for Denise to bear, so I asked for them to order an epidural.

The anesthesiologist showed up after about 20 minutes of tough contractions and started to interrogate Denise because her use of blood-clotting drugs during the pregnancy.  He did not feel comfortable giving the epidural until a blood test was performed to determine that all the heparin was out of her system.  Once the blood test came back clean (about 45 minutes later), the epidural was performed and Denise was happy!  Drugs are wonderful!

Around 12:00PM, Denise was 9 cm dilated and close to ready.  After the doctor left, the nurse suggested that we lay Denise on her side, and that did the trick!  Denise suddenly felt the need to push and she was magically ready to go!  After 15 minutes of pushing, Elijah Quinn was introduced to the world on March 6, 2010 at 12:31PM weighing in a 8 pounds 13 ounces!  What an experience…again!  And if you are looking for a wonderful obstetrician, we highly recommend Dr. Sansonetti!

So on Tuesday, I found out that is exactly what happened!  It amazing what happens when you start losing weight…you start noticing body parts that you were unaware of!  After sitting in the waiting area for a few minutes, a nurse called me and had me stand on the scale and took my blood pressure.  At my doctor’s office, all records are digital so after entering my information into her laptop, she says “Wow, you lost some weight!” and I briefly explained the little competition that we are all involved in.  The doctor came in a few minutes later, and after shaking my hand a sitting down he did a little double take between his laptop and me.  He was very excited about my weight loss and started asking what I’d been doing and how, so I told him about our competition and he was very impressed about what I’ve been able to accomplish.  So, he asked about the lump in my chest and I told him that I felt silly for coming in but it was just cautionary and was wondering if this was showing up because of my weight loss?  He told me that it looks like I had played doctor and diagnosed myself and that everybody is born with this bone called the “Xiphoid Process” and that most likely I didn’t notice it before because of my lovely previous layers of fat in that area.

When I previously went for my last physical at 309 pounds, my Good Cholesterol number was 21 (which on my doctor’s laptop shows in RED, which is bad…it should be about double that)!  I mentioned that I was just going to wait until my next physical in August to re-run blood work to see how my numbers had improved, but he was like “No, no.  Let’s do it now!”  He was very excited to see the results!  It’s a blood test that requires a 12-hour fasting, so I’m planning on doing that tomorrow and will find out how my numbers have improved, if at all (he says that Good Cholesterol is largely genetic, but weight loss can help).  I will update the blog when I find out how these numbers have changed.

I am so glad that I went to the doctor and it was such a positive experience because after talking with him he told me “You just made my day!” and “You have accomplished something extraordinary!” and “Keep it Up!” and “…just don’t gain it back” with many hand shakes and slaps on the back.  It was just so great to hear so many positive words and to know that I am making such a positive change for the better and that it is worth all the hard work!

This challenge all started with a Christmas party at work where I overheard a conversation where one of my co-worker was scheduled to have Gastric Bypass surgery.  And I started thinking back to my physical from a few months back where my doctor mentioned that I was at the starting point where I may have to look into that type of surgery if I didn’t start something soon.  But it didn’t really hit home until that Christmas party conversation.  I came home from work and asked Denise if she thought that I should do the same thing.  But we both agreed that something so permanent shouldn’t be done until I really try a natural method first.  Denise had the wonderful idea to involve others as support system, because I have tried this on my own and have never had the willpower to sustain my interest.  I always look for the easy way out.  But with the wonderful support system that this challenge has provided, I am poised to lose 30 pounds.  I haven’t been in the 280 range in probably 5 years and like I said before…I am feeling better every single day. That is how this challenge got started and why it means so much to me.  A chance conversation at a company party started it all.  Thank you John!  Let’s keep it going!  This has been a wonderful experience!

Personally, for this challenge I went out a bought a Wii and the Biggest Loser video game.  This is extremely helpful.  I hate leaving my family to go work out and once I’m at the gym alone there is no motivation.  A digitized version of Bob Harper kicks my ass into gear every time I fire up the game and keeps me moving for 30 minutes or so.  Also, if you happen to own an iPhone or iPod touch, I highly recommend the Edibles app.  You can grab this app for $5 on the App Store and is well worth every penny.  It can be configured to use the Weight Watchers Points System or any other calculated method of food intake out there.  I personally use this app to track my Points, exercise and food groups so I know what else I need to eat throughout the day so I can plan my days/weeks accordingly.

Another great app for the iPhone/iPod touch is Restaurants.  This app is free and is great for when you are eating out.  As an example of how this saved me from going in the red for the week, check this out.  Just last week, Denise and I went out to Applebee’s in Biddeford and I’m checking out the menu.  My usual choice (when I’m feeling like a little pollo, and let’s face it, I usually am) is some kind of chicken meal that I can’t recall the name of, but it contains chicken, bbq sauce, and melted cheese and potatoes.  Keep in mind that Applebee’s has a Weight Watchers friendly menu and this item is right above the item I chose which is a some lime chicken, potatoes and broccoli for 7 points.  Just for giggles, I opened up the Restaurants app on my iPhone and what do you know…the yummy dish that I would normally get (code: Bad for Me) is on the app.  Get this…the dish was 1108 calories & like 60 in total fats.  This equates to something like 22 points and I get 31 points in a day!  I was simply amazed.  So I chose the 400 calorie meal instead with a salad sans bacon and had a nice meal out with the family.

The reason I bring this up is because The Biggest Loser television show has created a Pound for Pound Challenge to help solve hunger within the great USA.  For every pound that you pledge, The Biggest Loser will donate 7 pennies to this wonderful cause.  If every one of us joins in this cause, just think of the amount of money that will be donated!!

I just signed up and pledged to lose 50 pounds!  Just follow the link below and sign up.  Fill out a few questions (it takes about 5 minutes), enter how much weight you are planning to lose (the most you can pledge is 50 pounds) and that’s it.  Let’s do our part to get Maine out of 41st place!

After just one short week, check out what we have accomplished by clicking here. Together, we have lost 101 pounds!  That is just awesome.  I am so excited to see how much we can lose before April 1st!  Our first official ATTA BOY goes out to Julia.  She lost 7 pounds, which tops the list with a 3.57% weight loss.

Check out the Biggest Loser Challenge page for more information and don’t forget to post your comments here.  Let’s make this a place to tell each other how you are doing with your weight loss and provide any tips that you find are working for you.