Weight Gain

When I was pregnant, one of my biggest concerns was weight gain.  At each pre-natal doctor's appointment, I would provide a urine sample and hop on the scale, only to be berated again and again as my weight continued to drop.  I was eating almost nonstop, having gotten over my morning sickness by the third month (but even now, I still love dill pickles dipped in honey...), I was exercising less (as my hips became more and more sore), but I just couldn't seem to gain weight.  Granted, my diet had changed considerably (from mostly junk to no junk at all) and I had put on almost 30 pounds in the months before conception (but that's a story for another day).

For seven months, my heart dropped with the numbers on the scale.  I feared for my baby - was he getting all the nutrients he needed if I was losing weight?  But repeated ultrasounds showed good development and slightly faster than average growth.

Then I hit 7 months and my weight stabilized... and began to slowly climb.  Then it began to climb faster.  Then there were traces of protein in my urine, and I began to retain water...  all warning signs of pre-eclampsia.  Thankfully, my blood pressure was holding steady within the normal range.  All in all, I had a net loss of four pounds.

After the C-Section, my blood pressure was abnormally high (just another sign that my baby was coming that night one way or another!), but it returned to normal before I left the hospital. 

Thankfully, I am still below my pre-pregnancy weight; but I am left to wonder: how long will it last?  It seems the more I exercise, the more weight (and inches) I gain... Is pregnancy the only way my body is able to shed pounds?