The Seventh Mile: The reason...

Many of you know that I made up my mind to lose weight and get healthy after my son was born. I felt that I had to be an example for him and live a healthy lifestyle. I didn't want him to think that being unhealthy was okay for a minute. What you may not know is that doctors told us for three years that my son (and now my daughter) would never be because of how unhealthy I was.

Early in our marriage, we discovered we couldn't get pregnant. My husband had his set of issues (which were resolved by surgery) but I also had my own. I was diagnosed with Polycystic ovaries, common in us fat girls. I got my period maybe once every ten months. Sounds nice in theory, but not when you're trying to have a baby. Many specialists told us to just forget about having kids unless we tried In Vitro. Luckily, through the grace of God, I was led to acupuncture and in three months, got pregnant and had a great pregnancy.

On July 11, 2007, we welcomed out perfectly healthy and beautiful 7lb 6oz, 21 inch baby boy into the world. He was perfect. Labor was awful (being overweight doesn't help things) and my dream of nursing him for at least a year was shattered (later I found out that my body was unable to produce enough milk, a side effect of the polysystic ovaries and hence my weight). Damn that weight. I would not let this precious baby down...

... And I didn't. I lost the weight and am continuing my healthy lifestyle, which I will definitely be doing for the rest of my life. Now, I gave my son the gift of his little sister, which - because of my dramatic weight loss - I had an easy time conceiving, very easy time delivering, and at nine months is still full-time nursing.

My weight was getting in the way of my dreams for the longest time. In this case, the biggest dream - that of having a family. Not anymore. I'm creating and living new dreams now. My miracle baby turned three years old yesterday. In three short years he has changed my life and made me a better person. I love seeing him learn every day. He's so fit and so active and he loves to run and play and it's fun to him; not a chore like it used to be for me.

I made a promise to my baby boy three years ago that I would be healthy for him and set an example for him. Three years later, I'm still keeping that promise and I'll do so until the day I die. After all, he's got a long life ahead of him that I want to witness... and so do his future children.

Baby boy, you're an amazing gift from God. You're not just a baby given to me, you're a reason, you're a chance at life for me. I'm so blessed to have the privilege to be your mommy and I learn from you probably more than you will ever learn from me. You were put on this earth to do great things and I'll be there every mile of the way to support you, love you, guide you and be anything that you need me to be. I love you.

Next up: The Eighth Mile