Melanie Stauty of Fergus Falls sits in a clinic chair during a follow-up bariatric appointment at Essentia Health Park Rapids.

On her lap sits a bouncing baby boy, Seth Alexander and, gosh, his smile is infectious.

“He was a miracle,” Melanie says. “I didn’t think I would have any more children.”

In fact, when she had the surgery at age 25, one of Melanie’s greatest worries was that if she didn’t lose her excess weight, she wouldn’t be around for her 9-year-old son.

On Aug. 31, 2006, Melanie had her surgery at St. Joseph’s Center for Weight Management. She lost 230 pounds in two years.

Melanie had not been on birth control and soon found out she was pregnant. Considered high risk, the pregnancy was monitored closely by her OB physician in Fergus Falls. Following a long labor, Seth was delivered by c-section.

Melanie was concerned about weight gain, but also wanted to eat well on behalf of her baby.

“I ate as much as I could for him,” she says. She watched her protein intake and took her vitamins including potassium and calcium. Her blood was monitored every other month.

Weight being a concern, especially for bariatric patients, Melanie has done well to lose all but 10 pounds of her pregnancy weight. She was also able to breastfeed Seth, and she assures other bariatric moms: “It can be done.”

Although Melanie wasn’t trying to get pregnant, she is firm in her beliefs that Seth was a “miracle from God.”

“He probably wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t had the surgery,” she says.