Jpet

Hi there. I'm so sorry that you're going through this right now. I don't know how much help I'll be because I don't have GD and I haven't given birth yet (I'm 35 weeks). However, I want to encourage you to do whatever is necessary (including the dreaded insulin shots) to make sure your sugars are in control. I am the daughter of a type 1, insulin-dependent diabetic. I was born 7 weeks premature, weighing 7+ lbs at delivery -- obviously I was a big baby and it was because my mom's sugar was out of control. In fact, for the last month or so of her pregnancy, I (as a fetus) made enough insulin for both of us. Mom and the doctor thought that was great -- she wasn't diabetic for that month. But it put a strain on me as a fetus and I firmly believe that the weight problems I have had all my life are due, in part, to my mother's out of control sugars. There is research regarding babies born to diabetics. I'm not trying to scare you, and my story is extreme and to a certain degree irrelevant to what you're going through. I know that insulin shots are literally a pain, but you may have to do them. I agree that the baby needs carbs, and that a no-carb diet is not feasible. There are certain by-products of ketosis and weight loss that are not good for your baby. This is why they don't want pregnant mothers dieting per se. The fact that you're concerned about this shows how much you love your baby. I hope things work out and that you're able to somehow avoid insulin shots. As for when you can get filled after delivery, that will depend on your doctor. My doctor doesn't have a hard and fast rule, but a lot of doctors out there have a minimum amount of time that they'll wait. Take care and best to you!

Hi there. I haven't posted in a really long time -- I usually just see what everyone else is talking about. But this weight issue is something I think I can help out with. I, too, have put on a considerable amount of weight -- 40 lbs and I'm at 34 weeks. I talked to my OB about it and she told me this: how much weight you gain is not as important as how big the baby is. If the baby is right on target growth-wise, she doesn't care how much weight I gain. If I gain too much and the baby starts to get too big, then that's a problem. So far, my belly has been measuring dead-on for where I am gestation-wise, so my doctor said nothing when I gained almost 10 lbs in two weeks. She also explained weight gain like this -- a pregnant woman has little control over how much weight she will gain during pregnancy. The body is going to adjust your metabolism to gain the amount of weight it wants to. And so even if you're really counting calories and eating super-clean, your body may want to just put on additional weight for whatever reason. Of course, there are the extremes like certain celebraties who used their pregnancies as an excuse to eat nothing but donuts. Obviously, their bodies could only do one thing, which was to gain excessive weight. And so a certain amount of self-control is necessary. But craving milk, juice, fruit, and such is not a bad thing. Additionally, a friend of mine who is a raw vegan gained 60 pounds with her daughter. That really put things into perspective for me. I had a hard time believing that someone who only ate plants could even eat enough to gain 60 pounds -- but it's another example of how the body is going to do what it wants to do. Finally, there has been research that shows that women who lose a significant amount of weight and then get pregnant soon thereafter will tend to gain more than average during pregnancy. This is because the body uses the pregnancy as a way to store up what it needs. You really do not have any control over this. For me, I saw so many stories of banded women gaining 10 or 15 pounds during their entire pregnancies, and so I got it into my head that I was only going to gain 20 lbs. Well, I've doubled that. God-willing, I will be able to breastfeed and that will help with weight loss. Nevertheless, I just had to give up control on this issue and accept the fact that I was going to gain more than the average (25-35 lbs). Of course, I am 6 ft. tall and the doctor also told me that someone of my height and stature is going to gain more anyway. Hope that helps.

Just wanted to reply to Fairy and others and tell them that I, too, am probably gaining too much weight. The doctor hasn't said anything, but I'm 23 weeks and I've gained 25 pounds. I'm hoping that if I only gain the recommended 1 lb per week the rest of this pregnancy, then I'll ONLY gain 42 pounds this pregnancy, which seems like a lot given that I still had about 50-60 pounds to lose when I got pregnant. So many people have told me that the body will gain what it needs, and I've met several women who ended up gaining 60 pounds and then eventually lost it just fine. But it's hard when I've seen friends only gain the recommended 25 lbs and realize that I've already gained that, and I'm only half way through this. And then it's really hard when you see the scale creep up and realize how hard it was to get below that number in the first place. My husband reminds me that I now know how to lose weight effectively, so I'll lose it after the baby is born. But it's just hard -- psychologically. I'm jealous of other pregnant women who are able to indulge in craving-type food, while I have to be SOOOO careful about what I put in my mouth. I suppose I was hoping that I'd be one of those ladies (albeit overweight ladies) who wouldn't end up gaining much during pregnancy. But it seems that my body has gone hay-wire and is storing everything given the weight loss I was experiencing pre-pregnancy.

For me, I didn't start feeling nauseated until well into my 7th week. It started with an "off-type" feeling that would last a couple of hours. Unlike what the baby books suggest, it wasn't like I woke up one morning with full-blow morning sickness. Instead, it was a gradual progression. Also, I didn't experience the nausea every day, but rather, it seemed to be heavier some days and none at all other days. I never had to throw up. For me, it was more nausea accompanied by a weird full/bloated feeling that was just plain annoying. Don't think that you have to have bouts of throwing up for it to qualify as morning sickness. Also, you may find that you feel sicker in the afternoons and evenings like I did. I know it's easy for me to say this, but try not to worry about not having morning sickness yet. There's been a few ladies on this board who have had no MS at all. And I really don't believe the whole, no MS means an increase in miscarriage. I've simply known too many women who did not have any MS that went on to have healthy, normal pregnancies and babies.

Thanks! Hey Fairy -- have you felt the baby kick yet? I think you're about 2 weeks ahead of me. I'm 16 weeks, 2 days today. I keep waiting to feel the "flutters" that are supposed to happen sometime this week. This is such a weird time in the pregnancy, when the only symptom are my tight pants, and I think, "Baby? are you still there?"

I'm now 14 weeks along, and I've gained 7 pounds so far. It's not the total amount that worries me, but rather the fact that I've gained those 7 pounds in the last three weeks. I suppose I don't REALLY need to eat cherry pie for dinner, huh. I have to admit that I have no earthly idea how much weight I should gain this pregnancy. According to the baby books, I should be gaining about 1/2-1 lb. per week. But the pregnancy weight doesn't go on in a linear fashion, so it's tough to know whether I'm going through a growth spurt that will eventually even out, or whether I'm actually going to gain 2.5 lbs/week for the rest of the pregnancy. And so I just try to make good food decisions and hope that I don't get too obsessed with it.

Thanks for the replies. That makes me feel better. I need to stop reading the baby books. As for weight gain, I didn't gain any weight during the first 11 weeks (because of band restriction), and then I got unfilled and gained 6 pounds in the last two weeks. In the last few days I am hungy ALL THE FREAKING TIME! I don't know if this is because I'm pregnant or unfilled (probably a combo of the both). I'm trying to make good decisions and eating lots of fruits and veggies. But yesterday, I literally HAD to eat every single hour because my stomach was growling. I almost gave up and went to the McDonalds to get a double quarter pounder with cheese, but I held on. I know I shouldn't care too much about weight gain because it's about doing what's best for the baby and not necessarily caring about my figure right now. But with my predisposition for gestational diabetes (my mother is Type I and I'm obviously overweight), I'm worried that giving in to the Reece's Peanut Butter cups isn't the best decision right now. Good luck to us all. This is a tough time, but I'm hoping it gets better.

I'm 13 weeks along and my baby books tell me that I may now be able to feel my uterus if I push down approximately 3-4 inches below my belly button. So last night, I felt around underneath my pannus and tried to feel the uterus, which should be extending upward now. I couldn't feel anything, except the fat I still need to lose. Has anyone else been able to feel their uterus, and if so, what does it feel like? I've given up on the hope of having a cute baby bump. Being 6'0 tall and still needing to lose a good 50 lbs, I'm not going to look like a woman trying to smuggle a watermelon. But now I'm a little worried that I won't be able to feel things such as my uterus as I get larger.

This is what I've been taking: 1. Viactiv chewable Vitamin, which arguably doesn't have the Iron that you may need, so check with your OB/GYN regarding whether to take an iron supplement -- I don't have to based on my blood test; 2. Expecta DHA supplement found in my local pharmacy. Not as big as those fish oil capsules and it's a non-animal source of DHA, so you're not going to get the fish-burps after taking it; 3. Extra folic acid, for a total of 800 mcg per day; 4. Chewable Calcium supplement with Vitamin D I know it's a lot, but none of it tastes nasty or is hard to swallow, which is a big deal right now for me.

I voted for "tighter" as well. I noticed that I got A LOT tighter right around when I probably became pregnant (around that couple of weeks anyway). It was so bad that I could barely eat anything and I was probably getting about 800-1000 calories per day, which is not enough for my large, 6'0 frame. I made an appointment with the doctor to get a small unfill, not knowing I was pregnant (but hoping I was), and on the morning of my appointment, I found out I was pregnant (and I was 3.5 weeks along at that point). All of this is to say that the tightness can seem to happen immediately after implantation for some reason. The doctor took .6 out of my 3.5 cc's, and so now I'm at 2.9 in a 10 cc band, which isn't much, but I definitely feel restriction and I'll probably end up getting another unfill. I've noticed that I have to be super careful with what I eat, especially in the mornings because it can set me up for painful eating for the rest of the day. So, I've been eating things like cream of wheat and oatmeal. Right now, I'm eating hummus but that's also because it's the only thing that sounds good right now. I swear this fetus is going to be vegetation. He/she won't let me even look at meat right now. I'm now 9.5 weeks, so I can't wait until the nausea lets up.

To follow up on the ginger -- I did do some research and there is some interesting things out there about large amounts of ginger possibly causing abortions and uterine contractions. If you're interested, check out the Mayo Clinic's website on ginger and pregnancy. I called my doctor about it and she isn't concerned and told me that I can use ginger as a morning sickness relief. But then I thought -- why take a chance? So, now I'm limiting myself to ginger ale and fruit juices with ginger. I'm no longer eating the crystallized ginger. Another thing we should all be aware about are herbal teas, which have been really soothing for me. Unfortunately, certain herbs are not recommended and can also cause uterine contractions. Some herbs that you may not think of being worried about are chamomile, peppermint, hibiscus and lemongrass. These are often found in your lemon-type teas. Check out babycenter.com's article on herbal teas for more info. So now I'm left with drinking hot lemon Water, which I KNOW is safe and has been helpful. Ultimately, we'll all get through this and I keep reminding myself that the morning sickness is a welcome, but not-so-pleasant reminder that baby-things are still happening. I pray that we all magically get rid of our morning sickness at 12 weeks, 1 day.

Hello everyone. I'm surprised that we don't have more posts about morning sickness (read: all day sickness) on the board, but maybe that's because most of you are luckier than me. I'm 8 weeks along, and I'm finding that for the better part of the day, I have a constant undercurrent of nausea. What's interesting is that the nausea feels less like sea-sickness (which I understand is what morning sickness-type nausea typically feels like), but rather the nausea feels more like a bloated, heavy-full feeling in my stomach. It almost feels like I've eaten way too much and now I want to throw up (but not because food is stuck in the band). I don't know if I'm describing it the right way, but I thought it was interesting because maybe the band is affecting how the nausea feels, i.e. that it's less of a roiling nausea and more of a full uncomfortable feeling. I haven't thrown up, which is good, but then maybe the contant nausea is even worse. Anyway, in case anyone is interested, I've found that ginger really, really helps "settle" my stomach, albeit it is a temporary relief that lasts for a couple of hours at most. I've been trying all kinds of ginger remedies, but the best has been real ginger soda, i.e. ginger ale, which I get from Whole Foods (also known as Whole Pay Check). I know we're not supposed to drink carbonated beverages, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And I typically don't need an entire can of soda to help me, usually a few sips will do it. They say that ginger is more effective at treating nausea than some prescription medications. If you can stand the strong taste, you can also try crystallized ginger, which is actual ginger root steeped in cane syrup, that's then cut up into bite-sized pieces. It's sweet, but incredibly potent. I've also heard that you can make an herbal ginger tea by dropping a piece of the crystallized ginger root in some chamomile tea. Maybe I'll try that later. Finally, jolly ranchers have been very helpful. These are similar to "preggie pops," but cost a whole lot less. Something about the sweet and sour taste helps to settle my stomach. I hope you ladies out there in your first trimester are having an easier time with things. But when I want to feel sorry for myself, I just remember that the nausea means that I'm still pregnant and the hormones are working to support the baby -- and then it's not so very bad anymore. Good luck to us all! Jen

Hello everyone! I've been around the general board for awhile, but lurking here. I found out last week that I'm pregnant, and the husband and I are thrilled. I'm seven months post-op, and I'm just 4 weeks pregnant. In fact, I found out that I was pregnant at about 3.5 weeks, which is very early to be producing enough HCG to create a positive home pregnancy test (hmmm. . . wonder if its twins?). My first doctor's appt. is September 15th, which will be my sixth week. I'm wondering what type of prenatal Vitamin everyone is taking? I had some of my fill taken out, so I can swallow small pills, but as I understand it, prenatals are like horse pills. Can you crush/split them up? Right now, I'm taking a chewable Viactiv multi-vitamin (with 400 mcg of folic acid), another folic acid supp (making a total of 800 mcg), a chewable Calcium supp, and a DHA (omega fats) supp. Thanks for your advice!