JaimeSTL

This is my third baby and each pregnancy has been different as far as morning sickness is concerned. With my first, it hit about 6 1/2 weeks. I was sick all day everyday until I was about 20 weeks. With my second, I had no clue I was pregnant and then I started throwing up and was really nauseous all day everyday for a week. I figured out that I was pregnant, saw the doctor and I was about 6 weeks so it started at like 5 weeks. That was the only week I vomited, but I did have a lot of nausea all the time. With this pregnancy, I haven't thrown up at all. I did have about 3 weeks between about 6-9 weeks where I was pretty queasy in the morning/early afternoon, but fine in the evenings. That has since passed pretty much. I still have days here and there when I feel a little queasy. I'll be 12 weeks on Friday and every indication is that this is a healthy baby (we've seen the baby and heartbeat on ultrasound every 2 weeks since 6 weeks). It may very well start soon. I remember with my first, I saw the doctor at about 5 1/2 weeks and the nurse asked if I had any nausea. I told her I didn't and she said, well, wait until next week and we'll see how you feel. Needless to say, when I went back in a week later, it was a much different story.

I wasn't required to lose anything before surgery by Dr. Minkin or my insurance company. I had a 5 day pre-op liquid diet (it is normally 3 days but I had to do 5 days) and IMO, he progresses through the post-op diet at a pretty good rate, only like 7-10 days of liquids then mushies, then softs, then regular diet within a month. He has a very low rate of complications.

I had surgery on Feb 28th, with Dr. Darin Minkin at Des Peres Hospital. I would suggest going to seminars and meeting the doctors in the area and then make your decision. One thing that influenced my decision was that I didn't want a doctor who would try to convince me to have gastric bypass, so I knew I wanted a Lap Band only doctor. As far as I know, Dr. Minkin is the only one in St. Louis who only does bands. Luckily, I liked him right away and felt completely at ease with him as a doctor. Good luck in your decision!

Not so far. I just saw my surgeon this past week and I have to keep a food diary for the next 2 weeks so he can review it and make sure I'm able to get in enough calories. If not, he'll give me an unfill. However, I'm sure I am as I'm always starving and can eat like I don't have a band at all. He said that he's had a few other pregnant patients and hasn't had to unfill them at all, they gained weight normally, babies grew well and were healthy, and the patients were able to lose the weight easily after giving birth. I haven't had any morning sickness or any problems with the band at all.

Have you had your band looked at under fluoro? Since you said you had severe morning sickness, I would worry that the band slipped during your pregnancy. I would definitely tell the doctor about the problem you are having to see if he has any ideas. If you haven't had your fills done under fluoro, I would definitely request that also.

I had quite a bit of testing, including a full cardiac workup, and the best conclusion they could come to was that it was due to my weight. When the doctor was trying to do the tubal ligation, he had to put my head lower than my feet and that is when i stopped breathing. That event is also what prompted me to look into the Lap Band.

I had two D&C's in 2007. The first was in April, after heavy bleeding almost constantly for months. The bleeding stopped for four months, then in August started again and was worse than ever. In October I was supposed to have a tubal ligation and Novasure, but during the procedure I stopped breathing and they had to stop before doing anything. Finally, in December, I had another D&C, which revealed a massive uterine infection. I was on antibiotics and progesterone for a month, which finally relieved the problem.

My first two children were pre-band, obviously, and I didn't gain much weight. With my first, I didn't gain anything until I was about 20-22 weeks, then only gained about 18-19 lbs. With my second, I gained 10 lbs pretty quickly, found out I had gestational diabetes, and was put on the diet for that and lost those 10 lbs plus a few more. I came out right about where I started with her. Since there is no malabsorption with the band, my OB doesn't have a problem with me losing a little more weight during the pregnancy, as I have plenty to spare still. He said 10-15 lbs would be ok. We'll see. I'm starving all the time, eating way more than I was pre-pregnancy, and just maintaining.

I am just shy of 9 months post-op and found out I am pregnant about 3 weeks ago. I'm 8 weeks. My OB has no problem if I continue to lose a little weight (he said 10-15 lbs) or just maintain. With my other two children pre-band, he also wanted me to gain minimal weight since I'm overweight to begin with. I don't plan to get an unfill anytime soon and when I see my surgeon, if I still feel the same as I do now, I might even ask if he'll give me a tiny fill. I'm starving all the time and eating like crazy. I'm only 8 weeks! My weight has been up and down the same 5 lbs or so for the last few weeks. I've had no morning sickness, just some queasiness in the morning and I just don't want to eat much, but then in the afternoon and evening, I'm starving. I feel like I'm going to gain way too much weight and it is so depressing.

I think that depends on where you live. In live in Missouri and here, we pay personal property taxes, as well as real estate taxes. So even though I rent, I've paid personal property tax (which goes to the school district, fire department, etc, like real estate tax) since I bought my first car. You can't even license your car for the year without proof that you've paid. I think it's a matter of perspective. You WANT to see more people milking the system and not working hard. I know several people personally, and see even more who come into my office, who work two or more jobs, who don't have excessive mortgages, cars, etc., who are working very hard with no help whatsoever to feed their families, keep a roof over their heads, and just meet their basic needs. For some of these "deadbeats," there is no incentive to work. All they can find or qualify for are minimum wage jobs that won't pay all of their bills and give their children medical insurance, but if they work, they'll lose their assistance. I think there should be reform that allows for people to work, get an education, whatever, and still receive benefits until they truly can make ends meet on their own. IMO, nobody should have to work 2 or 3 jobs just to put food on the table. Of course, in this economy, even people who make a decent living are having a hard time doing that, plus those who seek extra jobs have a hard time finding them with the unemployment rate being so high. Something has to change and if "handouts" and "spreading the wealth" keep us out of a major depression, I'm all for it.

Thanks! Is there a nutritionist who works with your surgeon that you can talk to? Hopefully your primary doctor can help you out.

Gibson and Taismommy, I'm sorry to hear you guys are struggling. I know how hard it is to keep your spirits up when the scale isn't going down. Gibson, have you thought about asking your doctor to test your resting metabolic rate? If it is really high, your body might be in starvation mode at 1000 calories. I had that happen and had to increase to 1200-1400 per day and had an excellent rate of loss. If it is really low, you'd need to drop your calories lower and increase your exercise. Also, make sure you are getting in enough Protein and Water everyday.

MrsFF, I'm just wondering if you could explain how gay marriage affects you at all. All I hear is that gay marriage will somehow undermine the sanctity of marriage. I guess I just don't see how someone else's marriage affects mine in the slightest. As for the slippery slope argument you are bringing up (people marrying animals, adults marrying children, etc), I think that's ridiculous. There are laws in place to protect animals, children, etc. Are you saying that gay people need to be protected just the same? I think you should really put yourself in the shoes of the parties you are fighting so hard against. If someone told me that for some trivial reason, my husband and I couldn't be married, have the equal rights of another married couple, etc, but we could have a "civil union" and we should just be happy with that, I wouldn't be very happy. As someone else pointed out, it wasn't all that long ago that interracial marriage was actually banned in places...would you and your husband be okay with racists trying to invalidate your marriage or prevent you from being married at all because their personal beliefs said it was wrong? I doubt it.

Thanks! It was quite a shocker, but we're getting excited!

We are all sinners. No sin is greater than another. Last time I checked, the Lord forgives all who ask for forgiveness.

I am really curious about why people care what other consenting adults do in their own bedroom. I also wonder how a marriage between two gay people who love each other invalidates my marriage any more than say, Britney Spears having a 60 hour Vegas marriage. Of course, I wasn't married in a church (courthouse civil ceremony), so maybe my marriage isn't valid anyway. IMO, the only salvation I have to worry about is my own. It isn't up to any of us to legislate morality for anybody else, especially when those doing the legislating are definitely not above reproach themselves.

LOL I live in Fenton. I went to high school at Gateway, a magnet school in the city.

Isn't it amazing?! I was almost surprised McCain got as many votes in the city as he did. LOL STL loves Obama. I had no idea you're from STL. What area? You can PM me if you prefer.

Woohoo!!! Yay Obama!

Oh yes, it was a major surprise. My husband just scheduled a vasectomy, which is in December. Our youngest is 5 and we've been pretty set on not having more since then. I guess someone else had other plans. We're adjusting to the idea and making the best of the situation (and still getting that vasectomy so there are no more surprises after this LOL).

I got some interesting news last week. Check out my siggy.

I guess I shouldn't have come in here talking cloth diapers recently. It looks like I'm pregnant. I had an ultrasound on Friday, I'm 6 weeks, due June 27, 2009. This was very unexpected. My husband just got scheduled to have a vasectomy in December. Our other two children are 7 and 5. I had pre-eclampsia with both kids, so I'm quite worried that will happen again. I hope not. I had hoped to lose more weight before even considering another child, but we had obviously decided that we wouldn't have any more. I guess someone else had other plans.

As broke as I feel sometimes, as down and out as we've been in periods of our adulthood, and growing up poor, I can still admit that I don't know TRUE poverty. In the big scheme of things, I feel privileged compared to those who are living in true generation after generation of poverty. I have a job, my husband has a job, we have health insurance, a brand new car, the internet--which is one reason I can go to school. I couldn't take the classes I take without a computer and internet because I take most online. I have a husband who is more than willing to pick up the slack at home while I spend hours upon hours studying. I can admit that, as hard as it is, I have it easy compared to many. How do you pull up your boot straps if you don't even own boots?

Yay!

I think this is a naive attitude. There are many people out there who want to work hard, who want to have a better life, but there are so many obstacles in their way. How do you go to college if you can't pay for it? How do you strive to be better when you don't even know what better is? I do not subscribe to the boot strap theory at all. I think that many people will follow the same life path that their parents and grandparents did because they don't even know where to begin. I can also say from experience that it is very hard to try to work, go to school, raise a family, and deal with everything else. I do all of the above--full time job, full time student, two kids with special needs--and you know what, it really sucks sometimes. If I'd had the resources, I could've finished my degree right out of high school, but I fell into a position where I personally made too much money with my part time after school job to qualify for much in the way of financial aid. My parents didn't make much, hence the need for me to have a job, but that hurt me more in the end when it came to financial aid. The programs we have in place currently aren't good enough if we want to tell those living in serious poverty that it is up to them to pull themselves up and make a better life. They can't even begin to compete with those who have dad signing the checks while they party for four years.