eejaydiva

Can I just say for the umpteenth time how time is flying for us preggos?! I was so jealous of all of you that were a few months ahead of me, and I'm just about at the 7 month mark myself! Life is super busy, we are getting the nursery slowly together and tomorrow is my "work" baby shower. I am having one with the tons of fantastic women I work with, and another one with family and friends later this summer. I have a bit of anxiety about my lap band secret, as most of our friends and family who will be at the delivery are not aware I am banded. It was and remains a private decision for me. At my appt yesterday, I discussed with the doc and he feels it won't be a very big deal to keep it under wraps during labor. My nurses will be instructed not to mention any medical issues with anyone in the room, and my tummy will be mostly covered up, so I am hopeful. The fact that this is a secret seems to get me picked on when I have confessed to it in the past on LBT, so feel free to offer your opinions, but please be nice. Also had the diabetes test yesterday, gosh that sugary orange stuff tasted awful! It gave me the worst head and tummy ache all day! Heather, I am OH SO HAPPY for you girl! Your preggo pic was darling! Other than lots of back aches, pregnancy so far is agreeing with me...although I'm about to hit 15 lbs gained, which sucks as that was what I hoped to gain for the whole pregnancy and I have 12 weeks left...:thumbup::crying:. Trying not to be disappointed, but I really am hungry all the time.

Hi friends, Man, I am already having 1 helluva Monday...covering for a co-worker who is on vacation, while doing my own duties, and his stuff is several days behind..sucks! Especially because we had a super busy weekend of house projects and service providers in our house, so now it's just trying to balance checkbook, schedule even more work, get the baby room ready, etc. I am in major nesting mode! It makes matters worse that I have major pregnant brain lately, which makes me useless. Not only am I forgetful, but I am a liability to myself & others because I keep making mistakes! My 27 week appointment was supposed to be today but it got cancelled by the office due to my doc being out for ANOTHER emergency delivery. So now I'm going in Wednesday, 3rd month in a row we had to reschedule due to a delivery, weather, delivery, etc. Whew! Hubby is now able to feel our son thru my tummy, which has been a wonderful, major development this past week. I carry a lot of extra skin/fat there, so it was bugging me that it took til I was 6 and a half months along for him to feel it....but baby is moving more and more each day, and other than tons of back spasms, pregnancy is great!

Wishing you lots of luck! I used to go crazy in the TWW myself, thank God we got pregnant within 5 months. Have you ever seen this site? It's great when TTC. www.twoweekwait.com . I really loved reading the real life early pregnancy symptoms other women had posted.

Well I want to help you with what I've heard and experienced with band and pregnancy overall. First off, alot of women have different pregnancy experiences. So hopefully, just because you had such bad MS last time, maybe you'll get lucky and it won't be the case this time around. It has happened to several people I've known, they were sick with first pregnancy, but fine with second. Or the baby's gender affected them, like sick when preg with a girl, but just fine when preg with a boy. That said, I would err on the side of caution and get a complete unfill at the first sign of morning sickness, or insist on a different/better anti-nausea drug. I dunno how long ago your last pregnancy was, but my OBGYN made sure to point out that tons of advances in nausea treatment have occured these past few years. The reason for an unfill is simple. A tight band means your tummy and throat muscles have to contract harder to "toss" food up, making a band slippage or tear much more likely. At least if you're loose, you can vomit with less pain and suffering. I know you said the Zofran made you feel icky, so you took the bare minimum to get thru a day, but unless you want to risk having a band problem and needing more band surgery to fix/repair it, you may have to work harder to avoid vomiting on this future baby, just as a greater means of protecting your band.

Congrats Fairy! OMG that rocks! Forgive me, but why did you have C-section? Was it a planned one all along and I just forgot, or something during labor that led to a C-section? This is so cool! You better still post in here/pop in from time to time! FrancesMP had her little girl a few days ago as well by C-section.

GoyaChula, plz forgive my pushy-ness, but you should really, really wait. You haven't even had a month with your new band...are you even back to a normal diet yet? Have you had any fills? Adjusting to the lifestyle and ups and downs of the band took me 4 months, very strict months. Another downside of getting pregnant anytime soon is that the stitches holding your newly installed band and port usually take 3-6 months to settle into the muscle walls around them. Getting pregnant could cause a band slippage or cause your port to flip, meaning you'd need more surgery. This happened to a friend who was banded and pregnant 7 weeks later. Her band slipped to a spot where it eroded her esophageal muscles, so they couldn't even wait for her pregnancy to end, she had to have emergency surgery in her 3rd month of pregnancy and ended up having a very rough recovery and high risk pregnancy. I have been with my guy for 8 yrs and waiting so long to get preggo was difficult, but it will be all the more special and rewarding then. You will appreciate it alot! Good luck!! Feel free to continue posting in any pregnancy forums, you're one of us, pregnant or not!

don't be upset! These are the moronic/uncaring/mean people I kindly refer to as the Pregnancy Police. They are experts at all things pregnant and enjoy spreading their advice and criticisms to others...sometimes they haven't even been preg! There are no guidebooks or perfect illustrations of what pregnancy should look like. If you watch TV and movies, the women are all glowing and stylish with cute little basketball bellies and no other issues. THIS IS NOT PREGNANCY! My mother was glowing and gorgeous with her biggest baby, my brother. She looked round and healthy, but she was at her sickest and most tired with him. She had diabetes and lots of complications. With me and my baby sister, she felt fine, but looked awful....there's no right way to do this. As far as strangers touching your belly, remember it goes both ways. I'm 6 months along and have had 2 or 3 scary situations where people touched me and it was very odd. I'm not talking about the cute little old lady, but a homeless man who left a big smear of grease across my stomach...I felt icky all day. If I don't get touched ever again by random people, it will be fine.

CONGRATS! :w00t: It doesn't seem like that took too long for you at all! (Or am I thinking of someone else?) I definitely think this band should be called a fertility band!

Heather, you hit the nail on the head! My doc was told it could cause dumping syndrome by a fellow OBGYN who has seen mostly gastric bypass preggos, so I will be calling him to explain there is no dumping syndrome with band...he has been very gracious about admitting this is new for him, but I'll happily educate him for future ladies! OMG, our ultrasound yesterday was AMAZING!:cool2::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: We enjoyed it and relaxed so much more than the 20 wk! For starters, we had a different technician who was more relaxed and listened more to us than last time. She was very willing to try to get baby to move into a good "viewing" position and so on. She was also able to get great views of his face and heart, which were why we had to have this follow up in the first place. No heart anomalies and no cleft lip or evidence of Down's syndrome in the face!! YAY! Lastly, he gave us great profile shots, which we didn't get last time, and flashed his "goods" well enough to know it is definitely a boy! Such a good appointment, I feel great!

I am 6 months preggo and have kept my fill. It wasn't horribly tight to begin with, I've gained about 13 lbs. But I do have my tight days...today is one.

So very sorry! I know there's very little that can be said or done to comfort you, but try to take relief in the fact that the band had nothing to do with it. There has never been a link between miscarriage and lap band. I don't want you to feel in any way responsible for this. I am so sorry again!

Sounds like you need a juicer! I love our juicer and our blender for making smoothies/protein shakes! And keep in mind that you can still eat fruits and veggies the way you did right after band surgery, in the form of mushies like apple sauce, pureed veggie soups, baby food, etc.

Fairy, It seems like time has flown! I'm sure you feel like you've been preg FOREVER, but it seems like it was only yesterday when you sent me a message saying you were preg! Crazy that now you're ready to deliver...so cool! I know that they want to check my B12 levels soon, something to do with my OBGYN consulting a lap band surgeon who said banded women occasionally need their B12 levels monitored during pregnancy, so maybe that's why my doc has a note in my file to skip the glucola diabetes test...hmmm.

Question, has anyone who's pregnant gotten to skip the glucola test? I had my 6 month checkup last week and doctor was stuck in a delivery, so I saw his nurse practitioner, who I love and trust very much. She said that he had made a note in my file that no glucola test was needed to check for gestational diabetes...and she didn't know why. I haven't heard of any preggo bandster reasons to skip this. Have you guys encountered this? If my doc feels comfortable not checking me for that, I accept and trust his judgement, I just don't know why. He's out of the office for a few days more, so I'm trying to get info in the meantime. I will be posting this question in a few threads in the hope of getting several answers, so I apologize if you see it more than once.

Question, has anyone who's pregnant gotten to skip the glucola test? I had my 6 month checkup last week and doctor was stuck in a delivery, so I saw his nurse practitioner, who I love and trust very much. She said that he had made a note in my file that no glucola test was needed to check for gestational diabetes...and she didn't know why. I haven't heard of any preggo bandster reasons to skip this. Have you guys encountered this? If my doc feels comfortable not checking me for that, I accept and trust his judgement, I just don't know why. He's out of the office for a few days more, so I'm trying to get info in the meantime. I will be posting this question in a few threads in the hope of getting several answers, so I apologize if you see it more than once.

Ugh, rolling over hurts....I always pull something. That or reaching for something, like the alarm clock or glass of Water seems to hurt. I'm not getting tons of baby movement yet unless I'm in a sitting position, but the other night I got a nice strong kick while laying in bed..it made me giggle. Our follow up ultrasound is Friday...Very much anticipated visit! This will (hopefully) confirm the baby is a boy and allow the docs a good look at baby's face and heart, since he was hiding them last time. I just want to be able to be relieved and relaxed...so please pray for me, cross your fingers, send happy thoughts my way, good karma, etc.

Had a good appt today, I'm measuring at 25 inches which is a bit ahead of the 23 weeks I am, but since the baby was measuring a few days small at our ultrasound last month, I'm not worried either way. I will be 6 months preggo on monday, its so cool! Feeling more and more baby movement every day, and today at the appoinment the nurse picked up not only his heartbeat, but mine too, it was neat to hear them beating together...wonder if it will ever happen again. Very emotional moment! Just really looking forward to a week from Friday, that will be our follow up ultrasound so that we can make sure everything is good. Fairy, how far along are you?

hi guys! had to reschedule yesterday's 24 wk checkup to thursday morning instead. colorado has been in a little blizzard cycle, had AWFUL storm on last Thursday, got to leave work early and go in late Friday due to such dangerous travel, then another one hit us yesterday morning, so there was no way I was gonna make the 9 mile commute in rush hour to my OBGYN. I adore the office, which is why I go, but sometimes its just a bit far. So we are supposed to get MORE SNOW tomorrow nite, how funny would it be to wake up and miss the rescheduled appt on Thursday? This appt won't be the follow up ultrasound, we have to wait til April 10th for that...oh well. The girlfriends and I are getting pedicures tomorrow...I think all you girlies should do the same. :thumbdown:

Grace, congrats!!! WOO HOO and welcome to the sisterhood of banded preggos! God is truly good. Hi other peeps! I have my 6 month appt and checkup tomorrow, baby is moving like crazy right now...fun fun! I'm about 23 wks along, it's flying!

My son is moving! Just 24 short hrs after posting that I hadn't felt any movement in days, he started giving me definite little tickles and it's wonderful! I feel pregnant! Not just fat and hormonally out of control. I'm up 10 lbs, ugh. Now that I've reached the 22 week mark, the books say it's normal to gain a lb every week until the end...dear Lord, please let that NOT happen, or I'll gain nearly 30 lbs! I think it's been a great few days and I'm just really excited. Our follow-up ultrasound is on April 10th, so I'm trying to keep anxiety at bay about having to wait 2 more weeks and tell myself it's strictly precautionary. They just want a better look at face, heart, and genitals, so pray for me!

I think it also has to do with whether or not you are breastfeeding. Due to the large amount of medications that are standard during and after surgery, I would think you would have to be completely done breast-feeding. Even in a routine surgery you are given anesthesia, blood thinners, steroid or antibiotic injection, anti-nausea, pain pills, etc.

Hi peeps, Yesterday was my 1 year bandiversary! Crazy. If you had told me a year ago I would be happier, healthier, lighter in mind and body, I would have maybe believed you. If you had told me I would be all that PLUS 5 months pregnant, I would not have believed it. Yesterday marked very little tummy rumblings or anything for me...no muscle or ligament pain, no gas/bubbles/baby movements, nada. It's continued today, which kinda makes me nervous. I'm only 21 wks, so I am assuming it is normal, but you know how it is. How are all of you?

Thanks all you guys for your support...it really truly is getting me thru. I have up and down moments. I am slowly starting to be able to tell myself that this is strictly precautionary and there are no problems, it was just a stressful ultrasound and I had high hopes. I think in one's first 5 months of pregnancy, sometimes its hard to feel pregnant, so that ultrasound is much-anticipated, relied upon. It's where you get that confirmation and visual source of the life inside you. When it introduces more concerns instead of alleviating them, it's awful. Heather, THANK YOU for telling me all you did. I feel better knowing others have had similar issues or needed rechecking. We are thrilled its a boy! I talk to my son alot now, telling him he has his whole life to be mysterious..come next ultrasound he BETTER be showing his plumbing and his chest nice and clear!

My band has had tight days during pregnancy, but I suffered none of the instant and extreme tightness that others had right away...my band was just fine and has been pretty easy to live with so far. I think I was 3 months before it got picky. I'm 5 months along...it has tight days, but they are rare and never so bad I can't eat...just another perspective for ya.

IT'S A BOY!!! (We think.) Ultrasound story: Baby was being shy today during our ultrasound, even though it was over an hour of digging around my (now tender and sore) belly. His arms and upper body were moving around like crazy, he was touching his head, rubbing his face, twisting, etc. But his legs remained stubbornly closed. The more stressful part was the heart-scan part of the ultrasound. The technician was having fun showing us head, skull bones, femur, etc and saying all looked fine. She got to the heart and was doing her scan/measuring/saving images thing. I said "Does it look ok?" to which the moron took a VERY long pause before saying "Well...." and trailing off. Off course that put me in an instant panic. She went on to say that all looked good, but it was just too early to tell...um what?! Then the doc came in and did her thing. The tech was having issues finding the sex so she asked the doc to do the same and they both felt it was a boy but couldn't be sure. Then the doc spent 20 minutes checking the heart, trying to get baby to move or twist, zooming in on the heart, pausing the frame, etc. Finally she said that from what she could see, there were 4 chambers and all were doing fine, but since the baby was on his right side laying down, they couldn't see the left side of the heart, and would be checking me again in a month. This is also because she's never seen a bariatric surgery patient and wants to keep an eye on his growth...whatever. She seems to think I can't eat enough to have a normal baby..even tho his growth was right on track for his gestational age. So now I have to go to monthly ultrasounds until I deliver, meaning at least 3 more. So generally, we got good vibes and had a good experience, but I'm concerned about the heart thing, even though they tried several times to tell us all was normal and they were just taking extra precautions. I should point out that my insurance makes my 20 wk ultrasound go thru a clinic that is not my regular doc. He will be sent all the images and will look them over, but I know I'd feel better if I could just talk to him about this, especially needing monthly growth ultrasounds. My general thoughts are this: 1. I am tired from not sleeping at all last night due to excitement over ultrasound. Being tired makes me more emotional and prone to over-reacting. I hope tomorrow I will be more happy and relaxed. 2. I think if the heart issue were a really serious deal, they wouldn't wait a month to re-scan me, so hopefully it's just a fluke. Have any of you had funky ultrasounds? 3. I get at least 1 more ultrasound, which will be fun and hopefully help us really be sure that our little boy is indeed that! Sorry this is long, I needed to vent to my banded pals who are most likely to understand my fears.