Hi Ladies!

I am not pregnant that I know of, I will find out at the end of the month I guess...I've had the band 10 months, have lost 50 pounds. Anyway we're not trying but not being careful either. My goal was to lose 25 more pounds before we started trying (50 more to 'happy weight') but I am turning 36 in June and just think time isn't on our side. It it's meant to be, it's mean to be!

Anyway, when I was pregnant with my son I was DEATHLY ill until around 15 weeks. OK that is a little dramatic. I wasn't in hospital but if I hadn't taken Zofran every single thing I ate would have come up and I might have ended up in hospital. I had bad side effects with it (imagine wishing you were dead and your intestines turning to concrete) so only took one a day to make it through work. I then threw up most everything I ate at home. I did a lot of dry heaving too.

So this is my worry - if I am as 'lucky' as last time, how good is that band in there?! None of these gentle little productive burp throw-ups - we're talking night out on the town next morning type dry heaves that last and last. I had sore abs like I'd been doing crunches a lot of the time!

Plus I had such terrible food aversions I couldn't eat anything remotely band friendly! I only wanted toast or waffles, grilled cheese sandwiches, McDonalds fries, and ice-cream. Can you imagine!!

I guess my main concern is hurting myself. So if you've had this sort of experience I'd like to hear you and your band made it through. I was going to ask my doc at my appt. this week but didn't get a chance (that is another story I won't get into, let's just say 3 minutes of my docs time wouldn't kill him would it?!)

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.

I agree with ejmdiva.

Since you know you have had a problem in the past, get a complete unfill at the first signs of pregnancy. With an unfill, there is room for things to come back up again if necessary. I can also eat foods that I couldn't eat with fill like toast, bread, etc. I have vomited (definitely vomited, not a gently pb) since pregnancy a couple of times and I feel like I am not banded when I don't have fill.

It is also true that pregnancies can be very different. You never know what you might end up with this time around.