Alexandra

Here's Wonderwoman. Beautiful!

Dancing Queen, resized. Looking great!!

Here is Lianna. Beautiful!!

Hi Dave, If your doctor does fills under fluoroscope, that IS an x-ray. He'll be able to see the position of your band and the speed with which Fluid passes through the stoma. This is one of the major reasons doctors who use fluoroscopy do so. Each fill is also a band checkup. But unless you are having symptoms, there's no point in having a fluoroscope test "just because." It's expensive, for one thing, and would be a waste of resources. If you want to foot the bill you might be able to arrange one, but I'm sure your doctor would prefer that you try not to worry.

It's been removed for the time being, since it seemed to be leading to problems.

Well, there's no way to police the comments, in the same way we can't police private messages. No one knows what's in them except the sender and the recipient. But what I'm describing removes the positive/negative aspect to it--there's no "I approve/disagree" button, just a place to leave a comment. I don't even know if that's possible, and now I see the whole thing has been disabled. So this discussion is now moot. Thanks anyway!

On another board I visit the rep function is only positive--or, I guess, neutral. It's not a way of getting "points," just a way that people can leave little comments for one another. Personally, I like that part, because it's just a private message one sends to another that can lighten a day, and it's a lot easier than sending a PM. I know it's something I use a lot because I don't like to post messages just to say "I agree with so-and-so." Getting those messages is great; it's always nice to hear that someone wants to respond to what you have said, even if no one else knows it. That list of comments is always there, too; it's not like PMs which have to be opened one by one to be read, and need to be managed since there's limited space for them. So if we could change the functionality to something like that, how would y'all feel about it?

Lynne, my heart goes out to you and your family. You're in my thoughts.

Kat, thank you so much, that's really helpful and reassuring information. This boy has a meduloblastoma. Sigh... Kat, thank you. Tonight I will be able to sleep. :hug:

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I know the family is well-supported in their time of trial. The news this morning is even worse. Today the family saw an oncologist in New York, who says now that the cancer is so advanced the child has weeks, not months, to live. It turns out that though he was cancer-free three months ago, the tumors returned so aggressively that there is nothing to be done. If there is any blessing to be found, it is that his brother is quite young yet (not older, as I thought), and will not remember this grief. The family will not have to somehow comfort a child who is losing a sibling on top of trying to face this tragedy themselves. My friend was just gray this morning when he came in, and he didn't stay long. I can't even imagine what his sister is going through. We can all hold the fervent hope is that the child isn't in pain, and passes with peace and love all around him.

:pound: :pound:

Oh Lapdancer, that dress is absolutely STUNNING! drool, drool...

Couples shower means couples gifts. When I had a shower it was also a couples shower. That was done intentionally because I explicitly did NOT want lingerie or things that were for me alone. The party was to commemorate the creation of a family and household, not my deflowering and conversion into household help. Some of our favorite gifts were: quality wooden windchimes; a carved birdhouse that had our last name painted on it; a great shower massage-type showerhead; throw blankets and floor pillows.

Absolutely. I also just read that up until the advent of these medicines, because so many women died in childbirth the average life expectancy was only in the 30s, which is where it had been for all of human history. Only after childbirth was made safe did overall life expectancy start to rise to modern standards.

If no one has given you rep, there won't be anything to see. I just "repped" you so you should be able to see that. Click on your User CP and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.

I was invited to a bridal shower for a perfect stranger once, and didn't feel the slightest bit obligated to do anything. In the OP scenario, my decision would be based on how close I was to the groom. Not having met the bride is no reason to sincerely give them heartfelt good wishes if the groom is someone I care about. But I don't buy into gift-giving etiquette in general. I give gifts when I am moved to do so, not because of artificial rules of etiquette. And I'm not a big user of registries, unless I don't know the people well. A mere invitation to a shower is no reason to feel obligated to buy a gift if you don't intend to go. In this case I'd probably blow off the shower altogether (I hate showers, in general), and go to the wedding, gift in hand.

I'm going to pipe up and tell you that OF COURSE it can be done! But YOU are the one who is going to have to do it. If you really want to lose 50 lbs in that time there's no reason in the world you can't. In early 1990, I went on Opti-Fast and lost 75 lbs in three months. (I don't recommend that, btw.) Toward the end of that time I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding, and was having the dress made to fit. Each time I went back for another fitting, I'd lost another size! Drove the poor woman crazy. So my advice would have been to not order the dress until later. I got married that same year and bought something absolutely beautiful off the rack in a smaller size than I'd expected. My lesson with the bridemaid dress taught me to leave the tailoring alone. :rolleyes

Laurend, I don't think you can, in detail. On another board I'm on the green boxes multiply as people's reputation grows. If someone's rep is bad rather than good, on balance, the boxes are a different color. Wheetsin, thank you SO MUCH for doing this! I'm making this thread sticky.

Hi Lauren, This is something we all go through from time to time. After two years, weight-loss-fatigue can set in. Be kind to yourself! You've done a wonderful job and your band is still there to support you when you are ready to use it. Your new lifestyle isn't a diet to be on temporarily, it's a permanent lifestyle change. Six pounds isn't the end of the world but it is attention-getting. Remember where you came from--maybe it's time to put a "before" picture on the fridge? Every time you allow you band to tell you that you are NOT hungry it is a victory and another step on the road to better health. Don't obsess about 35 lbs to go, think about where you have come from and all the pounds you've already dropped. Come to the support groups, too. They really help! Second and last Wednesdays of each month. See you there!

I've been unbanded for two weeks now, and have definitely put on a couple of pounds. But I think it's totally understandable that after denying our bodies certain types of foods (bulky, fibrous, etc.) for so long we crave them. I know I've been almost gorging on salads with raw vegetables and have scarfed down a cheeseburger or bagel occasionally in the last couple of weeks. But today I'm determined to get my mind back in the game. I know I'm not really hungry so much as just desirous of certain things. But these things are what got me where I was four years ago, and mindlessness is my particular demon. So I'm taking another go at being mindful, since I know I'm capable of it.

396, as I recall I just asked you to be mindful of the wide-ranging audience here. I didn't call YOU anything. I said that rabid pro-lifers hold a thought that I consider to be a fallacy. That's not attacking the pro-lifers, it's attacking the thought. And the definition of "rabid pro-lifer" is, in fact, someone who wants to outlaw abortion in every case, no exception. I fail to see how that's offensive. Maybe if I change the word "rabid" to "extreme"? That'd be fine with me. Whether you consider yourself a rabid or extreme pro-choicer or pro-lifer, my entire point is that these people are on the edges and MOST people are somewhere in the middle.

Funny, you've mentioned several times that you've asked for forgiveness for your abortion. Have you forgiven yourself? :hug: Honestly. When we asked you to tone down your rhetoric when you first got here, it wasn't anything personal. You did, and we thank you, and you're a welcome part of this site. Why so defensive? My comment about "rabid pro-lifers" is not a personal attack on anyone, and correctly describes the subset of right-to-lifers about whom I was talking. It's not an insult to say they exist, is it? Anyway, what you're describing is essentially anarchy. You believe people have the right to kill? For no reason? Assuming that the consequences you mention are not that our victims' families will come after us but that the law will means that in fact you do believe the law should get involved. Were you being sarcastic?

I most certainly do respect your views and your acts. And though I only know you slightly, I am confident that you provide counseling with more compassion and openness than what you received. As you know so well, women who are seeking answers when they are unexpectedly pregnant deserve respect too. Right?

Your first question is exactly what we are all asking. Since there is no way to determine whose line we should follow, we have to trust ourselves to come up with the right answer for ourselves. Why can't you do that for me? Is that what happened to you? The fetus is a FUTURE baby, we all agree on that. But I fail to see how anyone could change the fact of a fetus being a future baby into it being an actual, here-and-now baby. They are different stages on a developmental timeline that can't be simply compressed into nothing. The only way I could have been shocked and changed by the statement you describe above is if I didn't understand I was terminating my pregnancy by having an abortion. Which, of course, I did.

What do you mean by "a real life"? What possible new information could there be that could change the point of view that a fetus in its early stages is not a "baby"? Once again, MOST people see a difference between a developing fetus and a separate, breathing, fully-formed human. The line is in different places, indeed, but for most of us there is a line before which the adult woman's rights outweigh those of a clump of cells whose full humanity is, as yet, only potential.