I do have someone that comes in on Thursday's to help with the kids. She also does some cleaning and laundry for me. I have Dr.'s appointments every 2 weeks from now on out so have made those on Thursday's so I don't have to take the kids with me. Last week was the first time, and it was nice to have someone entertain the kids and help with picking up. I got to go and pick peaches, apples and pears to make baby food for the new little one and pick up groceries without 3 helpers in tow. My mil also offered to come over once a week and my mom has been trying to come up once a week. So even though it is going to be a long 2 and a half months the help will be appreciated. I tried in May to find someone to come in during the week for a few days or afternoons and couldn't find anyone interested in helping out, even high school girls or college girls home for the summer. I will post picks, but I am so big this time around and my stomach is hard as a rock and stretching like crazy, I hate to think of how much extra skin I will have after the baby is born. After the baby is born, I will have to wait 6 weeks and have to have gallbladder surgery and will be out of commission for a few more weeks. I am definately not looking foreward to 2 surgeries so close together, but I am not going to keep dealing with the gallbladder attacks if I don't have to. Stacie girlsingardens

Tina, the hernia is right above a scar from gallbladder surgery I had years ago, Orthoscopic, and he said it could be from that, which is what you described. He also firmly believes coughing causes hernias, and I wouldn't be surprised because I have asthma and cough sometimes. Mona, it doesn't really hurt, I noticed it hurt some this morning when I bent down. Other than that, I can't tell I have it. No one can see it unless I were to wear a tight shirt. That I will NOT do. lol. It's about the size of an oval golfball, I was told it's small compared to other hernias. I'm going to try to give it a month or so and see what happens. If the pain increases, I'll definitely go see a surgeon about this. It could be a combination of both. Wodka, where is your mother's located at? Maybe this is karma for me cause knowing me, when I was a kid I probably laughed at old ladies with "bumps." lol. Karma has always came back to bite me. :)

To me it sounds like you should get the surgery but I'm not a doctor. There isn't much more you can do, any strenuous movements will set off an attack so you won't be able to exercise to lose weight until the hernia goes away. Apple Cider vinegar is just a tool to re-train your stomach when to make stomach acid and in what strength and what amount. It doesn't do anything to acid reflux. I was told that as we age our stomach lining gets lazy about stomach acid production (part of this could be due to H. pylori bacteria which is everywhere and pretty much everyone over the age of 40 that drinks city water has it). Splashing the walls of your stomach with tiny amounts of acid help to re establish the right acid at the right time. For me it took a solid year of sipping to see permenant results. All the pills available are acid supressors meaning they either stop completely or cut in half the amount of acid your stomach makes. This isn't a great thing for your stomach or food, since the acid bath your stomach performs is an important function - BUT, you don't want extra stomach acid splashing up into your esophagus either which is what normally happens with a hiatal hernia. So I would keep taking acid reflux pills if you are. You need to slow down acid production until you solve the hernia thing. It sounds to me like the top of your stomach is poking up into your chest cavity like permenant hiatal hernia does. Either the stomach gets pinched by the muscles of the hiatus and this causes pain or the opening (hiatus) itself gets stressed by all the object poking through it (also painful). The surgery they used to do (10 years ago) was to simply go into your belly through tiny little openings (no big incisions) and take the top portion of your stomach (which is like a floppy rubber sack) and stretch a section of it up and around the junction where the stomach and esophagus meet. This little wrap around of stomach tissue makes the top of you stomach stay below your hiatus which would end the pain. It works like thick rubber band around the bottom of your esophagus. Your stomach adapts after a while to it so you can then eat normally (stomachs are stretchy and flexible). Everyone I know that had this surgery loved the results. It was considered a minor ordeal with minimal time under anesthesia and only a few tiny scars. In their case it was covered by insurance and not that expensive. I don't believe they will do the surgery without first performing a endoscopy of your esophagus, which is similar to a colonoscopy but without the 'cleaning out' chemicals.

Drat that morning sickness! Blech! I easily ate eggs all my life growing up, scrambled, over easy, omelettes, hard boiled etc. Became pregnant with number #1, and one of the few things I could eat was eggs. Craved them. After he was born, I couldn't eat an egg without feeling ill, and I'd brush my teeth over and over to try to get the 'taste' of the egg out. When I became pregnant with #2, I wanted eggs again and could eat them again...until I came home with #2 and fixed me up an egg to eat because I was hungry, and after I wanted to puke. Haven't been able to eat eggs since. Neither kid will eat them. And milk, I drank a litre or more a day, would wake up in the morning after dreaming of drinking milk straight from the taps in the house. Weird. #1 Loves milk (has to be chocolate now tho'). With #2 I could barely get a glass of milk down a day, did it only because I had to, but loved fruit and juices. #2 favors fruit and juices. Also ate lots of peanut butter with #2, and now #2 enjoys peanut butter. I didn't eat any peanut butter with #1, and guess what - he won't touch the stuff! Here's hoping the taste buds and cravings get back to normal for you (and baby).