“Duggar brood keeps growing with No.19 on the way - Sydney Morning Herald” plus 4 more

Duggar brood keeps growing with No.19 on the way - Sydney Morning Herald
Weight-loss surgery before pregnancy can break family's cycle of ... - Newstrack India
Spencer Pratt Doesn't Think Audrina Patridge's Apology Is Sincere - MTV
Duggar brood keeps growing with No. 19 on the way - Daily Jeffersonian
Taylor's pregnancy test negative - ESPN.com

Duggar brood keeps growing with No.19 on the way - Sydney Morning Herald

Posted: 03 Sep 2009 04:12 PM PDT

The Duggar family. Photo: duggarfamily.com

No. 19 caught Michelle Duggar by surprise.

The 42-year-old mother of 18 noticed that she wasn't losing weight — even though she and husband Jim Bob were on Weight Watchers — and her youngest child, eight-month-old Jordyn-Grace, was fussing while nursing. In the past, she found a fussy infant meant a change in breast milk that came with pregnancy.

So she took a pregnancy test. "And lo and behold, I was just pleasantly surprised that this was positive," Duggar said Tuesday. "I was just jumping up and down going, 'Thank you, Lord. Here am I — 42, thinking my baby days are over — and you've blessed us with another one.'"

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar live in Tontitown, Arkansas, and are featured with their family on TLC's 18 Kids and Counting.

The announcement of the Duggars' 19th child comes as their oldest, 21-year-old Josh, is about to become a father himself. Married last year, Josh and Anna Duggar are expecting their first child, a girl, on October 18.

The grandchild — whom Josh and Anna plan to name Mackynzie — will be about five months older than her future aunt or uncle, due March 18.

Michelle Duggar said her health is fine and the pregnancy is going along just like the others — with a decent bout of morning sickness.

"I am just so grateful that I have good health thus far and I'm just enjoying playing with my kids every day," she said. "I don't take that for granted one bit. I still have a lot of energy left."

They're soliciting name suggestions for the new baby, who will join their family of 10 boys and eight girls. The Duggars' 18 children all have names starting with the letter J and include two sets of twins. Along with Josh and Jordyn-Grace, the family includes: Jana and John-David, 19; Jill, 18; Jessa, 16; Jinger, 15; Joseph, 14; Josiah, 13; Joy-Anna, 11; Jeremiah and Jedidiah, 10; Jason, 9; James, 8; Justin, 6; Jackson, 5; Johannah, 3; and Jennifer, 2.

The Duggars live in a 7000-square-foot house in north-west Arkansas, where they manage commercial real estate property. They say they'll keep welcoming more children as long as Michelle is able to have them.

Michelle Duggar says they're recognised regularly thanks to the TLC show.

"We feel like it's just an opportunity to encourage families to enjoy their children, enjoy children while they have them and realise that they are a gift from God," she said. "That's our prayer. This is an opportunity to just encourage others to value family and just enjoy the time you have with them."

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Weight-loss surgery before pregnancy can break family's cycle of ... - Newstrack India

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 12:35 AM PDT

Washington, Sept 2 (ANI): Obese women who undergo weight loss surgery before pregnancy tend to have children who are less likely to become fat, according to a new study.

Previous studies of obese pregnant women have shown that obesity and its co-morbidities can be transmitted to their children, which indicates that the intrauterine environment may determine whether a child at birth is already destined to become obese.

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"Our study confirms previous research showing that the intrauterine environment may be more important than genes and the post-natal environment when it comes to the association between maternal obesity and childhood obesity," said Dr John Kral, of SUNY Downstate Medical Centre in Brooklyn, N.Y. and co-author of the study.

"Any medical or surgical treatment to reduce obesity and existing metabolic disorders before pregnancy can be an investment in the life of future offspring," he added.

Weight-loss surgery limits the amount of food a person can consume. Some of these operations also restrict the amount of food that can be digested.

In the new study, the researchers focused on 49 women who had undergone biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) prior to becoming pregnant.

This operation changes the normal process of digestion by making the stomach smaller and directing food to bypass part of the small intestine resulting in fewer calorie absorption.

The study showed that children who were born after their mother underwent weight-loss surgery had reduced birth weight and waist circumference.

They were three times less likely to become severely obese.

Furthermore, children born after their mother's weight-loss surgery had improved cardiovascular markers including reduced insulin resistance and lower cholesterol.

"Our findings show that obese women should be encouraged to lose weight before becoming pregnant, and then, once pregnant, should limit their weight gain," said Kral.

"For those women interested in both surgical treatment and having children, we believe surgery should come first. Preventing obesity and treating it effectively in young women could prevent further transmission to future generations," he added.

The study appears in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. (ANI)

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Spencer Pratt Doesn't Think Audrina Patridge's Apology Is Sincere - MTV

Posted: 03 Sep 2009 12:44 PM PDT

Spencer Pratt isn't buying the apology Audrina Patridge e-mailed Heidi Montag over statements she made about Heidi's Miss Universe performance last month.

In an e-mail that was released to Perez Hilton on Thursday, Patridge tried to clarify her comments to her fellow "Hills" star, but Spencer doesn't think she's being sincere. He thinks that if Patridge really felt that her comments had been taken out of context, like it says in her apology to Heidi, she would have gone to the magazine they appeared in to rectify it and not to Heidi herself.

"What happened here [is that] Audrina got all caught up and thought she could say some things," Pratt told MTV News. "She just totally forgot about King Spencer Pratt, Heidi's husband — and the repercussions. And it's just beginning."

Spencer added that he initially wasn't going to respond to Audrina's criticisms, but he felt that he needed to defend wife Heidi over what he called "hurtful insults." "I totally was not gonna respond and not lash out against her hurtful insults that were completely false towards my wife's amazing performance, but once I saw her pull this [I had to]."

He guessed that Audrina was also probably prompted to apologize once she saw how angry Pratt got over the comment Ryan Seacrest made about wanting to see Heidi tasered. "She literally saw the repercussions around Seacrest, so she saw that and was like, 'Oh my gosh, what is King Spencer going to do?' "

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Duggar brood keeps growing with No. 19 on the way - Daily Jeffersonian

Posted: 03 Sep 2009 07:44 AM PDT

The 42-year-old mom of 18 noticed that she wasn't losing weight — even though she and husband Jim Bob were on Weight Watchers — and her youngest child, 8-month-old Jordyn-Grace, was fussing while nursing. In the past, she found a fussy infant meant a change in breast milk that came with pregnancy.

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar live in Tontitown, Ark., and are featured with their family on TLC's "18 Kids and Counting."

The grandchild — whom Josh and Anna plan to name Mackynzie — will be about five months older than her future aunt or uncle, due March 18.

Michelle Duggar said her health is fine and the pregnancy is going along just like the others — with a decent bout of morning sickness.

"I am just so grateful that I have good health thus far and I'm just enjoying playing with my kids every day," she said. "I don't take that for granted one bit. I still have a lot of energy left."

The Duggars live in a 7,000-square-foot house in northwest Arkansas, where they manage commercial real estate property. They say they'll keep welcoming more children as long as Michelle is able to have them.

Michelle Duggar says they're recognized regularly thanks to the TLC show.

"We feel like it's just an opportunity to encourage families to enjoy their children, enjoy children while they have them and realize that they are a gift from God," she said. "That's our prayer. This is an opportunity to just encourage others to value family and just enjoy the time you have with them."

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Taylor's pregnancy test negative - ESPN.com

Posted: 03 Sep 2009 04:26 PM PDT

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was informed Friday that his former fiance, who was recently sentenced to five years in prison for a probation violation in Missouri, is not pregnant as she has maintained for months.

Nowitzki is in South Africa this week as part of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program and could not be reached for comment.

But Robert Hart, Nowitzki's Dallas-based lawyer, said via phone that a pregnancy test given to Crista Taylor which they had sought through a July court order has been confirmed as negative.

"As we suspected from the start, we did not believe that she was pregnant and now that has been confirmed," Hart said.

The test, ordered July 24 by Dallas family court Associate Judge Randall Grubbs, was administered in Missouri. Hart on Friday received the documentation confirming that Taylor is not pregnant.

"Good news on Dirk's ex," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said via his Twitter feed Thursday afternoon. "No surprise. Can't wait [for] training camp."

Within two weeks of her May 6 arrest at Nowitzki's Dallas home, Taylor told The Dallas Morning News in a phone interview that she was "pregnant and alone and broke," insisting that Nowitzki was the father.

On Thursday, Taylor's Texas-based attorney, Scott Renick, told ESPN's John Barr: "I don't know if she miscarried, I don't know if she was never pregnant, I just don't know and I may never know."

Taylor received her five-year sentence Aug. 23 but was given credit for one year of probation, reducing the sentence to four years. Her Missouri-based attorney, Matthew Fry, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Taylor will also receive credit for the 100-plus days she spent in jail waiting for trial in her current case.

The 38-year-old was taken into custody while the Mavericks flew back from Denver after a Game 2 loss to the Nuggets in a second-round series Dallas eventually lost 4-1. A private investigation into Taylor's past, as part of a prenuptial agreement urged by Nowitzki's advisers, revealed outstanding arrest warrants for Taylor in two states and her reported use of more than 20 aliases.

Nowitzki acknowledged in multiple interviews this offseason in his native Germany that he knew the St. Louis native as "Crissy Travino," with Taylor claiming to be of Brazilian heritage.

"In the beginning, I was very down and disappointed, sad and furious," Nowitzki told Bild Magazine in June. "But I made a few steps forward, and I think someday I will be over it totally."

The off-court turmoil didn't prevent Nowitzki -- who will report to training camp in October for his 12th NBA season after turning 31 in June -- from averaging 34.4 points and 11.6 rebounds against the Nuggets as Dallas' only consistent threat during the five-game series.

In her court appearance last week, Taylor admitted that she failed to check in with her Missouri-based probation officer in a decade-old forgery and theft case. She also admitted to being arrested twice in Texas in 2000 for misdemeanors, after pleading guilty in 1999 in Missouri to two counts of forgery and two counts of felony stealing which landed her on probation.

Taylor remains incarcerated in St. Charles, Mo. She did not mention being pregnant in a four-page letter dated July 20 to Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider seeking leniency.

"I was engaged to a great man," Taylor wrote to Schneider, referring to Nowitzki but not mentioning him by name. "I paid the ultimate price for my past.

"When I got arrested at our home and the media got a hold of my story, the love of my life left me. I can't say I blame him. It's not like I was worthy of him giving me a chance."

Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.