Planing a Pregnancy after surgery

Well... It's that time in life that my husband and I have decided to start having kids...

What do I need to do differently than people who have not had WLS??

Are the risks higher for my child once I am preggers??

Please someone tell me everything I need to know!!

i don't know if you can tell, but I'm a little nervous lol

There is actually a forum here on OH for pregnancy after WLS - many women have had fabulous, healthy babies post-op, check it out! And congratulations on your decision :)

Congratulations on your decision.  While both of my kids were pre-WLS, I don't see you having any additional risks from someone who didn't have WLS (I was high risk for both).  The biggest things that is watched for in pregnancies is nutrition, blood pressure and diabetes.  You may be monitored a bit more to ensure that your blood work is normal (body does weird things during pregnancy) or if you have any meds that you are on.  As for blood pressure and diabetes, it's just gestational, and usually ends after giving birth.  Some have had unplanned pregnancies within a few months after surgery, and they would end up in High Risk areas, but with the time you've waited I don't see you needing this.  Definitely make sure your obstetrician knows that you've had surgery.  If you do need to go on medication (i.e. for morning sickness, GURD, etc which are normal for any pregnancy) it might affect what you are prescribed (form of medication or how you take it).

If you don't find the information that you need on the prengancy forum, contact your center and talk to the nurse.  They would be able to give you guidelines as to wether you should be taking more of specific vitimins (including increasing your folic acid) before and during.  I'm not sure how it will affect your iron, you may need to increase your iron supplements once you are pregnant.

Good luck with this new part of your journey.

Cathy

Congrats on your decision. Maybe let your centre know? They might have good advice there too.

Did your hubby have his surgery?

I have an appt at the centre next month.... Bit I want to know everything NOW!!! Lol

Yes my hubby had surgery March 6, he's down about 100lbs already :) and we've already had to adjust his CPAP Machine... So proud of him!!

thank you everyone for the advice and the directions in where to go!!!

Those men....such fast losers!! LOL. I think you'll do great. Take your vitaimins, eat healthy and have a happy pregnancy!

They really do!!!

thank you Kelly I really hope to have a happy easy first pregnancy!!!

I am not planning on having any more kids but I can recount the experience of two of my friends, who had children after surgery.

One had no complications at all. Her biggest issue is that she wasn't at her goal weight when she got pregnant with her first child and has gained back a lot of weight since having her second child. She had her children in a small hospital, wasn't seen by any high risk doctors.

My second friend had an uncomplicated birth and wasn't followed by a specialist until she ended up getting a hernia. She had that fixed when she was 24 weeks pregnant and therefore they needed to make sure she didn't get any other hernias.

In terms of eating, vitamins, etc., neither had any issues.

Thank you!!

For your first friend, are the doctors telling her she can lose the weight again by following the rules? I am very sorry to hear she regained weight... It a big fear of mine! 

I haven't really spoken to her about that so I'm not sure.

Another thing to mention is that my second friend's sister had a baby and the baby was very large, had breathing issues, ended up having to be transfered to the children's hospital an hour away. My friend said that had she not lost the weight before having children, she would have been in the same situation.

I personally think it's better to be a lower weight when being pregnant.