Trying to get pregnant and have concerns

I started my journey weighing in at 417 pounds. I am now down to 256 pounds and my husband and I want to have a baby. Should I try to loose more weight before we try to conceive? I want to give the baby the best possible chance (as well as me). I am worried that the combination of my age and weight is not a good thing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Shawna

HI Shawna,

I'm from the DFW area too so I bet we know each other from a conference or support group or mutual friends.... that 6 degrees of separation thing.

Has your weight stabilized? That's a big concern because you don't want to loose a bunch of weight during pregnancy.

Are you overall healthy? I know people who at 156 lbs weren't as healthy as I was at 256. If not, do that now. You will thank yourself in the end. Pregnancy is like running a 40 week marathon. If you get your body in condition for it before you "run" it you will be much better off.  256 is a number- plain and simple. Your body's condition is a better determinate. If the 256 is causing diabetes and such then yes, loose some more. If you are active and healthy now and your doctor gives you the "go ahead" then again 256 is just a number.

Start taking folic acid and getting your vitamin levels checked. Folic acid decreases the risk of a host of birth defects,

Get checked for cystic fibrosis. I in 4 Caucasians are carriers. If a carrier meets up with a partner who is also a carrier then your chances of having a baby with CF is exponential. There are tests to determine whether or not you carry the gene. It's worth the price.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Tracey

My weight has stabilized for the most part. I loose a pound here and there but nothing major like in the beginning. I am overall healthy. No diabetes, no high blood pressure, or any other health problems. I have been having my vitamin levels checked and I am low on Vitamin D but I am working on bringing that up.

I am going next week to have my vitamin levels checked again to see if my D has changed and I will talk to the Dr. about the cystic fibrosis test.

Thank you for responding back to me.

Shawna

I was 18 months out with the band when i conceived. i started at 372 and got down to 240 before using IUI to get pregnant. aside from my PCOS, I'm healthy. no diabetes, no high blood pressure, no known deficiencies. i started taking folic acid for about three months before trying to conceive so my levels were up when the time came. i was at 240 and 36. so far everything has progressed well. my first trimester testing came back with no complications and 1 in 3,200 for downs and 1 in 31,000 for trisomy 13 and 18. my second trimester testing came back this week. no defects thus far and my glucose testing came back with good numbers as well so no gestational diabetes at this time.

As an aside, while did a regular genetic panel, we didn't not opt do the CF testing. i couldn't get my insurance to give me confirmation about whether or not they would cover it. they would only tell me if it were "medically necessary" otherwise my husband i were on the hook for the $2,500 test.  since we don't have anyone on other side of the family with CF, we decided against it.

I don't treat you so I don't have your detailed medical history to make an accurate assessment. Whether or not you should lose more weight is entirely up to you and your doctor.

I agree that you need to make this decision with your MD.  I was MO with my 1st two pregnancies and developed pre-ecplampsia with both pregnancies--and I did not have high blood pressure not pregnant.   My OB feels the pre-eclampsia was directly related to my weight and I am currently 27 weeks pregnant but this time at a normal BMI pre-pregnancy weight and my blood pressure has been great and they are treating this pregnancy as a lower risk pregnancy than my 1st two even though I am 40 now and was 28 and 30 for the 1st two.