Pregnancy After Surgery

This one's for the WLS ladies! I am now waiting for insurance approval for RNY surgery.  In the meantime, a question keeps lingering in my mind that I thought you WLS grads might be able to answer: Can a woman's body carry a healthy pregnancy after WLS?  How taxing is pregnancy on the body of a WLS grad?  What about losing that pregnancy weight if you've already had WLS? I'd like to have kids someday, but if I'M already at-risk for post-op malnutrition and/or vitamin deficiency, then how can my body also provide nutrition and support for a fetus?  What about vitamins and breastfeeding? My surgeon has forbidden any pregnancy for at least two years after surgery, which makes sense.  I'm more worried about the long-term potential for pregnancy complications. So here I am, picking your brains.. pick pick pick! Thanks, Heather

One of my best WLS pals just had a baby last August.  She is 30 years old, had her RNY in January of 2003, and did really really well.  She was about 305 pounds to start, and lost down to about 145 pounds I believe.  She really had no post-op complications that weren't easily dealt with.  She became pregnant in September of 04, and miscarried that baby.  Then she got pregnant again, and all went really well.  No problems whatsoever.  I think she gained up to around 175-180 during the pregnancy, and is now back down to about 165.  She wasn't real concerned about getting back down to the 145, though, as she felt she was too thin at that weight.  If you want to know more about the vitamin regimen she followed, I could find out for you.  She opted not to breast-feed.  She and her baby are just fine.  She had a textbook pregnancy and delivery, and her darling little baby girl is just beautiful and as healthy as can be.

Best wishes to you. Carlita

Heather: I am 3.5 years post op and 9 weeks pregnant. It is totally ok to have a baby after WLS. I am healthy as can be. Most women are much healthy post op then they ever were obese. The risks of poor outcome is much great obese than post op WLS. There is a forum here that is totally dedicated to post op pregnancies and those TTC. Check it out! Best of luck to you

I had open RNY surgery in April of 2001.  In 2004 I got pregnant and carried to term a healthy baby boy.  I gained 25 lbs. and was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans 3 weeks after birth.  I continued my vitamin regime (one multi-vitamin, iron pill, b complex) and added folic acid.  I had to have a blood draw version of the glucose test because I couldn't handle the drink, but I had no issues with anything and had a really easy pregnancy.  I was also 36 at the time (old by most birthing standards!). If you wish to breastfeed, there is nothing stopping you as a result of the surgery, just be sure to keep hydrated and eat 5-7 small protein-packed meals a day. Please be sure that you wait until your weight loss has stabilized, and you need to tell your OB/GYN everything about your restrictions.  You may have to fight the glucose test, but believe me, it's 50 grams of sugar and you will dump--and the results will not be accurate. My son is now two and eats more than I do!   Lisa

Heather,

I am 36 yrs old had my RNY 12/04.  I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl 10/27/06.  The only issue I had while pregnant was low iron which I just took an extra iron supplement for.  I took prenatal vitamins, iron, calcium. oh yes and vitamin D.   Other than that I had no complications.   I did breastfeed for 2 1/2 months and did wonderful.   I am struggling still with the low iron and vitamin D but nothing too drastic.  I gained 45 lbs with my pregnancy and was back in my jeans 3 wks later.   I am at my pre pregnancy weight to this date.  I am so happy that I decided to have my beautiful daughter, Sadie.   Good Luck

I had rny surgery 5 years ago and now have a 5 month old daughter.  I'd lost from 305 down to about 150, and stayed around 160 for 3 years once I'd leveled out.  I'm 41, and we used fertility drugs, which caused me (or contributed anyway) to gain about 30 pounds pre-pregnancy, but only gained 15 while pregnant.  I took my prescription pre-natals, extra calcium, extra iron and b-12, and ate frequent healthy meals and snacks and had no issues - had a healthy full term baby.  I've lost the pregnany weight but am still struggling with losing the extra I'd gained during fertility treatment, but know it's not eating right/exercising enough...