Question:
I'd be interested in hearing from people who gave birth to babies with birth defects.
Recently, there was an article listed in the news section of this site that found a relationship between obesity/birth defects. I had a child with both heart/eye defects at birth. He is 18 years old and it was not routine to do a glucose tolerance test at the time. My son weighed 10.5 pounds and had major problems. Anyone else with this scenario. Just curious. Maybe we could help science out with our observation. By the way, while I was pregnant, I felt awful. Wouldn't surprise me the least if I was diabetic and didn't know it. — [Deactivated Member] (posted on July 20, 2004)
July 20, 2004
I'm sure I'm not telling you something you don't already know or suspect,
which is that you may have had gestational diabetes, which is more common
in obese mothers, and diabetes in the mother can cause a variety of birth
defects by the fetus being exposed to excess amounts of glucose in the
blood. Many years ago I did research on trying to prevent birth defects in
rats who were made diabetic, and they were trying to cure the diabetes (in
this case, type I) by fetal pancreas transplants. Since the transplants
didn't work, they didn't prevent the birth defects, and there were a lot of
them.
However, I am surprised by your statement that it was not routine to do
glucose tolerance "back then" -- I have an 18 year old boy also,
and I was obese (not morbidly but pretty bad -- I was 200 when I got
pregnant and 227 when I delivered) when I was pregnant, and I remember them
testing my urine for sugar -- if your blood sugar is high, I believe it
shows up in your urine. Even with Kaiser, the pee test was done at every
prenatal appointment. I would think if you were spilling glucose into the
urine, they would do a glucose tolerance test. But I could be wrong.
By the way, now that I think of it, my son has a couple of
"anomolies" -- his ears were a bit odd, and one required surgery
to put a fold in it (it looked like an open car door) -- lucky for him, he
has very small ears, and he has a really big head, so they don't look too
bad. And he has a vision disorder that is almost for sure a mutation (not
inherited from either parent, as it is a dominant gene mutation), but that
should have nothing to do with a developmental error caused by excessive
maternal blood sugar (perhaps his father's drug use??). Oh, and he was 9
lbs., 4 oz., born on his due date; his older sister was exactly 2 lbs.
lighter at birth. But big babies ran in my family, so my daughter seemed
small rather than my son seeming big, and my son was not so much plump
(like diabetic babies tend to be) as long (22") and with a big ole
melon head ("lucky" for me, he turned breech the night before I
went into labor, so I had no choice about having a C-section). His head is
STILL huge -- too bad it's mostly because it's thick rather than bright
(yes, he's bright -- but not in any useful
go-away-to-college-and-then-law-school-and-make-a-ton-of-money way!).
Diana
— [Deactivated Member]
July 20, 2004
I am also curious to know if there are studies regarding birth defects that
relate to pregnancy post op gastric bypass surgery regarding malabsorption
issues or others....anybody know?
— Jackie O.
July 21, 2004
I have never heard of a post-op patient having a baby with birth defects
that resulted from malabsorption, etc. However, when I was still morbidly
obese my son was born. He was born deaf and with a cleft palate. He
weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces. It was not common to check for gestational
diabetes at that time either. My 2nd son was born a month premature but
had no health problems. I was morbidly obese then too. Contrary to how
you felt - I LOVED being pregnant. I felt like a million bucks both times.
My oldest son is now 21. His hearing was surgically restored when he was 3
months old and his cleft was repaired at one year old. His lip wasn't
involved so he didn't have any facial issues. He's a beautiful thing. I
put him on a plane yesterday to Boulder, Colorado to work at a ski resort.
It was the happiest sad thing I ever did but I'm glad he's following his
dreams even if he is moving so far from home. My youngest son is healthy
and fine and perfectly content to "stay in the nest" at age 19.
I, too, would be curious to know if obesity played a role in my oldest
son's birth defects. Great question!
— ronascott
July 21, 2004
Just to clarify my question, I'm talking about obesity way before ever
having gastric bypass and also, urine testing for glucose can not show any
glucose despite having a high blood sugar. (I am a nurse).
— [Deactivated Member]
July 21, 2004
Hi c. My daughter has a congenital malformation of vessels in her brain
(AVM), somewhat similar to an aneurysm. We discovered it when she was 3
and had a 'stroke' resulting in right sided paralysis, and loss of speech.
With TONS of physical, occupational and speech therapy, she has regained
the majority of her function, and speech to 100% with a tough time in
comprehension and articulating her thoughts. I guess we should say 99%.
Anyway, it has been a tough road having such a rare disorder, and I have
always wondered what could have caused it. Could it have been my obesity?
Something I did/didn't do during gestation? Could it be just a fluke
thing? 'They' can't tell me. So I'm left to wonder. I may never know.
But your question does bring up some interesting points. My pregnancy went
well. Oh, and she also had an accessory tragus (sp)--the hard cartiledge
part in front of the ear canal that prodrudes...she had an extra one...some
call it an ear tag, but it was composed of cartiledge. She was 8.5 lbs. at
birth. I hope this helps with your 'research'.
— Cheri M.
July 22, 2004
I remember being concerned about gestational diabetes when I was expecting
both my boys, now 19 and 21. This was a routine test during my
pregnancies. I did not have gestational diabetes, my boys were 7'9oz and
8'3oz and both long and big headed, and free from birth defects.
On another note, I think it would be more difficult to get all the
nutrients needed during pregnancy as a post-op.
— yvonne1953
July 22, 2004
I see there are a few of us who have had children, while obese, diagnosed
with eye problems.
I had my son in 1997 at age 39 and was 260 at the start of pregnancy, 285
at delivery. I was fine until the 4th month then the nausea started, 24/7.
In month 5 I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes from the bi-weekly
urine test(test strip dipped into my urine, routine for everyone here all
through the pregnancy). I had to test my blood 4X a day and follow a
strict diet, but no insulin. I also had to go to the prenatal unit at my
hospital for fetal monitoring (belt around my waist) 3X a week for the last
3 months. At 41 weeks there was no sign of labour so my OB scheduled me
for induction. They gave me all the meds to make me dialate and my cervix
would not respond. 24 hours later, I had a c-section. My inscision got
infected and took 6 weeks to heal. Our son was fine, 8lbs, 9 oz. He's 7
now and just diagnosed with an eye problem, his left eye is lazy and very
far sighted. Right eye is fine. Both conditions have been there since
birth. He has to patch the right eye 5 hours a day and wear glasses all
the time. All the rest of his body is normal except that his toes on his
left foot are strange in that when he spreads them apart, it's one down,
one up, one down, one up and the big toe is down. Very odd LOL. His brains
work fine too, I think he will be a dramatic actor or a writer, possibly a
comedian.
— mary ann T.
July 23, 2004
Just one other interesting comment. In reading Maryann's post I notice
that her child has a lazy eye. When I was born my mother was not obese but
practically every other person in my family was - no kidding! I, too, was
born with lazy eye and had to wear a clear red patch every day and write
with a red pencil (so my patched eye couldn't see it)to make my lazy eye
stronger. It suggests to me that there really may be a genetic correlation
between obesity and birth defects. I'd be interested to see what
professionals think.
— ronascott
July 24, 2004
My Son was 7-11 1/2 at birth, and is now 9 years old. I was about 200
pounds when I got pregnant with him (not morbidly obese, but obese.) My
labor was induced and after 34 hours of not dilating further than 2 cm, the
Doctor did a C-Section. At age 2 1/2, my Son was diagnosed with Arnold
Chiari I Malformation. Research doesn't know what causes it, but he has
brain tissue that protrudes through his skull into the back of his neck.
He had 4 brain surgeries by the time he was 3 1/2 which consisted of
removing 3 vertebrae from the back of his neck, the whole bottom portion of
his skullbone, and inserting a tissue patch on the lining of his brain. He
also wound up with E. Coli Bacterial Meningitis as a result of a
complication. Now that he's older, he's been diagnosed with learning
disabilities, and he still has headaches and neck pain (related to the
birth defect.) There will be future surgeries needed, we just have to
decide when "he's in enough pain." I have 2 daughters, both
younger, and both of whom I was even bigger with each one.. they've had
MRI's to see if they have the defect, and they don't. I would be
interested to see if their is any relation, since research still doesn't
know what causes my Son's birth defect!
— Deena C.
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