Question:
What is the earliest post-op you can get pregnant and have a healthy baby?

Lately, my cold feet about having surgery has been due to one thing....I want to have more children. I have a 14 month old and can't imagine not being able to have more. I am terrified that something will happen and not allow me to have a baby. Or, I am worried that it will be extremely difficult to wait the 18 months to want to get pregnant again! Help!    — emilyfink (posted on February 10, 2002)

February 10, 2002
Hi, we are in a similiar situation. I have a 16 month old son. I have surgery schedualed for the 13th (three more days, yikes). My surgeon told me at least one year. Maybe 18 months. It sounds like a long time but I know that it will be healthier for me and future baby. My last pregnancy was so draining. Gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and bed rest. Yuck I don't want to go through that again. Would you rather wait or risk being sick? It is a personal decision only you can answer (well hopefully with a little help from the dad and your doctor!). Do what you feel is right. For me, I have to wait. I can't go through another pregnancy like the last one. Good Luck!
   — M. S.

February 12, 2002
My surgeon said a year which felt like a really long time until my husband of six years left me. Now it doesn't seem so bad, seems kind of soon, really, since I've just started dating again. :-) I have a 25 month old and want more children. <p>I really thought about it the other way around... I am so glad that Joanne will not remember me as a fat person who was not much fun and who always felt ill and grumpy. I am so glad she will remember a mother who can keep up with her and not be tired. If somehow I cannot have more children, that's going to be a deep disappointment to me, but at least I will be able to REALLY enjoy the one I do have. <p>You might want to consider a procedure with LESS malabsorption... a distal RNY will give you great, fast weight loss, but I suspect it would be much harder to maintain a healthy pregnancy that way than with say a proximal RNY or even VBG. I chose a 125cm proximal RNY for that reason. Only you can decide, but I recommend that you also consider birth control that is sort of out of your hands, like an IUD, post-op. It just seems too easy to have an "accident" when you really want another baby... and that's not criticism, I have an IUD for just that reason! LOL Good luck with your decision. Not quite five months out and 107 lbs down (to 203) I know *I* did the right thing for my daughter and myself.
   — Julia M.

October 13, 2004
The new suggestion for becoming pregnant is to wait 2 years. I got pregnant at only 8 months (my doctor had recommended waiting until I was a year out, but because of my age I thought it would take me a while to conceive and we got pregnant very quickly). Anyhow, I ended up having my gall bladder taken out when I was 7 1/2 months pregnant followed by surgery two days after my gall bladder was taken out to remove part of my intestines and resection the healthy part to my bowels. I went into labor early and was flown from my local hospital to a major medical center where my labor was stopped and I remained in the hospital for a month on bed rest. Fortunately, my daughter was born healthy 3 weeks ago. I was told by the doctors at the medical center that there was a case of a post-gastric bypass patient featured in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 12th, the same day of my first surgery. She was about 7 months pregnant when she experienced similar symptoms as me, unfortunately however, she was not as lucky as I was to be diagnosed properly and both she and her baby died. I understand that bowel and intestinal blockages are being discovered more in pregnant women post-bypass and this is why they are now recommending waiting at least 2 years to become pregnant.
   — Shannon W.