Question:
Getting pregnant/having baby after wls/weight loss - do you gain all the weight back?

I had struggled with inferility for all my marriage (my 12th anniversary is coming up 8/6). I wanted to have a baby SO BAD! I was blessed to have caring, fat-friendly ob/gyn who was willing to treat me (w/ Clomid) so I could get preg. It worked once; I got preg. but it ended in miscarriage. Then we moved and I managed to again find the compassionate dr I have today. I was MUCH more heavier this time; I think I was around 350lbs. I was diagnosed w/ Polycyctic Ovary Syndrome. I had to be more aggressive in my effort to get preg. My husband had to see a urologist for semen analysis (was OK). On my part, it was Clomid, pelvic ultrasound to check the growth of the egg follicles; when the follicle was ready, I had to get an injection to boost the egg out, then the next morn, we had to run up to the hospital to get a "sperm wash" & then run over to the dr's office (keeping the little guys in the vial warm) where I'd have an IUI (intrauterine insemination). Not exactly painless! Then 2 days later, another IUI. 6 months of this & I COULD NOT GET PREGNANT. I was so devastated. I went thru hating myself b/c I blamed my weight for my infertility & if I hadn't been fat, I could have had several children by now. Fast forward a few years - I started researching wls and one of the things I read about was ALOT of women being able to get preg after wls/weight loss. I was pretty excited about that. I had distal RNY on 5/21/01. I started at 375 and now I'm about 310. Well, immediately after surgery, I was in such pain that I never had before (I woke up before the morphine was hooked up), and of course there was the pain in the days to follow. I remember women always telling me how terribly painful it is to give birth and I thought OMG, if having a baby is worse than this, then I don't want a baby now!!! Now I'm around 9 1/2 weeks post-op and I have forgotten my post-op pain & all and I'm thinking of babies again. Of course I know that I have to wait till I'm 1 1/2 - 2 years out before I can try to get preg. and we're using protection in case the weight I've lost already has caused me to be fertile. My periods are coming on their own which didn't happen before. _____Anyway, I'm wondering - do most women who have gotten preg post wls put all the weight back on? Why does this happen; because some women get lax with their diet, or is it the result of hormones/pregnancy? Can the weight gain be prevented? Is it true that when the baby kicks, can he kick the staples out of the stomach, which would cause weight gain? Didn't Rikki Lake have wls, & she had 2 babies after? She didn't appear to have put on much weight. Sorry this was so long. I felt the background info was relevant to see the whole picture.    — lalasmommy (posted on July 27, 2001)

July 27, 2001
I saw a special about Rikki Lake who said she achieved her weight loss through cocaine and crackers and would NEVER recommend to anyone to do what she did. She filled out some post-pregnancy, but that's to be expected with anyone who's had two children.
   — [Deactivated Member]

July 27, 2001
Yes, you can have a baby post WLS. However, if you had a Band, it can slip and the body changes shape - so you could gain that way. Also, if you had a VBG, apparently they very very very often fail after pregnancy - the abdomen stretching puts a lot of pressure on the direction the stomach is stapled. I noticed lots of revisions from VBD to RNY following preganacy, so I looked it up. This is NOT a problem if you have a RNY, DS or BPD, however. If you continue to have problems w/ fertility in a few years, please remember there are thousands of children who need homes in this country. You could be a childs miracle.
   — M. A. B.

July 27, 2001
There is a group for women who are pregnant or hope to get pregnant after wls. It is a great source for information and support. You can join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OSSG-pregnant. Most women seem to have healthy pregnancies afterward...weight gain varies depending on lots of factors, including type of surgery, how far post-op they were, whether they let the pregnancy become an excuse for regaining bad eating habits, etc. I got pregnant 8 months post-op (unplanned; we had hoped to wait a year) and am now 11 weeks pregnant and everything seems to be going fine. Not on purpose, but so far I've lost about 10 pounds since getting pregnant (I was 267 on my surgery 9-14-00; about 155 today). My OB wants to really focus on not gaining too much weight this time, because she knows that my last pregnancy I gained about 50 pounds and never could take it off..it was what sent me over the morbid obesity edge. Because I am still considered overweight (I am 5'2") she would like me to gain less than 20 pounds with this pregnancy. Good luck!
   — Anna A.