J-pouch and pregnancy

Hollie I have a good friend who had her jpouch done 2 years ago, last year had her first baby. Delivered C-section as that was the recommendation she got. Baby, mom, everybody healthy. If you do a search someone else recently asked a similar question. My friend would be happy to chat. She has even run two half marathons with us at Team Challenge. Private message me, send me your email and I will connect you.

Hi Hollie,  Yes, I agree that if you do a search on the pregnancy forum, you'll find tons of threads on this topic.  In a nutshell, in my opinion, your pregnancy itself should not differ all that much than the pregnancy of someone with a colon.  In the end, especially last few weeks, your bathroom trips will increase as there is more and more pressure on your pouch.  Not all that different than your bladder getting squashed ;-)  The struggles for j-pouchers tend to be more on the conception part (blocked tubes, scar tissue).  It will be up to your OBGYN if they see you as a high-risk pregnancy based on your history, but it seems unlikely.  It will again be up to you and your OBGYN on delivery method.  Many first time moms with a J-pouch will likely go the C-section route.  However, many of us go the vaginal delivery route as well, especially if there is history will successful previous deliveries.

Hi Hollie,

After I had my IPAA surgery I was told that I would never have children, then a year-and-a-half later, we discovered we were pregnant. Turns out all it took was a cheap motel room and a pitcher of margaritas ;-)  I was treated as high-risk by my OBGYN as a precautionary measure, but my pregnancy went very well (with the exception of a bout of pouchitis and shingles, but I have always had trouble with my immune system). My son was delivered by C-section at 39 weeks, a perfectly healthy 7lbs. The only other issue I had during my pregnancy was that, due to the scar tissue, I carried my son further on one side of my body than normal, but only just. You'd be surprised at the amount of stress that our body can cope with, but as long as you are as healthy as possible, you shouldn't struggle much more than a woman without a pouch. Getting pregnant seems to be the difficult part for us j-pouchers. Get that sorted and the rest should be golden :-)

Best wishes,

Andrea

Your question is getting a bit old but I thought I would reply anyway because I had a baby last year. What most people above said about getting pregnant being the hard part is correct. I really didn't think I would get pregnant naturally but I did so it is possible even with some really bad statistics! I even had my colon perforate so be careful until you are really trying That being said, I didn't get pregnant for 2 years but I did get pregnant as soon as I really started trying using an ovulation tracker app. I would definitely recommend using one for a few months before trying any interventions. I used glow btw. 

When I did get pregnant I saw an OB more often than the average pregnant woman. They did an early ultrasound because I talked to them about a higher risk of ectopic pregnancy and my insurance had zero issues with it. I also had more ultrasounds to check growth. Around 20 weeks I saw a fetal medicine specialist and my internal medicine/GI doc because the fetus wasn't growing as well as she should have been. My blood work was fine and she took off and ended up growing like a weed later in pregnancy (8lb 11oz at birth and I am on the small side). I had zero pouch issues and felt better than i ever have pouch-wise. The hormones slow everything down so you can end up pooping like a normal person again! 

I had a c-section with zero complications at 39 weeks. The older OB had had pouch patients before but I ended up with a different doctor in the practice. She said she didn't need to go near my pouch and she didn't. I was pleasantly surprised by how good I felt after surgery. No nausea but they gave me meds for it because I have terrible reactions to general anesthesia. Pouch was up and running normally after a few days of bloat from pain medications and surgery. 

Good luck!

I had 2 pregnancies after my pouch. Both babies were delivered via c section. A planned week early. Both babies were / are quite healthy.  The only thing I found different in each pregnancy that really stood out was the I was more sensitive to contractions weeks before their births. I could feel them a lot stronger.so I had many trips to labor and delivery to check. It was a good thing I worked at the hospital so I just went upstairs. I would not let your pouch stop you having kids. They are the greatest treasure out there. I would have a dozen more if daycare wasn't so pricey!  

Thanks for all the replies! My husband and I are really excited about trying so I'm going to talk to my doctors soon. I didn't think I'd get too many anwers, so thanks y'all! I feel better about it! 

Hi Hollie,

Me and my husband have been trying to conceive for the last year and here is what I learned from all of the doctors I have been seeing. Thought I would share.

Manage and get pouchitis under control before getting pregnant. I don't know if you ever have pouchitis but I have chronic pouchitis and my GI said it is common if you start pregnancy with pouchitis that you will continue to have pouchitis throughout the pregnancy. This is hard for a few reasons it's harder to manage because you can only take safe antibiotics like augmentin and no cipro/flagyl or steroids. Also it's very unsafe for mommy and baby to have the infection, can cause complications with the pregnancy. 

When you do get pregnant, it is recommended to follow a high risk ob because of the jpouch. I was told this and I'm only 29- I questioned it with several physicians and the majority recommend this. 

Blocked tubes are common among us jpouchers due to adhesions from scar tissue. So I would have an HSG if you can...it's just good to know. Risk of ectopic is higher when you have partially blocked tubes.

It is recommended that a c-section is the best and safest delivery option.

Also after 6 months of trying on your own if you still aren't pregnant I believe you can go to a reproductive endocrinologist when you have a Jpouch, you don't have to wait the year they recommend for most people.

These are just the recommendations I have been told, but I have never been pregnant. Good luck to you and your hubby