Ok it's me again.

Since no-ones replying to my first post i'm just wondering if anyone can give me some good information, links or data on Pregnancy with a J-pouch???
Any complications or problems that people experienced? Any medical links or studies that were conducted on women with a J-pouch?
Any feed back just on the general pregnancy how it went? What was pouch function like? Were people forever on the toilet? Anything really on the pregnacy,delivery and post pregnancy would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you

Sorry I didn't respond to your earlier email. I was pregnant with my j-pouch and had the easyest pregnancy ever. I did feel some abdominal pain around week 18 - 20 but I think that was just the adhesions pulling as the baby was growing. I delivered, via c-section, a very healty 7.8 lb girl on June 25th, 2006. Following my c-section, my bowel twisted and I had to have an n/g tube inserted for a couple of days while it corrected itself. I think if I had stayed on a liquid diet and gotten up and walking sooner I may have been able to avoid it but who knows!

I had a gi surgeon present at the c-section just in case and didn't have a high risk ob/gyn. As a matter of fact I was the first pregnant j-poucher my ob had ever had as a patient. I do wish I had gone to an ob who was familiar and had experience with people like us but in the end it worked out just fine.

I had absolutely no issues with my pouch function. I was going to the bathroom all the time more to tinkle then anything else!

I'm hoping to go through the IVF process again sometime this summer/early fall as I'd like a second child...now to work on convincing my husband!

Best of luck and please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Katrina

I had a great pregnancy too, and delivered a very healthy 8lb 8 oz baby almost eight years ago. My pregnancy had me feeling the healthiest I had ever been post pouch, a combination of doing all the right things- healthy diet, lots of sleep, exercise etc., and also having my body working 'properly', a wonderful thing as you can imagine after UC and surgery.Of course there are some issues to deal with such as a few more trips to the loo, some discomfort due to scarring ,and I have had a change to shape of my pouch post pregnancy, but all worth it to have my beautiful boy. Please PM me if you would like to share more!

I too felt better pregnant that I do not pregnant. I had some anxiety issues as I had miscarried a previous pregnancy but really had nothing to worry about. I felt good, my frequency actually dropped and with metamucil I was able to maintain functioning with no medication. I had a GI surgeon on call during my c-section but it all went beautifully. I had a blockage after surgery but could have avoided it by limiting food to fluids before and after c-section and moving around more (as with the previous poster). I would have another baby in a heartbeat if I could only convince my husband! We have a fabulous 4 1/2 year old daughter who is the love of my life.

Lori

Hi Aussie G,
I've just been searching the net for info about pregnancy and the J pouch and I came up with the following links. I've copied this info from my notes - so sorry that it may appear a bit muddled. I hope it helps.
Best
Maddy


Search on Google for: Pouch and pregnancy

1. http://www.springerlink.com/content/6glxyj1bfdnkwbn7/


2.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15978672


Search on Google for: fecundity and j pouch

3. Fertility is reduced after restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch anal anastomosis: A study of 300 patients.
Surgery, Volume 136, Issue 4, Pages 795-803
E. Gorgun, F. Remzi, J. Goldberg, J. Thornton, J. Bast, T. Hull, B. Loparo, V. Fazio

4. http://www.springerlink.com/content/777l05870t285652/ - A critical review of the pouch

5. http://ibdcrohns.about.com/b/a/257645.htm good article....

Thanks Katrina, amanda w, LoriW, and maddy for replying to my post.

Your experiences with pregnancy and the j-pouch were very helpful and encouraging. You sharing those with me hepled to ease my concerns and presumptions about what pregnancy would be like with a j-pouch.
I now feel more relaxed and confident to get pregnant again when my husbands gives the go ahead(I'm slowly starting to get him to want to jump on the band wagon of having another baby ) and after showing him your replies i think his mind was also put at ease.

Whats the deal with going on a liquid diet before and after a c-section? Is that recommended? I'm so new to all this side of things,i'm abit lost at times

I want as much information about this sorta stuff as possible cause i'm the only person i know of where i live to even have a j-pouch let alone get pregnant and deliver and stuff. The doctors are gonna be flying blind cause i'll be their first case when or if the time comes. So any info to do with delivery and post delivery even leading up to delivery will help.
Thanks again for helping me out and responding to my post

Thanks too for those web links maddy i appreicate you taking the time to do that.

Aussie G

I'm no doctor so I would definitely recommend you speak with your GI specialist who may have more insight into this, but I think the liquid diet helps get your system back up and running more gradually and gently, allowing for the epideral to wear off and give your bowels a chance to warm back up so to speak! I know that my epideral took a long time to wear off so I didn't get up and moving until a couple of days after the c-section and then I, stupidly, ate some solid food my husband had brought me because the hospital food was something awful!

I will definitely stick to liquids if I'm fortunate enough to have another child just as a precaution. I figure it can't hurt!!

The idea with the liquid food is to give your bowel a rest before and after the c-section. This is to avoid a blockage or ileus afterwards. I had a big meal the night before my c-section and then ate too soon - ending up throwing up and being NPO for 10 days NOT FUN! This is just a precaution that I would suggest.

Best of luck with this.

Lori

I am 17 weeks pregnant and I had fairly mild pouchitis until the last 3 weeks. I have had to give up working and I am very sick. I am going to the toilet every hour and it is very painful most of the time. I have come to this site to try and find out what others in my situation have done but there seems to be very few people that experience problems like me. My obstetrician keeps telling me that other patients with UC/pouchtis have easy pregnancies and she is sure my pouchitis will settle. I am going back to my GI today and hopefully he will do something as up until now he has been very cautious to do anything more because I am pregnant. I take Ciproxin and have been taking it for years as I get pouchitis as soon as I stop taking it and I have also started taking Immodium. Like you, had UC that progressed very rapidly and ended up having emergency j pouch surgery in 1996. I have suffered from pouchitis when I am not on medication pretty much every since. My pregnancy is horrible. My husband and I want a baby so much and we had no trouble conceiving but I am in so much pain and I am absolutely exhausted. I think this will be our only child! Kym

Katrina and LoriW thanx for replying back to my question about the fluid diet. I'll defientely be asking the Doctors about it.

And kymmi i'm so sorry that your having such a horrible time with your pregnancy.
I know what its like to experience a bad pregnancy and i can really understand what you must be going through.
Its suppose to be such an amazing beautiful time and it's alittle sad when life deals you a nasty card at such a time but just keep in there. Hopefully things will get better over time.
Just think it'll all be worth it at the end when your holding a beautiful baby in your arms

Take care of yourself ok. And if you wanna pm anytime just to let stuff out or chat feel free.

Aussie G

Hi Aussi,

yet another link which could help you:

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:crLlY7VvuVoJ:cms.c...l&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=nl

greetings,

Roger

Hello everyone,

First, I was so relieved to find this discussion I started to cry. My husband has wanted to have children for some time now and I have been petrified of pregnancy due to my surgery. I am seven years out and really very healthy, but the fear I hold of anything that can upset my system is nearly tangible. I don't really know anyone else who has had this surgery despite being called on by former doctors and friends to talk to surgical patients. I have and love doing this, but they have all been male. I can give advice about food, and warnings about pouchitis, but you can't ask them about having kids! I feel more confident about going to an ob/gyn now armed with some knowledge about other women's outcomes, eating the soft stuff, and c sections. Thank you for the posts. I haven been in lots of the forums reading now and I think I will be back frequently!

Just wanted to put in my .02. I went through two successful c-sections, but the first one kept me in the hospital for over a week with a blockage (no stool coming out). They did an x-ray and didn't find anything and eventually they stuck something up my rectum and pop, it all exploded out. Gross.

Second time around I went fluids only the day before, and brought liquid acidophilus and herbal tea with me to the hospital (can't remember now if it was mint tea or chamomile) and was able to avoid a blockage and all went smoothly.

I went to a high risk maternal fetal medicine group and they were in consultation with my GI surgeon before and after.

SueLynn

pregnancy is definetly possible but each situation is different. I had triplets with my j-pouch and my gut was a wreck the last three months but I was also in the hospital on mag and turb due to premature labor the last three months which wreaked havoc on the gut but they are now seven and all healthy I would do it again in a second