Hi Everyone,

I am 12 weeks pregnant, all is moving along well. I just have some questions:

1. I'm sure that I have Adhesions and lots of scar tissue in the abs, and I am wondering how this will effect my pregnancy as I get bigger?

2. I am worried about getting a blockage, other than chewing my food well and drinking lots of fluids is there anything else I can do to help prevent it?

3. I know that I will have a c-section due to past surgeries, what should my main concerns be about the J-pouch? My doctors are at a different hospital where my surgeon is. They have yet to contact the surgeon to get an anatomy lesson. My surgeon told me that the minute I get pregnant to have them call him. There is a group of baby docs that I see, I've only seen two of the four, and only one of them was familiar with the pouch.

and finally can someone remind me what the percentage is that I will pass the UC onto my child. My husband has no health problems. Isn't it like 30%?

Thanks for any info. I really appreciate it!

I don't have experience with this but I have read other peoples' responses to some questions similar to yours.

Some people have felt stretching near their scar. It did not hurt, but it was a little uncomfortable. For some people, it did not bother them at all.

The blockage is most likely to happen when your uterus is putting pressure on the intestines. Make sure you drink plenty of fluids and chew very well. That's all I can think of.

Most people are concerned about the OBGYN puncturing the j-pouch when they are doing a c-section. So maybe you could just ask them to have a surgeon on call. I think once they know about the j-pouch and find out more info, everything should be fine. I've never talked to anyone that had their bowel punctured.

I believe you are correct with the 30% of passing UC or Crohn's onto your child. It may be less though. I will research and get back to you.

The only thing I found was that children of people with Crohn's or UC are 3-20 times more likely to get the disease than any of the other general population. I do not know what the percentage of people get the diseases.

I had a really good pregnancy and didn't experience any problems with adhesions, blockages or anything. I didn't go to a high-risk OB and delivered via c-section. You really won't know until you deliver how much scar tissue has accumulated but I asked my OB to remove whatever he could while he was in my abdomen, but he said everything looked pretty good and what little scarring I had wasn't near my reproductive organs so not to worry about it. I had my surgeries laparoscopically, so I don't know if this makes a difference when factoring the probability of scarring and adhesions. There is no reason you won't have a completely normal pregnancy. Congratulations and best of luck!

Thank you for your responses.

I had no problems with my pregnancy. My surgery was in Sf and I had my baby in Arizona. Talk about diffrent hospitals for surgeries. My surgeon actually retired so my doctor really didn't know what he was going to find at my c-section. He found nothing though. He said it was a routine c-section. I did a fluid only diet after the baby was born for a few days longer than most people. Just to make sure i would not get an blockages. Good luck

I'm currently 31 weeks pregnant, and we have the c-section scheduled for October 23 (little guy is due on Nov. 5, but they want to take him out early to avoid any unwanted pressure on my pouch).

I have had pulling and pain across my lower abdomen from about 8 weeks (we are sure it's scar tissue), however, the pain only lasted a second or two for the first and second trimester. All things have become more painful as soon as the third trimester started - the pain lasts longer (anywhere from 30 seconds to about 2 minutes) - but to be quite honest, it is nothing that has caused me any concern. I just expect that I'm going to be in pain occassionally, and just get on with life. It's not a constant pain - and after everything we've all been through, it's really a drop in the bucket. Of course my Dr.'s said that if it becomes unbearable, they want to go in and try to remove some scar tissue before the baby's born - fortunately that didn't happen.

I have had no blockages, but I am very careful about what I eat - don't ask how I've put on 30 pounds already - oops! I do eat a lot more bread than is probably healthy (and of course it's white, as that other brown healthy stuff does a number on my bottom).

I think I'm in a rare and fortunate position - my OBGYN and colorectal surgeon work closely together and are excellent friends, so both are going to be there for the c-section.

You just need to trust your "guts" (or what we have left of them) - you will know if something is not right and you will know how much or how little you can handle. As long as your surgeon is available to you if needed (let's hope there isn't a need).

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you have a normal pregnancy with nothing but normal pregnancy symptoms.

Best of luck!

Jo Ann

Lots of good info. Thanks for sharing your stories. I am 6 weeks along and have so many questions that you all just answered. I will have to talk to my OB and see what his answers are. My surgeon told me to have a colorectal surgeon on call just in case too. I will be seeing a high risk person as well, due to heart issues and the pouch. I didn't even think about an increased risk for a blockage. That is pretty scary. I had 2 after surgery # 1. It was the worst pain I have ever felt. Even worse than the colectomy or takedwon. Sharon O.

Hi Winnie,
I had two babies post total colectomy surgery. With one I had an ostomy and the other with my j-pouch. I had both vaginal, with no problems. I'm pregnant for my fourth baby now, 13 weeks, and hope to have this one vaginally too. My suggestion, dont rush into the c-section if you dont have to. I'm feeling a lot of pressure in my bum this time, did you experience this while standing/walking?
thanks! any questions, just ask. Jen