Grace,
I am maybe the last person on this site to give fertility advice but....I had the first round of abdominal surgeries as a baby (2 yrs) and then again as a teen...by 19 I was married and managed to concieve but not carry to term. My GYN at the time told me that my tubes were blocked (did the HSG and I think it unblocked me for a while)...concieved a couple of times with the same result...
My GYN told me that the abdominal surgery could be the culprit...my pouch surgeon has had a number of successful 'pouch babies' with his patients...it all depends on how your body makes scar tissue, adhesions etc...I would say that if fertility is very important to you and the surgery is not essential then yes, I would wait...if on the other hand you are a risk taker then have the surgery and the rest is well...if I can say it, in God's hands.
Hope that this helps a bit
Sharon
ps...I suffered horribly every time I lost a baby or couldn't concieve. But for me, my pouch saved my life and I could not have imagined a life without it.

Sharon thanks for your honesty about your expierence it must have been so hard for you to tell. My stoma is like that it saved my life but I now have severe bleeding from my stump which causes pain as well as being mentally. I'd love to wait but I'm not in a relationship at the moment and therefore have no one that I would even consider having children with and spending the rest of my life with. I'm 26 so obviously would love children at some point but my surgeon has said my stump has to be treated surgically so here I am faced with a fertility delima. I do believe what you say about needing faith but it's so hard to not worry about this. I love children and I am a teacher I've never imagined myself without ever having children but I know like you ultimately it's what is healthy for You.

It's such a catch 22 but I think even if I have a permanent stoma there is the same risk. It would be easily settled if I was in the right relationship but unfortunately I'm not. I'm so sorry about what happened to you but greatly appreciate you telling me. At least now I know the worst. I get so upset about this part every time I consider further operations.

Grace xx

Unfortunately this is part and parcel of having a j-pouch - there is significantly reduced chance of conceiving. Actually, this is the case with many pelvic surgeries due to scarring, but my surgeon did say that the chance of getting pregnant may be as much as 40% reduced with the j-pouch. He suggested consulting a fertility clinic if I did not get pregnant in the first 3 months of trying.

The thing is, you are basically between a rock and a hard place. In my case, the colectomy literally saved my life. I almost died from UC. I had no time to consider consequences and I went forward with what I knew at the time. A lot of things I didn't learn until later, but I've accepted them. And fortunately, I am not currently in a relationship or trying to get pregnant so it is a non-issue for me.

Now, this is certainly not to say that you cannot or will not get pregnant, but you do have to know the statistics. Many women here have had successful pregnancies with the j-pouch. In fact, there are a multitude of threads on this issue in the Women's Health and Pregnancy forum on this site, and you will find plenty of useful information there.

Best of luck in your journey!

Thanks for reply I'm not in relationship either but always known I wanted children it's good to here some people have successfully gotten pregnant. Just such big thing to deal with.

Grace, I got pregnant the first time I tried about two years after my take down surgery, and one year after a scar revision that really tightened things up. And I was "old" - 35. So, you never know. Wishing you the best!

I was told that I had an 80-85% chance of not being able to conceive on my own. I had a 3-step and then a fourth surgery about 10 months later because my pouch twisted. That was 2 years ago. I am now 25 weeks pregnant and it only took us 2 months of trying :-) It can happen!