I had one natural pregnancy, but was never able to conceive after my daughter was born in 2002 (I was 31). After I had her, a year later I had a mucoid ovarian cyst removed, and the doc who did my surgery was also an infertility specialist who told my family that my daughter was "an act of divine intervention," and based on my insides, I should never have been able to get pregnant naturally. He predicted I'd not conceive naturally again, and he was right; said I was a good candidate for IVF, but my husband and I never wanted to do that.

It took me only 8 months to get pregnant that one time round.

I saw High Risk briefly, but they were pushing for a vaginal birth, and I'd read that C sections were safer with a J pouch. They put me through emotional hell. Had to have my surgeon write a note to them saying give her a C section! (A few years later, Cleveland Clinic sent me info saying based on their research, vaginal births were possible, but C sections were safer, so I felt vindicated.)

I left the High Risk practice and went to "regular OBs," who were kind and thoughtful. They had surgery on standby when I delivered my daughter by scheduled C section at 39 weeks. I had no pouch issues the whole time, except increased BMs as she grew, and after the C section, I gas trapped because I couldn't use my cut abs to "push" like normal, to go to the bathroom.

So... It CAN happen that you'll get pregnant, but I think the CC study mentioned at up to 52% of women after J pouch have infertility issues, so there might be issues. You may have a pretty uneventful pregnancy like I did. Won't know til you try, but you have to get in the right place to want to try. I can't say I wasn't scared... I was. But I was ready to deal with it, too, and it turned out alright for me.

Well, I think the dr could have been a bit more thoughtful in how he approached telling you all this...

Here is the thing...There are risks. But there are in a "normal" pregnancy too. Being a parent requires a huge leap of faith, j-pouch or not.

THe real risk of vaginal delivery has nothing to do with damage to the pouch - sure its possible but highly unlikely. The risk of vaginal delivery has to do with longer term issues and the potential for weakening the sphincter muscles. As for c-section, they can nick your bowel even if you don't have a j-pouch - again, its possible, but not very likely.

I conceived my two kids by IVF after a failed j-pouch and with a perm ileo. I had two scheduled c-sections that were highly uneventful, aside from the birth of my babies :-)

You need to find an OB who has dealt with pouch patients before. Hopefully someone here can help, or ask your surgeon for a referral. I think you have been unnecessarily scared by a dr who wasn't familiar enough with pouches to make the statements he made.

I went to a high risk OB before I got pregnant and he reassured me, got me in touch with one of his other ostomy patients who had delivered two babies, and in general just made me feel better about the whole thing.

I'm so sorry you were painted such a horrible picture. You don't seem to be getting the most accurate information.

The truth of the matter is pregnancy with a j-pouch is not all that different than with a colon. As mentioned earlier, you MAY have some issues conceiving (blocked tubes, scar tissue), but once you get pregnant, there shouldn't be a whole lot more to worry about than the normal pregnancy concerns. I've never heard about issues of damaging or rupturing the j-pouch. I didn't have a c-section, but when I asked my OB the chances of her accidentally perforating the pouch, she laughed at me. She tried explaining to me that they wouldn't be cutting anywhere near the pouch. The issue with vaginal birth (which is not entirely certain) is that you MAY have incontinence issues years down the road. But a c-section would eliminate that specific risk.

My personal story was that we conceived right away and I chose to have a vaginal birth. I saw a high risk OB for my first appointment since my regular OB never had a j-pouch patient, but they referred me back to my normal OB and said high risk was not needed.

If children are important to you, you will have to weigh the risks, and decide what is best for you. For me, I feel that there are just as many risks choosing to get pregnant with a colon. It was an easy decision for us!

Ginger,
I had my k pouch done at 18, back in '79, when no one talked about fertility or other issues other than survival and success/failure rates...so babies were not their priority.
I married the following year, tried naturally for 1yr and then started the horrors of infertility docs in the '80's...IVF docs wouldn't touch me back then, the HSG showed a mess inside of me and generally nobody gave me any hope.
We opted for adoption, got pregnant and miscarried...happened a couple of times and we realised that my problem was more with carrying the baby than concieving (hubby divorced me over it)...
I am now 52, remarried and a step-grandma of 3...my grandkids throw themselves at me with love and abandon...(step kids, no so much)...but, my journey did not include successful pregnancy or birth...I had 6 miscarriages in all, suffered greatly over each and every one, cried my eyes out but in the end, I made a decision not to push my luck...fear over losing my already delicate pouch, giving my babies my disease etc were all considerations in my choice but in the end I allowed God (or fate) to decide for me...My hubby already had his kids so my not having them was a relief and not a problem for him...Do I regrete not going that extra mile? Yes, but that is just life.
There are many ways to love a child.
Sharon