Well, congrats! I was adamantly opposed to doing fertility treatments because I wanted nothing more medical to deal with and was on the road to adoption. We ended up deciding to try fertility treatments (long story why) and I found it to be far less invasive and medically scary than I had expected.

My best advice is be sure that they don't over stimulate your ovaries if you go to IVF. A high egg count is great but it doesn't do you any good if you end up with Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome which can cancel a cycle altogether. Have a doctor you trust. Make sure that you are prepared for the waiting. That's the hardest part.

The best thing you have going for you is your age - success rates are higher in your age group. I was 33 with no visible fertility problem - open tubes, hubby was fine, hormones were all ok - and I got pregnant three times, first try each time. First time was a fresh cycle where we transferred two three day embryos...We do think I was initially pregnant with twins but by my 8 week ultrasound only one embryo had survived. My son Alex is turning 7 next week

I did a frozen cycle two years later and did get pregnant but it was a tenuous pregnancy from the start and never progressed normally. Miscarried around 8 weeks.

Fresh cycle #2 we transferred one 6 day embryo (we went to a blast - 5 day embryo - due to the previous miscarriage, but I had hyper stim so we waited one extra day). That embryo was "hatching" - bursting out of the cell wall - strong and feisty, just like my 4 1/2 year old daughter has turned out to be

Deep breaths and lots of distracting activities will help pass the waiting times. Try to avoid the home pregnancy tests if you can...they aren't always accurate early on and you can drive yourself crazy with them.

Good Luck!

Same boat here! Allie!! Wow, people like me really do exist in the world!! 29 years old, J-pouch at 14--looked into adoption both private and public and decided to try for ourselves. Have an appointment with my GI next Friday to see if he'll even clear me for a pregnancy and waiting to hear back from the fertility clinic and high risk pregnancy specialist for appointments.

Meanwhile, searching and searching and searching for advice/information regarding the actual pregnancy. I'm so frustrated that there is very little out there. I want to be armed with as much information as I can since I have no idea what my GI will say or if he's even had an patients with FAP & j-pouch who have gone through a pregnancy.

Jill--did you still have your j-pouch when you were pregnant? If so, what was the stress on your body like? With like, the morning sickness? Any nutrition concerns?

Actually I had my pouch removed before getting pregnant. So I had a perm ileo for both pregnancies. I did have a near total obstruction with the first pregnancy, but it was resolved without surgery and my son was full term and healthy. Second pregnancy no problems, also full term and healthy girl.

First pregnancy no morning sickness, a little queasiness here and there first trimester. Second pregnancy none of that but nothing tasted good - I didn't want to eat at all the whole pregnancy. I had to force myself to keep up with eating enough. Resolved as soon as my daughter was born.

Every pregnancy is different and every person is different. You just have to be prepared to deal with whatever happens to your body. The result is worth it!

Good luck.

Ah, I should clarify. I had a illeoanal anastomosis, so in my mind, I think of my j-pouch as a pouch.

Hello Allie, ladies!
Similar story for me, I am 31, J-pouch at 21. I think it's excellent that you are pursuing pre-conception appointments with your doctors. I also have epilepsy, so the anti-epileptic drugs meant that pre-conception planning was essential, but I think it really helped ease my mind relating to the J-pouch related issues as well. I've been trying for a year and a half and started seeing a fertility specialist about 6 months ago. We did the whole work up, and luckily, my HSG showed open tubes (hurray!) and minimal other issues with the exception of a small septum and elevated FSH for my age. I had a procedure 5 or so years ago to clear up scar tissue in that area, and the surgeon hadn't noticed adhesions around the ovaries or uterus, so I'm lucky there, too.

The only blip in my work up appeared to be a cervical factor issue. It was scar tissue resulting from a cone biopsy years ago following an abnormal pap smear; it's so weird to me that our "problem" would be seemingly unrelated to both the J-pouch and the epilepsy. In October-ish, we started with the least invasive treatment; IUI without fertility medication.

I was really doubtful, mostly due to the low success rates of IUI. In my head, I was going through the IUI motions, all the while calculating how many IVF sessions we could afford when it seemed appropriate to move on to IVF.

Suprise! I fell pregnant on my second cycle of natural IUI. Unfortunately, I lost that pregnancy in the seventh week. The loss occurred just last week, so the heartbreak is still fresh, but I had to write in with the good news that a pregnancy was possible, which is something to be VERY joyful about.

Tips for managing the madness: I agree with Jill 100% about finding activities to pass the waiting times. My husband and I have been trying to fill up our weekends with things we wouldn't normally do, like trips to local museums and have enrolled in community classes (ballroom dancing, anyone?).

Best of Luck, and feel free to message me if you want to talk TTC!