Not pregnant, would like to be someday...

Some of the members here have gotten pregnant without fertility treatment, so don't panic yet. Still others of us have gotten pregnant with fertility treatments - me included two kids now 7 and almost 5.

You might have issues, you might not. Nothing to panic over yet.

You won't know until you try. I never had problems and it is all very individual. Even your doc can't tell you whether you will have problems. People have problems regardless of surgery, perfectly healthy women. if having kids is really important to you, you may want to try sooner rather than later. Fertility is greatly affected by age and it may take longer than you think.

Don't worry yet! Once you are ready to start trying, give it a few months and see what happens. Personally, we had no problems at all. Pre-pouch, it took us 6 months to conceive, and post-pouch, it was our first month. Good luck when you are ready :-)

For what it's worth, one of the surgeons I consulted with told me that the pregnancy rate is identical between women with j-pouch and without -- IF you take into account fertility treatments. So, in other words, it's true that you might need to use fertility treatments, but in the end you're just as likely to be able to get pregnant somehow as someone who hasn't had a few abdominal surgeries.

Like everyone else has said, you really can't start worrying until you try.

I totally get where you are coming from. I had my surgeries when I was a young teenager (14) and I don't think they ever told me about the infertility issues. Its also possible I didn't think of it because I was so sick and desperate. In either case, I always planned on having one or two kids but didn't seriously think about it until I got engaged to my husband and started to read about the statistics. Needless to say, I had a serious meltdown when I saw the numbers. My husband pointed out to me that it was out of my control anyway (I had a perforated colon). This probably also puts in the the worst scarring category too. Being the OCD type of person I am, I chose my graduate program based on their insurance coverage for IVF. Thankfully I got into a great program with full coverage for IVF and I am planning to pursue it once I settle in. I have been off bc for 1.5 years but I am not in a huge hurry because I am still only 27. I am thinking about seeing a specialist this summer and getting tests to make sure I don't have fluid or any other problems that would interfere with IVF.

I think IVF is something to keep in the back of your mind when you think about jobs and where you want to live. Some states mandate coverage for it and other don't. In my situation (biomedical research), by the time I would make enough money to afford IVF, I would be getting up there in age (35 or so) and I want the numbers to be in my favor as much as possible. I wouldn't mind adopting but its also just as expensive and my husband has medical problems that would make it very hard to qualify and I am not interested in the stress of foster care.

I got pregnant naturally with my daughter within 9 months of trying. One year after her birth, I had a large mucous ovarian cyst removed, and the doctor (a fertility specialist) said she was "an act of divine intervention" because of all of my scar tissue. He predicted I wouldn't get pregnant naturally again, and I didn't... But we opted to stop trying and be happy with our one beautiful girl. He did say I was a good candidate for IVF, but we didn't go there.

So it might happen for you. Won't know til it's time to try.