Pregnancy with or without J-Pouch

For most J-pouchers pouchitis is an occasional nuisance, easily dispatched with a short course of antibiotics. In all likelihood it wouldn’t occur at all during your pregnancy. For a small number it can be more troublesome, though, and when J-pouches fail it’s most often from pouchitis that can’t be controlled. If you want to get rid of an external bag then a J-pouch is a fine choice. If you’re happy with the bag then you can save yourself some surgery.

I had a one stage surgery to remove my colon and do the j pouch back in 2011 and i have chronic pouchitis that i manage with antibiotics. I got pregnant in 2014 on our first try (I was amazed) and had a healthy baby boy in 2015. I pretty much chose to have a c-section just because i was worried about messing up my pouch or getting a bad tear or something.  The docs said I would be fine with vaginal delivery, but I didn't want to chance it.  Anyway, my son will be 3yo in July.  I saw you continue as you would normally and just keep seeing the hisk risk OB.  I did that as well and loved it because I got to "see" my son much more frequently than if I had the normal OB.  BTW, I was also 38yo at delivery.   Best of luck to you and PM me with any questions. I'm happy to help if I can. 

I had my colon out on an emergency basis due to UC in 2006 then had the j-pouch surgeries in 2007 once I had been off of prednisone long enough to undergo a major surgery. 

I had a couple of bouts of pouchitis in the first two years following surgery, which responded immediately to 2-week courses of antibiotics. I then researched probiotics and have been taking them religiously ever since, and have now gone 9+ years without any incidences of pouchitis. I took Garden of Life Primal Defense the first 7 years and the last couple of years I alter between the same and the more expensive once daily women's probiotic by Garden of Life. I highly recommend taking a good, multi-strand probiotic as a preventative measure if/when you decide to get the j-pouch. I am very happy with my post-j-pouch life, but I think the probiotics is a big part of keeping it healthy. 

We recently discovered that I am pregnant! I am now in the midst of figuring out what to expect with a j-pouch pregnancy, but so far, so good. If anything so far, the j-pouch version of pregnancy constipation means I usually don't have to get up to use the restroom in the middle of the night (as I normally would have to when not pregnant) and I can fart (which normally I can't). 

One thing I would wonder about, in your case, is if the doctor would recommend a waiting period to get pregnant following the j-pouch surgery, or if it might be harder for your body for a certain period of time after since it is a major surgery.