Pregnancy after DS?
So, I was all set for an RNY and some weird voice inside me is saying, "Oh hells no, you want your pyloric valve!" So, I think I am leaning more toward a DS. The thing is, my #1 reason for WLS is to be able to have a healthy pregnancy in a few years. Is there anything that differs with pregnancy post-RNY vs. post-DS? (besides really watching vitamins needed for your own and babies health.)
Thanks!
Thanks!
Pink!
(deactivated member)
on 4/28/11 10:16 pm - Woodbridge, VA
on 4/28/11 10:16 pm - Woodbridge, VA
I don't see why there would be much difference between the two as far as pregnancy is concerned. I know multiple women with each surgery type that have gone on to have healthy pregnancies (including a DSers who was a surrogate and successfully carried twins). Either way, I think the primary concern will be close watch on labs and supplementation.
I have a DS technically, but I only have about the same amount of intestinal bypass as a proximal RNY (thanks to an issue during surgery), and my husband and I are going to start trying to expand our family in July. I'm setting myself up with a PCP who is very much on board with my mile-long list of labs I want to have drawn just in case I have any issues getting lab orders from my OB's office!
I have a DS technically, but I only have about the same amount of intestinal bypass as a proximal RNY (thanks to an issue during surgery), and my husband and I are going to start trying to expand our family in July. I'm setting myself up with a PCP who is very much on board with my mile-long list of labs I want to have drawn just in case I have any issues getting lab orders from my OB's office!
Hi there, I had the DS and I am currently 35 weeks pregnant. I have had many complications. NOW that being said, not everything is DS related. I waited two years to get pregnant and was very close to my goal weight, but not quite there...although I surpassed my surgeon's goal. So I thought I was safe.. I am not sure that it caused a problem, but I would first encourage you to make sure to wait two years. (2 forms of birth control) I actually got pregnant 9 months out because that night we decided not to use a condom since I was on birth control.) I lost that baby and it was very difficult. With DS especially you are going to through a major readjustment and your body needs time to heal and get back to a version of "normal".
Next, I after waiting 2 years I would make sure you are at goal. When you get pregnant your sweet little parasite will suck you dry of all of your food and nutrients! :) It's very hard to maintain weight. I am currently taking pancreatic enzymes to help me absorb more. I am also on a diet that consists of 3,000 calories a day. !50 grams of fat and 150 or protein. Plus you have to make sure your carb content is very high because as a DSr if all you eat is fat and protein you will lose weight. I have FINALLY gainied 5 pounds in this pregnancy. I lost in the beginning and was very sick. I malabsorbed my vitamins like no one's business and I had a hard time getting them all down. Also, be prepared because you will have to up your vitamins more than the average WLS patient during pregnancy. Our intestines are very different from a RNYr so you MUST keep up with those. Also make sure before you get pregnant that you labs are in tip top shape!! Also make sure that you have a high risk OB and you are seeing your surgeon throughout the pregnancy.
I have done everything "right"... at least according to my surgeon and I still have a baby that has had to fight hard to stay alive. She is diagnosed with IUGR (Inter uterine growth restriction). I have had to have emergency bowel obstruction surgery and am seen by my surgeon weekly, a high risk OB for ultrasounds 2 times weekly, IV fluids with vitamins 2 times weekly, and a regular OB once weekly. It's incredibly stressful, though I know my little peanut is worth it!
Now all that being said.. I believe the DS is the best WLS surgery out there.. but you have to be equipped for maintenance that comes with that whether you are pregnant or not. Vitamins and protein equal life support. No questions asked.
Next, many women have had wonderful pregnancies after DS.. I am not the normal but my surgeon uses me as an example for women looking into DS because he wants them to know the very real possibility of what can happen even if you are doing what you should. I am a fluke! Sadly! But that's ok, hopefully if I ever decided to get pregnant again it will be easier..who knows.
I would never change the surgery I chose or this pregnancy. It's taught me so much and it's made my little Eden who she is. As a mom I just wish she didn't have to struggle so much, but I am so thankful for her fighting spirit and look forward to seeing that through her life.
I wish you the best of luck! DS is an incredible tool and saved my life!
Next, I after waiting 2 years I would make sure you are at goal. When you get pregnant your sweet little parasite will suck you dry of all of your food and nutrients! :) It's very hard to maintain weight. I am currently taking pancreatic enzymes to help me absorb more. I am also on a diet that consists of 3,000 calories a day. !50 grams of fat and 150 or protein. Plus you have to make sure your carb content is very high because as a DSr if all you eat is fat and protein you will lose weight. I have FINALLY gainied 5 pounds in this pregnancy. I lost in the beginning and was very sick. I malabsorbed my vitamins like no one's business and I had a hard time getting them all down. Also, be prepared because you will have to up your vitamins more than the average WLS patient during pregnancy. Our intestines are very different from a RNYr so you MUST keep up with those. Also make sure before you get pregnant that you labs are in tip top shape!! Also make sure that you have a high risk OB and you are seeing your surgeon throughout the pregnancy.
I have done everything "right"... at least according to my surgeon and I still have a baby that has had to fight hard to stay alive. She is diagnosed with IUGR (Inter uterine growth restriction). I have had to have emergency bowel obstruction surgery and am seen by my surgeon weekly, a high risk OB for ultrasounds 2 times weekly, IV fluids with vitamins 2 times weekly, and a regular OB once weekly. It's incredibly stressful, though I know my little peanut is worth it!
Now all that being said.. I believe the DS is the best WLS surgery out there.. but you have to be equipped for maintenance that comes with that whether you are pregnant or not. Vitamins and protein equal life support. No questions asked.
Next, many women have had wonderful pregnancies after DS.. I am not the normal but my surgeon uses me as an example for women looking into DS because he wants them to know the very real possibility of what can happen even if you are doing what you should. I am a fluke! Sadly! But that's ok, hopefully if I ever decided to get pregnant again it will be easier..who knows.
I would never change the surgery I chose or this pregnancy. It's taught me so much and it's made my little Eden who she is. As a mom I just wish she didn't have to struggle so much, but I am so thankful for her fighting spirit and look forward to seeing that through her life.
I wish you the best of luck! DS is an incredible tool and saved my life!
Thank you so much for your reply. We have two wombs in this relationship, so birth control isn't an issue. lol We had twice the options of most couples wanting to have a baby, so my health is the #1 priority. I am keeping this post as warning before we are ready to try to put a bun in my oven. Thanks again.
Pink!
I hope you don't mind if I tell my life story. 
I had my post-DS baby last December. I had a really great pregnancy. I wasn't a record-setting DS loser so I was still quite a bit above goal, and I lost about 10 pounds and regained 5 or so in the last trimester. I ate like a HORSE. I've truly never been so hungry and even eating and drinking anything and everything I wanted, I didn't gain. Malabsorption is a weird thing to live with sometimes. I really felt it while pregnant and I feel it now while nursing. Low-protein crap foods just don't appeal to me, except some sweets here and there as "garnish." 
Anyway, after I had the baby I was about 20 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. Not that it's all about weight, but just sharing this aspect.
I had a baby pre-DS, my wonderful daughter. During that pregnancy, I dealt with chronic hypertension. I had to take meds (a light dose, but I needed it) and get a lot of monitoring. I ended up with a BP spike at the end and had an induction followed by an unplanned cesarean. I had wound complications afterward as well.
This time, I had one high BP reading in the first trimester so I was diagnosed with chronic hypertension again even though my BP's been normal since shortly after my DS. Phooey. This meant I had to have weekly non-stress tests (a non-invasive test that involves checking baby's heartrate and whether it varies appropriately) and I was classified as high risk. I still saw nurse-midwives, not OBs, and they consulted with OBs as necessary. I did have another cesarean but it wasn't due to BP, it was because I have a pelvic quirk or something that causes my babies to present strangely. This cesarean went a lot smoother and I'm sure part of the reason is that I had lost weight. My son was about 12 ounces lighter than his pre-DS sister at the same length. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and is growing beautifully on breastmilk (and a few tastes of food now that he's a big boy!)
As for my health, I kept up with vitamins and had labs drawn a couple times. Ferritin (iron stores) was my big challenge and it kept dropping, almost out of the low end of the range, but once I had the baby it started climbing nicely. I took pretty much the same vites in pregnancy as outside, with the addition of heme iron to boost ferritin. Some pregnant DSers have been taken off vitamin A entirely because of worries of potential birth defects, but my team didn't think that was a good idea because my levels were low normal and too low vitamin A can actually cause some bad problems as well.
My surgeon says the greatest risk in post-op pregnancy is a bowel obstruction, and as you saw, Candess suffered one. I was concerned about it but luckily all went well. The risk is elevated in pregnancy, about double the risk of a non-pregnant DSer getting an obstruction in a given 9 months, if that makes sense. But that still means most people won't have an obstruction. If you do have one, make sure you go to a hospital where they understand your surgery. My surgeon has actually worked on a couple pregnant women who needed surgery to resolve obstructions, and they monitored the babies carefully and luckily, the outcomes were good. Just know the symptoms and don't ignore them, even if you feel like a hypochondriac.
It's important to have access to high-risk specialists if you need them in post-op pregnancy, but if you have the goal of a natural birth or would like to see midwives, that can be an option too in some cases. I'm glad I saw midwives. They really listened and I felt my care was better than what I got from the OBs in my first pregnancy. I will probably see one of the OBs who performed my c-section if I have another baby, but I really liked the MWs.
I had my post-DS baby last December. I had a really great pregnancy. I wasn't a record-setting DS loser so I was still quite a bit above goal, and I lost about 10 pounds and regained 5 or so in the last trimester. I ate like a HORSE. I've truly never been so hungry and even eating and drinking anything and everything I wanted, I didn't gain. Malabsorption is a weird thing to live with sometimes. I really felt it while pregnant and I feel it now while nursing. Low-protein crap foods just don't appeal to me, except some sweets here and there as "garnish." Anyway, after I had the baby I was about 20 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. Not that it's all about weight, but just sharing this aspect.I had a baby pre-DS, my wonderful daughter. During that pregnancy, I dealt with chronic hypertension. I had to take meds (a light dose, but I needed it) and get a lot of monitoring. I ended up with a BP spike at the end and had an induction followed by an unplanned cesarean. I had wound complications afterward as well.
This time, I had one high BP reading in the first trimester so I was diagnosed with chronic hypertension again even though my BP's been normal since shortly after my DS. Phooey. This meant I had to have weekly non-stress tests (a non-invasive test that involves checking baby's heartrate and whether it varies appropriately) and I was classified as high risk. I still saw nurse-midwives, not OBs, and they consulted with OBs as necessary. I did have another cesarean but it wasn't due to BP, it was because I have a pelvic quirk or something that causes my babies to present strangely. This cesarean went a lot smoother and I'm sure part of the reason is that I had lost weight. My son was about 12 ounces lighter than his pre-DS sister at the same length. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and is growing beautifully on breastmilk (and a few tastes of food now that he's a big boy!)
As for my health, I kept up with vitamins and had labs drawn a couple times. Ferritin (iron stores) was my big challenge and it kept dropping, almost out of the low end of the range, but once I had the baby it started climbing nicely. I took pretty much the same vites in pregnancy as outside, with the addition of heme iron to boost ferritin. Some pregnant DSers have been taken off vitamin A entirely because of worries of potential birth defects, but my team didn't think that was a good idea because my levels were low normal and too low vitamin A can actually cause some bad problems as well.
My surgeon says the greatest risk in post-op pregnancy is a bowel obstruction, and as you saw, Candess suffered one. I was concerned about it but luckily all went well. The risk is elevated in pregnancy, about double the risk of a non-pregnant DSer getting an obstruction in a given 9 months, if that makes sense. But that still means most people won't have an obstruction. If you do have one, make sure you go to a hospital where they understand your surgery. My surgeon has actually worked on a couple pregnant women who needed surgery to resolve obstructions, and they monitored the babies carefully and luckily, the outcomes were good. Just know the symptoms and don't ignore them, even if you feel like a hypochondriac.
It's important to have access to high-risk specialists if you need them in post-op pregnancy, but if you have the goal of a natural birth or would like to see midwives, that can be an option too in some cases. I'm glad I saw midwives. They really listened and I felt my care was better than what I got from the OBs in my first pregnancy. I will probably see one of the OBs who performed my c-section if I have another baby, but I really liked the MWs.
Most Active
Recent Topics
