Pregnant 2 Weeks after Gastric Sleeve

I just wanted to share this with everyone who is scared about pregnancy after surgery.   I had my surgery on March 22, 2010.   I am now pregant and due on Jan. 11, 2011 so I was only a few weeks out of surgery when I became pregnant.   I continued to lose weight and my doc said this was ok bc the baby would take from me to get what she needed.  Also being obese and pregnant can cause lead to medical issues like gestational diabetes so the doc said losing weight was decreasing my chances of alot of  complications.  I take my vitamins for the surgery and then in addition take my prenatal vitamins.  These last 6 or 7 weeks I havent actually lost any weight but I have maintained which I'm happy with because I know that my baby has been gaining weight and I'm staying the same so it all evens out.  I did have alot of morning sickness but it was not related to my surgery.  This is my 3rd child and I had it with the first 2 as well.  I've felt much better this pregnancy compared to the others because I didnt have all the extra weight.  I know you are suppose to wait but I've been fine and wouldnt change a  thing.   My youngest is 7 and I have been trying since he was 2.  If I dont lose another pound....I dont care.  This surgery gave me the greatest thing ever.....the ability to have another child.

2 weeks is pushing it. I am glad you and your baby are ok, but I would NOT be advocating getting pregnant that quick out of surgery. The OR drugs and pain meds are barely out of your system yet.

I am definitely agreeing with Chelle on this..glad you and baby are okay, but please don't advocate getting pregnant so soon after any type of surgery..the surgeons have guidelines for a reason!  I got pregnant 9 months out from RNY and my body clearly wasn't ready because I lost my baby, then I waited to try again until I was 19 months out from surgery and became pregnant and so far everything is fine...the longer you wait, the better it is for both you and baby.

I worry about the long term effects more than the short term. I would never recommend early out pregnancy either. Happy everything has gone ok so far but sometimes we dont know the effects it has on our kids till they are in school. Please do not get pregnant early out.

Happy everything has gone ok so far but sometimes we dont know the effects it has on our kids till they are in school

Obviously it's just your opinion but I feel like this is a pretty uninformed thing to say. There is nothing in the medical literature (and believe me I've looked since I found out I was pregnant) to indicate that pregnancy outcomes in those sooner out from surgery differ in any way from waiting until pregnancy is advised (typically 12-18 months out, depending on the doctor).

In fact what I have run into with all of the medical professionals I've spoken to since finding out I was pregnant is concern that MY health will be impaired in some way. They have little concern about the baby's development, since the baby really does "take what it needs" from mama.

I definitely wouldn't advise getting pregnant early out for a lot of different reasons but to suggest that the baby is going to impaired in some way if you do is pretty harsh.

Actually this was posted in my surgeons office and literature given to me after I got pregnant. I said I was more worried about long term effects. If moms dont take the extra supplements and have enough then its not there. So that is why I urge people to be careful. My surgeon was saying that he had 7 or 8 patients get pregnant early on too and they had a few issues catching up and all. I was not being harsh at all.

Huh. I just have never heard of kids of early WLS patients having any issues. In reading a number of medical publications the only statistical difference I could find was a very slightly decreased birth weight (I think it was something like 7.2 mean pounds vs. 7.9 pounds - certainly not anything that would endanger the child).

I would definitely be interested in reading anything you have citing long-term problems, though, since I haven't been able to find it independently nor has my surgeon or PCP ever suggested that's a likelihood.

Long term problems in childhood can happen to anyone. Children being born on the autism spectrum these days are at an all time high. Vitamin deficiancies during pregnancies do NOT help these statistics. Women who are losing large amounts of weight in a short period of time are prone to all kinds of deficiancies because their bodies are rapidly losing nutrients. Add idiot WLS doctors into the mix, who know nothing about pregnancy and do not make the vitamin routine clear....recipe for possible disaster. I read on this board every week how women are being told that 2 gummie vites are suitable for a pregnant RNY patient, and how some of us do not see the need to take calcium because "their doctors told them it wasn't necessary". I would like to talk to these women in 15 years to see how many joint replacements they are scheduled for.
To give a baby the best possible chance at being healthy, why not wait until your weight has stabilized and you have a full set of normal labs drawn? Why go through the whole process of pre-WLS requirements (which usually include months of waiting, denials, support groups ect) just to get preggo right away and be 20 lbs lighter at the end? As a parent of a disabled child, I find it horrid how so many women assume their babies will be normal and healthy. And that is without throwing WLS into the ignorance.

Of course problems in childhood can happen to anyone. As a mom to a son with autism (born well before my WLS) I definitely know this. But the research does not bear out that kids who are born to moms who have had bariatric weight loss surgery, whether it was a recent surgery or not, have higher complications of any kind than kids who are born to mothers who have not had WLS surgery.

Of course complications can happen. To any mother, not just mothers with WLS.

Am I advocating for moms who are two weeks/month out to get pregnant? Heck no! I DON'T think it's a good idea. I got pregnant not even 3 months out, despite using protection. Things happen. Would I have planned it this way? Nope! 

But I also think it's unkind for people to throw out the notion that something's more likely to be wrong with my child because I am only 3 months out (or 6 months out, or a year out, fill in the blank). I sort of think of it this way - medical evidence actually supports the link between advanced maternal age and certain birth defects and miscarriage. But most people wouldn't throw that out there as one of the first things they say when they find out an older woman is pregnant. 

And there's no link to increased defects in babies of WLS patients so...

I am not aware of any documented medical info about post WLS babies at all.  In fact in my experience this forum was where I got most of my info and that tended to be from the posters that chose to educate themselves. 

I totally support you and hope you have a healthy pregnancy but the issue at hand is like you said that getting pg too early post op is just not a good idea.  I don't think anyone intended to offend or scare you, rather to try to discourage those who are early out and toying with the idea of getting pg. 

In the few years I have lurked and then began posting here I have found out that baby fever is just insane.  Many women get pg on "accident" and the definition of that varies widely. 

It really isn't any of my business to pass judgement on these people but having been pg at 1 yr post op I wish I had waited even longer.  My vitamins ended up in the toilet and I am still trying to get them back up. 

Anyhow, I wish you a happy and healthy pregnancy.