Barbara
I had lap RNY surgery on Nov. 5, 2003 with a starting weight of 264 pounds. Eighteen months later I conceived and then gave birth to a full term 7 pound 4 ounce baby girl. She was born Jan 31, 2006 and is perfect! I had a c-section because I had one 12 years ago. The only thing I suffered from during pregnancy was extreme fatigue for the first 6 months. I slept 12 or more hours a day. At the end of the pregnancy I suffered from leg cramps and Charlie horse which the obstetrician said was due to a lack of calcium in my diet. Otherwise it couldn't have gone better. It was actually easier than when I was pregnant at 22. I am a few weeks shy of my 35th birthday.

I gained almost 50 pounds while pregnant and currently need to lose 30 to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 165 pounds. As soon as I am a bit stronger I will be hitting the treadmill. I am hoping to go back to work in about 6 more weeks at close to my pre-pregnancy weight!

Melinda Johnson
goincrazy32471@yahoo.com

Hi Barbara! I became pregnant about two years after my gastric bypass and things went okay for me, except that I had an internal hernia that caused me to not be able to eat. My baby was born about five weeks early when I had to have an emergency surgery to correct the hernia and to remove about two inches of dead intestine, but now we are both doing well. I would advise anyone out there who gets pregnant after surgery to get good prenatal care and to make sure your OB/GYN knows that you have had this surgery and that they get in touch with your surgeon or another bariatric surgeon. My OB/GYN didn’t, but later told me that he wished he had. Thanks for listening, and I hope my story helped. I would be happy to talk to anyone who is pregnant after surgery, so please feel free to share my e-mail address. It is christy.allen@bxs.com. Thanks!

Christy B. Allen
Operations Coordinator
Humboldt, TN
731-784-1161

Hello Barbara,
My name is Sylvia and I had open surgery on Feb.4, 2005 and gave birth to a healthy girl on Jan. 23, 2006. I was taking birth control pills after my surgery, but was not aware that I should be using two forms of birth control. I got pregnant three to four months after my surgery. My pregnancy was ok, I did have morning sickness. I was not monitored closely like I thought I would be. My surgeon only saw me twice. I saw the dietician every two weeks because of my weight loss. I weighed 293 pounds prior to surgery and at 40 weeks I weighed 203 pounds. The day of my delivery I weighed 207 pounds. I currently weigh 187 pounds.

My OB/GYN was concerned about my weight loss and wanted me to maintain my weight. I did for the last three months of my pregnancy. My ultrasounds were hard to handle because the baby was only measuring in the 5% range for growth. I did have a total of 5 ultrasounds to monitor her growth. I was told she would weigh 5 pounds or less, but she surprised us all and was 6 pounds and 13ounces. Thank God that she was so healthy.

I really struggled eating so I snacked all day long. Now I am having lots of trouble not snacking. I did not exercise because I was actually advised not to lose more weight than what my body was already losing because of the surgery.

I had a natural delivery. I was not able to have my tubes tied at that time, because my OB/GYN did not want to run into scar tissue. My daughter is my forth child and weighed the least. She has had her first check up and she is healthy. As of yesterday she weighs 8 pounds 10ounces.

My husband’s family was supportive, but my mother did not talk to me for months. She was scared about what could happen to me. We even discussed having an abortion because I was not able to find much information about pregnancies right after weight loss surgery. I knew this would be a high risk pregnancy, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am glad we have Victoria Mia. Family and friends were very important in helping me get through this. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Thank you,

Sylvia
cruzfamily@cableone.net

Hi Barbara,
I just wanted to drop you a quick note about my pregnancy after gastric bypass - RNY. I had my surgery January 26, 2004 and waited to start trying to get pregnant until a year after surgery because of the possible risks. Upon trying it took about 6 months to get pregnant. I am currently almost 9 months pregnant and extremely overjoyed!! I know I would not have gotten pregnant at my pre-surgery weight.

The only problem I had was when I was 7 months pregnant. The baby's stomach was not growing as it should have. They believed that the baby was not absorbing all the nutrients it needed because of my surgery. I was started on bi-weekly ultrasounds and biophysical profiles and the baby started growing. My doctor presently has no concerns and my baby appears completely healthy. I have had a lot of trouble staying hydrated enough throughout the pregnancy but have done well with weight gain - which is difficult to do! I hope this information helps.

Tami Huff
tamkathleen@hotmail.com