My Pregnancy with the J-Pouch

I had my colon removal & J-Pouch placement surgery in 2000 and had my son a few years later in 2004. I had a good pregnancy for the most part. I was considered by my doctor to be high risk due to my previous surgeries, a low lying placenta, and the fact that he didn't know a lot about how FAP would affect the pregnancy. (He also didn't know a lot about FAP, period.) I did not go to an OB/GYN; I chose to use my family physician that knew about my previous history. I did that because it was easier to not have to explain the past surgeries & educate another doctor on FAP.

Concerns arose when I was at the end of the first trimester that I wasn't gaining weight appropriately and I was referred to a dietician at Gainesville Memorial Hospital. Gainesville is a tiny town & the worst a dietician here will see is poorly controlled diabetes. She had no clue what to suggest to me except the normal gist: vegetables, plenty of water, prenatal vitamins, several small meals per day, etc. I had to figure things out on my own for the most part. I changed my eating schedule entirely. I ate 6 times a day. No joke! 3 meals & 3 snacks every day and pretty much at set times. Breakfast at 0700, Snack between 0900 & 1000, Lunch at 1200, Afternoon snack between 1400 & 1500, Dinner between 1800 & 2000 & finally Bedtime Snack/Desert. The smell of milk has always given me nausea, so at breakfast & morning snack I would include Carnation Instant breakfast as the drink with whatever I was eating.

I was unsure if my meals & snacks would be sufficient so I also had homemade shakes every once in awhile. I had a temporary ileostomy after my 1st surgery & had dropped to 67 pounds at the end of those three months; so after takedown surgery I would drink a homemade shake of Carnation Instant breakfast, ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate syrup, & whey protein or wheat germ daily in order to regain weight. I dug out my old shake recipes and began making those but leaving out the whey & wheat since those didn't agree with my stomach & pregnancy.

At about the fifth month of pregnancy my doctor referred me to a perinatal specialist in Fort Worth. He wanted the new 3-D sonograms done so that more precise measurements of the baby could be gathered. Those sonograms are awesome by the way! The baby was growing at a normal rate as far as they could tell. I was told that since I was petite to begin with that my baby would probably weigh between 5 & 6 pounds. Or at least that was what all the docs were hoping for... at least 5 pounds. We had to go to my doctor and the perinatal doc once a month until the last month. Then we went only to my doc every week. Thanks to my 6 meals a day I was actually looking like a pregnant lady & had the usual pregnancy issues throughout the remaining months. We went to birthing class - all the normal stuff. I had false labor twice - my dad says that was just because I was so nervous and a drama queen.

I went into labor sometime after 10 pm and since I didn't want to go to the hospital for another false labor I didn't wake my husband, Jody until late the next morning. Forgot to time my contractions, I was just focusing on the pain that occurred every few minutes. When he couldn't watch me cringe any longer we went to the hospital. I won't lie... labor hurts! The plan was to let me go into labor & let my water break naturally. By nine that night I was exhausted & not dilated far enough. They did a sonogram & exam; determined baby wouldn't fit & therefore I wouldn't dilate any further. C-section... I wasn't happy but since I was truly tired I agreed. Water broke as I was walking to the wheel chair... go figure. Still doing c-section the doc said.

Now the complications begin.... epidural went in good... couldn't feel my legs... that's good. Now they're pinching my stomach... I think I can feel that. Debate over whether I am reacting to possibly seeing them move their arm.... anesthesiologist covers my eyes with his hand while they pinch me.... they figure out that I really can feel them pinching me... Duh! Worst case scenario... they had planned on a controlled c-section with the local general surgeon on stand-by somewhere in the hospital and now have to do a quick one with me unconscious. Their fear, as I am told, is that they aren't sure where everything in me is now & if there are adhesions. I don't remember much after that except hearing a nurse page for the surgeon Dr. Khaira to come to Delivery room.... next I was waking up to my husband holding my hand & my dad stroking my forehead like a puppy. All the women were at the nursery window. It went well with only a few adhesions noted. The doc was surprised with Logan's birth weight: 6 pounds 14 ounces! Perfectly healthy & crying. The doc said he was lean & hungry just the way he had hoped he would be.

I didn't have any problems with the J-pouch other than getting my bowels under control afterward and getting the nurses to understand. Apparently they don't like liquid or the consistency of paste for a bowel movement. (You should have seen how they reacted to my ileostomy bag during my one week stay a few years earlier!) I had fears of my diarrheal med (Limotil) crossing over in breast milk; so I switched to Imodium & found that it worked better anyway. Cheaper, no prescription. After a week or two I was 10-15 pounds away from pre-baby weight & having difficulty keeping up the calorie intake needed for breast feeding and chose to stop to ensure Logan was getting adequate nutrition. I found that I was going to the bathroom more frequently & that my meds weren't slowing things like they had before pregnancy. It took months to get back to "normal".

The only advise I would give for pregnancy is take the prenatal vitamins, eat often, plan for worst case scenarios & pray for the best.