Pregnancy & Crohn's... very confused after my dr app!!

Hopefully Stef17 or Inflamed will be along soon. Both have had successful pregnancies as well as other women on the forum while on meds such as Imuran/6mp, Humira, Remicade, Pentasa and Pred. I believe it is Stef17 who has a few links about these subjects. Hopefully she will be along soon.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*

My GI told me to never have kids.
I don't know if it's because all my Crohn's is now perineal/rectum or because she doesn't think women with Crohn's should have kids.
I always knew kids weren't a good idea, but it's still hard to hear.

I wasn't diagnosed while pregnant, but I was shortly after - and I was still breastfeeding.

My opinion is that breastfeeding is worth it. There's even reason to believe that babies breastfed for x amount of time have greatly reduced chances for developing diseases such as Crohn's. So, if it were me, I would go off the meds (close to the due date) and do my best to breastfeed and stay well. I'd probably use fish oil and probiotics and eat a very easy-on-the-gut diet. There are some medications that could be helpful for flares while breastfeeding - I've had success with Vancomycin before (pill form is molecularly too big to pass into breastmilk) and I would consider lower dosage prednisone and milk pump-and-dump (a way to get the drugs out of your milk). If I started to get too sick, I would stop breast-feeding, but I would give it a good shot before I got to that point.

My doc has also indicated that Imuran is safe during pregnancy. And she also strongly suggests staying on medication while pregnant. I'm sort-of in the same boat as you except I'm not currently taking long-term crohn's meds.

Thanks for the information,very helpful and great to hear from people in the same (or similar) boat!
I am in Australia and I'm wondering if all of the medication that is in the US is available here? Maybe my Dr just isn't giving me all the information (why??). I am very seriously considering getting a second opinion from another gastroenterologist, because right now I don't like that I have been giving NO options, just 'you need to stay on the Imuran'.

Appreciate hearing everyone's input on this. My parents are both primary care doctors and they are very much against me having children. My mom told me I would die during childbirth and my dad told me I would have a deformed baby. However, two different GI doctors have told me it's totally safe to have children, and the only things I would need to do differently are go to a high-risk ob-gyn and have a c-section instead of normal delivery. So it's good to have articles like the one that was linked to so I can provide to my parents to get them to shut up. They're just a little too biased in this case. Very frustrating.

I also found this link where there are a few brochures including one on Crohn's Disease & Pregnancy. Bookgal- you should get your parents to read it!!

http://www.drfalkpharma.de/nc/patients/patient-brochures/ulcerative-colitis-crohn-s-disease/?L=1

my daughter is now 3 months old and I had a flare of UC the entire time I was pregnant (not sure how much of that actually turns out to be crohns as i wasn't diagnosed with that till a few weeks ago) but... this is what I was told by my GI as well as my OB:

I took Lialda, was told it was one of the safest drugs to take, and prednisone. My GI kept pred at 20 mg the whole time just to be on the safer side. He wanted me to start Imuran as soon as I delivered, as it is either a C or D for pregnancy (depending on who you talk to). Only problem was that while on Imuran I couldn't really breastfeed (bf). He did some research and got a few opinions and came up with taking imuran at night and pumping/throwing away my first morning milk. then for night feedings you give them a bottle (I gave her pumped milk from during the day). That worked well for us. However after a few days I stopped taking imuran, I hated throwing the milk away, it felt like a waste. So we tried just diet control (while tapering off pred) that didn't work and was then diagnosed with crohn's after a colonoscopy. My GI urged me to take imuran again, he really wants me on remicade, but with the new insurance I have they won't cover it, and start pentasa. There really haven't been enough studies done on long term effects of imuran and bf'ing. He said if I continue to nurse it would be at my own and her risk. I decided to stop. She had 3 months of breastmilk, better than nothing. and in the meantime I had been storing a lot of milk in the freezer and had about a months supply. She's about half way through that now.

During pregnancy I was watched really closely by my GI and OB, I went in every 4 weeks for both, then once I hit 30 weeks I was every week with my OB (I was already high risk from a previous stillbirth at 33 weeks) also would like to add that it is important for you to try and stay healthy during pregnancy. the baby will get all the nutrients it needs before you do (we get the left overs). So prenatal vitamins are very very important.

Being pregnant with UC/crohn's is completely possible. However I wouldn't suggest getting pregnant during a flare, although one upside of that is that you don't have the constipation pregnant women have :) Some women report having no symptoms and feel even better while pregnant, while others seem to get worse (I was in the worse category).

It's all up to you. Good luck.

Thanks all for your support. I do actually have several fistulas (rectal-vaginal, rectal, and external) so I think that is why the doctor told me c-section was the way to go. But everything else I read about pregnancy seems to indicate that it would be perfectly safe for me to do so. I've actually always wanted to have my own child and also adopt a child and am more worried about getting through the adoption process with a chronic condition than getting pregnant and having a healthy baby. It's so great to hear everyone's stories about their own successful pregnancies. I wish everyone well!

Hi there!
I have read all of the posts and I just want to share my story with you in hopes that it will provide those of you trying to conceive and wanting to conceive the hope that it can happen.

I have had two healthy boys in the past three years. I breastfed the first one for a year and the second one for 10 months (I did not discontinue either time due to Crohn's issues).

I had both babies vaginally (the good old fashioned way) and I had no problems whatsoever during or following pregnancy. I do agree with some of the other statements saying that it is important to be in remission when you get pregnant. This was definitely the case for me.

During the first pregnancy, I took 6MP, Remicade and Asacol. I was a little apprehensive about this but my husband is a doctor and I have a very progressive gastroenterologist (she did an extra fellowship year in IBD only) so they assured me that a healthy mom is the best chance at a healthy baby. When my first son was born, I stopped 6MP so I could breastfeed (it was a no-no at the time) but remained on my other drugs.

Since I was doing fine without 6MP, I stayed on Remicade and Asacol. When my first child was a year old, I found out I was pregnant again! I remained on the drugs throughout this pregnancy. This time, however, I stopped Remicade in the last tri-mester due to some recent data about immunosuppressive effects in infants (my doctor explained that it would be fine to take it if I was flaring, but then I should avoid giving my baby live vaccines for a certain period of time due to potential immunosuppression. This is not seen apparently in breastfed infant because studies show the molecule of Remicade is too big to get into the milk supply). I got back on Remicade two weeks after I had baby #2 and I continued on it every 8 weeks.

I now have two beautiful boys, 2 1/2 and 10 1/2 months old. They are perfectly healthy and wonderful! I know that everyone's situation is different, but I just want to provide my personal story to give hope to those that may be considering pregnancy.

I have had Crohn's since I was 12 years old.I can remember looking my pediatric GI doctor in the eye and asking him: Would I be normal? Will I go to college? Get married? Have kids? He said yes and he was right! I was still a little worried that it would effect my ability to have children, but fortunately, I was able to have two healthy kids (with hopefully more to come).

I wish all of you trying to conceive or thinking about conceiving the best of luck! My boys have brought me so much happiness and joy! I could not imagine my life without them!