Pregnancy question

Did any moms out there get special monitoring during pregnancy because of Crohn's? I'm very surprised that my OB doesn't want to do anything out of the ordinary. I have Crohn's (active) and T1 (insulin dependent) diabetes. I don't particularly want to be high-risk, but those two things are making this pregnancy very complicated for me (can you imagine my low-carb Crohn's-friendly diet right now?) and I sometimes feel like I'd like a little extra attention from the doc. I've already had a small flare and had to go on prednisone for a week.

I suppose I should be happy that the doc thinks I am healthy enough to be low-risk.

Besides pred you don't mention if you are on any meds, what trimester you are, whether this is a first pregnancy and whether you had problems with an earlier pregnancy.

Personally I would have thought this was a high risk pregnancy just because of the diabetes. Add active CD and ...

The Mayo Clinic says you are a high risk pregnancy:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy-and-diabetes/DA00042

And Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has a long list of issues for pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes:

http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=103524

And an expert opinion from the Mayo Clinic folks says that active Crohn's poses a greater risk to the fetus than most Crohn's meds and recommends aggressive treatment of any flares during pregnancy:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/589848

If you have access to a high risk OB group you might want to give them a call and make an appointment for a 2nd opinion.

I got a gastroenterological appointment and sono at 12 weeks when pregnant to see how my illness proceeds (last chance to see anything apart from the baby in my stomach area), apart from that, no other special treatment. Oh, yes, did get a genetic blood test before getting pregnant to estimate percentage of my cells that have been damaged by the illness.

Good luck, hope you feel good and enjou your pregnancy !

You are going to be considered high risk unfortunately. First with the CD and second with the Diabetes. I became pregnant right after my UC dx in 2009 (didn't mean to, but it happened before we knew anything about UC) I was considered high risk from the moment my test turned positive. I was flaring really bad and my previous pregnancy (2 months before UC dx) had ended in a stillborn at 32 weeks (not related to the disease). For the first and part of the second trimester I was watched closely by my GI dr, my OB turned care over to him because if I was going to miscarry there wasn't anything they could do about it. After 24 weeks I was watched closely by my OB and went in every 2 weeks. I was taking 20mg prednisone for the entire pregnancy to try and keep the flare at bay (barely worked). I did my GD test at 27 weeks which was positive and then because of the prednisone the only thing that kept my blood sugar in the high end of normal was insulin. I started NST's (non stress tests) every week from then on out. At 30 weeks the NST showed a heart murmur which had to be checked out by a cardiologist (everything was fine, just a normal murmur that went away after birth). 31 weeks I was seeing a perinatologist (fetal specialist) saw them once a week for a NST (one at my OB's office and one at the hospital where the perinatologist was) I had NST's twice a week. At 36 weeks I went in my for NST at the hospital, my daughter failed the NST, they did a bio physical exam of which she barely passed (they check 5 different points and she hit 3, but only because she moved in the last 30 seconds of the test) so because of that, my history of stillbirth, UC, and GD they decided to induce me a week early. I had ultrasounds every few weeks to check on her size (she was 6lb 12oz) I had 2 bouts of kidney stones and tons of UTI's (caused by the prednisone keeping sugar in my bladder and letting bacteria grow)

I was seeing 4 dr's: GI, OB, CNM, and Perinatologist. Well 5 if you include the cardiologist but I only saw him once. I was on Lialda and prednisone and then on antibiotics to keep the UTI's away. I will admit it was a scary pregnancy, but not as scary as some I've seen.

My normal OB was not able to take me, so I was forced into a high risk clinic at the hospital. They did growth ultrasounds starting at 24 weeks to make sure the baby is growing. Other than that it has been pretty regular checkups. I was lucky enough to have the baby hormones help and am currently just taking Humira and feeling great. Only 6 weeks to go! Good luck!

There is no genetic testing that can tell you if your child might develop CD.