Pregnancy & Crohn's Disease

I had a baby a year (and a week) ago. I was on Remicade the entire time. I had really, really bad hyperemesis and got dehydrated quickly, which caused my Crohn's to start flaring. The OB immediately had me start getting IV fluids and nutrients every single day at the hospital for about 4 months, and then we went down to a few times a week for almost the rest of the pregnancy. I literally threw up multiple times every single day the entire time. I had a c-section at 37 weeks when I was due for my next infusion. My daughter was only 4 lbs 8 oz because of being early and being so sick. But we kept my Crohn's from flaring other than those two times at the beginning because of the dehydration. I needed prednisone those two times, but just for a quick two week taper. They had discussed doing an NG tube instead of the IVs, but I had had one a few months prior because of pancreatitis for a month, and I could only tolerate 700 calories per day with it, any more and I got sick....it made me nauseated and I threw it up.

I've had 2 babies while on Humira. You are taking the right first steps by making sure your disease is under control, you are much more likely to stay in remission during your pregnancy if you start out in remission. I remained in remission during both of my pregnancies, I began to flare about a month or 2 after my second child was born. So as far as Crohn's goes it was smooth sailing during my pregnancies. And for what it's worth both of my kids are healthy. Good luck.

I also had a harder time with my Crohn's post-partum. I had the worst flare about a month after my daughter was born, and it took months to get under control. Looking back, I would have been much more aggressive about treating that post-partum flare. Previously, i had only been on colazal, and was scared to start stronger meds so I suffered a long time. Finally, i went on prednisone and 6mp around 11 months post-partum, and got things under control with those.
I was reasonably healthy during the pregnancy itself, I had mild flares off and on but it wasn't bad. I felt great otherwise.
I've heard if you are healthy when you get pregnant, you are more likely to have a healthy pregnancy, so sounds like you are in good shape! Best of luck!

Basil

They say 1/3 get better, 1/3 stay the same, and 1/3 get worse. Not the worst odds, but still a change of getting sick . . .

I have 2 remicade babies. Remicade doesn't cross the placenta until somewhere around the 30-32 week mark. So usually your last infusion is scheduled around 30 weeks and then you get one after delivery. You can also safely breast feed while on remicade because the remicade molecule is too large to pass through to the milk, so the baby doesn't get any of it. That being said, baby should not be given any "live" vaccines until 6 months old just as a precaution.

The info about when the remicade crosses the placenta wasn't known when I was pregnant with my first child so I got 10mg/kg every 5 weeks throughout the entire pregnancy including at 30 and 35 weeks. This child is now 10 and is healthy and intelligent and has no problems whatsoever. My second kiddo is 8 and is just as healthy and smart.

My bet is that your OB will refer you to a maternal/fetal medicine specialist and you will see them throughout the pregnancy to monitor your progress as you will be declared "high risk" because elf the Crohns and because you take meds during pregnancy.

You can see an OB ahead of time if you'd like, but if you are in remission and you know the meds you are on are safe for pregnancy then, you can go ahead and just start trying. Good luck!

I have a 4.5 month old, who is completely healthy. I was in solid remission before getting pregnant and decided to go off the 6mp a few months before trying to conceive. Pregnancy went very well, and so far so good, no problems with CD. Good luck :)