Pregnancy

Ok, this may seem like a silly question, but out of curiousity; can you get pregnant with an ostomy?

   What happens to it as your belly swells with the pregnancy?

I am not planning to get pregnant at the moment but always wondered...

hey angela, i was pregnant when i had my ileo surgery and it was a pain, but worked out fine. i did have some issues finding a good seal but i had never had a bag before so i think i would have had those anyway. the eakin seals were a lifesaver for me. my biggest issue was i had a gaping hole in my pregnant belly right next to my bag so i had such little real estate to get a good seal. the surgeon left me open because of infection risk... it was sort of a nightmare in that regard. i had to have a ton of ultrasounds and they just worked around my pouch the best they could and were totally understanding. i ended up having a c-section 5 weeks early and they took off the pouch and cut through the same vertical scar that they had made for my colon removal a couple months prior. c-section was a piece of cake after the first surgery, but i was much healthier by then too. we're going to try for another baby starting in december so it's definitely worth going through again. after that sometime i'm hoping to get a reversal, but my surgeon said it's better to do it after we're done having kids because there is risk with the j-pouch getting botched with pregnancy and also a risk of infertility afterwards. hope this was helpful!