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well i just found out that im pregnant and i am not in remmison..i have more pain then ever. the only thing i can take is the iv infusions every 8 weeks and since i have been on them i haven't seen a change..but now im 7 1/2 weeks pregnant i don't know how to deal with all of it..im sick 24-7 and i have been reading sites on it..im just scared i will have a deformed baby. or it will be early and it wont survive.my obgyn doesn't know anything about crohns..and it seems like my gi doctor don't know anything.so basically i am just looking for someone that has gone through pregnancy when your not in remmison.

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

I am on Purinethol once daily and Asacol three times daily.  I was on Prednisone for a few weeks, then my GI weaned me off of it and I don't take it any more.  Hope you can find a mix that works for you!

 Reply posted for alisac.

well i don't know what them meds are. but if your gi doc said your alright to take them then you will be fine..i was pretty stressed out cuz i was reading websites and alot of people with crohns said alot different.but you should be fine..what meds did they give you right away when you found out??if they worked that good for you i want them when i have my baby. i will keep u posted on my pregnancy.

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

I hope your pregnancy goes well, please keep us updated.  I am wanting to get pregnant again, and I have gotten the all clear from my GI and my GP and am going to my OB-GYN next week to see what they say.  Although I have to admit I am scared sensless that something will go wrong.  I was diagnosed with Crohns a few months ago and fortunately the meds worked and it is under control.  But what kind of effect will Asacol and Purinethol have on my pregnancy?  I had to go on fertility treatments to have my daughter, what will those do to me if I have to use them again?  My GI says he has had patients who went through pregnancy just fine on these drugs, has anyone here done so?  Just venting a bit, but it feels good to get my worries out there to people who understand.  My husband is wonderful and very understanding, but he doesn't 'understand' what this whole thing feels like physically and emotionally.

 Reply posted for Crohnsy.

well i am 9 weeks and i went to see my doctor today and she said there was no reason to be high risk..i have a 3yr already and had no problems with my pregnancy with him.im feeling alright.she did do some reasearch and really didn't find much that would consider me high risk. plus i wasn't trying to get pregnant. all my test came back normal so i don't see a problem now. my gi doctor really didn't say much but i was able to still do my remicade. and he just asked how i was feeling..so i dont know.but my doctor is still is gonna watch me and have me come in more then normal.

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

I agree with the other posters and get to a Maternal/Fetal Specialist (a new name for Perinatologists).  I'm 21 weeks pregnant and I've had Crohn's for three years.  I tried for two years to get pregnant and had two miscarriages (at 6 wks. and 9 wks.) and had been doing fertility treatments for almost a year.  I finally became pregnant in April after our first try with in vitro.

My high-risk OB is very cautious, especially in terms of delivery.  I'm not really clear on why I need a c-section, but I guess it will be for the best.

He's also familiar with Crohn's, which helps, and also the meds (I'm on Remicade and Pentasa).  But every IBD patient is different and it's frustrating to have to try and get all docs on the same page with past history, tests, and meds.

But the good news is that I feel great and pregnancy seems to be the best thing that's ever happened to my Crohn's!

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

You really should be treated as high-risk, in my opinionMy regular OB referred me to a Perinatalogist (high-risk OB doc). I saw him from 7 weeks pregnant to 6 weeks post-delivery. Even though I had an mostly uneventful pregnancy, other than the constant dehydration issues, I ended up with preeclampsia right at 34 weeks and ended up delivering that week. She was only in the NICU for 10 days though until the lightbulb clicked and she learned to suck and swallow to eat. She was under 5 pounds at birth, but at 6 months now she is all caught up to the 50th percentile. She has always been on track for her normal age as far as everything else goes also. The good thing about seeing the Perinatal doctor is you are seen a lot more often, have a lot more ultrasounds to check the baby's progress, and towards the end they see you twice a week and do the stress test each week to listen to the heartbeat also. If I hadn't been seeing the specialist I would not have delivered the hospital I was at and the results may have been different since this hospital is the only one set up for high-risk deliveries and had the NICU until in-house. Good luck! Oh, I only gained 9 pounds during my pregnancy because of the dehydration, but my doctor kept telling me not to worry. The baby takes what he/she needs and you get whatever is left.

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

I also discussed my Chron's with both my GI and OB and was told I was fine to start trying to get pregnant. I  searched the internet and found nothing that said otherwise. My pregnancy was fairly uncomplecated until 3 months and I got a bladder infection. I could barely stand up I was in so much pain. We got that cleared up and a month later I got another. It felt different than when I had a Chron's episode so I didn't think twice about it being my Chrons. I had some bleeding with these, but my OB did an exam and said that everything looked fine. Early one Saturday morning I woke up and apparantly lost my mucus plug....this was my first pregnancy and I was only 6 months pregnant so I had no clue. I was in pain most of the day. I assumed that it was another bladder infection...so I took Tylenol and drank lots of water and cranberry juice. Then about 2:00 that Sunday morning I woke up in horrible pain. I was bleeding ALOT and I was in labor. I went to my local hospital and they tried to stop the contractions. When that didn't look like it was going to work,  they sent me on a very fast very scary ambulance ride to Nashville. I ended up having him at 9:04 that same evening. Griffin was born at 26 weeks and 3 days 2lbs. 14 oz. We spent  117 days in the NICU at Vanderbilt University. You would never know it though. He is now 18 months and as crazy as can be! He is very healthy and growing like a weed!

If I had it to do over again (Which I won't be) I would definately have the doctors treat it like I was high risk. And I'm not a run to the Dr for every little thing type person, but I would definately now if I had it to do over! I look back now and I feel so guilty for not getting things checked out quicker....maybe they could have stopped the labor for at least a little while if I had gotten in sooner....

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

I think you need to get an OB and GI doctor that deal with crohns and pregnancy.  The OB I had was great, but really didn't know alot about my colitis.  After my c-section he had me take ibuprofen and later my GI doctor said I shouldn't take that because of possible stomach bleeding. 

Also, you should have a GI doctor that knows about pregnancy and IBD.  I have had two GI doctors and both of them have had experience with that.  You should not have a deformed baby because of your disease.  What I was told is that if you have a flare when you are pregnant it is harder to get rid of the flare.  That doesn't mean you can't go on to have a healthy baby. 

I was luck that I didn't have a flare during my pregnancy, but I can honestly say that I did not feel very well during most of it.  Quite a bit of it was nerves though.  I tend to be a worrier.  That doesn't help at all.  I had also lost weight during the first three months and was worried about the baby, but my OB was always monitering me and said even though I was loosing weight, the baby was growing and doing well.  He told me the baby will take most of the nutrients from what I eat and I would be the one that gets whats left.   Good luck to you and I hope you can find some experienced doctors to help you with your pregnancy. 

 Reply posted for renaynee87.

    i have uc and have never really had a remission in my whole 12 years of being sick. i have twin daughters that i had medications the whole time i was preggers with them. although it made pregnancy a lot more difficult. i have been pregnant 4 times, 3 of which ended in miscarriage, which my obgyn assured me was not from my uc but my gastro doc says *** that the obgyn is an idiot. my furthest pregnancy that ended in miscarriage i was 15 wks along . my twins were premature and i was put in the hospital around 26 wks and they were born at 31 wks gestation. i was in preterm labor  and then got preclampsia so they had to take them c-section. but now i have two healthy little girls you would never know that one of them was only 12 inches long and 1lb 15oz and the other was 13 inches and only 2lbs 13oz.
now they are just two little healthy two year olds talking and driving me crazy on a daily basis
obviously twins are a little different to carry than a normal pregnacy so my situation is different, but i would not stress to much over the what if's cause you will work yourself up into complications. my advice is to just relax as much as possible and treat it like you would any high risk pregnancy, the fact is you are sick and no matter what some doctor says you just need to be careful and don't over exert yourself, as soon as i found out i was pregnant before i knew it was twins i would not lift anything over 10lbs or bend down, i was a bit dramatic at first but i think that's why i didn't lose them like the other pregnancies.
good luck!