Pregnant with Crohn's Disease

[Anonymous]

just curious to hear from other expctant mothers who happen to have crohn's disease. This is a second pregnancy for me. I was diagnosed with a mild form of crohn's after I had my first child. My doctor told me that it is perfectly safe to have children. But, I can't help being a little apprehensive. I would love to hear from other's with the disease. What was your experiece? Was is difficult? My main concern is the constipation that comes with having to take the prenatal viatmin. I can't afford to suffer like I did the last time I was pregnant. Please share your advise/exeperience.

[Anonymous]

A really close friend of mine has pretty aggressive Crohn's disease. She was on experimental treatments and once she finished and was "in remission" she got pg. She did okay through the pg and the baby is fine. I'm not sure if any of this is really helpful. As far as the prenatal vitamins, I would ask your dr how necessary they are if they really cause you so much pain and discomfort. I might get flamed for that, but I had severe vomiting with my 1st pg and now again with my 2nd and the vitamins just make it worse. I take a children's vitamin and try to eat as healthy as possible. My DD is 2.5 and perfectly fine. Another option may be to take a gentle fiber supplement to help with the consitpation.

I can't remember which post, but just the other day another poster mentioned that her dr said the vitamins are important, but that we get most of the essential vitamins and they are more important in countries where diets are severely lacking in nutritious options.

I'm not endorsing to not take you vitamins, but it can't hurt to ask your dr if any alternatives exist.
good luck with your pg

[Anonymous]

You definitely should continue to take the prenatal vitamin, but try some senna and colace over the counter to avoid the constipation (they work better at preventing constipation so don't wait until you are already constipated before you start taking them). Also, as long as your vitamin doesn't contain iron, it shouldn't be too constipating. If your crohns flares, then the steroids can pose some risk to the fetus, but as long as you are controlled without meds then hopefully things will be okay.

[Anonymous]

I am currently 39 weeks pregnant with Crohn's disease. I was diagnosed 8 years ago. I waited a long time to get pregnant and made sure that my disease was VERY under control before we got we even started trying.

I think with pregnancy basically two things can happen. Either, one, your Crohn's goes into further remission due to the extra bit of immuno-suppression you get while being pregnant. Or, two, you have a flare most likely in the first trimester or after the baby is born.

I've been very lucky that I've been in complete remission while pregnant. To be honest, my Crohn's has never been in such good shape as during this pregnancy. I actually think the experience of having Crohn's disease has prepared me to handle so many of the ups and downs of pregnancy really well. I did have on and off constipation, but it really didn't aggravate my Crohn's at all.

I feel really strongly that I've done so well with my Crohn's based on the fact that it was in such good shape before I got pregnant and that I was super healthy and in really good shape. Also..not sure if you're thinking about this, but I did remain on all my meds during the pregnancy.

Make sure your OB sends you to a high-risk doctor throughout for fetal growth sonograms.

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that all will be OK after my little guy is born.