Posted 12/10/2011 10:14 PM (GMT -5)
Whew. I had a rough year. More importantly, my baby had a rough year. Things are getting better though.
When I had UC, I was able to get pregnant and have a healthy baby, but I was sick so much and had to worry about meds both during pregnancy and breastfeeding. I finally decided to get total colectomy with temp. ostomy. I chose temp, cause I had read (and was told by Mayo docs) that J-pouch reduces fertility.
I felt great after I healed up and wanted to get pregnant again last year. I got pregnant pretty easily - we tried for 6 months with first and only 2 months with second. I was so excited that I wouldn't have to worry about meds affecting this second pregnancy. She was supposed to be my "easy" pregnancy.
Long story short, we found out that she would have special needs not related to my ostomy, just related to my bad luck. It's been pretty tough, but we've gotten through it. She is a beautiful baby, who has unfortunately spent the majority of her life in the hospital. She had open heart surgery in October, and had quite a few complications taking our hospital stay from a normal 5 days to 7 weeks (6 in ICU). PPoor thing takes after me with having complications AND bad veins :(She's doing ok now, but is still on a bunch of meds and still sporting an NG tube.
My ostomy through all of this hasn't been much trouble. I did get an umbilical hernia during pregnancy and the doctor repaired it during my c-section. Yes, I was awake for that - weird! And I've had more leaks than i'm used to, both pregnant and after i deflated. A couple of leaks were VERY inconvenient. Also I had a couple of obstructions. Bad one post pregnancy. raw CARROTS!
Anyway, I just thought I'd update everyone, since I haven't visited in a long time. I spend my time on her health issues now. Puts my crap (no pun intended) into perspective.
I need to update my sig.