our2ndbaby12

Hi! My name is Katie and I just had the gastric sleeve done on December 7.

My husband Dave and I were married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica 5/9/07. We decided to start our family in February of 2009. I have been overweight my whole lift and figured it would take some time to get pregnant, but we conceived our first baby on the first try. Everything we fine until our level 2 ultrasound on July 10, when we found out our SON had a severe neural tube defect called hydrocephalus with cerebral hypoplasia. We met with a pediatric neurosurgeon and several maternal-fetal medicine specialists who agreed that our son would probably not survive birth and if he did he would have such severe deficits that he would probably not survive long after birth. It was not an easy decision, but we decided to terminate the pregnancy to spare our son suffering if made it through birth. Ethan Wayne was born sleeping July 29, 2009.

Dave and I decided to start trying again for another baby about three months later and had no luck for several months. We met with my OB/GYN who ran some blood work and when that came back normal, she thought that the difficulty in conceiving came from being overweight and not ovulating. After several more months of attempting to lose weight unsucessfully, I started thinking about gastric surgery. Previously, I was adamantly opposed due to the diet restrictions, but at this point, I was willing to do anything to have a baby.

I went to an information session Nov. 4, had my surgical consult on Nov. 10, started the liquid protein diet on Nov. 17 and surgery was Dec. 2. I had a severe reaction to the anesthesia and was extremely nauseous for the first 24 hours after surgery, but now that I am home, I am feeling GREAT! No incisional pain related to the surgery, no nausea. Occasional brief pain that feels like heartburn that goes as quickly as it comes. I was released from the hospital on Dec. 4 and we were out Christmas shopping on Dec. 5. Since starting the liquid protein diet, I have lost 30 pounds and I have about 120 left to go. Give or take 10 pounds. My family and friends are very supportive. I hope to be cleared to conceive in October and if we are successful on the first cycle, my estimated due date for our next baby will be Ethan's birthday. We couldn't be more excited. The doctors keep telling us that gals get extremely fertile after the surgery, so we are being very careful, but we are hoping that we will still be "extremely fertile" when we are cleared. I hope it is a fast year!