[FONT=Courier New, Courier, mono]Pregnancy after Gastric Bypass Surgery[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New, Courier, mono]Pregnancy on a morbidly obese woman is often at a higher risk due to several complicating factors such as pre-eclampsia. Most physicians recommend for women to get healthier before getting pregnant to avoid complications.
Because of this, women who are at least a hundred pounds overweight and wanting to have a healthy pregnancy are considering of undergoing weight loss surgery or the so-called gastric bypass surgery.
Pregnancy after a gastric bypass surgery is definitely possible and can be healthy as long as proper measures are followed.
Gastric bypass surgery is a procedure that reduces the stomach and bypasses the important parts of the small intestine. With a smaller stomach, the patient easily feels satisfied even with just a small amount of food. However, bypassing the more important, upper part of the small intestine, vitamins and minerals are less absorbed by the body, which may cause nutritional deficiencies.
Gastric bypass patients have maximum weight loss during the first few months after the surgery to about a year. This is due to the very limited amount of food taken by the patient, which can only be about 500 calories a day. As time goes by, the amount of food intake increases to a maximum of 1200 calories per day.
With this fact about the surgery, weight loss surgeons recommend that their patients postpone pregnancy until 18 months after the surgery. This is to let them regain their normal condition and stabilize nutrition absorption. After 18 months, most of the patients should have reached their ideal weight.
Once a gastric bypass patient knows about the pregnancy, she should consult not only her ob-gyne, but her weight loss surgeon as well. Not all gynecologists are familiar with the ins and outs of gastric bypass surgery. For a much better and healthier pregnancy, both health professionals should always be consulted all throughout the pregnancy.
There are also some usual tests that gynecologists recommend their patients to undergo that should not be done by gastric bypass patients. An example is the standard glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. Since the fluid required for this test is mainly glucose, this will definitely cause dumping syndrome to gastric bypass patients.
Thus, the weight loss surgeon may advise the gynecologists to test the patient's blood sugar instead. Also, weight loss surgeons may recommend a more effective prenatal multivitamins than what gynecologists usually recommends.
Pregnant women who have undergone gastric bypass surgery are also recommended to eat more often. Since they can only eat so much in a meal, eating more meals in a day is recommended to achieve proper nutrition both for the mother and the baby. Still, the post surgery diet, which is high-protein, low-carbohydrates and low fat, should be followed to avoid possible complications.
Pregnancy for gastric bypass patients is definitely possible and can even be healthier than other normal women. As long as proper precautions are taken, having a healthy baby will be a reality.[/FONT]
